Page 77 of Covert Desires

“Yeah, yeah, such a smooth talker, hey, Don Ricci.”

As I speak, I continue stroking his cock with the washcloth, stroking until his murmurs turn to little moans.

“I’m close,” Nico gasps soon enough, his body tensing beneath me.

“Do it,” I whisper as I milk him to completion, until his cum floats in the dirty bath around him.

He probably needs a shower too, but that’s a later problem.

For now, I let my darling boy enjoy the moment before helping him out of the bath, drying him off, and applying ointment to his cuts.

Still butt naked, Nico collapses on the bed as I shimmy out of my hunter gear, dropping it onto the floor as unceremoniously as the young Don usually does with his clothes. I’m filthy from the dirt and the lube, but I spare no thought to the clean sheets as I climb into bed beside him.

Nico wanted to do the scene without lube, but I told him“no fucking way.” I didn’t want to really hurt him.

The bed feels so good after the roughness of the forest.

Nico opens his arms, and I snuggle up with my head on his chest, letting him hold me as tightly as a cuddly toy.

“This was the best Christmas ever,” he says, fingers absentmindedly playing over my nipples, hardening them to little pebbles.

“It’s not over yet.” I grin, reaching up for a slow, lingering kiss.

When we part, Nico presses his forehead to mine. “Thank you, Kiah,” he whispers, his voice low, sincere, “Just thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything. For letting me explore my fantasies and my fears, for letting me cry and break, for picking me up again and putting me back together.”

“Careful now, Don Ricci, someone is turning into a poet.”

Nico kisses my nose. “I’m serious, Kiah. You stabbing me with that fucking shard of porcelain was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

I smile. “Tad dramatic, but I’ll take it.”

He tilts my chin toward him, trapping my gaze in his. The haunted look has been replaced by something new—something I haven’t seen before.

Nico grins. “I love you, Kiah McClane…Even if your surname is dumb.”

My heartbeat escalates into a new rhythm as the words repeat in my head, in my heart.

Nobody has ever said those words to me and meant it.

I don’t know why I am crying, but I am.

Laughing through the tears, I take his hand in mine, holding tightly, “I love you too, Nico.”

My heart races as the loaded words hang in the air between us.

It’s Nico who breaches the space between us, meeting my lips in a tender kiss filled with passion, filled with promise.

My fingers thread through his damp hair, pulling him closer as I breathe in his familiar scent, committing this moment to memory.

A soft sigh escapes me as we finally part, and I find myself smiling, unable to contain the warmth spreading inside me.

"I love you," I whisper again, savoring the freedom to say those words.

Nico responds by capturing my lips again, this kiss deeper and more urgent.