YOU GUYS!
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Chapter 5 was really well received, though I still haven't got where I wanted to go when I began chapter 4, so hopefully we'll make it in Chapter 6! Time line is about to take another little jump forward, so brace yourselves! Don't forget to check out the new all-singing, all- dancing website (http://www.ardveche.com) and, as always, feel free to get in touch via email (ardveche@ardveche.com), sign the guestbook, join the mailing list and read the stuff that didn't make it here.
DISCLAIMER
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This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. The author asserts all legal and moral rights (copyright (c) 2001 - www.ardveche.com) to this work and you may not copy it or transmit it in any way except in its entirety and with this disclaimer. This story features descriptions of sex between adult males:
- if such material is prohibited in your jurisdiction, please DO NOT READ ON, - if you're under the legal age to read such material, please DO NOT READ ON, - if you don't like, or are offended by such material, please DO NOT READ ON.
Now, if everyone who is still here is meant to be here or at least aware they shouldn't be, let's get on with it. All comments are welcome and gratefully received (email them to ardveche@ardveche.com).
EDUCATING ALEX VI
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Megan stayed with us until Tuesday morning when Alex skipped classes (what a surprise) to take her back to the bus station and I was actually sorry to see her go. It had been a fun couple of days, even if Saturday morning had been deeply embarrassing. I had compromised all my principles to take her breakfast in bed, maybe feeling guilty that she was getting hassle at home because of my lifestyle, maybe just feeling more paternal than was usual. I had slid, reluctantly, from my bed and from the warm comforting embrace of a deeply sleeping Alex and padded through to the kitchen to make toast and scramble some eggs. Assembling everything on a tray with some juice I slipped into the spare room and sitting on the edge of the bed gently shook my sister awake.
"Huhn?" She asked intelligently, blinking blearily.
"Breakfast in bed, just as you asked, ma'am." I said in my best attempt at an English butler's voice. She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position and fixed me with a stare. "You sleep well?"
"Is this some sort of apology?" Megan asked, looking at me oddly.
"Apology? For what?" I was confused, what on earth was she talking about?
"For keeping me awake, dummy."
"Awake?" I gaped at her as realization dawned, she had been able to hear Alex and myself having sex through the wall. I flushed a very deep red, I should have passed out with so much blood rushing to my face.
"Yeah, you and lover-boy."
"Oh God!" I groaned, covering my face with my hands. My seventeen year old sister had heard me having sex with my boyfriend!
"Hot man-sex all night long." She continued mockingly, and the penny dropped that she was teasing me, it didn't make it any less embarrassing though. So I did the only thing I could do in the circumstances, I fought fire with fire.
"Oh, hardly all night!" I laughed at her, hitting her leg playfully through the covers then adopted a speculative expression. "The boy does have incredible stamina, mind you, but not quite that much!"
"Ryan!" She stopped mid bite, advantage Ryan! "I'm trying to eat, you freak."
"You started it." I shrugged.
"Go away."
"Your wish is my command. And anyway 'lover-boy' will want some breakfast soon, too." I deliberately employed the same term as her, ladling on the sarcasm. I rose and headed for the door, stopping just before I closed it behind me. "Have to keep his strength up!"
"Out!" She yelled, and I ducked through the door before she threw anything at me. Congratulating myself on how skillfully I had handled that particular live grenade I returned to the kitchen and made breakfast for Alex and myself, adding a couple of generous mugs of coffee to help kick-start us and prepare us for the day ahead. I kicked the bedroom door closed behind me and crawled onto the bed with the tray.
"Mm, something smells good." Alex mumbled, one forearm was thrown across his face, the other hand resting on his belly just above the line formed by the sheet. As always, he looked good enough to eat, to hell with scrambled eggs! I was startled, having assumed he was still sleeping.
"Thank you." I replied. "And it brought breakfast with it."
"Funny." He stretched luxuriantly, clasping both hands together and stretching them above his head, every muscle in his body stood out as he yawned and arched his back. Now that's a sight worth waking up to! Alex rolled onto his side, opening his eyes and propping his head on one hand, the other resting on my thigh. "Thanks, Ry."
"Hey, I was making it for Megan anyway."
"Not for breakfast, dumbass." He sighed theatrically.
