Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Harry smiled at him shakily. “I loved you and wanted to be yours long before we even had sex. It wasn’t biology. It was all me. I just didn’t understand completely what I wanted because of my bond.” He chuckled, blushing. “Don’t you remember how I was always all over you, wanting cuddles and hugs and your hands on me? I loved being close to you, loved your scent, even when you came from the gym and claimed that you smelled gross. I loved being your babe, your love, and your sweetheart.”
Adam stared at him.
He didn’t know what to think. What to believe.
“I always loved touching you,” Harry said softly, licking his lips. He moved his hands from Adam’s shoulders and slipped them under Adam’s unbuttoned shirt. “Even when I was incapable of feeling arousal, I was still attracted to you so badly I felt the attraction even despite the bond, but I couldn’t quite understand what I felt until the bond broke completely.” Harry looked Adam in the eye, his face open and earnest. “I was ridiculously smitten with you. You were my sun and my moon and my stars. I wanted to make you happy. I wanted to impress you. I wanted you to smile at me and call me love. I wanted you to say I was special to you, your only babe. I fell in love with you long before I was even capable of feeling lust.” Harry took Adam’s hand and brought it to his lips. “I love you,” he murmured. “I always have. The fact that I need you physically doesn’t negate the fact that I love you so very much. Because I do.” He nuzzled into Adam’s hand like a kitten. “I love you. I love you more than you can imagine. I don’t care what people back home will think of me because of our relationship. I want to be yours. I am yours. Your Harry.” Harry kissed Adam’s palm, looking at him with open longing in his eyes. “Yours. For as long as you’ll have me.”
Adam could only look at him, his heart pounding. “Really?” he said, his lips barely moving.
His eyes shiny, Harry nodded. “You are all I dream about. I want to grow old with you. I want to kiss your wrinkles when they appear. I want to have kids with your eyes and your smile someday and spoil them rotten. I want forever.” Harry kissed the inside of Adam’s wrist, sending goosebumps up his arm.
Adam licked his lips, trying to shake off the fog of want that started to cloud his mind again. He frowned as something occurred to him. Harry had said he had throwback traits of his ancestor who had been intersex. “Wait. You can’t actually get pregnant, right?”
Harry burst out laughing, hiding his face in Adam’s shoulder. “No! I’m male. I have some biological traits of the surl’kh’tu, but I can’t actually conceive.” He paused, a wrinkle appearing on his forehead. “Well, I’m pretty sure of it.”
“He says he’s pretty sure,” Adam said dryly, amused despite himself. After all the stuff Harry had told him, a male pregnancy wouldn’t have been the most shocking.
Harry smiled at him, his eyes a little moist as they searched Adam’s. “So do you forgive me? Do you believe me?” Harry swallowed. “You still love me, right?” His voice cracked a little, and Adam couldn’t.
He couldn’t keep fighting it anymore.
He crushed Harry in his arms, hugging him tightly and burying his face in his chestnut hair. “Of course I do, Haz,” he murmured, his throat thick with emotion. “I never stopped and don’t think I ever will.” He kissed Harry on the temple. “I love you, baby.”
He felt Harry smile against his shoulder before Harry lifted his head.
“Babe,” he corrected Adam with a grin before slotting their mouths together.
Adam laughed and kissed him.
EPILOGUE
Harry was fast asleep when there was a quiet knock on the door.
Adam was tempted to ignore it, reluctant to extricate himself from Harry’s embrace, but the knocking didn’t stop.
Adam brushed his lips against Harry’s. Harry smiled in his sleep. Adam forced himself to pull away, giving Harry a pillow to hug in his stead. A little frown appeared on Harry’s face, as if he wasn’t fooled by the replacement, but eventually his breathing evened out again.
Adam slipped into a shirt and a pair of sweatpants before heading for the door.
His relaxed mood changed immediately when he saw the man who stood on the other side.
“You aren’t taking him away,” Adam said, blocking the doorway. He knew his voice was tight and cutting. He didn’t care what Harry had said; this man was the one who’d taken Harry away from him, the reason Adam hadn’t seen him for a year.
Ksar’s strange silver eyes met his. They were impossible to read. “I’m the one who delivered him here. Did you think I would let him go to this planet alone in his state? He was barely coherent. He could barely walk or talk.”