Page 117 of Kyle

Good God, there was nothing prettier.

My hands went from her hips to her back and I started stroking. Anaya melted into me and I thought there was nothing better than the feel of her on top of me. She snuggled in, giving me her weight. Trusting me. Loving me. Her warm skin pressed against mine, still breathing heavy from riding me.

“We need to talk, sweetheart.”

“Uh huh,” she mumbled and I smiled against her hair.

She was sleepy but this couldn’t wait. Not even until morning. I’d been rolling it around in my head for days—weeks actually—and the time had definitely come to lay all my cards on the table.

“I want you to move here to Maryland.”

“You do?”

Anaya sat up so fast I had to jerk my head to the side to avoid a collision.

“Yeah, baby, I do. If you wanna stay in San Diego, we can go there. Though I have to say that would suck because now that the team’s not on a long-term contract, we’ll be home more and I want to be close to my team and I want you close to Emerson and Tatiana. But if you’re committed to SD that’s where we’ll go.”

Anaya stared down at me with wide shocked eyes and asked, “You’d move to California with me?”

“Sweetheart, I’d move anywhere as long as it meant I get you.”

“I wanna live here.”

Thank fuck.

“Now we gotta talk about one more thing. I don’t want you taking another contract with the Peace Corps that will take you from me for two years. I’m not trying to be a dick but I want you in our bed every night. I know there will be nights I’m deployed and won’t be in it with you, but I wanna know you’re in it. Home safe in our house with our friends close by.”

Anaya didn’t take her eyes off me. She also hadn’t said a word, she was simply gazing down at me, her face unreadable. The Peace Corps wasn’t a deal breaker for me; I’d take her any way I could have her, but it would suck trying to navigate a long-distance relationship.

“Are you asking me to quit because you think it’s dangerous and you don’t think I can handle it?”

“Fuck no. Anaya, I think you’ve proven you can handle any situation you’re put in. You have more inner strength than anyone I know. From what happened to you when you were a teenager to Timor-Leste to this latest drama. You are strong and brave and smart. Do I like knowing you’ll possibly be unsafe? Fuck no, the thought makes my skin crawl. But I also know the team has your back. Do I want to wrap you up in a cocoon so nothing can ever touch you again? Yes. But I know I can’t do that. I know you need to be free to be you and I need to stand next to you while you do it. I will always do what I need to do to protect you. But what I won’t do is suffocate you in the process.”

“Then why are you asking me to quit?”

“I’m asking you to quit because I cannot imagine a day without you. Not only can’t I imagine it, the thought causes a physical ache in my chest. I know it’s a lot to ask, I know it probably makes me a dick, but it is what it is. I’m selfish when it comes to you and your time. I want it all. But I promise you, you give this me you won’t regret it. I’ll make each day worth it. I swear it, Anaya, I’ll bust my ass to make you happy.”

“You don’t have to bust your ass, Kyle, unless that’s what you’re doing now, because you already make me happy. And I don’t want to go back to the Peace Corps. I’ve been thinking about it and I don’t want to go back to a life where I live out of a backpack. It’s lonely. And I don’t want to be away from you or my friends. You’ve given me more than you’ll ever understand. And it’s more than just friends and a home. It’s more than you giving yourself to me. You’ve given me—me. And I can’t even say you’ve given me back, because there was nothing there. I was adrift, just skating by, not really livin’ but breathing and floating. Now I’m living. I’m feeling. I know what it feels like to love and be loved and be open and know I can be scared and strong at the same time. And I have all of that because of you.

“So, yes, I want to move here. Yes, I want to live with you. And yes, I’ll quit the Peace Corps.”

“Mouth, Anaya.”

“What?”

“Give me your mouth, baby.”

I didn’t wait for her to lean down, I knifed up and took what I needed.

“Again?” Her lips tipped up and my cock twitched.

“You cannot for one second think you can give me what you just gave me and not think I’m not gonna give you something else.”

“What are you gonna give me, Kyle?” she whispered against my lips.

Damn, I loved when she did that.

“Everything, sweetheart.”