Page 54 of Hold Me Down

"Apparently so. Either way, my issues aren't your fault or your responsibility to solve."

"Are you going to therapy behind my back?" Travis blurted out, only to grimace a second later. "Sorry. Sorry, it just sounded like something my therapist might say."

Dave snorted and rubbed his thigh.

"Which means I've been talking to Colin way too much lately. I told him he was using a lot of therapy-talk, and now it's rubbed off on me."

"It's not bad, for the record." Travis withdrew his hand from Dave's shoulder and tangled his fingers in a lose hold in his lap. "I'm starting to dig it."

"Therapy?"

Travis rolled his head in a way that wasn't a nod but could be, at least in part.

"I don't enjoy the part where I have to talk about things, but the reframing is helpful. And pointing out new perspectives, too. Hell, sometimes even the obvious ones, like what you said about my issues not being your fault or responsibility. Of course they aren't."

"I said it the other way around, but sure. Hearing it out loud does make it sound obvious. Still, since those issues aren't anyone's to solve but mine, I want to do better with it, so, here we go." Dave took another deep breath. He could do it. He could. "I'm frustrated, because I want to be independent, but the truthis, I also want other people tosee meas independent, and strong, and like I don't need anyone to help me. I trust you with my life, but I don't want you to think of me as—"

He pressed his lips shut, words sticking in his throat.

"Fuck, Dave." Travis reached out again, this time catching Dave's wrist and squeezing it. "You're one of the strongest men I've ever known, but even if you weren't, I wouldn't think less of you now. I wouldn't think you're weak."

Here it was. The word that still couldn't make its way out of Dave's mouth.

"You are all those things you described—independent, and strong, and determined to be self-sufficient," Travis went on. "That's not who you have to be day in and day out, however—both because that would be impossible, but also because it's not all that you are. You're so much more than that. I'd give you a list if I didn't think your head would grow too big."

Chuckling, Dave stared down at their hands and wondered if Travis could feel the jump in his pulse or the quickened rhythm of it.

"Most days, I know that," he admitted. "I go to work, where we're all more than that, and I like people there for many different things. But then my stupid leg gets broken, and it's suddenly as if my world narrowed to what I can and cannot do, and if I'm neither strong nor independent, I'm not quite sure what's left."

As Travis tightened the hold on his wrist, Dave lifted his gaze, looking straight into Travis's bright blue eyes, only to be met with his narrowed, singular focus.

It took Dave's breath away.

"Here comes a list, then," Travis said in a gruff, low voice he rarely used outside of sex. "You're funny and quick with a comeback. You're efficient. Most days, you read me like an open book, whether I like it or not. You're one of the top tacticians atKRK, and I'm pretty sure Kalei only tasked me with reviewing the procedures because he knew you'd get involved. You're also the sexiest fucking guy I've ever seen. I never get enough of you, which is something I never had, with anyone. And I'm not just talking about sex, although, that, too, for sure. But I'm never tired of you, period. I could talk to you for hours, or not say a word for hours, and it honestly says something about my intelligence that it took me this long to realize I'm in love with you, but I get it now. I do."

Dave's heart was pounding wildly in his chest now, and he turned his hand in Travis's hold to grab him, too, desperately needing the contact.

"Say it again." Barely above a whisper, but that was all he could do. "Please, say it again."

A wide smile bloomed on Travis's face along with a rare flush, and,damn, Dave wanted to kiss him so badly.

"I'm in love with you. Whatever you want to do with this, or not, that's fine, but I thought you should know."

"You asshole, come here." Dave pulled at their joined hands, and Travis moved closer until he was hovering a breath away from Dave's lips, as if waiting for him to bridge that last bit of space.

And Dave did, because how could he not, after a confession like that?

He started slow, brushing his lips against Travis in more of a tease than anything else, but then he tilted his head and deepened the kiss, tasting Travis again after what felt like forever.

It had been at least thirty hours since the last time, which seemed like a horrible oversight now.

Travis cupped the back of his neck, and something in Dave relaxed even further, that last knot of tension releasing as Travislicked into his mouth like a man on a mission, determined and not giving an inch.

When they pulled back to get some air, they were both breathing hard as they stared at each other, and Dave didn't know where to look—at Travis's bright eyes, his flushed cheeks, his smile…

He realized he hadn't seen Travis so happy in a long time.

Dave could definitely relate.

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