I lay alone on the bed, contemplating what just happened, wondering where we were going, debating how it could possibly get any better than this.

Then it did.

I have never been comfortable with my own nakedness. You can forget all the psychological mumbo jumbo that goes along with that. No, I never wanted to sleep with my mother. Or father. No, I didn't translate my emotional insecurity into a compulsion to be completely clothed at all times. I just…never felt good about my body.

Till now.

Declan looked at me as though I were beautiful. His gaze was so piercing, it felt like he could see right through me. Into me. Oh, God, just the thought of him being inside me was enough to make me hard again.

I wanted to hide, but his eyes wouldn't let me. There was such honesty there. He wasn't lying to me. It wasn't part of his Valentine Op repertoire. It wasn't a game.

He disrobed me with gentle, loving hands, turning a seemingly blind eye to the evidence of my earlier loss of control. I struggled to push his hands away from my groin, feeling fresh color surge into my cheeks. I was too embarrassed to look at him. But he wouldn't let me get away with that.

Declan cupped my chin and kissed me. As usual, that quieted the butterflies in my stomach. In fact, it set me to dreaming again. This was my fantasy come to life. Only better.

Because this time, he *loved* me back.

He went into the bathroom and quickly returned with a warm, wet cloth. He cleaned me up, his strokes again so gentle that they were more like caresses, and when he was done…he sighed contentedly and rubbed his cheek against my thigh.

"Love you," he murmured, his pale grey eyes fluttering shut.

Seeing him that way did something to me. It made me feel, I don't know, powerful. Yet at the same time, I felt an overwhelming urge to protect him.

I stifled a bark of hysterical laughter. The idea of someone like *me* protecting someone like *him* was ridiculous. But that was only in the physical sense. Emotionally, Declan had laid himself wide open for me. He *was* every bit as vulnerable as he seemed.

But then that meant that…I really did hold the power to crush his heart in my hands.

That was never going to happen, though. He claimed me and he was stuck with me. For as long as we could hang onto life.

I reached down and stroked his hair out of his eyes. "Declan?" I whispered, not wanting to wake him if he was asleep.

"Mm?" His cheek felt nice and warm against my leg.

"Are you asleep?" What a stupid question. Of course, he was asleep. It was almost dawn.

"No. Are you?"

"No." I screamed inwardly. I woke him up to have this, this non-conversation? Why didn't I say what I really meant?

"What's up?"

Me! I almost blurted that out. Why wasn't there an easy way to say, I got off, you didn't, I'm still hot, and you can take me any way you want?

"Do you want to…?"

That got his attention. Declan opened his eyes. They fairly blazed with heat. "Do I want to…?"

"You know."

Declan smiled. "Oh, yeah."

I giggled. Okay, it wasn't a guy thing, but it happened when I least expected it. It wasn't like I had any real control over it. Besides, Declan kinda liked it.

He slid up my body, like the sinewy cat he resembled, and settled his groin against mine. "Like this?"

His cock was almost completely hard and already leaking. He moved restlessly and its silken tip smeared wetness across my abdomen. My dick swelled in response, nudging its way through his wiry dark red pubic hair. "Mmm…almost like this."

"You want more?"

I unconsciously moved my hips and he groaned softly. "I want as much of you as you've got to give."

He fixed his gaze on my mouth and I knew he was going to kiss me before he did. "You want all of me, acushla?"

"Every last inch."

He chuckled. It was a dark, smoky sound that raised the hairs on my arms and neck. "You *are* a naughty boy, Sey. So brazen."

He nudged my lips apart with his mouth and what followed couldn't even be classified as a kiss, really. It was like his soul was calling out to my soul and then…they merged.

"Begging me to fuck you," he continued in that low, throaty tone that was slowly driving me crazy.

"Oh, please…"

He spread my legs with his knee and groped for the tube of lube that had rolled under one of the pillows. When his cool, slick finger penetrated my opening for the first time, I couldn't help but gasp. "M-more…"

"Slow…Sey…"

"No, fuck slow. We've been going slow all night. I need you inside me *now*."

"I don't want to hurt you, acushla."

I stared at him, passion driving me to desperation. I grabbed his head and pulled him down for a kiss so hard, it made my lips ache. When he tore his mouth away, he looked dazed. I grinned.

"In case you didn't notice, I've done this before."

He gave me a faint smile and slipped another finger inside me. "Ah, but you've never done it with *me*."

That almost stopped me. Almost.

"You like being on top, don't you?"

His fingers flexed and extended, widening my narrow passage in preparation for what was to come. "You like being fucked, don't you?"

"Yesss," I hissed as he hit my prostate. "So what are you waiting for?"

He buried his face in the side of my neck, quickly finding the mark he'd made. Suddenly he thrust his engorged cock into me, entering me and sliding home all in one smooth movement.

I groaned as he sucked on my neck, his hips simultaneously pulling back, only to slam into me. Hard. I couldn't last long under this kind of sensual attack. I didn't want to. But before I came again, I wanted to make sure Declan took his pleasure.

"Fuck me," I whispered, my mouth caressing his hair.

He made a curious sound that was almost a whimper and then he came, his climax literally wrung out of him. His hot essence splashed my snug channel and I came, too, the familiar wetness filling the space between our bodies.

His arms encircled me and I never felt more loved than I did at that moment. He kissed my temple, then my cheek, and finally my mouth, tearing himself away only with the greatest reluctance. "I love you."

I felt a drop fall on my neck and assumed it was sweat. But when I opened my eyes, I realized what it really was. A tear. From a man who never cried. Over *me*.

If we never shared another moment like this one, it wouldn't matter. Our hearts and souls were joined just as surely as our bodies.

Wasn't that the way it should be?

End