His breaths came shorter now, not quite sobs, Nic holding him too snug for that, but the tears, exhaustion, and frustration he’d been fighting for the past week were bubbling up and out. “If she has to go, I wanted her to go . . .” Three gulped breaths later. “To go to heaven and know Erin was there waiting for her.”
Nic shifted around to his side and lifted a hand, lightly grasping his chin and turning his face toward him. Cam startled at seeing tear tracks on his face too. “You wanted her to know that?”
Cam swallowed hard, admitting the truth. “I needed to know that.” He reached up, brushing the wetness from Nic’s face. “Why?—”
“Because I can’t stand seeing you hurt like this when I know you’ve damn near killed yourself to make it otherwise.”
God, this man. Behind that cold, hard mask, it was nothing but fire and feeling inside. So deep, so loyal, so self-sacrificing that Nic had stood by his decisions all week, even as he disagreed, even as he almost broke himself on this case. Like he’d done for someone else nearly thirty years ago and been disowned for. Because he’d do anything to protect and help those he cared for. That’s the man he was—the man Cam was in love with. And fuck if he didn’t want everyone to know it.
He leaned forward, forehead resting against Nic’s temple. “You know what else I regret?” he whispered hoarsely.
Nic wiped again at his face, then trailed the hand over his back, soothing, as he rested the other on his thigh. “You have nothing . . .”
“I regret that she might die not knowing I’ve fallen in love.”
Nic gasped, the hinge of his jaw opening under Cam’s lips, the hand on Cam’s back freezing while the other on his thigh tensed.
“She might never know that her son had found a smart, beautiful man, a soldier and lawyer, who would stand by her son’s side even when he didn’t deserve it.”
“Boston,” Nic rasped.
He drew back and framed Nic’s face in his hands, senses firing at the thicker than usual scruff prickling his palms. “I’m so sorry, baby. I realize now how much I want her to know you, to know you’ve made me happier than I’ve ever been, that I love you.” He tilted forward, dropping a kiss at the corner of his mouth. “I’m so sorry I was too much of a coward to tell her.”
Long, soothing fingers trailed up his back and carded through his hair. “You don’t owe me an apology.”
He shook his head. “I love you, Dominic. The last thing I want to do is hide that love from anyone. Can you forgive me?”
“Nothing to forgive.”
“Do you love me?”
Nic’s lips trailed across his cheek, nuzzling, as the hand on his thigh inched higher. “More than I should.”
“Then I’m ready to present our case.”
Nic pulled back, meeting his gaze. His pupils were blown so wide hardly any of the blue showed, but the dark brows across the top of them were knitted. “What are you saying, Boston?”
Cam smoothed over them with his fingertips, then down Nic’s face. “No more hiding, from anyone. Family, friends, the fucking Federal Building. I don’t want to regret not telling anyone how much I love you.”
Nic gripped his wrists. “You’re putting yourself in the line of fire. I need you to understand that.”
“I’m already there, baby.”
The fingers around his wrists convulsed, then constricted, Nic’s face taking on the determined look he got right before he went into a courtroom. The look that made Cam’s blood boil. “I won’t lose you.”
“We can’t be sure of that,” Cam said. He was a law enforcement officer, Nic was an officer of the court—anything could happen, that was their reality. So was the fact that he loved this man. “But I don’t want to waste another minute of loving you.”
“No objections.”
Nic captured his lips, the same sort of deep, claiming kiss from this morning. Only this time he wasn’t making an argument. And neither was Cam. The case was closed. Another victory, seemingly small but huge for them. Back to building what they’d started months ago, the both of them on the same schedule.
“Need you,” Cam mumbled against his lips. “Too long.”
Nic dropped a hand onto his thigh again, but it didn’t stay there long. He glided it up and over his erection, palming him through the cotton of his boxers. Cam groaned, thrusting into it. “Let me take care of you,” Nic whispered, stroking him as he ran a tongue up the side of his neck and shifted back behind him. “I just want to be here for you.”
All the tension of the past week bled out of him. Relaxing back into Nic’s body, Cam laid his head on his shoulder, baring his neck, and threw his legs over Nic’s knees. Spread wide, he rolled his hips and shoved his dick into Nic’s grasp. “Take me, baby.” Away from it all, for the space of a moment, to celebrate this victory they so badly needed.
Nic’s hands disappeared, but only long enough to strip off his shirt, then his warm, bare chest was against Cam’s back and his hands were on his body again, traveling two different directions. One cutting a path to his nipple, the other diving below his waistband. Cam lifted his hips, encouraging Nic to push his boxers down farther so it was easier to stroke and fondle. As Nic pumped him, Cam writhed back against the erection nudging his backside. His ass clenched in anticipation, wanting Nic inside him. The prosecutor preferred to bottom, but he’d been willing to switch on occasion when the urge hit Cam. And it was hitting him hard tonight, wanting that connection and more.
