“C’mon, girl.” I coaxed Ginger from the back seat of my car. She recognized Elijah’s apartment as soon as we parked at the curb, so her tail began wagging in anticipation. Elijah had arrived home a couple of hours ago, so I told him I’d bring Ginger to his place to give him time to get settled in.

It was the weekend, and my arm had been out of the sling for a couple of days now, which felt all kinds of strange. So instead of pacing around my apartment, knowing full well I couldn’t do any of my usual activities just yet, I had taken Ginger for a walk and then straightened up my condo, which was long overdue. It definitely helped me burn off some nervous energy about seeing Elijah again after almost a week apart.

What if he didn’t feel the same? What if the time away had made him realize we were better off as friends? Or maybe that he was still hung up on his ex? Neither one of us had brought anything up by text, so we could’ve been thinking wildly different things.

When he opened the door to greet us, my heart tripped over itself. His eyes were bright and his smile dazzling, and I knew right then that I couldn’t chicken out on letting him know how I was feeling—not unless I wanted to live with regret. Even if I was taking a huge risk. I clenched my shaking hands in an attempt to manage my overwhelming emotions.

“Hey, it’s you…with two good arms,” he said, looking me over from head to toe once we stepped inside and he shut the door behind him.

“It still sort of feels like I’m using a phantom limb,” I replied, flexing my fingers. “But I’ve been doing the exercises the physical therapist recommended.”

I wanted to reach my hand out and knot our fingers together, but I held myself back, at least until I knew for sure whatever this was between us wasn’t one-sided.

“Hey, girl,” Elijah said, squatting down to greet Ginger. She nearly knocked him over, she was so excited to see him. “I missed you too.”

I glanced around the spacious apartment I hadn’t seen in weeks. I spotted Elijah’s suitcase lying open on his bedroom floor with a week’s worth of clothing spilling out. But the rest of the place was spotless, as if nobody had been living here the past few days, which actually might’ve been the case, given West’s schedule.

“It stopped snowing at least,” I remarked, unzipping my jacket and hanging it on the coatrack near the door.

“Yeah, the roads seemed fine,” he responded and then glanced toward the counter. “You hungry?”

I followed him to the kitchen, where he had pizza waiting that had recently been delivered. I sat down on a stool while he slid a plate toward me and opened the lid. I took a slice of the warm pepperoni even though my stomach wasn’t cooperating very well.

The tension between us was thick—I could feel it rolling off him in waves. Whereas just last week we’d touched each other with ease, now it seemed like we were tiptoeing around each other all over again, talking about nonsensical things, like the traffic and weather. Fuck.

“When did you buy all that stuff for Ginger?” I asked as I watched the dog pick up a chew toy Elijah had left out for her along with a new bed and stuffed toys. “She loves it.”

“Before I left for Georgia,” he replied, watching her paw at the bed before she finally sank down in a cozy spot. “Figured it would save me time and make her feel comfortable.”

We watched her for another minute while absently chewing our food in what felt like awkward silence, and my stomach pitched as I wondered why we suddenly seemed to be falling apart. Where was the baseline of our friendship? Maybe this wasn’t going to work after all.

“Feels like I haven’t been here in forever,” I commented after another instant, just to have something to say.

“Feels that way for me too,” he responded as his eyes darted around the apartment. “In fact, this place doesn’t seem as comfortable to me as it once did.”

“Why is that?” I mumbled, dropping my crust on the plate and bracing myself for whatever he was about to say. That maybe he needed to get acclimated to it again or move someplace else or spend more time alone.

“Maybe because I’ve been spending the bulk of my time someplace else,” he said, finally looking at me. There was trepidation in his gaze, and it made my mouth run dry.

“Is it a place you liked spending time?” I asked around a thick throat.

“Maybe.” He shrugged, and my stomach clenched. “But this grumpy guy lives there, and all he does is lie around and stare at his bedroom walls.”

A laugh jumped out of my mouth as the huge boulder in my throat dislodged. “You ass.”