"You didn't think my ass was dumb last night, stud." I joked and got the expected response from Alex, he blushed and turned his gaze away from me.
"Ryan..." He began to protest, but I silenced him with a finger pressed gently to his lips. His big brown eyes returned to mine and stayed fixed there.
"You don't need to thank me, Alex, it was amazing for me too. Now eat." He moved his head suddenly as though trying to bite my finger and I yanked my hand back with a yelp, Alex grinning moronically. I sighed. "The eggs."
"Okay."
We enjoyed a pleasant breakfast together, talking quietly about plans for the weekend to keep Megan amused. I decided it best not to mention the conversation I had just had with her, I didn't want him to die of embarrassment. It was one of those lazy Saturdays where nobody much feels like doing anything, so we took it easy for most of the morning, only all getting washed and dressed by about noon. We decided to have lunch in town and then do some shopping, at Meg's insistence, that afternoon. Even Alex approached the idea with some enthusiasm, and he was not a good shopper, I had been clothes shopping with him once, and that was a never to be repeated experience, what a nightmare! So that's exactly what we did, strolled down to Lazzar's for lunch and then wandered around the mall as Megan bounced from display to display enthusing endlessly at the variety of goods on offer. At one point, as we stood outside a store watching her, Alex smiled indulgently, and linked his arm with mine.
"I still want them, you know."
"Want what?" I asked keeping my eye on Meg as she perused a display of ugly silver jewelry.
"Kids."
"What?"
"Not right now, but some day. I want kids." He explained as though I were mentally deficient in some way. I gaped at him, what was he telling me, that he and I would only last until his biological urges kicked back in? That he was just distracting himself with men, but intended to go back to women and procreate after college?
"With whom?" I asked carefully, coldly, afraid of the answer.
"Huh?" He glanced back at me. "With you, stupid."
"Alex, this may have escaped your attention, and the mind boggles at how that could be possible, but we're both men." I pointed out with excessive clarity, and maybe just a tad more sarcasm than was altogether necessary. "I don't know how they do it back in Hicksville, but here a woman usually has to be involved."
"Duh. I know that, but we can adopt or something." He grinned broadly at me, his eyes bright with amusement. "Don't you want to be a dad?"
"Would that make you the mommy?" I had to laugh, in all honesty I had never thought about children, ruling them out from the get go because I was, well, gay! Suddenly though, and the idea scared the hell out of me, it seemed like a prospect worth considering. Not, as he said, until many years hence, but why the hell not? I'd be a great dad, I sure as God couldn't do a worse job of it that my parents did, and any kid raised in a loving environment was surely off to a pretty decent start.
"I'm serious, Ry."
"I know you are, but, man, where did this come from?" I had vetoed a puppy and now he was talking children?
"Come on, you knew from the day we met that I wanted kids someday. Like ten years from now or something, I want to do something with my life first."
"You see us together ten years from now?" I looked steadily at him and his gaze didn't waver for a second. Of course he did, Alex didn't know the statistics on gay relationships, he didn't know what I did. He was used to thinking in terms of family units, mom, dad and two- point-four children, that was how he saw us. Growing old together. Wow.
"Sure I do." He pronounced, not a shadow of doubt in his voice. "And, anyway, I kinda had you pegged for the mommy role, you're better at it than me." He leaned in and, right there in the mall, kissed me on the cheek.
"Alex. I don't know what to say."
"Tell me you love me." He blinked rapidly, his eyes moist. "Tell me you don't think this is completely retarded."
"Of course I do. Alex I love you so much, and it's not a dumb idea. But it's a huge step, bringing a child into the world is always a huge step, but raising a child as a gay couple is, well, huger still. The pressures that would be on a kid like that, well, I can't even imagine what it would be like."
"I know. And I'm not saying we should do it tomorrow. It's something that we'd have to think about and be sure about." His voice was low and hesitant. "But I really want to have kids, Ryan, and we're talking adoption anyway, taking a kid nobody else wants and giving it a home and a loving family, and a decent start. That's gotta be worth doing, hasn't it? I mean, isn't that worth a little hardship?"
"Yes." I could barely answer him, his words had so closely echoed my own thoughts, I was struck dumb. The sincerity in his tone took my breath away and convinced me that he was truly willing to fight for it. I took a deep breath. "Alex, let's leave this just now, talk about it somewhere other than the mall?"
