Page 28 of The Emerald Boa’s Lover (Operation Colonise #3)

Could you say that again?

Charlie.

I am sitting in the custom corner bathtub that fits only me.

I’ve brushed my teeth and washed my hair.

I recline in the bath and stare up at the ceiling as I wait for Dalahan to bring up my coffee and toast. I can’t believe how much my life has changed since the day that sexy and overly confident git swung face first into my life.

Where does he get that confidence from? He isn’t arrogant, like I first thought, but sure of himself.

He knows what he wants and believes if he works hard enough, he’ll achieve it.

I’ve seen that from the other side of the kitchen when he’s working and I hear him on his com-gem talking to his workers.

Or his investors. Or Orna’s version of planning permission authorities.

He never just accepts no as the answer, and always finds a way to make everyone happy with his plan.

Tabitha comes over at least once a week and the two of them are hilarious together.

It’s how I know that Dalahan is naturally doting, because he fusses over her as much as he does me.

He practically herds her around the nest until she agrees to sit somewhere.

He tries to explain it’s because she’s gravid, adorably stuttering and then saying pregnant.

Tabitha then asks if I’m pregnant, because Dal brings me a hot drink and biscuits while I’m reading through patient files and medical journals, and even I laugh.

“No, he isn’t gravid, he’s just very busy and needs reminding to hydrate and eat.”

“Oh, so it’s a chore is it? Because the happy fool smile you’re wearing says otherwise.”

“It’s never a chore to take care of Charlie, and yes, he makes me happy. Now stop embarrassing me and let him work. He’s very busy and likes quiet when he’s taking notes.”

I sink into the bathtub to my chin and sigh.

I am normally prince charming. I find the bird with the broken wing and help him soar again.

I’m the strong one. Yet, Dal’s turned the tables on me.

He’s come into my life like an emerald force of nature, wriggled under my skin, into my pants, and now…

into my heart. I rub my hand over my chest and feel the weight of what I’m facing here.

That sexy, sweet, scaly menace knows me.

He grumbles at my lack of self-care, and sometimes we still argue over his possessiveness, but you know what?

No one is perfect. I know it’s upsetting him seeing me worn down like this and crushed under my own demons, but he’s still right here with me.

Unlike my previous boyfriends, if I showed any weakness or that I wasn’t the strong tower to lean on that I made out to be, they would worry and I hated that. I needed to be the strong one. I was the rescuer. The one people depend on. I lighten the mood and I encourage others when they’re afraid.

Right now I’m the most afraid I’ve ever been, and I feel so helpless…but…that’s okay?

“Relax if you want to. Go over your procedure notes if you want to. We’ll have hot sex if you want to. Or we can just cuddle if you want to. Or you know, if you want alone time, that’s alright too.”

It’s alright. Dalahan makes me feel like everything will be alright, but he doesn’t make me feel any pressure to be alright right now.

I sit up and pick up a bar of soap to start lathering it in my hands.

I rub the soap across my chest, but my train of thought slows the motion.

It’s hard to explain this feeling. He makes me feel like I can just…

be me. No matter what version of me that I am right now, I can just…

be. He’s not going to judge me for it. Whatever I need to do, I should do.

He doesn’t even try to stop me from working when I’m home.

“Go over your procedure notes if you want to.” He can tell I need to keep myself fresh with Asma’s patient file.

That it makes me feel more prepared and worry less.

It’s like the pressure is off to be charming happy Charlie.

When I told Dal earlier that it’s weird being on the other side, I meant being on the other side of the relationship dynamic.

Dalahan is the one being strong for me, but he isn’t being a dominating Alpha prick about it.

He’s just…here for me. However I need him to be.

To cuddle, to fuck, or to leave me alone.

I cup water finish washing my body and cup water to my face. Honestly, he’s right. He cares about me because he cares about me. He loves me.

“Your fiercely big heart and your selfless dedication. I know it’s hard for you to see people suffer, and I want to be the one who holds you up when it gets difficult to bear.