He cracked up as he stood and took our plates to the sink. Okay, ice broken. Would we find more common ground?

“I missed you, Eli,” I plainly admitted because it was the truth. But also because I couldn’t hold back any longer. I wanted it out there already and to let the cards fall where they may or whatever that saying was.

“Yeah?” he asked as his shoulders stiffened. I could see the uncertainty in his gaze as I stood and met him around the counter.

“I think seeing you every day changed something inside me,” I said as I clenched my fingers, itching to reach out to him.

“What did it change?” Elijah murmured, staring into my eyes.

I took a deep breath. Here goes, all or nothing. “It changed the way I saw you, thought about you. I mean, you’re still my best friend, but so much more. I…fell in love with you.”

His breath caught, and for a split second I was afraid I’d said the wrong thing. He looked at me with an unreadable expression before his eyes softened to something so gentle, it made my chest ache. “I fell for you too.”

“Damn it, Eli.” My fingers against his jaw, I took his mouth in a fierce kiss as he moaned against my lips. We stood that way, our mouths joined, our hands wound tightly around each other as we reveled in our reconnection. “Does this mean—”

“That I want to date you?” he replied, drawing his mouth away, and I nodded. “Yeah, that’s what it means.”

And just as our lips met again, we heard a whimper from near the door. Ginger was pacing back and forth, and I realized she hadn’t gone since we left my condo in a rush, eager to see Elijah.

Wordlessly, we slipped into our coats, and I snapped the leash on Ginger in the simplest of routines. But it felt powerful, like it was us together now. Really together.

When we got outside she squatted immediately on the grass to do her business. It was a nice break from the overwhelming revelations we’d just confessed upstairs. We walked Ginger leisurely while Elijah filled me in on his holiday, and then I did the same. On our way back to the entrance, our noses red from the cold, we heard a beep as a blue sedan pulled up to the curb.

“Elijah, you’re home.” He stiffened beside me at the sound of Stewart’s voice through the unrolled window. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because we’re not together anymore? That’s one reason.” I could sense the tension in Elijah, and just as I was about to step up to the car and have some words with that jackass about respecting Elijah’s wishes as well as his privacy, Elijah reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers.

The gesture was small but powerful, and Stewart zeroed right in on our clasped hands and narrowed his eyes.

“The other reason is that you’re being disrespectful to the only guy I want to be with. So leave us the fuck alone.”

Stewart stared for a long instant before he swore and rolled up the window. In mature fashion, he threw us the bird, his wheels screeching as he drove off.

Damn, I was proud of Elijah. He didn’t need me to stand up for him; he had done it all on his own.

“Was that your way of claiming me?” I quipped, tugging at our tightly woven fingers.

“Maybe,” he replied absently as he stared into traffic, his chest heaving. “But really it was me reclaiming my life.”

I lifted our linked hands to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. His eyes softened as a gratified smile stretched across his lips.

We could barely keep our hands off each other as we climbed the stairs to his apartment. As if our longing has been newly stoked, there was a fierceness in the way his hands roved over my body and his lips rubbed possessively against mine.

“Eli.” I kissed my way down his throat, then back up to his mouth, sealing our lips together, our tongues tangling, his hands grasping at my hair.

“Please,” he begged as I pinned him against the wall once we closed the door and left Ginger to her own devices. Our stiff cocks rubbed together as we devoured each other. “I want you.”

“I want you too,” I gasped against his mouth.

“No, I mean…I want you to fuck me. I want you inside me.”

I drew back and met his eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, God, it feels like forever,” he huffed out before lifting the edges of his shirt to take it off.

“Wait, let me. I can finally touch you the way I want.” I began stripping the clothes from his body as our lips fused together and we stumbled our way to his room. Once he was bare, I motioned for him to lie down on the bed. I took my time dragging my nails over his arms and along his collarbones as I looked my fill for the first time. When I felt his skin pebble with a shudder, my cock grew heavy against my zipper. “Damn, you’re gorgeous.”

