Page 65 of Snow Storm

“Yes, but you came very hard,” Claude pointed out. “You said so yourself.”

Harley flushed. That was true. Every muscle in his body had been tense. He’d slept amazing afterward, but yeah. He felt a little wrecked.

Claude quickly got to work though, and it wasn’t long before Harley felt boneless and on the verge of falling asleep all over again.

The massage ended after a bit, with a firm kiss to the back of his neck, and then Claude curled around him. “I have to do some work today. The snow stopped, and I need to check on the animals.”

Harley cracked open one eye. “Do you want help?”

Claude grinned and traced a touch down his nose, making Harley’s eyes heavy again. “No. I want you to stay here and be waiting for me when I get in.”

Harley couldn’t help a grin. “I can live with that. I should actually try to get some work done too. Do you think you could have someone bring my phone back?”

“Lyric already dropped it off this morning,” Claude said. “It’s in the kitchen with breakfast.”

“I’m never leaving,” Harley said, nestling closer.

Claude laughed, but there was a tension to the sound, and when Harley looked up, his eyes seemed a little…sad.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“You said everything right. But I know this can’t last forever.”

Harley rolled onto his back, tugging Claude down until he was pillowed on his chest. It was a rare position between the two of them. Claude had been doing all the caretaking, so it felt good to be able to offer something to this man.

“I don’t want to ruin us by moving too fast,” Harley told him, carding his fingers into his coarse grey locks. “I’m falling for you. No, I’ve fallen for you. I’m not going to pretend that this feeling I have in my chest is because I’m lonely or sad about Darren. It’s not that. But I also want to make sure I’m the version of myself that you deserve.”

Claude rolled his head to the side to look up at Harley. “That’s a little too reasonable for me right now.”

Harley laughed. “I know. But this is me, and you chose me.”

Claude pushed up on one arm and took a long, deep kiss. “And I will keep choosing you. And I will be here however and whenever you need me.” They kissed again, tongues touching, lips soft and pliant.

But eventually, it had to end. Claude dragged himself away, swinging his legs over the bed, then standing up. He was steady,which probably meant he had on his orthotics, and he grabbed his cane instead of his chair as he headed for the door.

“I’ll be back with lunch. I left you my number on the table beside your phone. Call me if you need anything.”

Harley nestled back under the covers and smiled at him. “I will. Be safe out there.” He watched Claude smile back, then make his way out. He could hear him puttering around in the living room, and then silence fell with the firm click of the front door.

And he was alone.

Like he always was.

Except this time, the pressing loneliness was missing. There was still grief lodged in his chest. He’d been distracted by Claude, but now that things were settling, he realized he still missed his dad. It was even worse now because Claude was a man he would have wanted to bring home.

His dad would have loved him. He would have looked askance at their age difference and probably given Claude endless amounts of shit about it, but there would have been love too. And support. And happiness.

His dad had never liked Darren, and it felt almost cruel that the first time Harley found a man worthy of his love, his father—the man who had taught him everything he knew about himself—wasn’t around to see it.

The thought followed him out of bed and into the shower, then into the kitchen, where breakfast was waiting. It was pastries and fruit like they had on the buffet in the lounge café, and he grabbed a cheese Danish and a small bowl of grapes and apples.

There was coffee in the pot, but he skipped it that morning and instead picked up his phone and the little piece of paper where Claude had scribbled his number. Curling up in thecorner of the sofa, Harley put the number in, and something about that felt real.

Final.

Like this wasn’t a weekend winter fling. Maybe it should have been. Maybe it was meant to be that, but there was no chance in hell he was letting go now.

He stared at Claude’s name for a beat, then sent him a quick message.

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