Because everyone needs someone, and I want to be your someone.

In the beginning, it was attraction, yes.

But we both know how my feelings for you have grown each day… I haven’t hidden it from you.”

“Dal…”

“I don’t care how long it takes. I won’t give up. I’ll win you over. You’ll see that I’m the right guy for you. Not because I want you to take care of me, but because I want to take care of you.”

Dalahan told me early on he’s fallen in love with me, and it made me wary of going into a relationship with him when I didn’t feel the same way.

I just wanted to see where things led. The hopeless romantic who was always up for taking the risk that this time he could be the one, was eager to find out if Dal was right. And…I think he is.

I stare into the bubbly water and fold my arms on my bent knees.

I am not the kind of man to cry or whine about how I’m feeling.

I don’t share my vulnerabilities well, even when I acknowledge that they exist, which is a rarity.

But Dal makes me want to open up and admit that I need to lean on him for a while.

Knowing that he’ll give me that big gummy smile and snuggle around me like I’ve made his day.

I look off to one side, again thinking of my previous boyfriends and why I was always the one left heartbroken in the past. I don’t find it hard to fall in love, I just found it impossible to find someone who loves me back.

I loved my partners in their best and their worst moments.

You can’t just be in love when everything is sunshine and rainbows.

That’s not love. Love means being there when your partner is at their lowest moments, even when it hurts to be there, and taking their hand to help them back up.

No matter how hard it is, or how long it takes.

Loving them back, means accepting that hand and trying your best to get back up.

I was always willing to see out the bumpy twists on the road, but my exes left me behind once they were strong enough to move forward alone.

“Dal’s not like that.” I whisper with a smile to the bath water and something clicked in place for me.

Dalahan isn’t like any of my exes. All this time I’ve been drawn to the gay damsel in distress so I can valiantly rescue them, but that’s not what I needed.

I am sure as hell not the gay damsel in our relationship, but…

it’s nice to have a calm, confident guy to share my highs and lows with.

I chuckle, realising that my sponsorship is over in a little over a week.

A, I haven’t even thought about moving out once I pass my probation period since I started dating Dal, and B, I’m not going anywhere.

Just trying to imagine not waking up to Dal pecking my cheek with a kiss and telling me ‘good morning’, makes me shudder.

Putting aside the amazing blowjobs and sex, Dalahan is hands down the kindest, sweetest, most tender lover I’ve ever had.

He’s intuitive and does not make me feel like the ‘chick’ in the relationship.

He isn’t pushy and doesn’t play mind games.

He says what he means and has no filter.

I love that about him. I…wow. “…I love him.”

Dalahan slithers up through the access hole at that moment, having heard me, and chuckles.

“Well, I hope you’re talking about me?” He jokes, a cup of coffee in one hand and a plate of toast in the other. I turn my head and look him right in the eye and hold nothing back.

“Yes actually, I am.” He nearly drops the plate of toast.

“W-er-you-what did-say again? I. I mean.” I smile and watch the over 9ft long adorable mess look for the nearest surface to put down my coffee and toast. I absently see he has a folded-up piece of paper under the plate, but he places everything against the far wall in a hurry. “Charlie?”

“Yes?” I lick my lips, rather amused as he slithers over to me and tentatively perches his hands on the rim of the bathtub.

“Could you say that again?”

“Yes actually I am?” I smirk.

“N-no, before that.” He chuckles nervously and we both know I’m teasing him. “Please? With context?”

“How much context are we talking about here?” Dal deadpans me with his eyes half shut and I snort with laughter.

I lean over into his personal space and lift his chin with one finger.

I shatter his train of thought with the filthiest kiss possible.

He moans and ululates with desire, deep and baritone, as I take hold of his shoulders and coax him to lean over me in the bathtub.

“I love you Dal. How’s this for context?” I shove him up to brace his hands against the wall, take hold of either side of his skirt and yank it down to expose his slit.