December
Julian woke on Christmas morning to the brush of a warm breeze scented with plumeria and ocean.
It took some doing to extricate himself from the bed without waking Rafi, but he preferred to have his teeth brushed and hair untangled before anyone saw him in the morning, even—perhaps especially—his boyfriend. He slipped free of the sinfully comfortable bed and stole into the suite’s bathroom.
Perhaps he needn’t have worried, Julian thought when he emerged to find Rafi just as he’d left him. The man slept like a stone. Like some Greek or Roman statue, a wonder of rigid marble carved into draped sheets and tumbled curls and delicate eyelashes. Julian felt a peculiar squeeze in his chest. I could look at him forever.
The illusion of marble broke; Rafi stirred, smiled sleepily witho
