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“Touch yourself.”

I pushed my hand in the barely there gap between us and took hold of myself. Then I jerked in rhythm with his slow thrusts, all the while exchanging kisses, staring into each others’ eyes in a way that would’ve been almost too syrupy, but it was us.

When I came, it was with a startled shout, and I felt Bodhi follow me over the edge while I was still coming back online. He let me take his weight, and I reveled in it. And it was so, so stupid, but for the first time in a very long time, a barely there piece of a love song drifted through my brain.

I must’ve made a sound, because Bodhi lifted his head, his sweaty brow and his kiss-swollen lips glistening like it was a competition.

“What?”

“I’m gonna need my notebook soon,” I replied.

The joy in his eyes was palpable. “Okay.” Then, “Do you want to get it now?”

I shook my head. “No. Let’s just be like this for a while longer.”

I guided his head back to my shoulder, and he kissed my jaw.

If the words were back, they would wait. I wasn’t sure how I felt about them anyway, but I was hesitantly ready to give them a chance, even if I wouldn’t be the one performing them.

“I love you,” I murmured.

“I love you too.”

I smiled.

Epilogue

Bodhi

Christmas morning dawned crisp, bright, and cold. It wasn’t snowing, but we’d gotten a dusting earlier in the week and most of it was still sticking around. I’d been stationed in too many places where snow never happened, and I was definitely an all seasons kind of guy, so I liked the snow at Christmas. While I would have liked to see it falling from the sky, at least we had the picture as Wren and I drove over to the house.

We’d woken up early, had a Christmas fuck which a boneless Wren had declared a new Christmas tradition, and then opened our presents for each other with our coffee. I’d made him cry when he opened the box with the signet ring, Blue Creek Ranch’s brand on the top. I’d had to pay an arm and a leg for the rush job on it, but it had been worth it when he all but flew over the table to get in my lap.

“When we’re ready, there’ll be wedding bands, but for right now, I want you to always remember that this is your home, baby boy,” I’d said into his hair as he tried to strangle me with how tightly he was holding on.

He cried and kissed me and it was a while before we got to my gift.

It took me a few seconds to realize what I was seeing, but since I knew every Wren Paxton song by heart, I recognized the framed lyrics as something new. Then he got out his guitar and sang it to me, tear-filled gaze never wavering from mine. The song was about getting love at last and knowing it was forever. And I couldn’t help but choke up as well.

There was a line in the chorus that stuck with me, and I was still humming it as I drove. Wren let out a little laugh, slid his hand on my thigh, and sang it again for me in a soft voice, quiet in the cab of my truck.

“My heart was dislocated, out of place and bruised. Then you came home to me and my heart could beat anew.”

I took hold of his hand and raised to my lips, kissing his knuckles before threading our fingers together.

“You’re going to record that song so we can play it at our wedding, yeah?”

Wren squeezed my hand. “It’ll be the first thing I do once the studio is up and running. It’ll be the last song I’ll ever record, I think, but I can see myself writing more songs for other people.”

I would have said more but we made it to the drive and I had to let go of him to lean through the window and punch in my code. Juanpablo and Molly started the song of their people before we even made it around the curve, which made the ponies who now lived in the paddock on the other side of the drive take off to the far side of the fence. When I parked, I saw that we were the last to arrive.

The house was going to be jam packed and loud when we got in there, since literally everyone was celebrating this Christmas on the ranch. Normally, those of us with in-laws traded years. But Luke’s parents had agreed to travel to us for a couple of years, considering traveling with six young children was hard. On top of that, it was Shiloh’s first Christmas with us, we were all committed to making the biggest deal out of it that we could, and anyone else who may have traveled instead rearranged plans. Mal’s mom and aunt made the trip here instead, and even Jerrica’s dad, her only living parent, and who for some inexplicable reason wasn’t the biggest fan of Isley, had made the journey. Ora’s grandfather, who raised her, had already intended to spend the day with Russ. Carter didn’t have any family, and Ville was no contact with his. I’d overheard them the other day bonding over the fact that they were glad they didn’t have to make the hard choice.

Wren was out of the car and up the steps the second I put the car in park, and I had to double time it to catch up. The laughter and cheer poured out of the house the moment he opened the door and we were immediately swamped with hugs and holiday greetings. It took us a solid ten minutes to not only get our winter gear off but make it into the house proper.

It was packed to the gills, with every available seat taken and the youngest kids running around. But it looked like Christmas inside. The tree, so tall that the star was touching the ten-foot ceiling and just as wide, took up an entire corner of the living room. I didn’t have to look to know that all the ornaments my siblings and I had made throughout the years were adorning the branches, or to guess that there would be new ones from the current generation of littles. Underneath was piled high with brightly wrapped presents. I’d dropped ours off the day before so I didn’t have to worry about remembering them today.

Dad had built a removable mantel that was long enough to accommodate every stocking, and it stretched across the longest wall. They all mostly matched, Mom making them from fabric and embroidering the name on the top, and she’d arranged them in age order. Everything always seemed to default to age order. She’d even whipped up stocking for the visiting in-laws and slotted them into their appropriate places. I had no doubt there’d been late nights for her over the past few weeks.