Page 6 of Love and Chaos

“Perfect! These are so perfect!” Izzie threw himself at Kairo, wrapping his arms tightly around him and capturing his mouth in a kiss that robbed Kairo of his common sense.

The shower ended only when they ran out of hot water. Kairo’s legs were jelly, his fingers were pruney, and he was sated within an inch of his life. From his seat on the bench, he looked up at one wall covered with red hearts, sweet endearments, romantic proclamations, and some very filthy suggestions. He would definitely need to clean that off before the maid came through.

The silly gift was a hit, and it gave him some wonderful ideas for dirty messages he could leave his lover as a surprise.

“Come on, lazybones,” Izzie admonished with a loud, smacking kiss. “We have work to do. And this evening, I get to give you your gift.”

“If it’s anything like your thank-you, I might not survive it,” Kairo teased as he allowed Izzie to pull him to his feet.

“You’ll just have to wait and see…”

“You bought a boat,” Kairo said flatly, his eyes locked not on the small speedboat waiting for them at the end of the pier. Oh, no. Isidore Panopoulos didn’t do anything small. No, he was staring at the enormous yacht that was moored out in the bay because the damn thing was too big to bring into the marina.

His head snapped around to the grinning Izzie. “Did you seriously buy me a boat—no! A ship—for Valentine’s Day?”

Isidore held up one finger and very resolutely stated, “No.” Likely he was recalling Kairo’s edict for no more overly extravagant gifts, which included things such as property, vehicles, and artwork that required insurance. A ship qualified as a vehicle.

“That thing looks pretty damn new to me.”

“It is new. Well, rather new-ish.” Kairo’s eyes narrowed, and Izzie’s speech sped up. “I bought it months ago, shortly after we started dating. I wanted to take us sailing through the Mediterranean and the Aegean. Introduce you to all the different Greek islands.”

Crap. Kairo was melting into a puddle. With each word, Izzie was breaking down his defenses. His sweet, adorable boyfriend had planned a long trip to introduce him to his culture and home. It would have just been them—and the yacht crew—sailing about, spending time together and exploring. It sounded like heaven.

“But the Egypt thing happened,” Izzie finished in a low voice.

“Followed by West and the Gaoxing adventure,” Kairo added.

Izzie’s smile returned. “And we really haven’t left Gaoxing much. Just lots of zipping back and forth between here and Greece. Getting things set up. But I never forgot one night while we were having dinner, you saw a boat on the river and mentioned that you’d never been on an evening dinner cruise. So, when I knew we’d be in Gaoxing for a while, I had the captain bring the yacht here.” Izzie ended with a flourish of his arms extended toward the yacht.

“A sunset dinner cruise?” Kairo whispered.

“Yep! Everything is set up. Dinner on the deck, watching the sun set into the ocean in the west. We’ll sleep in the cabin while the crew takes us around to the other side of that island. That way, we can watch the sun rise over the ocean with our morning coffee.”

Kairo threw himself into Izzie’s arms, pressing his face into his neck to stop the tears that were trying to leak out. His throat was just one big knot, stopping all his words, but he didn’t have to say anything. Izzie understood. His perfect, romantic boyfriend held him so tight, content to stand there on the end of the pier until the end of time if that was what Kairo wanted.

“You’re amazing,” Kairo choked out, his lips still against Izzie’s throat.

“You deserve the world, and I’m determined to give it to you bit by bit during the course of our lives. Happy Valentine’s Day, my love.”

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Isidore. My perfect love.”

SAVE THE PRINCESS: AN EDISON & MAX SHORT STORY

Edison wove through traffic; his foot stomped on the gas so hard, it was nearly on the floor. He kept one eye on the cars in front of him and the other on the rearview mirror. So far, there was no sign of anyone following him, but that would undoubtedly change as he drew close to the rally point.

Less than an hour ago, Charlie had sent out a distress message to the team. There weren’t many details, but Ed already had a few guesses. Crown Prince Jin and West had recently announced their engagement to the world. As a result, several important diplomats and dignitaries had come to the royal city to take part in the engagement celebration. That would create ample opportunities for shit to go down.

The only problem he’d come across was that he’d been unable to reach Max. His sexy professor boyfriend was guest lecturing at Jin City University, talking about his many successful digs in Egypt. However, he should have been done with his lecture by now.

Ed tapped a button on the steering wheel. “Call Max.”

But once again, the call went straight to voice mail.

Damn.

It was strange that Max turned off his phone, but the battery could have died. His boyfriend was brilliant but forgetful. There was also the matter of adorable Max being incredibly popular with the students. They had a habit of keeping him late with their questions and demands for more stories.

Ed just prayed they could handle the problem without needing to leave the island of Gaoxing. He didn’t want to leave the country without Max knowing there was a problem.