Chapter 20
Howie woke to the sound of rain battering against the window. Overnight the weather had taken a turn for the worse, and it sounded like it was blowing up a gale outside. Howie didn't care though. How could he, when he was holding AJ in his arms? He felt AJ shift in his embrace, and let out a contented sigh. Howie unconsciously tightened his hold on AJ, as a sudden fear took over. What if AJ woke up and regretted kissing him? What if he shouted at him for taking advantage of him when he was confused? What if…
He looked down and was met by the most beautiful pair of brown eyes he had ever seen. AJ blinked some of the sleep from his eyes so that he could focus on the face staring down at him. Suddenly AJ's smiled, a small, contented smile, which was interrupted by a massive yawn. Howie let out the breath he hadn't even realised he had been holding, and cracked a smile himself. At least he knew that AJ didn't hate him. His smile widened as he watched AJ rub the sleep out of his eyes. He looked so cute when he did that, and Howie was forced to bite his lip. He wanted to kiss him again, badly, but he didn't want to risk it.
AJ sighed again and stretched. 'God, life is good.' He thought. He had woken up feeling refreshed and rested; ready to face the world again, and it was all thanks to the warm body that was holding him. At first, in his semi-conscious state, AJ had only been dimly aware of the fact that there was someone in the bed with him, holding him. As he had awoken more, memories had flooded back to him from the night before. His nightmare, waking up in Howie's arms, their confessions, asking him to stay… that kiss. The memory of that kiss was what caused the contented smile that Howie had seen. Even now, the next day, AJ could still feel Howie's lips on his. As he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, he thought about how much he wanted to feel those lips again. Then, when he opened his eyes and came face to face with Howie biting his lip he knew what he had to do.
AJ moved slowly, watching Howie's face as he moved closer to his goal. Their lips met for the second time. Again the kiss was innocent, but this time they were both sure that they wanted it, and it was more like a promise of things to come. After a few moments, they pulled away, and AJ unconsciously licked his lips. Howie saw this, and had to stop himself from pulling him back down and kissing the hell out of him. He was just so damn irresistible when he did that.
"Howie?" AJ asked softly.
"Yeah."
"Thanks."
Howie looked down at AJ and smiled. He knew the thanks were for more than just being there for him last night.
"Anytime."
"Yeah?" AJ asked, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Yeah." Howie replied. Not missing the look.
AJ didn't say anything else; he just slowly crawled up Howie's body and leaned down, pressed his lips against Howie's and sucked on his bottom lip. Howie let him. He wanted to deepen the kiss, to pull AJ down onto him and never let him go. But he didn't. He was determined that he was going to leave that up to AJ, cos underneath all the love that he felt, there was still that fear that AJ was going to leave him. And if he was honest to himself, he would admit that he was still downright petrified.