Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 51803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 259(@200wpm)___ 207(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
His words made Valenti unaccountably sad. Of course he knew that O’Brian would be happy to get away from here and get back to their normal routine. He didn’t harbor any illusions that what his partner had done for him tonight was anything more than a one-time deal. It was an expression of friendship, not love. He knew all of it in his head, and yet his heart couldn’t help feeling sore and tired all over again.
“Love you, Sean,” he whispered into the soft blond hair. “You’re the best partner, best friend anybody could ever ask for. What you’ve done for me while we’ve been here, well, I’ll never forget it.” His partner grew very still for a moment in his arms, and then Valenti heard a low, heavy sigh.
“Yeah, back at ya, babe,” O’Brian whispered finally. “Look, I’m gonna get cleaned up now and then turn in. Gotta get up early for my little meeting tomorrow. You just take it easy.” He started to pull out of the circle of Valenti’s arms, but Valenti couldn’t stand to let him go just yet.
“Wait, Sean ...” He held on to his partner, hesitating, and then thought, What the hell. “Could I ... I just want one more kiss. To taste ...” He couldn’t finish the thought out loud, couldn’t say that he wanted to taste himself on his partner’s lips, in that hot, wet mouth. He felt O’Brian tremble against him.
“’Course you c’n have a kiss, Nick,” O'Brian whispered. Then he was leaning over, a darker shape in the darkness. Valenti could again smell the mixture of spicy musk and clean sweat that was entirely O’Brian. Then his partner bent down and took his mouth, so sweetly and completely that everything else but the kiss was driven out of his mind.
O’Brian’s tongue probed deeply, giving Valenti back the flavor of himself, salty and slightly bitter -- a taste that reminded him of tears. His hand crept up and tangled in the soft nest of his partner’s hair, holding O’Brian close for just a moment more. Never wanting to let him go.
“You taste like the ocean,” O’Brian murmured when they parted at last.
“Sean, I ...” It was on the tip of his tongue to admit everything, to let his partner know once and for all how he really felt. But why make it harder than it already was? O’Brian had given him a wonderful gift -- the gift of himself. Valenti knew he couldn’t be so selfish as to demand that the gift continue once they left this place. But at least he would always have the memories to treasure.
“Yeah? Talk to me, Nick.” O’Brian’s voice was tense, somehow yearning in the dark. Valenti wondered what his partner wanted him to say. He wished he knew, because he couldn’t say what was really in his heart.
“Nothing,” he said at last. “Just that I’ll never forget this -- our time here, I mean. Even when we get out of here and everything’s ... back to normal.”
Another heavy sigh, and then O’Brian was sliding off the bed. “Yeah, me neither, Nicky. Me neither.”
By the time his partner came back to bed, Valenti was already asleep. And when he woke up, O’Brian was gone.
Chapter Eleven
He wasn’t too worried at first. O’Brian had turned off the alarm clock to let him sleep late. It was just one of those small things they did for each other -- little gestures of caring that Valenti had come to take for granted over the years.
Now, he wondered, as he rolled over and saw that it was nearly ten, how he could ever have taken anything his partner did for him as a matter of course. All the little touches, the small comforts they shared together -- he had never had them with anyone else. Not with Madeline, even though they had been really close right before she left.
Near the end of his marriage to Madeline, she had refused to touch him at all, and that had been very hard. There was a deep well of longing in Valenti to touch and be touched, and when Madeline had left him aching and empty, O’Brian had filled the void.
Valenti would never forget the night after the divorce was final ...
O’Brian drove him home, and Valenti said goodnight and trudged up the steps to his apartment -- an apartment that felt so empty and wrong without Madeline. He heard footsteps behind him, and looking back, he saw, to his surprise, that O’Brian was following him.
His partner had never just invited himself in before, but that night he didn’t even ask. Just waited while Valenti unlocked the door and then walked into the living room as though it was something he did every night. O’Brian went to the couch and sat, looking expectantly at Valenti, who stared back dully.