"Okay. It's just that we're so much closer now, if you were a girl I'd be thinking about proposing." If I was a girl? I just grinned at him and he flushed and looked away, chewing on that bottom lip again. "And I don't want us going into that without you knowing how I feel."
"That means a lot to me, Alex." I placed my hand on his upper arm and tried to smile reassuringly. "And I realize how important this is to you, and we should talk about it when Meg goes home, we have plenty of time, it's all still a long way off."
"Okay." I will never understand the urges that drive Alex to discuss the things he does at the times he does, or the ones that drive him not to discuss things when he should. He pulled himself together visibly and flashing a self-conscious dopey grin at me, yanked me into the jewelry store. "Let's go see what Meg's up to."
The subject was dropped completely after that, Alex had switched it off. We found Megan towards the back of the store, and Alex bought her the freeform silver pendant she had been admiring, waving aside her protests. A friend had been won for life, and she insisted on wearing it then and there. We footled around the mall for a while longer, not so much shopping as just browsing, enjoying one another's company. Alex insisted on a circuitous route home through the park, along the lake and Meg wandered off ahead of us, letting the two of us stroll along hand-in-hand as the sky darkened and began to turn pink. I was almost able to buy into Alex's vision of happy gay parenthood.
Sunday was spent even more lazily, we did as Meg asked and took in a play that night, 'Much Ado About Nothing', which I had been planning on seeing anyway as my friend Ben was in it. It was pretty good, though my sister was disappointed to learn that Ben was playing for my team too. Still, these little set-backs are character building, don't you think? She even went so far as to cook dinner for the two of us, it wasn't great but it was a welcome break from cooking myself, and from takeout. Monday I left her alone for a few hours while I went to class, and she amused herself sitting at the window of Starbucks watching the world go by, Meg, like me, is a real people watcher. No doubt some of those 'cute college boys' she had said she wanted to meet hit on her during the day, but if they did she revealed nothing of it to me. And then, all too soon it was Tuesday morning and she was hurriedly packing for the return journey, aided by the world's second most disorganized person (Meg being the most), Alex.
So there it was, I hadn't been looking forward to her visit but I found myself missing her as soon as she left the apartment with Alex. He was taking her to breakfast and then making sure she made it onto the bus while I went to my morning classes. Why they couldn't have had breakfast in the apartment was anybody's guess, but they seemed set on it. I got home before him, and the place felt terribly empty; to make matters worse, it was raining heavily outside. I put on a Satie CD, made myself some coffee and perched on the window seat, to watch the rain streaking down the window, it's delicate pattering the perfect accompaniment to the melancholy beauty of his 'Gymnop‚dies'. Something tickled my cheek and I raised my hand to wipe it away, without realizing it and without knowing why, I had begun to cry.
When Alex returned that evening, he bounced into the living room happily and stopped in his tracks, dropping his backpack he crossed the room to my side in two bounds. He dropped to his knees beside me and I threw my arms round him, his leather coat creaking gently as I buried my face against his sweater, he was soaked. I had no idea what had come over me, I just felt the sudden uncontrollable urge to hold him, and to cry. He cradled my head to his chest, smoothing my hair, and mumbled quietly, soothingly to me. After a few minutes in his arms I felt much better and pulled away from him, wiping my sleeve back and forth across my face and smiling apologetically.
"What's wrong, Ryan?" He asked me.
"Nothing. I was just listening to the rain and then I was crying." I shrugged hopelessly.
"Why?"
"I was thinking about you. About us." I trailed off. I had no way to put what I was feeling into words, the beauty of it all, how lucky I had been, it had all just piled in on me and overwhelmed me completely. It bypassed the brain and the senses and struck right to my core, this was the happiest I had ever been in my life, this time with Alex, I wanted it never to end and I knew, somehow I just knew, that he felt the same way.
"And that made you cry?" He smiled fondly at me, then pulled a stupid face. "You are a funny ol' queer, aren't you?"
"Shut up, Billy!" I laughed, it turned out that Alex's middle name was William which is why it had taken so long for him to realize I was insulting him! "Hey, you got a haircut." I had just noticed that his hair was now really quite a lot shorter and seemed darker as he was one of those blondes that tend towards brown at the roots. Of course the fact that it was soaked was also making it darker. "It looks great!" And it really did, it opened out his face dramatically, making him look more handsome than ever.
