When he pulled out of me at the same time he ripped his mouth away, this noise that sounded like a whine came out of me for only a split second as his hand trailed down the front of my thigh. “Come here,” he said in that rocky rough voice that was lower and huskier than normal. He ran his hot palm up my hamstring before palming one of butt cheeks. “I want you on top of me,” he whispered. “I need you,” he used the same words he’d used on me so many months ago.

I didn’t need to be told twice. Getting to my knees, I went to his side, a little nervous, a little shy despite what we’d just done. Aiden was sprawled on his back, his boxer briefs were caught on his massive thighs just below the pink sac I’d been fondling minutes ago. Nestled into the base of rich brown pubic hairs, his swollen penis bobbed shiny and wet with his come and mine down to the root, the shaft mauve-colored against the trail of dark hair starting at his belly button.

“You are the sexiest man I’ve ever seen,” I blurted out, shaking my head as I took his lower body in again.

The small smile that crossed his face sent a shiver down my spine. He reached forward and brushed the pads of his index and middle fingers along my two lower lips. “You have no idea what you do to me, Van. No. Idea.” He repeated the motion. “Do you want to know how many times I’ve jerked off to you in this bed? In the shower? Every day I wanted a little more from you and a little more, and it hasn’t been enough.”

Good grief.

The only thing I knew for sure I wanted in that moment was his shirt off. He must have been thinking something along the same lines because his fingers went to my shirt. Before I knew it, it had been thrown to the floor, my underwear tugged off and flying in the same direction. As Aiden pulled his shirt over his head, I pulled his boxers down those muscular legs taking my time to touch those impressive muscles, my thumbs streaking up the inside of his thighs on the way back up.

Without a word, with those eyes burning a path all over my breasts and face, Aiden sat up reaching for my hips. His lips caught my nipple in the process. I was on my hands and knees straddling him a moment later, dragging the seam between my legs over the straining erection at the center of that endless body.

And then I was reaching back, aligning that broad tip against me, fully aware of how wet I was from him coming in me and loving the idea he didn’t care. His moan got lost in mine as I sank onto him slowly, his mouth hovering over the nipple he’d been sucking on. Aiden’s hands guided me to move over him. His lips urged me on, catching one breast and then the other, moving to the space between them with peppered kisses.

When I rocked back, sheathing him in me completely, Aiden laid flat on his back. His chin went high, the tendons along his neck straining. I swallowed up the sight of him naked, those wide shoulders against the pale gray of his covers, his sculpted pectorals rising and falling with his choppy breathing. My two favorite things to take in were the ridged muscles of his six-pack flexing on and off, and seeing my thighs along his hips and sides.

I couldn’t stop myself from leaning forward, planting one hand on the mattress beside his head, the other going to the center of his chest, his skin was hot, his muscles hard. One of his hands went up to cup the back of my head, bringing my face down for him to catch me in an open mouth kiss. We were in that position, still linked with our lips when he started drilling his hips up. We were still making out when I came, my inner muscles rippling, lost in my orgasm, when his penis twitched and he let out a hoarse groan, coming again.

I pretty much collapsed on him at that point, breathing harder than after I’d finished the marathon, more euphoric than ever in my life. Our bodies being aligned was overwhelming. His heart beating under my chin was more than I ever could have imagined.

His arms wrapped around my back, keeping my breasts against his slightly sweaty chest. Aiden hummed above my head, “I love you.”

And I hummed right back, my entire soul swelling. “I know.” Because I did. “I love you, too.”

“I know,” he said in return. The closeness between our bodies more apparent than ever in that moment.

“You really want me to go to Colorado with you?”

“What have I told you about stupid questions?” he asked. “Yes, I want you to.”

I smiled. “Sheesh. I just wanted to make sure. I want to go. I want to be where you are.” Before I thought twice about it, I told him what I would realize later was the most significant absolute truth in my life. “Home is where you are. I would go anywhere for you if you wanted me to be there.”

One of Aiden’s palms slid down the length of my spine, ending at the small of my back. He seemed to talk into my hair. “I don’t know anything about relationships, Van, but I know I love you. I know I’ve waited my entire life to love you, and I’ll do whatever I have to, to make this work.”

Maybe that was the thing about love I never understood before Aiden. Like football and art, like anything that anyone in the world has ever wanted, love was a dream. And just like a dream, there were no assurances behind it. It didn’t grow on its own. It didn’t blossom without food to feed it.

It was the greatest in its subtleties.

It was the strongest in its selflessness.

And it could be forever with someone who wasn’t afraid to never give up on the possibilities it presents.

Epilogue

“IT’S OVER. THE SAN DIEGO GUARDS HAVE MADE THE COMEBACK OF A LIFETIME. THEY’RE GOING TO THE SUPER—”