I wanted him all. Every inch long, every inch wide, his girth and his heat. I wanted each powerful stroke that tried to tunnel him into me.

Then I was coming. I groaned so loudly I’m sure if anyone had been standing outside, they would have heard me. Rey was biting his lip and groaning as an orgasm rushed through my spine and lower body, milking his long length.

“I need to come,” he panted.

Who was I to argue? I arched up and kissed him, and I kept right on kissing him as his thrusts turned frantic and shallow before he finally pushed in to the hilt and stayed there, pulsing and groaning loud against my mouth.

We stayed like that forever, him on top, inside of me, his body hot, sweaty and perfect. It took me forever to catch my breath, but I rubbed all over those sleek, honed muscles in the meantime. I pressed my lips to the parts of his shoulders I could reach and kneaded his back. When his breathing evened out, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a huge kick out of how worn-out he was, I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a hug. He lifted his head enough to give me a few pecks on my mouth and cheek, but it wasn’t until he pulled back even further that my heart soared. He was smiling the biggest smile I’d ever seen, and it reached deep into my existence.

My poor heart didn’t know it could love so much. I wasn’t going to let my fears get the best of me. I had this one life, and if I didn’t make the best of it, then what was the point? I’d been given plenty of good things to be appreciative of, and I wasn’t going to let this newest gift go to waste. I had never considered myself to be unappreciative.

So I said to him the three words that felt more real than anything while I palmed the small of his back, repeating the words I’d said moments before. “I love you, Reindeer.”

That smile the size of the solar system stayed strong but the emotion in his eyes quadrupled. “I know.”

The arrogant ass. “You do?”

He kissed the corner of my mouth. “Ja.” Rey kissed the other side. “You always have.”

I snorted. “I don’t know about always—“

“No. Always,” he insisted.

“You haven’t always cared for me, and I can live with that.”

“You’re a better person than I am, and I haven’t loved anything the way that I love you, schnecke. I would say we’re tied,” he argued. His smile was gentle, his skin bright and flushed. “I’ve been waiting every day of my life for you. Your honesty, your loyalty,” he punctuated each of my traits with a kiss to a different part of my face that had me grinning like a freaking fool. “Your competitiveness, your fierceness, your kindness and this body… I would do anything for you. Lie, cheat and steal. There is nothing I wouldn’t do. Understand?”

I didn’t, not completely at least. I didn’t have a lot of self-esteem issues, I was good with myself but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, I figured. I never wanted to become a cocky asshole.

I could love one, but I didn’t want to be one.

“Sort of,” I answered him honestly. “Are you really not staying on with the Pipers next season?”

“Absolutely not. I’m staying with you.”

“But I don’t even know where I’m going,” I reminded him again with the least amount of panic I could muster.

“It doesn’t matter. You’ll go somewhere, and you aren’t going alone,” he assured me.

I blew out a deep breath and scrunched up my toes against his leg hair, making him jerk. “What about your house here?”

Rey dropped another kiss, ignoring what I was doing. “I’ll sell it.”