I shed my clothing in record time, and Elijah reached in his nightstand for lube and a condom and tossed them beside him on the mattress.

I really needed to know what it felt like to be inside him. But I was terrified too. I wanted it to be good for him. My damn hands started shaking even as my shaft throbbed.

“Hey, we don’t have to—”

I shook my head, not asking him how he knew I was freaked. He always could read me well. I wasn’t sure anyone got me the way Elijah did, and that thought bolstered my courage.

“I want to be inside you. This just seems like a dream…you and me.”

“A perfect dream,” he whispered, and I felt a winging in my chest.

Leaning over him, I began slowly by sucking the sensitive skin at his throat, then down the center of his chest, the soft trail of hairs tickling my chin as he trembled and fisted the blanket.

“Feel good?” I asked before flicking my tongue against one of his stiffened nipples.

“Fuck yes.”

I kissed even lower, to his rib cage, then dipped my tongue in his belly button, which made him squirm. “Oh, I see. Now that I know—”

“Don’t you dare,” he warned, and I chuckled.

My tongue followed the arc of his hip bone before licking along the seam of his thigh as I took in his scent and sensual noises. I buried my nose in the small nest of trimmed hair at his groin, and Elijah gasped at the sensation and parted his legs, making room for me to settle in the space between his thighs.

I could tell he was growing restless as his hardness poked against my cheek. But I avoided his cock as well as his balls, focusing instead on savoring all the sensitive skin around his shaft while simultaneously driving him mad, his hips bucking in frustration as he cursed.

Finally, I slid his cock in my mouth, tasting his salty precome as I reached for his nipples, thumbing them into stiffer peaks, my other hand circling his sac. “Oh fuck, yes,” he hissed in response.

After opening the bottle of lube, I wet my fingers as Elijah watched me, softly panting as he raised his legs, exposing his perfect pink hole. My dick jerked against my stomach. “I see someone’s ready for me.”

“Been ready.” He gasped as I pushed a finger inside him and then added another.

I marveled at how damn tight he felt as I stretched him, and wondered how in the hell I was going to last after I got inside him. “Damn, you feel good.”

“Please,” he whined as he rocked against my hand. “Need you.”

Removing my fingers, I rolled on a condom and lubed my shaft. My heart pounded in my ears as I lined up my cock and met his eyes, which were pleading with me. So fucking sexy.

“Jesus, Eli.” I gritted my teeth as I pressed inside him, inch by inch. “I’m never not going to want to be inside you after this.”

“Is that a promise or a threat?” He gasped before pulling me down to press our mouths and tongues together. He tasted and felt amazing, but I needed to make sure this was everything he wanted. That I was everything he wanted.

“You okay?” I asked him as I began a punishing rhythm of pulling out and then plunging back inside, his ankles to his ears, my hands on his thighs. “What do you need?”

“Touch me,” he breathed out, so I took his shaft in my hand and began stroking in time with my thrusts. His breathing escalated, as did mine, because it felt too fucking perfect. Too fucking right.

Elijah rocked and squirmed, unable to control the guttural begging sounds escaping his lips before he stiffened beneath me and spurted come all over my hand.

My climax spread through me like an inferno. A hoarse cry ripped from my throat, my thrusts jerky and uneven as my seed spilled inside him in helpless spurts and pulses. My arm ached, my knee too, but it was worth it as I slumped forward to rest my forehead on his chest.

We lay there for minutes, until the cool air on our damp flesh made us shiver. I pulled my softened cock from his ass, and this time it was me leaving the room to wet a washcloth and bringing it back to the bed, ignoring the fingers reaching for it and instead nurturing him for a change. With gentle dabs, I cleaned his stomach and shaft before rescuing the twisted sheet from the floor.

I wrapped him inside my arms, held him close, and breathed in his scent. I couldn’t seem to find the right words for how full my chest was, but the silence seemed enough for now—private, profound, almost sacred. When he murmured my name, I kissed his temple, and for the first time in days I could breathe freely again.