He laughed at my non-answer, pulling me even closer to him. I wove my fingers into his hair and brought his forehead against mine, soaking in the utter bliss of being in his arms again.
“I cannot believe you were able to do all this. This is above and beyond anything I imagined coming home to.”
“I told you I’d give you anything you want as long as you come back to me,” he purred in my ear.
“Mmm, anything?” I leaned back to catch his eye. “What if what I wanted was to sneak off into the woods right now and fuck that tight, sweet hole of yours?”
Dawson’s sharp intake of breath and the way his hands slid down to squeeze my ass sent blood straight to my dick.
“Jesus, I’ve missed that dirty mouth of yours…” he groaned, nipping at my bottom lip. “Let’s go.”
He gripped my hand and started steering us away from the barn towards the darkened treeline, but just then the music shifted and stopped me in my tracks.
“Wait!”
Dawson turned back to me with a worried expression, but it morphed into curiosity at my watery smile. Without a word, I dragged him over to the center of the dance floor. I draped myself over him and laid my head on his shoulder as we started a slow sway to the familiar Aerosmith ballad.
I started laughing softly, tears rolling unbidden down my cheeks in a confusing blend of emotions. Dawson lifted his shoulder gently, urging me to look up at him.
“Baby, are you okay?”
My cheeks ached from the grin that I couldn’t stop, even as more tears escaped and I laughed at the absurd perfection of the moment. I let the lyrics wash over me and fill my soul, just as it had that day in music therapy and I thought about what song I wanted to represent my future.
“I’m perfect,” I told him honestly. “I was just thinking this is a great ‘soul song’, you know?”
Dawson’s brows pinched together. “What’s a ‘soul song’?”
“I’ll tell you later,” I sighed, laying my head back on his shoulder as we spun around lazily. “Right now, I don’t want to miss a thing.”
Dawson’s Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
New Orleans came alive at night in a riot of colors and music along Bourbon Street as Theo and I wove our way through the dense crowd. Theo had the bright idea to take me out tonight to nurse my non-existent wounds following our loss in the College Football Playoffs earlier that day. It had sucked losing by only six points, but I had no regrets over how my football career had come to an end.
However, when my boyfriend had offered to play designated driver—or rather, designated walker—for me out on the infamous Bourbon Street, I couldn’t refuse. Theo was committed to staying substance-free following his stint at Harbor House.
It had only been a couple of weeks since he’d been discharged, but the change in him was remarkable. There was a lightness in him that I hadn’t truly seen since we were teenagers before he’d been faced with the reality of his diagnosis. I didn’t think it was possible, but Theo enjoyed being on his new medication and was diligent in taking it daily.
That wasn’t to say everything would always be as good and peaceful as it was now, but he and I were ready for the bad days when they came. Along with Maggie, we had come up with a plan for if or when Theo’s symptoms re-emerged. For now, we weregoing to enjoy and revel in every good day that we woke up to because we knew how precious they were and we didn’t want to take a single minute for granted.
And right now, I was looking forward to the goodnightI planned to enjoy with Theo back at our hotel.
He was currently weaving us through the dense crowd with my hand clasped tight in his. His sleeveless black tank showcased his toned biceps and those sexy as hell tattoos that I wanted to kiss and bite all night. I stumbled over my own feet as I ogled his ass, and Theo glanced over his shoulder at me.
“I think we’re almost to the bar, and Nate said they’ve got seats saved for us, so you’ll be able to sit down.”
I dug my heels into the ground, tugging on his hand. “I don’t want to go to the bar,” I said, hearing the booze start to leech into my voice.
Theo turned to me and cupped my cheek, furrowing his brows. “Are you okay, babe? You’re not feeling sick or anything, are you?”
I slowly shook my head, gripping his ass with my free hand and stepping into him until his denim-covered cock brushed against mine. I watched his pupils dilate and the breath catch in his throat, so I leaned in for the kill.
I took his earlobe between my teeth, nipping it gently and sucking it into my mouth in a rhythmic pull. Theo’s deep groan vibrated from his chest into mine and my cock pulsed when he thrust his hips forward.
“I need you to take me back to the room, bend me over, and wreck my hole so that I can’t sit down for a week. I want to be so full of your cum that it leaks out of me all day tomorrow,” I rasped in his ear.
Theo gripped my jaw and slammed our mouths together in a brutal assault on my senses. I didn’t give a fuck that we were outside in a crowd of hundreds of people. If he wanted to fuckme right now, I’d eagerly drop my pants and scream his name so everyone around us knew who I belonged to. All too soon, Theo released me and spun on his heel, my hand in a death grip as he hurried us in the direction of our hotel.
