Hurricane - Book 2

Chapter 10

"Ok, you can look now," Luca said, crawling onto the bed.

Alberto turned to see him in those damned shorts that rode high on his leg.

"This is going to be a long night." He thought to himself as his eyes lingered on Luca's pale skin, almost glowing in the blue light.

Even though they both agreed to take things slow, Alberto could feel the tension between them like a fishing line about to snap. Luca moved under their shared covers.

"At least now it won't be hard to find your foot," Luca said brightly as his toe found Alberto's leg.

"Mhm," Alberto said, trying to control his breathing.

Luca shuffled around under the covers for a minute before saying,

"It's kinda cold in here."

"Want me to start a fire?" Alberto offered, happy for an excuse to put some distance between them so he could breathe properly.

"No, I'll just get a spare blanket from the closet," Luca said, throwing the covers off him and climbing off the mattress. His long legs reached for the floor, the red shorts riding high, showing more skin than ever. Alberto's eyes unashamedly stared as he walked to the closet.

Suddenly he shook himself, realizing he was staring. He covered his eyes with both hands and groaned.

"What's wrong?" Luca said, throwing extra blankets over them both.

"You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen in my life; that's what's wrong," Alberto said, eyes still covered.

Even without seeing, he could feel a small thrill coming from Luca.

"Oh, I mean... thank you," Luca replied shyly, getting back in bed.

They lay together, both their heads on pillows, looking at the other's partially glowing eyes. The only sound in the room being the ocean ambiance coming through the speakers. It was soothing. It felt like home. But, in Alberto's mind, nothing felt more like home than the feeling of this male beside him.

"Luca?" Alberto whispered from his pillow.

"Yeah?" Luca said back.

"Even though it's new and a little scary, I... really like this." He said.

Luca smiled, and it was enough to make Alberto's heart do another skip.

"I like this too," Luca said and reached across the sheets, locking their fingers together.

And just like that, they both fell into the most peaceful sleep either had ever experienced.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Luca POV

It turned out that navigating this new dynamic of being mates was a lot harder than either Luca or Alberto expected.

That morning over breakfast, Luca accidentally burned himself over a pan of bacon, and Alberto had jumped so badly he flipped the entire dining table over in his haste to run and help. And later that afternoon, Alberto announced he was going to take a nap, and Luca felt it the moment he fell asleep. Because suddenly, the tether between them went a bit foggy. Luca ran to their room and burst through the door in a panic.

Over the course of the next three days, Luca and Alberto figured out what were perfectly normal responses and what might be a little over the top. The connection between them was so fresh, sometimes the flux of information was overwhelming. But by the third day, they figured out how to casually block out the unimportant information - like when Alberto accidentally choked on mouthwash and burned his nose - and only focus on the relevant information.