"You think so?" His hands went self-consciously to his hair. "I wasn't sure about having it so short, but I think it brings out my eyes more."
"And you call me a 'funny ol' queer', what a joke!"
"Touch‚!" He blushed and decided that a subject change was called for. "So I was gonna ask if you wanted to go for a walk with me?"
"In the rain?"
"Sure. It's romantic."
"It's stupid."
"That too!" He stood up, unfazed by my remark, taking both my hands in his and pulling me to my feet as easily as if I was a child. "C'mon, Thomson, live a little."
"Okay, but can we take my umbrella?"
"Kinda defeats the point, but if that's what you want, sure." He shrugged his acquiescence at me and flicked the stereo off, cutting Erik off in his prime.
"Give me a second." I left him in the living room and went to get my shoes and coat, and a big golf umbrella I had been given the year before when I had worked at the country club. More than big enough for two, if you stayed close together! Who said I was missing the point of a romantic walk in the rain? "Shall we?" I asked him as I returned, offering him my arm like I was Cary Grant. We left the apartment and headed away from town, towards the park, arms linked and the umbrella sheltering us from the worst of the rain, except for his left and my right shoulder.
It was turning into a real downpour as we sloshed along the paths, getting soaked despite the umbrella, but it wasn't a big concern. I was happy just to be with him, and he seemed content to walk in silence too, lost in his own thoughts. Not another soul was about as we headed towards the bandstand and bounded up the wooden steps, shaking water from ourselves and the umbrella as we did. The rain pounded on the wooden roof, it reminded me of when I was a kid and I used to insist on playing in my tree-house in all weathers, a wonderful sound. God, I love the rain; and to be sheltering from it in an old bandstand with the man I loved, well, it was like a movie.
"Alone at last." I whispered, as he perched on one of the railings, hands pressed hard on the wood either side of him, staring at his feet.
"Ryan, don't joke, okay?" He looked up at me. He was right, now that it barely even hung over his forehead the new haircut really did bring out his marvelously expressive eyes. The effect was stunning.
"Okay." Alex had something on his mind and I waited patiently to find out what.
"Take a seat." He nodded at the railing beside him, rising and walking a few feet away, his expression serious. I did as he said, trepidation filling me, my heart rate increasing. Alex's lips were moving soundlessly, as though he was rehearsing a speech, as he paced back and forth.
"Alex?"
"Ryan." He croaked and had to pause to clear his throat. "I had this whole speech prepared, but now with you here it seems really dumb. I want to tell you how much I care about you, but I can't think straight when I'm around you, these last few months have been the most amazing, frightening, exhilarating time of my life." He stopped pacing and came to stand in front of me, squatting down on his haunches and taking my hands in his, looking up into my eyes. "You are the most wonderful, caring, decent, human being I have ever met. I've come a long way since I met you, for the first time I can remember I'm actually starting to like me, and I owe you so much for that."
"Alex..." I ventured as he seemed to have ground to a halt.
"Shh, Ryan, let me finish, okay?" I nodded and he bowed his head a little before continuing. "Thanks. Listen, every night when I go to bed, you're the last thing I think about, I dream about you, and when I wake up you're the first thing on my mind. All day, every day, I'm just waiting until I can be back with you. I love you more than life itself, Ryan. When I'm with you, it's like everything else is in black and white and you're the only one in color. You mean the world to me, and I just, well, I just wanted you to know that."
He stopped and looked up into my eyes, his were brimming with tears, I knew my face was already streaked with them, and his hands were shaking. He slowly pushed himself upright, never letting go of my hands for a second, and drawing me to my feet with him. I took a tottering step towards him and gently freeing my hands slid my arms inside his jacket and round his waist, he breathed out deeply and wrapped me in his arms. We stood like that for ages, Alex's head resting against mine, silent apart from our breathing. There was absolutely no way anything I could say would adequately express how I felt about Alex, so for once in my life I stayed silent.
"I love you, Ryan Thomson." He breathed to my neck.
"I love you too, Alexander Hayes." I had never in my life uttered a single word I meant with greater sincerity than I did that, and my voice shook with emotion as I said it.
