Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Tell me what you’re saying, Vic,” Amani whispered. Hope was too fragile to endure, and he needed something solid to hold it in place before it flew away and took this trembling spark of brightness out of reach. “I need to hear you say it out loud.”
“I love you,” Vic breathed—with certainty, with fervor, without a moment’s hesitation, and he released Amani’s hand to capture his face in those beloved fingers, giving Amani the warmth he so craved. “I love you, and I’m so sorry I hurt you. You were so adamant about pushing me away that I didn’t realize you were just as afraid as I was. That you needed me to steady you the same way you steady me. I didn’t take your feelings into account. I was cruel, and still trying to control everything when I need to let that go. And when I told you I would pay anything to be with you…” Vic shook his head, his eyes just a little too bright, his smile trembling. “It’s not because I thought you could be bought. It’s because nothing else is worth holding on to if I don’t have you.”
In those words, in that burst of emotion, in the sweet feeling that rushed through him and swept away the bitter, angry words he’d wanted to hold on to…he understood, then, what his mother had been trying to tell him.
That when you found the right one, they wouldn’t hesitate to forgive. When you found the right one, they could both cause your pain and kiss it away, tear you down and build you up. When you found the right one…
You loved them enough to want to forgive, because it hurt your heart as much as theirs to hate them.
And his heart was raw with a joy that cut as deep as pain, as he wrapped his arms around Vic’s neck and buried his face against his shoulder. “Vic. Vic.”
Vic clung to him just as tight, as if he would never let Amani go. “Is it too much to hope you could ever feel the same about me…?”
“Shut up. Shut up, how can you be so smart but so dense…”
“Amani…?”
“Stop talking.” And Amani made him stop talking with a kiss—because he needed to know how Vic’s lips tasted, now, when they were dusted and warmed with the words I love you. He drank the soft groan that rose from Vic’s throat, taking every breath and touch of skin to skin and darting tongues into himself to imprint and hold and keep. “Stop talking,” he repeated, whispering against Vic’s lips, “and let me love you.”
With a tortured sound, Vic leaned into him hard, slanting his mouth roughly against Amani’s in a sudden rush of possession that gentled and melted as Amani gave back with a stroking tongue and fingers tangled in his pet’s dark hair, just enough to make Vic gasp, surrender, remember his sweet boy’s place. Vic sagged against him, then broke back from their locked lips with a breathless laugh.
“So how much trouble am I in if I disobey?”
“Vic.”
“Please. I need to say this.” Vic coiled a lock of Amani’s hair against his fingertip, tracing ticklish licks against Amani’s cheek. “Can we start over? Go on dates. Spend time together just because. I want to…I want to go to Chinese buffets with you and help you with your homework and skip out on work early to surprise you with flowers at uni. I want to play cello with you and come to your concerts, and save every last theatre program until you’re yelling at me to throw them away. I want to raze the entire damned company to the ground and build something better. I want…” His eyes were almost wild, every word tumbling in an impassioned rush. “I want a life that’s only possible with you.”
“Well…” Amani mused. “You’ve already put the downpayment on my mother’s new house, so I guess we can dissolve the contract.”
“Amani,” Vic groaned, and Amani burst into laughter. He felt as though he hadn’t laughed in weeks, but now…now?
He didn’t know why he would ever stop.
“I’m sorry. You really are my favorite toy mouse, you know.” He curled his fingers against Vic’s throat, regrettably bare of a collar, but he would be fixing that soon. “My only toy mouse. No exclusivity cause required.”
“So you’re saying…”
“I’m saying I love you, and the labels don’t matter as long as I have you.” Stroking his fingers up to caress against Vic’s cheek, he smiled up at him. “Can you accept that? As my lover and my pet?”
“It’s all I need. All I’ve ever needed. My Master…my Amani.” Strong arms swept him close, pulling him up into a kiss. “…all I need is you.”
“Then take me home, Vic. Take me home…” Amani said, as that mouth he loved begged him for just one touch, one kiss, one inkling of their life together—and one more whisper of, “…sweet boy.”