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“Every night.”

“Damn.”

Sean smiled reassuringly. “It’s alright, I think...I’m going to be okay. Maybe falling off the side of a cliff did me some good.”

“I want to joke about you hitting your head and knocking something into place.”

“Doesn’t that count as making the joke?”

Aidan cocked his head. “What did you dream about...when you were in that cave?”

It was an astute observation, though Sean supposed he’d helped lead Aidan to the question. He wasn’t going to say his strangely vivid dream of Clint had made anything hurt less because it hadn’t. Clint had been one of them, a brother in arms and someone Sean was going to miss dearly. But even with the pain still throbbing in his heart, there was also the sensation of less weight bearing down on him.

Sean held his hand out, shaking his head. “Him.”

It was all he was willing to say at that point, not willing to admit he’d had a conversation with a dead man in his dreams. He expected Aidan to push him, but to his mild surprise, Aidan nodded, taking his hand. Sean tugged at him, pulling and making him fall forward. Sean scrambled to catch him before they crashed together.

Aidan hovered above him, snorting. “Smooth.”

“It’s been a while, okay?” Sean said, flushing slightly.

Aidan smiled. “Well, it’s good that I don’t mind giving you a little practice.”

Sean’s heart thudded harder as Aidan gently let himself fall the last few inches, bringing their lips together. Without missing a beat, Aidan settled his hips between Sean’s legs, parting their lips to dance his tongue across Sean’s. Heat flooded Sean, shoving away the last tendrils of sleep as his body awoke to his touch.

“I think I still have a promise to keep,” Aidan murmured, dropping his mouth to nibble at Sean’s jaw.

Another shiver tingled down Sean’s spine, and not just from Aidan’s teeth playfully nipping at him. It had been a coupleof years since he’d bottomed. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy those times, but it was always difficult for Sean to get into it with someone else unless he knew them very well. Sean shoved the nervous thoughts away as Aidan’s mouth reached his neck, telling himself that if he could trust Aidan to lead his men, then he could trust Aidan inside him.

Aidan’s hands skillfully undid the button to Sean’s pants, his fingers sliding beneath the band of his underwear. Letting out a slow breath, Sean raised his hips and let Aidan tug his underwear and pants off. Before settling back down, Sean tugged at his shirt, tossing it off the bed with the rest of his clothes.

Aidan, too, had removed his shirt, undoing his pants. “Seen your body a few times, but seeing it in a bed is something else.”

Sean laughed, running his hands over Aidan’s taut stomach. “First time I saw you in the shower, I felt like some teenager who’d never been turned on by someone else before.”

Aidan cocked his head. “Really?”

“Yeah, it was...distracting.”

Aidan bent forward, laying a gentle kiss on Sean’s stomach. The soft kiss was followed by a nibble at Sean’s side, drawing a low chuckle out of him as his body tried to decide if the touch tickled or simply felt good. From how hard his cock strained against Aidan’s chest, though, he was going to guess he was definitely not feeling too ticklish.

Aidan hesitated in his downward trip, looking up at Sean. “I didn’t think to bring anything with me.”

“After your promise?” Sean asked with a smirk.

“I was coming to talk. I didn’t, well, I didn’t come with an expectation of anything else.”

Despite how much they were obviously sexually compatible, there was something endearing about the idea that Aidan had come simply to talk. Sean wouldn’t pretend he was any good atintimacy or saying the right thing, but he hoped the smile he gave Aidan was enough to show what he was thinking.

Sean glanced at his bedside table and grunted. “Uh...I have lube.”

Aidan hesitated. “Just lube?”

Sean glanced at him, trying to read his face and failing. “Yeah.”

“Is that...okay?”

Sean frowned. “I mean...you were the last person I had sex with, and that was the first time in over a year.”