I turn the burner down, wipe my hands on the dish towel, and cross to him. Drop to one knee so we’re eye-level. “Yeah. Just… watching you exist in our living room. In our apartment. Unpacking like it’s normal.”
His grin softens into something more vulnerable. “It is normal now.”
I reach out, brushing my thumb along his jaw. “That’s what’s getting to me. In the best way.”
He leans into my touch, eyes searching mine. “Talk to me.”
I exhale, let the truth come without armor. “I keep waiting for it to feel wrong. Like I don’t deserve this—don’t deserveyouhere, every day, every mess, every quiet morning. I spent so long convinced I’d ruined us that a part of me still expects the floor to drop out. That you’ll wake up one day and realize I’m too old, too broken, too… much of everything you shouldn’t have to carry.”
Luke’s hand finds mine, fingers threading tight. “You’re not too anything. You’re Silas. Steady. Kind. The man who learned how to let someone in after years of keeping everyone out. The man who asked me to move in because youwantme here—not because you’re scared to lose me again, but because you can’t imagine not having me.”
My throat tightens. “I can’t.”
He shifts closer until our foreheads touch. “Then stopwaiting for the other shoe. There isn’t one. I’m not going anywhere.”
I cup his face with both hands, thumbs stroking his cheekbones. “Tell me something small. Something I don’t know yet.”
He thinks for a second, then whispers, “I’m scared I’ll disappoint you. That med school will swallow me and I’ll become distant, or stressed, or not the version of me you fell in love with. That you’ll look at me one day and realize I’m not enough anymore.”
I shake my head, voice low. “You could never be not enough. I’m scared I’ll get too comfortable—too safe—and stop showing up the way you deserve. That I’ll forget how lucky I am and take this for granted.”
He laughs softly—shaky, relieved. “We’re both terrified of the same thing. Losing this.”
“Yeah.” I kiss him then—slow, deep, unhurried. His mouth opens under mine, warm and eager, and we sink into it like we have nowhere else to be. My hands slide under his shirt, palms flat against the warm skin of his back. His fingers thread through my hair, tugging just enough to make heat coil low.
When we break apart, we’re both breathing harder.
“Bedroom?” he asks, voice rough.
“Floor’s closer.”
His grin is wicked, eyes glittering with his amusement. “Even better.”
He tugs me down with him until we’re tangled on the rug—half on an open box of books, half on the carpet. Clothes come off slow, reverent: his shirt first, then mine, jeans shoved aside, boxers last. Skin meets skin and we both groan at the contact.
I roll us so he’s beneath me, kiss my way down his throat, his chest, the sensitive spot just below his collarbone that always makes him shiver. His hands roam my back, nails dragging lightly, urging me on.
“Silas…” My name is a plea on his lips.
I take him in hand—slow strokes, thumb circling the head until he’s leaking, hips rocking up into my grip. Then I lower my mouth, tongue flicking out to taste him. He arches, fingers tightening in my hair.
“So good,” he gasps. “Fuck—Daddy?—”
The word lights me up. I take him deeper, slow and deliberate, savoring every sound he makes, every tremor in his thighs. He’s beautiful like this—open, trusting, completely mine.
When he’s close—hips stuttering, breath ragged—I pull off, crawl back up his body, kiss him deep so he can taste himself on my tongue.
“I want you inside me,” he whispers against my lips.
I reach for the lube we keep in the side-table drawer now—convenient, permanent—and slick my fingers. He spreads for me, legs falling open, eyes locked on mine as I work him open—slow, careful, praising him the whole time.
“So beautiful… taking me so well… my perfect boy…”
When he’s ready—loose, trembling, begging—I line up and push in slow. We both groan at the stretch, the heat, the rightness of it. I hold still for a second, forehead pressed to his, breathing him in.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“Love you too,” he breathes back. “Move.”
