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Logically, I understood why he wanted the Airstream, and more specifically his own space. Personally, I fucking hated it. We’d spent so many years apart. Most of it hadn’t been our fault, what with me serving and him being a literal superstar, but still. It had been time away from each other. Now I wanted exactly zero space between us at every possible second. I had to hold out hope that we would get there eventually. That Wren would eventually feel secure enough in all of this to want it too.

Wren fidgeted and I smoothed a hand up and down his back to settle him. He let out a sigh and relaxed, but it only lasted a minute. Maybe less. He wasn’t generally a fidgety person, so I tried to give him a couple of minutes to relax again. But when he didn’t, I knew something more was going on.

I kissed the top of his head, inhaling the scent of my shampoo in his hair. “What’s going on in your brain?”

“Are you sure you want to have sex with me?” He asked. There was a beat and then he cursed. “Fuck. I didn’t mean to blurt that out. Never mind.”

I pulled back just far enough so that I could see his face. He was trying for neutral and failing spectacularly. I kissed his nose, just to get a smile.

“Yes.” I figured the confident and direct answer would help, but he just kept staring. I raised a brow. “You want me to show you right now? Let’s go.”

I made to move, gathering him up to take him with me, but he laughed and tried to become deadweight. As though that was going to keep me from lifting him. He wasn’t exactly small, but I was strong and worked hard to stay that way. The bedroom, and the bed, were less than twenty feet away. I could carry him that far.

“Bode.” He was trying for chastisement, but the mirth in his voice absolutely ruined the effect. “This is serious.”

It wasn’t. But I recognized he needed reassurance and that he needed to talk about it again. So I let out a very dramatic sigh, playing it up, which made him chuckle again and punch me in the arm. I smiled, grabbed that hand, and kissed his knuckles.

“All right. Tell me where your head is at so that I can disabuse you of the notion that I don’t want you. As if the two blowjobs and the frotting this afternoon in my office didn’t prove it.”

Wren shook his head like he thought I was ridiculous. But I also saw the way his pupils dilated, just from me mentioning those acts. I could tell he was remembering, and if that turned him on, I was all for it.

After a second, he cleared his throat and laid his hand on the side of my neck. His gaze bounced back and forth as he tried to look into both my eyes at the same time, then finally settled.

“What’s got you so worried?” I asked softly.

“Not worried. Concerned maybe. It’s just that….” He blew out a breath. “I don’t want you to ever feel like I’m pushing you into something. Like my wants and desires are more important than yours. Because they aren’t. And they can’t be. But you identified as asexual for so long that I can’t help but be concerned that you would go outside of your comfort zone because of something I want.”

The babbling was cute. So was the way he emphasized the word concerned. I thought we’d already put this to bed but clearly he’d been ruminating on it.

“First of all, as I’m sure you’re aware, asexuality, like so many other things, is a spectrum, yeah?”

He nodded. “I know.”

“Okay. And I’m sure you’re also aware that our individual understanding of sexuality and gender can, and often does, evolve over time. Sometimes because of our own growth, sometimes because of the people we meet.” I gave him a pointed look. “For me, I realized, as I’ve said, my sexuality more closely aligns with demisexuality. So no, I was not previously particularly interested in sex. But with you, I very much am.”

Wren blinked those pretty blue eyes at me. “That was very eloquent.”

I smirked. “Yeah, well, I’ve done some reading. And discussed it with Chandra. My therapist.”

“That was smart,” he murmured.

“I think so.” I let the smirk fall, then leaned forward and kissed him gently. When I pulled back, Wren chased my lips, but then licked his own and focused on me again. “It's always been you. You’ve always had my heart. I was just too stupid to understand that.”

Wren’s scowl was adorable. “You’re far from stupid.”

I wasn’t going to debate him on that. It was pretty dumb that I couldn’t see what was right in front of my face for the better part of thirty years.

Wren let out a sigh and his lips curved into a gentle smile. “I know you said all this before, in a different variation. I just needed to hear…I just want to be sure that…It’s a big shift and—eep.”

In a quick move, I had him pinned beneath me on the couch. His legs automatically wrapped around my hips, which I loved, and I leaned close so that our mouths were a hairsbreadth away from each other. When he strained his neck to try to kiss me, I moved back a fraction so he couldn’t reach me. The frustrated whine sounded like music.

“I will say it as many times as you need to hear it.” I kissed him then, but kept it chaste, and then pulled back just enough to speak, our lips brushing as I did. “I love you. I want you. And I’ll take you right here on the couch, if that’s what you want. But there’s more room in the bed.”

Wren moaned, thrusting up, and there was no mistaking the way his cock was hardening behind his zipper. I was going to kiss him again, but we really needed the bed. I hoisted him up as I stood. Wren latched on, and he pressed his mouth against my neck, kissing first, then taking a tiny bite. I stumbled and had to use the hall wall to brace myself so I didn’t drop him.

His chuckle was downright dirty.

I dropped him on the bed and went to work peeling him out of his clothes. Wren tried to help, but he was getting in my way, so I smacked his hands. Wren let out another one of those filthy chuckles and shifted his attention to pulling off his hoodie and T-shirt in one move. I did the same with his jeans and briefs, shucking them down his legs.