-x-
Kevin sighed as a buzzing sound filled the room. He squeezed the warm body in his arms before letting go and reaching his arm out to smack the alarm off.
"Turn it off completely.”
Kevin opened his eyes at the murmured instructions. "Hmmm?" Kevin said.
"Turn off the snooze," Nick said tiredly. "Corey knows so there's no need for you to sneak off early anymore."
"Good point," Kevin said while turning the alarm off and wrapping Nick snugly in his arms.
-x-
Kevin slicked his wet hair back as he stepped out of the bathroom. Smiling at the way Nick was curled up in bed he walked over to him. Leaning over him he shook his head causing drops of water to land on Nick, making him shiver.
"Time to wake up baby," Kevin said softly.
Blue eyes fluttered open to look up at him. Nick smiled slightly and yawned while stretching. "Hmmm morning," he said in a rough, sleep filled voice.
He let Kevin tug him up from the bed and wrapped himself around Kevin’s damp body.
-x-
Nick rubbed his hair with his towel. Working a small amount of gel through his hair he quickly spiked it up. He left the bathroom after washing his hands and tugged on a pair of light grey pants. He checked his messages on his cell phone while making his way to the kitchen where he stopped short at the sight of Kevin moving fluidly around his kitchen clad in a pair of charcoal grey trousers.
Kevin turned around to set something on the table and caught sight of him standing there. "Morning Nick," he said with a smile. "We match," he said while indicating that they both had different shades of the same color on.
"We certainly do," Nick said while moving close to him with a smile as Kevin drew him in for a kiss. Nick sighed and nuzzled Kevin's neck before placing a soft kiss there and pulling back.
"What're you making?" he asked while surveying the table where Kevin had placed butter, milk, coffee and a bowl of strawberries and blueberries mixed in cream.
Kevin ran his hand down Nick's back before turning away to tend to the food. "Waffles," he smiled at Nick's impressed look. "Since I don't have to sneak out at unreasonable hours anymore I figured I'd actually cook. It’s a much better option than both of us grabbing cup after cup of coffee.”
Nick smiled and quickly kissed Kevin, "Thank you. Can I help with something?"
Kevin shook his head, "No. Just sit down, it's ready."
He served them both two waffles each and sat down himself. They proceeded to smother their waffles with butter and the cream covered berries before digging in.
-x-
Kevin watched as Nick raised his arms above his head and stretched. He smiled as Nick’s pants slid down a little bit to reveal his black boxers.
Nick quirked his eyebrow at Kevin when he noticed that he was looking at him. When Kevin shook his head he shrugged and put his shirt on.
"What're your plans for the day?" Nick asked Kevin while they continued to get ready.
“Got some files to review and a meeting with some of the directors and senior management which you’re welcome to attend by the way. You are a major shareholder after all,” Kevin said while fixing his tie.
Nick shook his head, "Is Stanton going to attend?"
"Yes."
"Then no thank you, I won't come. I sure dad will fill me in on it later."
Kevin sighed, "I wish you'd let me handle him."
Nick smiled slightly, "By all means please handle him but only if he does something to bother you that doesn't involve me."
"Yeah, yeah," Kevin muttered having had this conversation with Nick a few times already.
"Aww," Nick cooed and wrapped his arms around Kevin's neck. "It's really ok. I can tolerate that fool for now. I promise I'll let you handle him the day he crosses the line big time."
Kevin smiled and brushed his lips against Nick's. "Dinner tonight?" he asked while wrapping his arms around Nick’s waist. "Howie can whip up some Italian for us," Kevin said while trying to tempt Nick.
Nick groaned and nodded, "Sounds very perfect.”
-x-
Later that day in the evening…
Nick entered the Richardson house and headed to the kitchen. He smiled when he saw Howie grating some cheese while talking on the phone. They smiled and waved to each other.
Nick sighed when he felt warm arms sliding around him.
"Hey," he whispered.
"Hey," Kevin whispered back while pressing a gentle kiss against Nick's neck.
-x-
Nick drizzled a little chilly olive oil over his salad and bruschetta before carrying the plate into the tv room. He sat down beside Kevin on the sofa and yawned.
"Hmm… excuse me," he said.
Kevin smiled and set a glass of water down next to Nick's plate. “Sleepy?"
Nick smiled and nodded. "Someone kept me up most of the weekend,” he said sweetly.
Kevin nudged him, "I sure as hell didn't hear you complaining."
Nick grinned, "Hey I never said I didn't enjoy it and wasn't a willing and enthusiastic participant.”
Kevin joined Nick in laughter and shook his head.
“Do you want to stay over tonight?” Kevin asked.
Nick smiled, “I’d love to but I’m meeting Corey and his wedding planner for breakfast tomorrow. It’ll be easier if I stay at Sanctuary tonight.”
