Henrik meets us at the door. He kisses Max on both cheeks like Max is something he's been waiting his whole career to put hands on. Calls himyoung sir. Max blushes like he's never been called sir in his life. Henrik walks us up the back stairs to the second floor without saying a word to me about the wine bag in my hand or the hour or anything else.
The room is exactly as I asked.
One table. Two chairs. The garden lit gold through the window. Candles already lit. The wine I sent over Tuesday already breathing in a decanter on the sideboard.
Max stops in the doorway.
"...Atlas."
"Hm?"
"You—"
"Sit down, sweetheart."
He sits down.
Henrik pours. Henrik leaves. The door shuts behind him with the muffled click of a man who knows when to disappear.
We're alone.
Max picks up the wine glass with both hands. "This is the kind of place," he says, "I would not have let myself want, six months ago."
"I know."
"You knew that when you booked it, didn’t you?"
"Yes."
A beat.
"...thank you for planning it all."
I lift my wine glass and tip it to him. He takes a sip to hide a grin.
"You walked Margot down the aisle in a suit a size too big," I say.
His brows knit.
“Then I felt so drawn to you after a while. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. How much you cowered, how unsure of yourself you were. It all started making sense once I learned more about you. About the foster homes. About everything you’ve been through. Every time I learned something new I felt what I'd felt at the wedding—bigger this time, and clearer—this pull ofI want to put him in something that fits.At some point in the last few months it stopped being something I was capable of ignoring."
I reach across the table. Take his hand.
His pulse is racing under my fingers.
"I want to make your life easy, Max. That's what this is. The suit you're wearing tonight—I had it made. The rest of it I've been doing where you wouldn't notice. I don’t want you to want for anything. Tonight I'm doing it where you can see. I'd rather you see."
"...Atlas."
"It makes me happy, sweetheart. Providing for you. Knowing what your life was and getting to make the rest of it soft. I didn't know that about myself before I knew you. I'm going to give you everything you wouldn't have let yourself want a year ago, like you said. I'm going to do it for the rest of my life. I've been waiting to get you alone and tell you so."
He's silent. His thumb moves once across my knuckles.
"...that's a lot to receive."
"I know."
"I don't know what to do with it." He bites his lower lip and my cock stirs in my pants.
