I murmured against his lips. “I want to deserve your forgiveness. I’m going to keep you safe and happy.”
“I love you,” he whispered. I kissed him more, ignoring the pain in my left shoulder as I craned my neck to lick deeper into his mouth. He moaned with relief.
He kissed me like he’d been starving for me, and my chest ached in a way that had nothing to do with bullets and broken bones. Michael whimpered, his body writhing, his fingers clutching my shirt, and his hard dick rubbing on my hip.
“You need me, my boy?”
“I need you so much.” He pressed his nose to the base of my throat, breathing me in. “Please.”
“God, I wish I could make love to you.”
“Please, Daddy. I can’t… without you. Hurts. I need…”
“Kiss me and make yourself come.”
He quickly reached down into his sweats and pulled his cock out. Sucking on my tongue, he stroked himself hard and fast, and I fisted his hair, holding him to me as I kissed him back. He came within a couple of minutes, gasping into my mouth.
“That’s it. You’re so beautiful when you come for me. Let me taste you.”
He offered me his hand, and I cleaned it while he watched with open adoration in his features. I kissed him again, long and thorough, until his body went limp against mine. He fell asleep, glued to my side.
I still needed that damned painkiller, but I wouldn’t wake him. I knew him well enough. He hadn’t slept last night. Michael would forgive me, probably sooner than I deserved because such was his generous heart. But I didn’t want to forgive myself for what I’d done to him.
I had to pull myself together. I couldn’t flounder and wallow in insecurities about our future. After everything he’d been through, Michael needed me to stand solid.
With my boy sleeping curled next to me, I made a decision. I’d build my life around his. For as long as he wanted me, I would be there for him.
22
Yes, it’s perfect
Michael
Vincent had said he didn’t want me to forgive him. So, I didn’t tell him I’d forgiven him the very night he came to stay with me. I couldn’t help myself. He’d licked my cum from my hand while he looked at me like I was something precious, and I lost my heart to him all over again. I reached for his groin, but he shook his head.
“Not now. Just stay here so I can feel you.”
I fell asleep almost immediately.
I slept with Vincent in the guestroom every night while my bedroom stayed empty. Never had I felt happiness so strong as when I woke up in the middle of the night, confused, and realized he was in bed with me, snoring softly or reading or just looking at me, whispering words of comfort.
“Another dream?” he asked quietly.
“No.” I blinked and refocused in the half-dark room. “Why are you awake? You should sleep more, Vincent, so you can recover.”
“Yes. I should recover fast. Mainly because I need to fuck you again soon.” He sounded completely serious.
“That too.” I smiled.
“Now sleep. It’s four in the morning.”
I closed my eyes again. “You too.”
He hummed. “I like it when you’re asleep next to me and I can see you, feel you… It’s almost like I’m keeping you safe again.”
“You are keeping me safe. And you’re making me happy. Exceptionally happy.”
“I love you, Michael.” He pressed a butterfly kiss just under my ear.
During the days that followed, Vincent read or worked on his iPad. I picked up my painting again, and a suspicious amount of deep green appeared on the canvas. Letting myself go without plans or expectations, I kept returning to the forest with Vincent, to the day he’d fucked me raw by the lake. So that was what I ended up putting on canvas, passion and pain and love in the middle of the forest… Never satisfied, I kept redoing it, adding details, then covering them up again. And I started a portrait of Vincent reading in my garden. Some days I spent ten hours working on it. It had been a long time since painting had brought me so much joy. I savored the feeling.
Fairly quickly, my staff began treating Vincent as my boyfriend without me telling them anything. When my housekeeper, Ana, accosted him by the front door, asking which groceries he preferred for breakfast, so she could add it to the regular order, he looked a little bewildered.
Louise and Vincent became friends,