"You know, we're all alone out here." Alex murmured. "Nobody can see us."
"Alex!" I chided softly, never lifting my head from his shoulder.
"Not what you're thinking, buddy." He murmured as he slowly began to sway back and forth to some tune in his head, then he started to hum quietly. The tune was vaguely familiar to me and I swayed a little with him and then he began to move his feet, not much, but enough that we were dancing. Feeling faintly ridiculous, I moved with him as he slowly moved us round the cramped, impromptu dance floor of the bandstand. The curtains of rain around us effectively obscured our movements from the outside world, not that anyone was out there to see us anyway. And even if they had been? I didn't care, I was happy in my lover's arms, dancing slowly as he hummed the tune and I cautiously joined in, still not entirely recognizing it.
"I know that tune." I murmured after a few moments. "What is it?"
"Nat 'King' Cole." He replied quietly as we continued to dance and then in a low, hesitant voice he began to sing, gaining confidence as he went. As his voice began to increase in volume, though remaining soft and smooth, I melted into him and let his singing carry me. "When I fall in love, it will be forever. Or I'll never fall in love. In a restless world, like this is, love is ended before it's begun, and too many moonlight kisses seem to cool in the warmth of the sun. When I give my heart, it will be completely. Or I'll never give my heart, and the moment I can feel that you feel that way too, is when I fall in love with you."
"And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too, is when I fall in love with you." I joined in with the reprise and the two of us sang quietly and danced slowly, neither one of us a Nat Cole, but it still seemed so perfect. It was a beautiful moment as we lapsed back into silence and just continued to move to the tune in our heads and the gentle thrumming of the rain. I don't know how long we stayed like that, just moving gently in one another's arms, but eventually Alex's voice brought me back from some distant cloud.
"Rain's stopped." He kissed the top of my head and I stopped moving to look up at him, our eyes met and we smiled shyly at one another. "Let's head back, it's getting dark."
"This was wonderful, Alex. Weird, but wonderful."
"It wasn't planned. I mean, I planned to talk to you, but then it started to rain, and I just wanted to go for a walk." He shrugged and offered me a grin. "Impulse."
"Well it was a good impulse." I kissed his cheek and linked arms with him for the walk home. "Any time you feel like being impulsive, you go for it."
"I'll hold you to that." He answered with a leer and I shook my head and laughed at him as we walked back to the apartment, splashing in puddles as we went. I felt like a child again, and it was fantastic. I wanted to scream and shout, and, what the hell, I did!
"I love Alex Hayes!!" I yelled to the gray overcast sky, my words disappearing into the emptiness of the park, Alex looked startled but then his face split into a broad grin.
"And he loves you too." He answered quietly.
"Feeble!"
"Oh alright!" He sighed and took a huge breath. "I love Ryan Thomson!!" He yelled, and my God does he have a powerful set of lungs, they must have heard him in Hawaii!
"Much more like it." I grinned foolishly, my heart swelled, and we walked the rest of the way home in silence as the rainstorm drizzled its last on us. Back in the apartment, Alex took charge immediately, helping me out of my coat, removing his and hanging them both up to dry.
"Strip." He instructed. "I'm going to run a bath for us."
"Aye aye!" I saluted him and moved at once to obey, keen to get out of my wet clothes. The novelty of being soaked to the skin had begun to wear off and now I was just cold. He disappeared to the bathroom as I bundled my clothes in the hamper and padded through to join him.
"Hop in." He said and I gingerly lowered myself into the steaming water. It felt so good, I shuddered as the warmth spread over my body, barely even noticing Alex stripping at the side of the bath. "Slide forward a bit." He said and stepped in with me, sliding down into a sitting position with one leg on either side of me, as he settled himself I lay back against his chest and sank down into the water hearing a low contented sigh escape him as I did. Once again his arms snaked around me and the two of us just relaxed, luxuriating in the warm water, the bubbles and the intimacy.
"Mm." I sighed deeply and let my eyes close.
"Spoke to the Coach today."
"Mm?" More of an interrogatory noise than anything else, but what do you expect?
"Yup." He began to lazily stroke my chest and seemed less than inclined to go on talking.
"So what did you talk about." I tilted my head back as far as possible and squinted up at him. He grinned and touched a bubbly finger to my nose, a favorite game of his it seemed.
