didn’t then, and I have no intention of doing it now.”
Leo drew his eyebrows in a touch but waited for me to continue.
“I’ve always loved you. It didn’t stop. I’ve never fallen in love with anyone else—never been able to. I only ever wanted you. What kind of man does that make me? I love you more than anything and I hurt you more than I can ever atone for. I can’t say I’m sorry enough.” I stopped, not knowing what else to say.
Leo swiped at his eyes and I reached for him, but he withdrew, pulling just out of touching distance. “Can I…” He drew a breath and whispered his next words. “Absolute honesty?”
I nodded, although his words struck fear into the middle of my chest. “Absolute honesty.” We’d never work past any of this otherwise.
Leo focused on twisting his finger together. Twist, untwist. Twist, untwist.
I watched them too as he started to speak.
“I haven’t been in love with anyone since you, either.”
I should have been happy, but I wasn’t. Instinct told me Leo’s reason was because I’d broken him, not because he’d still loved me.
Twist, untwist.
“I was too damaged to love anyone else.” He laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. “I didn’t even love myself. I don’t think I even had a heart left to love with. You broke it.”
The desire to comfort him grew too much. I stood up from my seat and went to kneel by him before drawing him gently into my arms, waiting for him to accept my touch and my intention the whole way.
“I would rather lose my sight, never take another photograph in my life, than betray you in any way again. I’m not that guy, not that kid who loved you so clumsily and hurt you like it didn’t matter.” I stroked his hair, smoothing it back from his face. “And I know it’s a lot for me to ask for, but do you think you’ll ever trust me again? Are you able to trust me to handle your heart with care, Lee?”
He cupped my face, his gaze boring into mine like he was trying to see straight into my soul. Then he leaned toward me and my world slowed as I watched each micro-expression on his face as it moved closer. My eyelids fluttered closed and his lips grazed against mine, sweeping over and away before he brushed his mouth against me again, harder and with more passion. His lips parted and I drew in a breath as I felt the soft touch of his tongue. It wasn’t tentative. It demanded entry, and I gladly obliged, taking his tongue into my mouth and sliding it against my own.
As my thoughts started to swirl into a blur of sensation, I sat back. “I don’t want to stop. I don’t want you to stop. I want you to have all of me.” I didn’t look at him as I spoke, but he tilted my chin so he could see my eyes.
“I won’t want to stop, either. We aren’t kids anymore, Shayne.”
As the weight of his words sank in, I stood and offered him my hand. “Then let’s take this upstairs?”
He nodded. “Yes, please.”
I stopped at the foot of the stairs and drew him close, smoothing one of my hands over his ass cheek as I claimed his mouth. He chuckled against my lips and reached his arms around me before pushing his hands under my waistband and touched my skin.
“Shayne… going commando? Since when?” Laughter shone in his tone, and I lifted my eyebrows in response.
“Since... Oh, just since I ran out of clean underwear.” I followed my words with a casual shrug, and he chuckled, mischief glinting in his eyes.
“Mmhmm. Well, that happens to the best of us, I guess.” He grasped my cock through my pants, and I hissed as a jolt of pleasure raced through me.
Fuck, I’d missed his touch.
“I need to get you to my bedroom before I lose all my self-control right here.” We really weren’t kids anymore. We were grown-ass men who knew how to touch each other’s bodies.
He gestured forward. “After you. I like the view from back here.”
I led us quickly up the stairs and to my room, and a thrill shot through me as he cupped my ass.
“This is nice.” Leo looked around my space, suddenly ridiculously polite like he was just dropping in for a visit, and I began to unbutton my shirt as he walked away to check the view