“Someone should be awake to watch after you.”
I shove him back. “Stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Stop being my bodyguard for one night and just be Gio. Be my wonderful, sexy, amazing man.”
He sighs and lays down. When I start to leave, he wraps his arms around my waist and jerks me into bed. “I don’t need something yummy when I have you.”
We play around a little, tickling and teasing each other until Gio settles with me. I pull the blanket over our heads like I did when we were kids and we lie facing each other and ignoring the heat that’s trapped between us.
“Did you and your dad really get along that well?”
He considers it. “We weren’t best friends, but we had good talks. We were repairing our relationship. Dinner once a week. We made pretty good drinking buddies, though he didn’t want to be called that.”
Gio smiles slightly. “He was kind of broken up about a girl he’d been seeing. She’d left him and I helped him get through it. I used your ‘heartbreak’ methods on him.”
“Ice cream, movies, drinking, going out, and flirting?”
“Yup. I kept trying to point out women to him.” Gio chuckles, then I see his eyes water. “The last thing he said to me that night, after I asked him why he didn’t go talk to any of the women was that ... He said spending a night like that with me made him happier than anything else in the world.”
I wiggle closer to Gio and hug him tightly. “Because you’re an amazing man, Gio.”
He kisses me softly. “Thank you, babe.”
“I might be biased, but your dad knew it. My dad knows it. Even Kon and Max know you are capable, wonderful, a prince in shining armor.”
Gio smiles and strokes through my hair. “So how exactly did I manage to get your attention?”
“Even us dragons fall for the good guys every now and again.”
Gio pulls me closer. “Thank you, babe. I .. I feel lighter now.”
“That’s good. I’m suffocating. How did we do this as kids?” I jerk the blanket off our heads as Gio chuckles and pushes my hair back into place.
We wrap around each other and I feel his breathing calm. I rub his side as my eyes get heavier. I sigh. “Mom would be happy right now.”
“Hmm?” Gio asks.
“Us being cuddled together, being honest ...” I yawn. “Real with each other.”
“I like us being real.” Gio’s fingers stroke my side.
I smile and kiss his neck. “In the morning we can make an excuse for Kon and Max to leave.”
“Why?” Gio adjusts with me. “You’re making me sweaty.”
I roll away only for him to close the space between us and spoon me. “Why do you want them to leave?”
“So we can have some intense time together.”
“This wasn’t intense enough?” He drops his leg over my hip.
“A different kind of intense.” I guide his hand to my breast. “You being so open is sexy as hell.”
He hums against my neck. “I feel better.”
Honestly, I do too. Knowing that Gio is going through something so similar as I am right now. Trying to put the pieces together, and trying to make things make sense is nice. I feel less alone, less ridiculous. And right now, I feel like I know Gio better than I ever have before.