"What about dinner tomorrow?"
Nick looked at Kevin in confusion, "But tomorrow's Tuesday."
Kevin nodded, “It is my dinner night with him but I think you should come. What’s the harm?” he asked when he saw the doubtful look on Nick’s face. “I don’t see any reason why you can’t come,” Kevin said while stroking Nick’s wrist. “You came once before.”
Nick tried not to let on how affected he was by Kevin’s actions but figured he already knew thanks to the way his pulse has sped up.
He sighed, “There’s no harm I guess. I’m just nervous. I’ve been avoiding being alone with dad the last couple of weeks,” Nick admitted.
Kevin looked at Nick in surprise, “Why? Has he been talking about a guy called Ryder Cullen to you?” he asked in alarm.
Nick frowned and shook his head, “No. Who is he?” he asked curiously.
Kevin knew he wouldn’t be able to get out of giving Nick an answer and looked at him seriously. “Don’t tell your dad I told you or let on that you’re familiar with the name,” Kevin cautioned.
“Ok,” Nick instantly agreed.
“Cullen’s been in talks with us about letting him buy out Marten’s shares of Carter-Richardson. He’s also been very curious about and expressed a desire to meet you.”
Nick frowned thoughtfully, “Now that you mention it that name does sound familiar. I just can’t remember why and from where.”
“I’m sure it’ll come to you,” Kevin said. “Why have you been avoiding your dad?” He asked while changing the subject.
“He’s been trying to ask me if I’m seeing someone,” Nick said.
“I’m sorry Nick, I know you don’t like lying to him,” Kevin said.
Nick shook his head, “That’s just it! I haven’t lied but I haven’t told him the truth either.” He rubbed his eyes, “He’d wanted to ask me when I’d met him the day after I got here. You remember our first night at Sanctuary? The day after that. Luckily we were interrupted before he could ask. The next time was the night I had dinner with both of you. He’d just asked me if I was seeing someone and the elevator had opened to reveal you. I don’t know how much more time I have before my luck runs out so I’ve been avoiding being alone with him. Stupid I know but I’m not ready to tell him anything.”
Kevin squeezed Nick’s hand, “I know you said that you want to tell both our fathers soon after each other. I’ll call dad and tell him right now if you want.”
“And that’s another thing! What are we going to tell them?" Nick asked restlessly. “I don’t think, ‘we just sorta hooked up and started to have a good time’ will go over real well with them,” he said sarcastically. “Not to mention your mom will kill both of us.”
Kevin looked at Nick, “Well I hope you don’t still see us as just hooking up. We’ve evolved to more than that. Neither of us expected more but it’s happened. We aren’t just two people who hooked up to have a good time. We do genuinely care about each other. We HAVE been dating Nick, not hooking up for months now. We stopped hooking up just weeks after we first started to.”
Nick moved closer to Kevin, “I didn’t mean it the way it came out. I’m sorry.”
Kevin shook his head, “No apologies required or needed,” he said while lowering his head to brush his lips against Nick’s.
Nick responded wonderfully as always and slid his arms around Kevin.
“Are you sure you can’t spend the night?” Kevin asked while tugging Nick closer. “We can just… sleep,” he said causing Nick to grin.
“We never just sleep Kevin,” Nick said with a laugh.
“I thought you guys were meeting for dinner tomorrow night. Won’t you see him then?” Kevin asked although he already knew that Nick wouldn’t change his plans with Corey for him.
Nick chuckled, “Dinner will be with other people around. That’s socializing. Breakfast is about Nick and Corey time. Going over wedding details and generally just us spending time together. I had no idea of all the effort that that goes into planning a wedding.”
Kevin smiled innocently, “Well at least you’re getting good practice for when it’s your turn.”
Nick didn’t deem it necessary to respond verbally to Kevin’s words and just stuck his tongue out at him causing Kevin to laugh.
-x—x-
Whew…
Ok a few things to say..
HIAB is not going to be a very long story. There are only a few more chapters left before it ends and we move onto ‘An Ideal Marriage?’
CJ and I had started writing Matt and Corey’s story awhile back and happened to mention it to a few readers who expressed a desire to read it. http://2writetogether.livejournal.com/1987.html
We also meant to post a Valentine’s Day story. It’s about how Kevin and Nick meet.
http://2writetogether.livejournal.com/2147.html
As of now Matt and Corey’s story and the Valentine’s Day one will only be posted and updated on our lj. So feel free to read it on there if you’re interested.
A few people emailed me to say they couldn’t post comments on the lj. I have changed the setting so now anonymous users can.
Thank you.
Author's Chapter Notes:
A big thank you to our awesome beta reader Linda.
