Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 89815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“That’s it.” Meridian dipped his head lower and grazed his cheek over Ex’s soft spikes of hair. “Breathe slow and concentrate on me.”
Ex wasn’t shaking anymore, and he no longer held his jaw so tight it couldn’t be shattered with a two-by-four. His eyes still shone with moisture, but his breathing had evened out.
“Mere,” Ex croaked, holding him around his waist, keeping him close.
Meridian would not buckle under the pressure; Ex had always relied on him to be strong. His partner was saying so much with those emotional eyes and with his body that he wasn’t saying out of that sexy mouth. Didn’t Ex know that Meridian could read him like a map? He held Ex’s pleading gaze with his own stern one. Ex was needing Meridian to hold him up when he couldn’t stand on his own. He needed him to not judge him for losing his shit. Meridian held Ex tightly while he cradled his jaw in the other hand, running his thumb along the short stubble.
He could feel his frown deepen more as his heart raced. He knew what he was feeling, he’d been feeling it. At first he thought he’d take the confession of being in love with Xavier Martin to his grave, knowing how many rules he’d be breaking if he acted on it. He knew Ex was gay, but he’d always turned his head when he’d disappear for a day. But was he ready to say it out loud? Was Ex ready to hear it? Was it fucking selfish to tell Ex now? There were so many unanswered questions. He’d had two years to tell Ex that things had changed for him when he’d almost lost him, but he’d always put it off until after the next op.
“Marshall,” Ex called his name, the yearning thick in his husky voice. “Answer me.”
“Yes. Yes, I’m in love with you,” Meridian blurted.
Ex seemed to freeze with his lips parted and his eyes unblinking.
Meridian held his breath. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He didn’t even think he’d answered the correct question. Ex still hadn’t said a word, just watched him with a perplexed expression. Shit. Meridian thought maybe he was the one who needed the help standing now.
“That wasn’t my question,” Ex murmured.
Meridian’s eyes widened. It felt as if his chest was going to explode as lights flashed in the corners of his vision.
“Breathe,” Ex said suddenly as a gust of air whooshed out of Meridian’s chest. If he wasn’t so embarrassed already he’d try to make an excuse for a hasty getaway. Like he needed to check and see if the backyard was on fire.
“I was... I didn’t mean to even...”
Ex tilted his head while Meridian stammered like an idiot. “You... stuttering? Speechless?”
Hell! Ex drove him so damn crazy he couldn’t possibly be smooth all the time. “What I meant to... um...”
“I love you too,” Ex whispered, his eye contact steady. “I do, Mere.”
He was stunned silent for a moment, as he stood there staring at greatness and blinking.
“Well say something,” Ex growled.
Meridian always knew the right thing to say to his targets, because acting like someone else was easy. But Ex deserved nothing less than the real him. And not knowing the perfect words to say, Meridian closed his mouth over Ex’s plump bottom lip and sucked it into his own.
As they licked and bit at each other Ex clutched the back of his shirt and began to match him in intensity as though they were crazed teenagers again. When he needed air, Meridian buried his face in Ex’s neck as he smoothed his hands over his head and down to his sculpted shoulders. He inhaled, and was pleasantly surprised when he noticed the new crisp scent lingering around Ex’s jaw.
“Mmmm,” Meridian hummed. He braced his hands on either side of Ex’s neck and manipulated him until his throat was exposed. He smelled so damn good, his skin so cool and clean. Ex shivered in his arms and Meridian slowly blew his warm breath over Ex’s face. His partner was gasping for air against his chin as he continued to pull on Meridian until their hard dicks were shoved against each other.
Ex released the sexiest groan he’d ever heard. Meridian had to taste it and swallow it down, the flavor too enticing to refuse. He was rock solid, his dick stabbing into Ex’s pelvis. Meridian had never felt a high like this. The performance-enhancing drugs he’d been given all those years were no comparison to Ex’s affection for him. He felt it like a blade through his sternum—piercing and painful. His partner was bold and strong, fearless in the field and feared by many. Now to see him like this... needy in his arms... only for him, made Meridian fall that much harder.
He sucked on Ex’s throat, then ran the flat of his tongue along his bobbing Adam’s apple. Damnit, why do you have to smell so...? He bit down hard on Ex’s pulse, too worked-up to even complete his own thoughts and pissed that his partner had shifted him off course so fast.