Page 47

Oh, fuck.

I just…

Did I make this weird by saying I love you?

We’ve said ‘I love you’ before, so many times over the years. But not since we started…whatever this is. Not since I touched his dick. Or introduced him to frotting. Or licked his cum off my fingers like it was frosting.

I still can’t believe I did that.

All of my chill has left me, apparently.

And I called himbabyearlier. Why do I keep pushing him when he’s already dealing with so much?

Before I continue this spiral, his voice cuts through the noise in my head.

“I love you, too, Logan.”

Those five words make all the air rush back into my lungs, and I feel like I can finally breathe again. It’s not an I’minlove with you admission, but I think it carries far more weight than all the ones that’ve come before, even though I’m falling harder and faster than I ever have in my entire life.

“Good,” I say, nudging him with a small grin. “Because I was gonna be real embarrassed if things got weird by saying that after we’ve touched each other’s dicks.”

He lets out a real laugh. “We’re way past weird, Logan.”

“Fair point,” I admit.

Then Ryder shifts, turning to face me on the couch.

“You’re my person, Logan,” he says softly.

I move to mirror him, and take his face in my palm. His breath comes out in uneven pants, but he doesn’t move. He looks at me, and god, I could drown in those big caramel brown eyes with golden flecks.

With his face still in my hand, I whisper, inches from his mouth, “You really mean that?”

Ryder’s lips part slightly, and he nods once. “Yeah,” he says, like there’s not even a shadow of a doubt. “I do.”

My hand slips from his cheek, trailing down to rest at the base of his neck, and I can’t deny how intimate it feels.

“You’re my person too, Ry,” I whisper.

We’re so close, both of us shifting forward just a smidge, and I feel his breath fan over my lips. For a moment, everything stills. I want to stay here forever, even if we never go further than this—just him and me, pressed close, breathing in sync—I want it.

Then, barely above a whisper, as if he can read my thoughts, his voice cracks through the silence, and he asks the question I’ve been dying to hear. “Can I kiss you?”

Every thought I had before his question is erased and replaced by the thought of him kissing me.

Him. Kissing me.

My pulse hammers as I pull back enough to meet his eyes—and fuck, the way he’s looking at me…something opens in my chest and I don’t fight it. Not one ounce of me even wants to try. All I do is nod, and that one gesture changes everything.

He leans in, his lips meeting mine, and I’m kissing him back in an instant. The second I do, the world tilts on its axis.

His lips are soft and warm. It’s new, yet somehow familiar, and it’s the most magical thing I’ve ever felt in my life. I’m completely unsure how I’ve survived this long without ever feeling his lips on mine.

Ryder makes a quiet sound in the back of his throat, something between a sigh and a moan, and it sends a jolt of desire straight to my chest. Then he moves to deepen the kiss, and I meet him halfway, swiping my tongue across his bottom lip, and he lets me in.

Heat rolls through me like I’m burning from the inside out as his fingers slide up my chest and curl around the back of my neck. I groan, tugging him closer until he’s in my lap, his weight settling against me like he belongs there—and I’m certain he does. He’s heavy, but it feels exactly right as every one of my senses is engulfed in him.

His fingers thread into my hair, and he gives a slight tug that makes my breath hitch, and I tilt my head, deepening the kiss.