Capitulates.
Maybe I do too.
My pelvis rolls without permission, another rough sound tearing from my chest, and Galen kisses it away. Finds my hand. Laces our fingers together above my head, grounding me as he moves with more intent, as he fucks me with a slow, deliberate rhythm that has me gasping and pushing back for more.
And like that, the pain goes. It dies with the heartache and wreckage we’ve staggered through to get here, with Galen bearing down on me on the living room floor, lights flickering as if they’re as breathless as I am.
He grips my hand tighter and moves with sharper intent, the push and pull of him inside me so electric I’m dizzy to it.
And him? Merde, he’s so fucking beautiful. The way his muscled body flexes as he fucks me. The way his eyes gleam as he tracks every harsh groan spilling from my unhinged mouth. The raw sound that falls fromhim, low, rough, and so full of fucking need.
“Fuck.” I cling to him, fingers slipping on his damp skin as shocked pleasure crests inside me. “I’m close.”
So fucking close. Everything clenches tight and the world fades. I’m flying and it’s messy, and he’s right there with me.
It’sloudas a shout punches out of him, and the heat of him pulsing inside me sends me tumbling into white-hot bliss.
I come like I’m being exorcised. And I’m not the same person when it’s over. I’m made new, like I was the night I fucked Galen upstairs while snow fell outside.
I’m shaking.
No.
He is. I feel him against my chest, in my arms, as his lungs labour for breath.
I’d give him mine if I could. And I know he’d give it right back.
For me. For Esme.
My hand finds its way to his soft auburn hair, just long enough to rub my fingers through while he sighs into my neck.
“It’s my turn to look after you.”
I kiss his temple. “You do look after me.”
Galen makes a sound that might be a counter-argument, but there’s no weight to it. Nothing but love in his eyes as he raises his head, gaze finding mine, the cheeky grin he wore that night on the road last year firmly in place. “Told you it’d feel good.”
I laugh, beyond words.
He laughs too, still shivering, and after a quick cleanup, that’s us for the longest time.
We don’t mean to fall asleep on the floor, but it happens anyway. It’s dawn when I wake to find he’s got up at some point and covered us with the thick blanket we keep on the couch for Esme’s naps.
He’s still sleeping, and as morning slips through the crack in the curtains, pale winter gold brushing his Irish skin, I don’t move either.
Last night…it was everything. But this is the shit dreams are made of. Just Galen breathing beside me, his hair a copper halo on the couch cushions he tossed on the floor, his hand resting on my chest, his face more peaceful than I think I’ve ever seen it.
With sex and breakfast on my mind, I stroke his knuckles with my thumb, not hiding from the new scars there—the ones he earned a few months ago on a call he still can’t talk about. Accepting that to love him, I have to loveall of him, the way he loves me, even the parts that might take him from me. Soaking up how unguarded and young he looks right now. How good he smells. How amazing he feels with his legs so tangled in mine.
God, I love him.
A thought loud enough to wake him up.
Galen stirs, mumbling something into my ribs before he cracks his eyes open. Before he smiles, and the emotion settling in my heart is too big for fucking words. “Hey there.”
I nuzzle his cheek. “Hey yourself.”
“Is it morning?”
