Sequel to Gigi
After years apart and a joyful reunion, Special Agent Rob and Forensic Psychology student Dari are finally together and working out the details of their future. During an in-home getaway weekend, Rob gifts Dari with a surprise they’ve craved all their life, but also reveals a decision contradicting everything his partner has known about him.Their love is strong, their relationship committed, but how will such major changes affect their survival as a couple in climate of political upheaval?
Like the fictional character Santa Claus but adding his special agent’s meticulousness, Rob checked his item list not only once, twice, or thrice, but reviewed it every time he thought about it. He landed at Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport from Austin, the flight had been on time, and he picked up a rental car and headed to a certain store, which would have everything needed to accommodate Dari’s surprise.
After that, a longer than anticipated wait at the location to collect the actual surprise had him suppressing all signs of impatience at being behind schedule, but finally everything was packed into the vehicle. He was anxious pulling up to Dari’s apartment. And as much as he was craving taking Dari in his arms, kissing him, and making love to him after more than three months apart, he was also nearly light-headed with his gifting audacity.
He climbed the stairs to the second-story modified apartment where Dari lived above a late 19th century home, taking care in his footing and moves, trying to keep the box he held as steady as possible. He knocked and then waited, peripherally perusing the immediate surroundings as he had learned to do even before special agent training, but keeping his head forward. Footsteps approached, the gait and sound familiar, and his heart and breath sped up even further in anticipation as he stood before the door waiting for the love of his life.
And there they stood, all five foot nine inches of them. Slender in a natural way, with expressive, slightly tilted eyes of a particular shade of hazel that seemed golden in certain lights, and which perfectly complimented the light nut-brown. The brows and lashes were exotically darker and heavily marked, and the dusting of freckles across their straight little nose drew the eye as much as the full pouty lips that naturally often hovered near a smile.
“Why are you knocking?” Dari punctuated each word with vigor and then a laugh, as he swung the door wider, stepping back. “You have a key, and you are late! And what’s this?”
“I know, I know, I know, but --” Rob acknowledged the truth of the statement, and also the humor, as the door was shut behind him and he sat the box on the floor. “I hope this will be worth the wait, especially considering ...”
Dari’s warm, delectable mouth closed over his, kissing his words away. It had been almost four months apart this time, and he nearly succumbed to the enticement and craving, clutching Dari fiercely for a moment, but separated them with an apology.
“Sit down,” he urged a confused Dari, whose eyes suddenly widened at the scratching sounds inside the cardboard container.
