Page 71 of Galen

I had to.

Losing Marcus, watching him die, had thrown me over the edge. I nearly hadn’t come back from it. However, what I felt for Simon went beyond that. I had never felt such a strong urge to protect someone… to love them. If I allowed him into my heart, there would be no coming back if I lost him. Which was why I needed to let him go.

The problem with that?

I didn’t think I could. Not anymore. I was already in too deep.

Goddammit.

The alarm on Simon’s phone went off, and he jolted from sleep before reaching over to silence it. He rubbed at his eyes before putting on his glasses and turning over to face me.

“Morning,” he croaked in an adorable voice.

“Good morning.”

“You coming in to work with me today?”

“Like you even need to ask.” I rolled him to his back and dropped a kiss to his collarbone. “I enjoyed flying with you in my arms last night.”

“Me too,” Simon responded, resting a hand on my side. “Once I stopped screaming anyway.”

I glided my lips up his neck and nibbled at his jaw. “The only screaming you did last night was when I took you to my bed.”

Simon trembled beneath me. “Don’t do that.”

“Do what?” I slid a hand down his ribs.

“Get me all worked up,” he said, his voice shaking. “I need to be at my store by eight thirty to open.”

I glanced at the time. “We have an hour.”

“Galen…” He cracked a smile as I kissed down his body. “God. You’re insatiable.”

“Can you blame me?” I gripped his base and brushed my lips over his cock head, loving the way he sucked in a breath. “Every inch of you is delectable. I could suck your cock every morning and night and still not have enough.”

“Well, I’m totally okay with you testing that theory.”

I grinned up at him before taking his length to the back of my throat. His fingers knotted in my hair, and his head tipped back. Fuck, he was beautiful.

In that moment, I didn’t care about my own pleasure. I just wanted to pleasehim, to hear his moans as I brought him to orgasm.

Simon panted as his stomach muscles tensed, and then he was shooting down my throat, his fingers tightening in my hair. A swell of pride filled my chest, as did that familiar urge to make him mine in all ways possible. The latter one I did my best to ignore.

I placed a single kiss to his inner thigh as his cock began to soften, and then I moved back up his body. He hooked an arm around my neck and pressed our foreheads together. He was still trying to catch his breath.

“Thanks for that,” he said.

“You’re welcome.” I pulled away to get out of bed.

He grabbed my wrist. “I didn’t say you could leave just yet. I’m not done with you.”

I arched a brow at him. “Is that so?”

When he yanked me back down, I didn’t fight him. He kissed me before licking down my neck and tweaking both of my nipples. His hand came around my shaft, and he teased my tip with his tongue.

I enjoyed seeing him blossom like this. When we’d first had sex, he’d been so self-conscious. Timid. But he’d really come into his own over the past month, not only gaining confidence in bed but also out of it. He backtalked me a lot more now. The pesky little human.

It didn’t take long before tingles shot down my spine. A grunt left me as my cock jerked, and I came. He swallowed every drop before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and giving me a slightly bashful smile.