Each one warmer, deeper, lingering a little longer like he was anchoring himself there.
“Well, you’ve got it now,” he said, voice husky and low. “You’ve got me. For good.”
I couldn’t breathe for a second. My chest felt tight in the best way. Like my heart had expanded too fast for my ribs to keep up.
His eyes didn’t waver. Didn’t flicker away. He was serious. Beau wasn’t just saying it because he thought I needed to hear it. He was saying it because he meant it.
“I love you, Sean,” he added, quietly but fiercely. Like a vow.
The world stopped moving.
“I love you, Beau,” I whispered, and the second the words left me, something inside my chest unlocked.
His breath hitched. Then he surged forward, not like a bear but like a man who’d been holding something back for far too long.
Our mouths met in a kiss that was gentle at first, tender and slow, but then his hand cupped the back of my neck, and I opened for him with a soft gasp, and everything tilted.
He tasted like cinnamon and tea, warm and familiar.
I slid my hands up his chest, fingers curling into the fabric of his flannel, tugging him closer until there was no space left between us.
He made a low sound in his throat and kissed me deeper, more firmly, as if he needed me to feel what he couldn’t put into words.
And I did. Every brush of his lips told me: You’re mine. I’m not letting go.
My body ached in places that were still healing, but I didn’t care. I would’ve let him kiss me forever if it meant I got to stay in that moment just a little longer.
When we finally pulled apart, breathless and flushed, his forehead rested against mine.
His hand stayed at the nape of my neck, fingers threading into my hair like he couldn’t bear to let me go.
“You sure?” he murmured, voice rough with emotion. “Because if I start picturing this forever, Sean… I’m not gonna be able to stop.”
I blinked back sudden tears. “Good. Don’t stop. I want you to picture it. I want to build it.”
He let out a shaky laugh and kissed my cheek. Then my nose. Then the corner of my mouth. “You’re too good for me.”
“Debatable,” I murmured, smiling as I brushed my nose against his. “But you’re stuck with me now.”
“Good,” he echoed.
Then he pulled me close again, wrapping his arms around me and tucking me under his chin like he needed to protect me from the entire world.
I melted into him, pressing soft kisses to his jaw, his throat, the curve of his shoulder. I couldn’t stop touching him. Couldn’t stop reminding myself he was here.
We stayed like that for a long while, curled together on the window ledge.
His thumb kept rubbing slow circles against my side. My hand stayed pressed over his heart, counting the steady, soothing rhythm.
And then I felt it, deep in my chest. A pull. A longing.
“Beau?” I whispered, my voice small in the quiet.
“Yeah?” he murmured, lips brushing the top of my head.
“I want your mark.”
His body went still. His breath caught, and then slowly let out in a soft exhale. He leaned back to look at me, eyes dark with emotion. “You sure?”
