Extraordinary Things - Beth Bolden Page 0,1

own house. Mel moved to New York for work.”

“Yes, this again,” Leo retorted. “That house was perfect.” Even Caleb could admit—though never to Leo—that this one had been nice. It was near Benji's neighborhood, but still close to the beach. The entire circular front drive had been bursting with bright pink bougainvillea and the rooms had been big and cool and relaxed. Leo had loved it. Caleb had tried not to think about how much he'd liked it.

“If you needed glasses,” Caleb said, reaching out and pulling Leo against him again. He wiggled provocatively, and Caleb sighed. “I told you, if the house is right, I'd consider it. But this house has . . . I don't know . . . memories? Good ones.”

Leo looked back at him, his reflected gaze pinning Caleb. “And bad ones too.”

Leo rarely mentioned or even referred to the years when Caleb had been gone, and he'd been living here alone. He'd moved on, he'd forgiven Caleb, and Caleb had eventually moved back in. They'd found new happiness again. Caleb was sure that Leo would say, if asked, that it didn't make any sense to dwell on the past. Not when the present was so happy and the future looked even better.

But tonight? Tonight, when this was the culmination of all their hopes, he'd done it anyway.

Caleb hesitated, but those blue eyes were inexorable, staring at him. Challenging him. “Uh,” he said.

“If you don't want to buy another house, you just need to tell me,” Leo said, and then wiggled out of Caleb's grasp, walking over to their big oversized walk-in closet. “Then I'll tell the realtor,” he said, his voice muffled. “But I feel stupid going to look at all these great places, when you end up hating all of them.”

“I don't hate them,” Caleb said quietly. That was true. He didn't hate them. There wasn't even anything really wrong with them, but there was this voice that kept telling him it was a mistake to move. A mistake to buy a new house, even though they had enough cash they could buy ten houses. “I just like this one.”

“I do too.” Leo walked out of the closet, wearing only a pair of skintight briefs, leaving nothing to the imagination and sending Caleb's pulse through the stratosphere. His voice and expression had softened, and Caleb thought if he kissed Leo, he wouldn't push him away. Not now. “I just wouldn't mind having some additional space.”

“Maybe,” Caleb said, clearing his throat as he began to unbutton his own shirt, “maybe we could look into an addition.”

Leo gave him a soft, chiding look, like he could see right through Caleb, straight into him, into all those ugly places that he tried to hide, and tried to hide from. “Maybe,” he said. Even though they both knew perfectly well that there was no extra room on their small, beachfront lot for an addition. If they wanted a bigger house, they would need to buy one. But for right now, Leo seemed to have let the problem go, and so Caleb decided that now when they had so much to celebrate, what was the point of continuing to argue about it? They'd figure it out—someday, anyway, Caleb reasoned.

“Hey,” Caleb said, shucking his shirt and reaching for Leo again, his hands sliding up his soft curves, reveling in the way his skin felt against his hands. “Hey, let's go to bed.”

Leo gave him a sly, lopsided smile, reaching up and intertwining his fingers through his curls, pulling Caleb down so their lips were nearly touching. “And what do you think I was trying to do, this whole damn time?”

“Torture me?”

“Maybe just a little,” Leo acknowledged, raising himself up so their eyes were nearly level. That deep, endless blue was something that Caleb had gotten lost in for the first time at the age of sixteen, and he'd never ever gotten over it—and the truth was, he never ever wanted to. Leo was as much a part of him as his red hair or his too-big hands or his mediocre ability to play the bass. Even when they'd been separated, and it had been years since he'd seen Leo, there'd always been a part of him yearning to be with him again, to feel that hot wild blue gaze wash over him, calming and exciting him, somehow all at the same time.

“I love you,” Caleb said, even though the words didn't feel like enough to possibly explain the feelings surging