“That’s why I burned your things. I didn’t do it because they wereyours. I did it because they wereours.”
And Logan, unable to withstand the torrent within any longer, seized Adrian, drew him into his embrace, and clasped him with the utmost ferocity, inhaling his presence, hungering for proximity.
Logan pressed his lips to Adrian’s like a man drowning, clutching at the only thing that could bring him back to the surface. His hands trembled as he held him, his body wracked with sobs, salt from his tears marking Adrian’s skin.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered into Adrian’s lips, his voice breaking around the edges.
But Adrian pulled him closer, arms wrapping around him like the warm embrace of the sea after a lifetime spent fighting against the current.
“No,” he murmured. “We’ve already passed it.” He gazed at Logan then, the molten whisky of his eyes full of something vast and endless. “I’m just grateful you came back to me. And don’t you dare apologize for it ever again, okay?”
Logan nodded, unable to speak, his throat thick with grief, with love, with the weight of everything he had lost and found again in Adrian’s arms. Adrian’s thumb brushed the tears from his cheeks, the touch reverent, soft, caressing his face with a tenderness unmatched in its intensity.
“I love you, Ad. So, so much.”
And then Adrian kissed him, and Logan melted into it, let himself fall, let himself be carried away like a wave surrendering to the pull of the moon. His tears kept falling, but he let them, trusted Adrian to catch them, to wash them away, to make them disappear like footprints in the sand at high tide.
And he did.
Adrian’s hands were rough but tender, his fingers threading through Logan’s hair as he kissed him deeper, as if sealing up every wound Logan had ever carved between them.
Then Logan felt Adrian’s cock stirring against his, causing him to gasp against his lover’s lips as his own body readily reacted to Adrian’s desire. Logan pushed their hard lengths against each other as he started to press a trail of kisses down Adrian’s neck, tasting his skin and feeling the shiver that ran through him.
His lips mapped the ridges of Adrian’s body, worshipping him in a way he never had the words for. He traced the curve of Adrian’s collarbone, his breath warm against fragile skin, his tongue drawing invisible poetry over a body he had once known so well. His hands joined, too. Roaming with a tenderness that bordered on the rhythmical, exploring with a gentleness that captured the essence of the moment, weaving a narrative through every touch and caress, his fingertips ghosting over ribs that stood more prominently now, along the lines of Adrian’s stomach, the jut of hishipbones. Logan pressed his lips there, letting them linger, breathing him in. There was something numinous in the way Adrian trembled beneath him, the way his breath hitched when Logan kissed lower, the way his body arched.
Adrian’s fingers tangled in Logan’s hair, anchoring him, tethering him to this moment. There was no rush. No frantic, desperate hunger like there had been in the past. This was something else. This was measured, careful, a love letter written with mouths and hands and the weight of the truths uncovering. It was a whisper in the dark, a prayer pressed into skin.
Logan kissed the inside of his wrist, where his pulse fluttered weakly, and whispered against his skin, “I’ve got you.”
Adrian exhaled a shaky breath. “I know.”
Logan’s hands gripped Adrian’s thighs, his fingers pressing into the soft flesh just enough to leave the faintest imprint, as if he needed to mark him, to claim him. Adrian’s chest rose and fell in uneven breaths, his fingers twisting into the sheets like they were the only thing keeping him tethered to this world. His lips were parted, his eyes dark with pleasure, and Logan thought he had never seen anything more devastatingly beautiful. He wanted to ruin him. He wanted to worship him. He wanted to take his time, to savor him, but there was also a hunger simmering in his veins, a need that started to burn through him like wildfire.
“Fuck,” Adrian choked out, his voice raw, wrecked, as Logan’s tongue licked over his cock, from base to root, leaving a wet trail behind. Then, Logan took him into his mouth, both of them groaning with longing, with satisfaction as Logan started to work Adrian’s dick, taking it as far back into his throat as possible.
Logan’s mouth moved over Adrian’s cock with reverence, the taste of him intoxicating, a familiar elixir that went straight to his head, giving him a heady feeling. Every slide of his lips and flick of his tongue carried intention, forming a language unique to them, filled with longing and regret, love and redemption. The weight of Adrian’s beautiful cock on his tongue sent a shiver through Logan as desire coiled tightly within him, and he sucked more intensely, his tongue gliding over Adrian as he took him deeper into his throat.
But it wasn’t enough. It could never be enough.
With a growl that reverberated through both of them, Logan released Adrian’s cock, the wet sound of his mouth leaving him echoing in the room. Adrian’s eyes, dark and wide, blinked down at him in dazed confusion, but Logan was already moving. He slid off the bed, falling to his knees on the hardwood floor, the roughness grounding him even as his mind spun.
He grasped Adrian’s legs and pulled him forward, the friction of sheets whispering under him until Adrian’s hips were perched at the edge of the bed, legs thrown over Logan’s broad shoulders. Adrian’s surprised gasp filled the room, a sharp intake of breath that sent a bolt of desire straight to Logan’s cock.
Logan looked up, meeting Adrian’s gaze, a devilish smirk curling his lips before he lowered his mouth to that tender stretch of skin behind Adrian’s balls. He placed soft kisses there, then opened his mouth to lick, to suck, the sensation tearing another moan from Adrian’s throat, a mellifluous sound, the very echo of Logan’s dreams, had haunted his thoughts, tormented his nights, and breathed fire into every failed attempt to bury the desire he carried.
Logan’s grip on Adrian’s thighs tightened, his thumbs stroking gentle circles as he lavished attention on that sensitive spot, his tongue moving in slow, purposeful strokes. The way Adrian’s body responded, the way he twisted on the bed, fingers clutching desperately, made Logan’s heart clench and his cock throb painfully.
But it still wasn’t enough.
Logan pressed Adrian’s legs back, exposing him fully, baring him in a way that was both vulnerable and powerful. The sight of Adrian like this—spread open, glistening, his entrance twitching in anticipation—was enough to make Logan’s vision blur, his restraint nearly snapping under the weight of his desire.
He licked his lips, savoring the eagerness, the heat between them. Logan leaned forward, pressing a tender kiss to Adrian’s inner thigh before letting his tongue drag over that sensitive ring of muscle, tasting him, feeling him, driving him to the edge.
Adrian’s hands plunged down, one entangled in Logan’s hair, the other gripping the sheets as his head tilted back, a string of jagged gasps and curses escaping his lips. Logan’s name became a prayer, a plea, and a curse—merged into one—igniting the fire within him, the unfulfilled hunger that had smoldered for two long years.
Logan closed his eyes, losing himself in the taste, the scent, the sounds of Adrian coming apart above him. Every twitch of Adrian’s hips, every shuddering breath, was a victory, a reminder that despite everything—despite the time, the distance, the sickness—they were still here.
Together.
