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“I make myself happy. But I feel happy when I’m with my parents and my sister, and my dog and my horse. I feel happy working in my woodshop, and when people smile when they get something I’ve made. I like to build things and to draw, and I feel happy doing that. I like music, too. And books. Those are happy things. And television and movies, too. Sometimes. I’m particular about media, and there’s a lot I don’t like. I don’t like big, loud shows, and they all seem big and loud lately.”
“Friends?”
“I don’t have human friends. I’m too different in the way I think and what I enjoy to make that kind of connection. But I make happiness in other ways.” His voice continued in its usual way: almost baritone deep, but the affect only subtle, without any hint of sadness or self-pity.
As someone whose brain worked differently than most as well, Zaxx understood. “I never really had friends, either, most of my life,” he shared, and then a twitch of grief cramped his heart. “My dog was my best friend.”
“Otto is my best friend, too. And Roach, my horse. Animals don’t care if you’re different. I’m very sorry about Doofus. Dogs are excellent friends. When my first dog, Kodi, died of old age, I was sad for a long time, until I met Otto. Someday, when it feels right, you should think about having another dog.”
It was too soon to think about that, but Zaxx knew one day the time would be right. “Someday, yeah.” He stepped to the table, a foot or so from Bo. “Hey, Bo.”
“Yes?”
“You do have a friend.”
Bo turned to him. Zaxx waited a beat to see if he understood before he said anything else.
It took that beat and another, but Bo got it. “Do you mean you?”
“I mean me. I’m your friend.”
A small smile sharpened the corners of Bo’s mouth. “Okay. Thank you. And I’ll be your friend, too, if you’d like.”
“I would like that a lot.”
~oOo~
Zaxx grabbed Gia’s arm and pulled her back, swinging them around so he could push her against the door he’d just closed. He swallowed her laugh as he kissed her. It wasn’t long before her arms were locked around his neck and she wasn’t laughing anymore.
Everything about this woman was perfect. She was strong and smart and confident. She was brave and powerful and kind. She was tall and beautiful, and so toned his hands delighted at the feel of any part of her body. Their bodies meshed together exactly right, with no awkward stretching or bending to find the fit. She was fucking perfect.
“God, you’re so fucking perfect,” she mumbled against his lips, and Zaxx laughed.
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” he mumbled back as she nipped on his bottom lip. “Kinda literally.”
She pulled out of the kiss and gazed up at him, tucking stray strands of hair behind his ear. “This is seriously hot, but I don’t want to fuck on the floor again. I had bruises and friction burns after last time.”
He remembered. His knees had gotten a thorough dose of bruise and burn as well. The hardwood floor was no substitute for a soft bed.
An image of their first night together unfurled in his mind, and Zaxx grinned. He dropped his hands to take full hold of her ass and said, “Jump.”
She didn’t. Instead, she cocked a dark eyebrow at him. “You almost dropped me the last time you tried that.”
“Yes, but I did not drop you. And I wasn’t familiar with the layout of this place. Now I am. Jump.”
She jumped. As he caught her in his arms, she hooked her legs around his hips. “Forward, Jeeves.”
Zaxx carried her up to the bedroom without incident—and, as far as Gia knew, with ease.
~oOo~
They had perfected a way of getting naked together that was both efficient and sexy, keeping their hands and mouths on each other the whole time, helping each other strip their clothes away, but still taking the lion’s share of responsibility for their own disrobing. Within a minute of Zaxx putting Gia down beside her bed, they stood naked together in a pile of discarded fabrics. Autumn was old enough to grow a frosty beard, and the chill in this loft room prickled the skin.
Unless she’d been recently shot, Gia did not want to be swept up like a child in his arms, so he simply turned the covers back, and she slid in. As a defense against that almost-winter chill, she’d put flannel sheets and an extra quilt on the bed. He slipped in beside her and tucked the blankets around them. For a moment, they wound their bare bodies together and warmed each other inside this snug, soft nest.
Something Zaxx had very recently discovered: the intensely beautiful, sweetly erotic calm of profound love. Their deepening familiarity with each other made this kind of space: a space to be vividly hot for each other, throbbing with need for each other, and yet not be desperate to have the need slaked. To simply love before making love.
They were, of course, vividly hot and throbbing for each other, so their cozy moment of soft quiet ended when Gia reached down and stroked the length of his aching cock.