"Me."
"Okay, wise guy, tell me."
"Okay, he spoke to the trustees of my scholarship, I'm meeting with them on Thursday to talk about my grades." He blew the bubbles away and smiled at me. "Might be a stay of execution."
"Alex, that's fantastic!"
"We'll see." We lapsed into silence and just lay there a while longer until the water began to cool and then Alex heaved himself from the bath and helped me out too and we toweled one another dry. Neither of us could be bothered to get properly dressed again so we simply got ready for bed and pulled on bathrobes to go sit in the living room. That suited me perfectly, Alex looked delectable in shorts, socks and T-shirt and I yanked on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms with my T-shirt, it was like a slumber party (but with a more overt sexual flavor). I left Alex perusing the TV Guide and my video collection while I went to open a bottle of white wine and rustle us up a little food.
"So, are you all ready to go away this weekend?" Alex asked coming into the kitchen behind me, he had told me he'd made arrangements for us to go away for my birthday but he refused to be drawn on where. It was more than a little frustrating! "All your work finished?"
"What are you plotting, Hayes?" I asked as I pulled cheese, pƒt‚ and salami from the fridge, to accompany the bread and wine and the salad I had prepared and already put on a tray. Nothing fancy, just something to graze on while we relaxed.
"Wait and see." He raised both eyebrows suggestively and grinned as he got the glasses, cutlery and plates for me.
"Bastard."
"Charming!" We returned to the living room and ended up a while later curled together on the couch finishing off the wine and watching an old Humphrey Bogart movie; it had Lauren Bacall, so I think it was 'The Big Sleep'. But, when I say we were watching it, more accurately I should have said it was on in the same room as we were. But you know what I meant. Eventually though, I started to yawn and had to sit up to stretch and rub my eyes.
"Well, bedtime for me, I think." I announced, the washing up could wait.
"Thank God for that, my arm's gone to sleep." He said flexing the said limb which had been released by my moving.
"Poor lamb." I took his hand and helped him to his feet, raising his fingers to my lips, my eyes locked on his. "Let me kiss it better."
"Actually, I have a few other pains..."
"Don't tell me!" I interrupted him. "It'll be fun trying to find them." I tugged gently on his arm, compelling him to follow me out of the room, back to our bedroom. I waited until he had removed his bathrobe before pushing him gently backwards until he was sitting on the edge of the bed.
"I really liked Meg, you know." He informed me as I nuzzled against his neck again.
"She liked you too, a lot." I whispered back between gentle, nibbling kisses. "I'm really glad you two got on so well."
"Me too."
"Shh, now. Just relax." I wanted to make that night all about Alex, not letting him do anything but lie back and enjoy. I wanted to show him just how happy he had made me that afternoon, I wanted him to enjoy this as much as possible. He sagged back onto the bed, arms stretched out to the sides and let the breath escape his body as I pushed the bottom of his T- shirt out of my way. I had no intention of stripping him, we were both tired and I planned to take it slowly and easily, just teasing him. I shucked my robe and joined him on the bed, hands and lips playing gently with his body as I did. He pulled himself further up the bed, and I followed, until his head was on the pillows and he was lying full length; a fine sight. I pulled down the waistband of his shorts, freeing him from their confines and hooking the fabric under his balls, which could only aid my plan to keep him on edge for as long as I possibly could.
"Mm." He groaned softly as I began to kiss and lick my way up and down the shaft, just grazing his skin lightly with my bottom teeth and soothing it again using little tantalizing sweeps with the tip of my tongue. His skin tasted so good, so smooth and soft, so very clean and sweet. I wanted to devour him completely, to savor him but I forced my self to go slowly, to keep my touches fleeting, to make him squirm with anticipation each time he felt my breath on him. I played this game for a good long time, enjoying Alex's writhing and the noises he was making, the more so because he could now make them without fear of being overheard. Finally, though, I gave into his pitiable whimpering and bowed in earnest to my task, causing him to gasp anew, arch his back and moments later orgasm overtook him and he sagged back onto the bed with a deeply contented sigh. I crawled up the bed and pulled the covers over both of us, as he snuggled up against me and kissed my neck. It had been a tiring and emotionally draining day and I was asleep almost as soon as I lay down.
To Be Continued.