It made all three of his hearts happy.
He held out his hand. Sawyer was quick to take it, and they walked out the front door of the police station.
“If someone had told me when I took this job that I wouldn’t even be locking the station when I leave it, I’d never have believed them.”
Ciaran laughed and, holding up his free hand, let his fingers morph into a tentacle. “We have very talented appendages.”
Sawyer burst out laughing and stopped walking so he could grab the tentacle. “You don’t have to tell me that because, lord, do I know it,” he said, then lifted it to his face, and Ciaran couldn’t help but caress his jaw and his neck before slipping in under the collar of his sweater, and Sawyer’s breath hitched.
This man, this very human man who accepted him so completely... made Ciaran more determined to do what he had planned.
“I have something for you,” Ciaran murmured.
“Yes, please,” Sawyer whispered, his desire wrapping around them both like tentacles of his own.
Ciaran groaned out a pained sound. “Mind out of the gutter. I need to do this first.” Taking Sawyer’s hand, he pulled him into his store. “Give me a couple minutes. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Okay,” he said, looking around the store. “I’ll just look at all the cool stuff without leaving finger marks on the glass, I promise.”
Ciaran went to the back room, but not to the catalogued items all stored neatly. He went to his personal items, the few trinkets he’d kept just for himself, and found what he was after.
He went back to the shop, expecting to see Sawyer peering at some artefact or the map on the wall he liked, but no. Sawyer stood in his store, staring out across the cove to the water. The night was eerily dark, the wind biting cold, but at least the rain had eased up. Ciaran’s store was warm, of course, but as he stoodlooking out at the inky black night and the even darker water, Ciaran didn’t miss the way Sawyer shivered.
Ciaran came up behind him and slid his arms around him, pressing his lips to the back of Sawyer’s neck. “Are you cold?”
“No, I....”
“You’re not scared,” Ciaran noted, because he’d be able to feel that. “But I can feel your trepidation. You’re wary?”
Sawyer sighed. “There’s no hiding anything between us, is there.”
Ciaran chuckled. “Nope.” Then he turned Sawyer around and put his hand on Sawyer’s cheek. “What are you wary of?”
“The water. I don’t want to fall back in. When I get too close, the pull I feel to go in....”
“Hey,” he whispered.
“It’s too real, and I can’t ignore it. I hear nothing else. Not even you.”
“I won’t let that happen,” Ciaran said, his eyes darting to each of Sawyer’s. “I won’t let you out of my sight.”
“What if that’s not enough?”
“Then I won’t let go of your hand,” Ciaran said and slid his hand into Sawyer’s, entwining their fingers and holding on tight. It was such an innocent thing to do, a sweet thing.
They smiled at each other, and Ciaran’s hearts all felt a whole size too big. “I cannot believe how happy it makes me to even hold your hand.”
Sawyer laughed. “Same. Feels like the first time. And we will have a lot of firsts, I think.”
Ciaran couldn’t believe how truly happy he felt. And how happy Sawyer felt, because Ciaran could feel that too. The love between them was so pure, and what he was about to do suddenly felt very right.
“So,” Ciaran hedged. “Before, earlier, you mentioned something...”
Sawyer pressed his palm to Ciaran’s chest. “You’re nervous.”
Ciaran let out a laugh. “Yes, but I don’t know why.”
Sawyer’s eyes were imploring, the clearest blue. “What is it?”
