Like Two Parting Seas

By Zhara Freytes

After two years of internet chats and crappy video calls, Nathan and Leonardo will finally meet face-to-face, and the anticipation is killing them both. Their slow-simmering desire to be together soon boils over as Nathan shows Leo around his hometown of Boise, Idaho. Witty conversation fills their days, passion fills their nights, and both young men know they belong in each other’s lives. But how can a romance, let alone a relationship, work when Nathan’s career is in Boise and Leo must soon return to his home in Italy? Since neither is ready to say goodbye to the budding love affair, they’re determined to find a solution before the end of Leo’s holiday.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
• Release date: Aug 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635338966

Book preview

Table of Contents

Blurb

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

About the Author

By Zhara Freytes

Viist Dreamspinner Press

Copyright

Like Two Parting Seas

By Zhara Freytes

After two years of internet chats and crappy video calls, Nathan and Leonardo will finally meet face-to-face, and the anticipation is killing them both. Their slow-simmering desire to be together soon boils over as Nathan shows Leo around his hometown of Boise, Idaho. Witty conversation fills their days, passion fills their nights, and both young men know they belong in each other’s lives. But how can a romance, let alone a relationship, work when Nathan’s career is in Boise and Leo must soon return to his home in Italy? Since neither is ready to say goodbye to the budding love affair, they’re determined to find a solution before the end of Leo’s holiday.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Dedicated to everyone who believed in me. Thank you.

Chapter 1

Nathan

THE BOISE Airport was buzzing when Nathan arrived, as most airports were during the peak hours of any given day, people coming and going, hurrying to catch their flights to parts unknown. Though he lived less than ten minutes away, Nathan had been standing in the same spot waiting for Leonardo’s flight for thirty minutes, trying to push down the nerves that continued to boil within him as time ticked by. The crowds around him weren’t helping either. He never did do well in large crowds; it always took him back to third grade when he peed himself during the choir event as they were singing Silent Night for the Christmas special. And that very thought was what led him to the nearest bathroom, wobbly knees barely holding him up on his quest through the hustling establishment.

Giving himself a short pep talk in the men’s bathroom, he told himself there was nothing to worry about, that everything was going to go as planned, and boy, had he planned for this. Ever since Leo first talked to him about coming to the States a little less than a year ago, Nathan had been coming up with places for them to visit and things for them to do while he was here. Part of him was terrified the man he’d grown attached to would be disappointed if he came to find out Nathan was a homebody who would much rather lie on his bed watching his soaps or reading a good book as opposed to going out and partying like any normal twenty-two-year-old. The other part half assumed the Italian native knew how boring his life was whenever their conversations boiled down to the so… what did you do today? cringeworthy questions. Work, home, sleep, work. That was what Nathan’s life pretty much consisted of.

Nathan imagined himself barreling through the rows of occupied chairs as passengers made their way toward the baggage claim area in a sad attempt to flee from having to see Leonardo. Watching tired face after dragging feet, he became more and more nervous, shifting his weight from one leg to the other until there was suddenly a pair of piercing blue eyes he’d come to memorize over the years locked with his not-so-extraordinary brown ones, and a smile that mimicked the intensity and beauty of a thousand suns flashed toward him.

Leonardo Reyes was even more beautiful in person, and Nathan was hypnotized by the way he walked and the way he had to tilt his chin to meet his eyes. Standing at six foot one, Leo was taller than Nathan, who’d been left behind by nearly everyone he knew in high school at five foot ten. His frame was covered by a plain white T-shirt that stretched over his strong shoulders and long torso, hugging hips that swung with every step. His torso and legs clad in gray joggers that left little to the imagination—and to say Nathan had a vivid imagination would be an understatement.

Nathan.

Fuck, he nearly melted at this god’s feet from the sound of his name rolling out of licked-pink lips. It’s not like he hadn’t heard it before, each time nearly walking through the pearly gates, but to hear it in person, up close, the scent of a sixteen-hour flight radiating off this man he’d been pining over for some two-odd years, was overwhelming. He knew he wasn’t going to survive the next couple weeks.

Leo, he managed to choke out, his lips curling into a smile as he reached his arms around the other man, unable to stop himself from drowning his nose in the crook of his neck. God, he smelled so amazing, like sweet lavender. How were the flights?

The chuckle that escaped Leo was warm as he pulled away, adjusting his backpack’s strap on his shoulder before dropping his arm to circle his fingers around