He’d spent plenty of time trying to help people who didn’t want it, but Oscar knew Ryan wasn’t going to be a waste of effort. He was already wonderful. All he needed was to be able to see that in himself.
“I’d say you were a hero. Saving the sanctuary and all.” Oscar leaned closer to nuzzle Ryan’s neck, pressing a few soft kisses against it. His muscles were too sore for sex before he’d had another nice hot shower—hopefully with company again—but the closeness was still nice.
Hell, he would have taken the closeness over the sex, now. Which felt like a kind of personal growth for him, too. Love had been a long time coming, but he was ready to bask in it as much as he was allowed.
Thankfully, Ryan didn’t seem like he was about to stop him.
“Well, it’s not a permanent solution. We’ve got work to do. Donors to court. Revenue streams to explore. But… I think we can save it. And more importantly, I think it’s worth saving.”
“Yeah,” Oscar agreed, a sense of calm he hadn’t known in a long time washing over him. The feeling that for once, everything was going to be okay. “Definitely worth saving.”
With Ryan sticking around, he figured they had a pretty damned good shot, too.
