Chapter 9

Elliott

 

Sex with Shane had been amazing. Better than any encounter they’d had in the six years they were together. And that was saying something because the sex had always been pretty amazing. In fact, Elliott had sometimes wondered if the sex had been the biggest part of their relationship. He hadn’t known the answer to that until he’d been alone. For him, the sex hadn’t been the biggest part of what they had. He’d missed the sex, but not nearly as much as he’d missed Shane’s smile, his humor, his arrogance…his arms holding Elliott tight.

Wiping the tears from his eyes and cheeks, he smiled through the tears at his lover. When Shane smiled back, Elliott knew everything would be okay, even though neither of them had offered up an answer to the question he’d posed. He shifted his hips, his cock slipping free of Shane’s flesh. Wetness spread, his cum coating Shane’s thighs, Shane’s coating both their stomachs.

“We’re sticky.”

Shane’s smile turned to a grin. “Oh, yeah? Feels great, don’t ya think?”

A laugh escaped Elliott and rolled to the side only to be gathered up in Shane’s arms. He nestled his head on Shane’s shoulder. “Oh, yeah. I love this. Love you.”

Shane’s arms tightened. “Love you too.”

A slight pressure on the top of his head told Elliott Shane had dropped a kiss there. “You gonna answer the question?”

“Of course. I just don’t have all the answers yet.” Shane shifted and heaved a sigh. “The shrink says I need to deal with your being wounded and my reaction to it. I know that. I knew it then, but I was so scared, I didn’t know how. I promised her I’d let her help me.”

Shane rolled over, and Elliott reached out to stroke his fingers down the side of Shane’s face, so happy to have him close. “That’s good.” He swallowed hard. “But she’s there, where you live. I’m here.”

“I can’t make everything happen right away, but I will make it happen.” Shane turned his head and kissed Elliott’s fingers. “I’m going to retire. I’ll join your Guard group. If they took you, I’m sure they’ll take me.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Elliott frowned at Shane, not sure if Shane had really thought this through.

But Shane nodded, his dark hair spread across the pillow. “I do. I learned that I don’t want to be without you. If that means retirement, then that’s what I’ll do. To be honest, this last gig with the DEA has soured me. I hated being without my team and without you. I knew it was wrong the instant I stepped on the plane. But you know me, I’m stubborn and I wasn’t ready to say I was wrong.”

Shane kissed Elliott on the forehead and then the lips. Elliott’s heart stuttered. “You were wrong to walk away. You were entitled to your feelings. You just shouldn’t have walked away from me, from us.”

“I’m so sorry. So very, very sorry.”

Elliott could see the contrition on his lover’s face. He knew once Shane had cooled off, he’d rethought things. He always did. He just didn’t have the luxury of say sorry right then. He’d been stuck in his undercover job for the DEA.

“Promise me that the next time you let your Irish temper get the best of you, you don’t let two years go by before you apologize for it.” Elliott smiled, holding Shane’s navy blue gaze steadily.

“You got it, love.” Shane’s grin lit up the room and filled all the cold, empty places in Elliott’s heart.

“So you’re gonna move out here with me?” he asked.

“Yeah. I like what I’ve seen of this place. It’s quiet and peaceful. Just what a retired dude like myself needs.” He elbowed Elliott. “Gonna teach me to surf now?”

Elliott groaned. He’d tried many times to teach Shane to surf in Florida but despite Shane’s athleticism, he’d never gotten the hang of it.

“I’ll keep trying. Maybe you just need to be in the cold ass water of the Pacific in order to finally get it,” he teased.

Shane rolled to his back heaving another sigh. He turned his head toward Elliott who still couldn’t get over the fact that Shane was there, in his bed, in California.

“We can do this, El. We really can. We can serve our country. We can grow old together. All that stuff we said we didn’t need to do for years and years, we can do that now.”

The intense, focused expression on Shane’s face told Elliott his lover had been thinking about this for more than just a few hours this afternoon. That gave Elliott the assurances he needed to hitch his wagon to Shane’s once more.

“We can. Maybe we can even talk about kids after we’re both done with the Guard.” Elliott grimaced slightly. “You know they’ll kick us out someday.”

“I’m sure they will. But we could probably talk about kids way before that happens.” Shane’s grin widened. “We need to be young enough to chase after those kids, after all. And you know I always did want us to be a family. It’s that Irish clan thing in my blood.”

Elliott straddled Shane’s hips and stroked the hard contours of his partner’s chest. His heart began to race as the thoughts in his head made their way to his mouth. “I don’t just want to live together, Shane. I need more this time around. A real commitment.”

Holding his breath, he stared down at Shane and found his lover smiling back at him. He blinked, not expecting that Shane would look so happy. He’d figured on having to talk Shane into making their partnership legal.

Not willing to lose the momentum he’d built up, Elliott found himself blurting, “Marry me.”

Shane’s smile turned into the biggest, widest, happiest grin Elliott had ever seen on his partner’s face.

“Fuck, yeah! If you hadn’t brought it up, I was going to.” Shane pushed himself up and Elliott found himself crushed in a huge hug. “Yes, yes, yes! I will absolutely marry you!”

Elliott hugged Shane back, clinging to him. “When?”

“How about a year from today? That gives me a chance to retire, move to the Guard, and move out here. What do you think?”

Shane’s smile never wavered and Elliott knew in that moment that the last two years had only been a test. A stupid one maybe because not only had Shane walked away in anger, Elliott had let him. He would never do that again. And the separation showed both of them that what they had was real, would last and could survive adversity. They just had to be honest with each other and not let anger get in the way of what was important. And the most important thing was them, their love and commitment to each other.

Elliott tumbled Shane back into the sheets, both of them laughing and happy. He brushed Shane’s dark hair back from his face then leaned down to kiss him briefly, the press of their lips sparking their desire once more.

“I think we’re going to have the best happy ever after ever. I think I’m going to love being married to you, even when you’re an asshole.” Elliott kissed Shane’s mouth again. “At least, you’ll be my asshole.”

“Forever. Don’t forget the forever part,” Shane said, sounding happier than Elliott had ever heard him sound.

“I love you forever, how’s that?”

Elliott’s smile became a laugh as Shane rolled him over and rubbed his hardening cock against Elliott’s.

“I’m so glad I had to extract you from the cartel’s clutches,” Shane murmured as he began to trail kisses along Elliott’s throat.

“What do you mean you extracted me? I extracted you!” Elliott’s voice came out muffled as Shane brushed a kiss across his lips.

“When we get married we need to buy a boat and name it Extraction, then we can extract each other forever.”

Elliott liked Shane’s idea. A lot. He also liked the way Shane’s mouth wound its way down his torso, stopping to lick Elliott’s very sensitive nipples. He gave up on the idea of replying as Shane’s mouth moved even lower down his body. He’d tell him later. Much later. After all, they really did have forever with each other now.