It was because he belonged there.
Elliot’s breath hitched as he straddled me, knees bracketing my thighs, his hands gripping my shoulders for balance like his body didn’t quite trust the ground yet.
The world went quiet. Not empty. Just… gone. There was no ocean. No sky. No past. No future. Just me and him. Just us.
His weight settled against me, warm and real, and my body responded before my mind did. Shoulders dropping, breath deepening, spine loosening as if it recognized safety before language caught up.
I buried my face in his neck and breathed him in like I’d been starving for oxygen my whole life. Salt. Lavender. Honey and him
“I’m here,” I murmured. “I’m not leaving again.”
His breath stuttered. His fingers slid into my hair, trembling like his nervous system was testing the promise for fractures. “I don’t need perfect,” he whispered. “I just need you to stay.”
The words landed in my chest like an anchor. I pulled back enough to look at him. Really look at who he was in this moment. He wasn’t the shattered boy I’d carried out of the water. Or the fragile thing I’d tried to protect by running.
The man sitting in my lap, spine straighter, eyes clearer than I’d ever seen, grief no longer owning his breath. Was astounding. He’d grown in ways I hadn’t let myself fully see until now.
“You’re not the boy I met,” I said softly. “You’re something more now.”
His jaw tightened. His throat worked as he swallowed. “Then love me like the man I’ve become.”
It felt like a vow. Something ancient and terrifying and holy. I leaned in and kissed him again—slower this time. Deeper. Full of everything I hadn’t been brave enough to give him before.
His body melted into mine like his muscles had finally gotten permission to unarm. His hands slid down my back, not grabbing, just resting there, anchoring himself in the reality of me.
His breath stuttered into my mouth like he was finally letting himself be held without bracing for impact.
“You’re not what I wanted,” I whispered against his lips, the truth breaking out of me raw and aching. “You’re what saved me from wanting anything less.”
His face crumpled. For a heartbeat, fear spiked through me—sharp and cold—that I’d broken something sacred with the wrong words.
A second later he lurched forward and kissed me like he was sealing something eternal. And my fear melted.
“Anthony,” he pulled back, lips swollen, hazel eyes shimmering. “I want?—”
“Daddy, please,” I breathed, the words leaving me like a confession. “When we’re like this, baby boy.”
I cupped his face, grounding him with my thumbs along his jaw, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.
“I’m Daddy. I want to take care of you like you’re the most precious thing in the world. Because to me, you are.”
A soft, broken whine slipped free from the back of his throat. “Daddy,” he whimpered, clinging to me as though he was trying to make sure I was real.
And I held him. The way I’d always wanted to…without fear. “I’ve got you, baby.”
This wasn’t why I’d brought him up here. But the urgency I felt to reconnect with him in every way was mirrored in his face. In the way his pupils were blown wide, the way his chest rose and fell too fast, the way his hands kept flexing against my skin like his body didn’t know where to put all the feeling.
We’d made all these big declarations. We’d survived an emotional tsunami. Now all that remained was to let our bodies catch up to what our souls already knew.
This wasn’t the moment for something quick or brash. This was a moment for reverence. For slowness. For the kind of touch that told a nervous system:you’re safe now.
Gently, I settled Elliot down on his back on the blanket, never breaking eye contact, never letting my hands leave his body long enough for doubt to sneak in.
I covered him with my body, arms braced by his head, my weight careful, protective, enclosing him without trapping.
Traced the shape of his face with my lips. His brow. His cheek. The corner of his mouth. Before I sealed my mouth to his.When his tongue teased against my bottom lip, I was helpless to do anything but let him in.
That first brush of his tongue sent a wave of heat through me that couldn’t be quenched by anything but him. I needed to feel his skin against mine, feel the tight ass around me. Then and only then would I finally be home.
