Chapter Text
Epilogue
A line of sunlight filtered through the window blinds and shone across Alex’s eyelids. Wincing against the glare, he turned his face into his pillow. Something felt different this morning. He quickly recognised it as the back of the band’s tour bus. This wasn’t unusual. He was used to the life on the road. So why did he feel like something was different from his norm?
It was too quiet. The motion of the tour bus and the din of its engine were missing. It was such a familiar lullaby that his mornings felt off if he didn’t wake to the sound.
With a sleepy smile, he rubbed his face against his pillow, still trying to grasp full consciousness. All at once his mind grasped why the bus was stationary this morning. They were in Las Vegas. Vegas.
Henry had agreed to marry him in Vegas.
Which meant today was…
Today was his wedding day.
Holy shit!
Instantly awake, Alex shot his hand out into the space beside him to find nothing but an expanse of empty mattress. Had it been a dream?
Henry had been throwing off his proposals for weeks, so maybe he had imagined it all. Dreamed up the perfect man. Alex’s heart panged unpleasantly.
He reached farther, needing the tangible evidence of Henry’s skin beneath his touch. More cool and empty sheet met his seeking fingertips. Had Henry changed his mind and left him?
He stretched his arm as far as it would go, and his fingers found warm, soft skin. He breathed a sigh of relief and spooned against Henry’s back, inhaling his delicious scent. Not a dream. Not his imagination. Sweet reality.
Henry murmured his name in his sleep. The corners of Alex’s mouth turned up, and his heart warmed. He snuggled closer to his back, placing a tender kiss behind his ear.
“I love you,” he whispered. It felt so good to say it openly without worrying about the strength of his feelings.
The only thing better than verbally expressing his love was hearing Henry say it in return. He should probably let him sleep, but he needs to see the love shining in his beautiful blue eyes, before he locks him in forever.
In a few hours, they are going to be known under the names Claremont-Diaz-Hox— and as far as he was concerned, the honeymoon started now.
Alex flicked Henry’s earlobe with his tongue and sucked it into his mouth. The breathy sigh he emitted grabbed him by the balls.
It was always like this with him; Henry ignited an insatiable sexual hunger within him. And so many things about him contributed to it. His sexy body, and intelligent mind. His scent, taste and the hot little sounds he made while their bodies were joined, the texture of his skin, the way the light danced in his blonde hair. The pouty lips, which always begged for kisses.
The entirety of Henry’s physical being burned his body with awareness. The music he composed while making love to him inspired his soul. Henry’s hard-won trust set his heart ablaze. He loved everything about him, even his stubbornness.
He wasn’t an easy man, he was complex and sometimes a complete enigma, but he was the only man for him. He’d know it the first time they made love in that hotel room. And now Henry knew it too.
At least he said he did. Alex decided Henry needed a few reminders so he wouldn’t forget.
Sucking and nibbling on his ear, he moved his hand to graze his nipples. Henry archived into his palm. His fingernails joined the party, scraping against the soft, pink flesh
“Alex!” he gasped.
It would be the one and only name he’d call out in ecstasy for the rest of their lives. He couldn’t ever imagine growing tired of hearing him say it.
He slid his hand lower, over his ribs, his belly, seeking the center of his pleasure. His fingers brushed the hardening length. Henry shuddered. Alex already knew what he wanted to do. He wanted t stroke him until he came, and then press him down into his own mess, suspend himself lower, and open him up more using his tongue and fingers, before fucking in slowly from behind. He wanted to grind his hips each time his cock was buried deep. He wanted to tease him with his words, promising to fuck him forever.
Alex couldn’t help to shudder alongside Henry as the visions of their passion danced between his eyes.
Henry caught his hand before he could find his target.
“No,” he said firmly.
“No?” How could he say no? He never told him no. Never.
“Not until the honeymoon.”
Alex grinned. “Which I’ve already decided starts now.”
Henry rolled over to face him and rolled his eyes. “Do I get any say in this?”
“Nope.” Alex said, popping the ‘p’, his tongue getting stuck in his cheek, cheeks red with the strength of his smile.
“Oh I see.” Henry said, rolling over so he could straddle Alex’s hips, holding his arms down
“Mmmmmhmmm.” Alex murmured, eyes glazing. “Imagine how relaxed we would be for our vows, baby.” He punctured the endearment, by rolling his hips, so his hard cock would graze Henry’s perineum. Alex knew that area was tender, after their last night’s activities.
Henry’s head hung low, a moan almost slipping past his lips. After a few seconds he gained his composure and looked up at Alex.
Alex couldn’t help to stare back, his heart thudding with a mixture of love and lust and unadulterated joy. He couldn’t believe Henry was openly his. That he wanted to marry him.
Today.
Holy shit!
“I love you,” Henry said, burrowing his fingers into his Alex’s hair. “I love you,” Henry said again, more firmly. “Do you believe me?”
Almost—it was still very new coming from his lips—but he said, “Yes.”
“I think I fell in love with you when I saw you standing near your motorbike near that Falafel place, waiting for me. Do you remember that?”
“Yeah, but you didn’t love me then.” Alex said, regretting his words, he knew Henry loved him now, but it was hard to convince himself sometimes that someone could love him so deeply. He just needed more reminders – and it will stick.
“Well, I was an idiot. And I did love you, Alex, I just didn’t want to admit it. I was scared.”
“And you’re not scared anymore?”
He shook his head.
“And you promise not to break my heart?” he asked.
“I promise.”
“And you’ll love me forever?”
“Forever.”
“And we can start the honeymoon right now?”
Henry laughed, a toothy grin Alex loved the most. “Nope. I’m going to make you wait.”
“Boooring.”
“Nope.. It’s knowing how hard you’re going to fuck me after I tease you all day.”
Henry offered him a devilish grin, and his own cock pulsed with excitement.
“Are you sure you’re not punishing me?
“Well, maybe a little.” Henry kissed him again. “But it’s going to be all worth it in the end.” Henry stared at him with such intensity he had to look away.
“I love you,” he said with conviction, and Alex met his eyes again. “I love you. I love you. Which way do you like me to say it?”
“Any way is fine with me as long as it’s frequent and you mean it.”
Henry continued to stare into his eyes. “I do. Je fais. Si Quiero How should I say that?”
Alex grinned. “You just have to say that once.”
Henry smiled back, and there was no mistaking that his level of happiness matched Alex’s.
“We have a busy day ahead of us,” Henry said. “Rings. Suits. Elvis impersonator hunting. Wedding. Honeymoon. We’d better get out of bed.”
“Or we can stay in bed, forget the suits, and get married right here while participating in the honeymoon. I’m a firm believer in multitasking.” He grinned hopefully and nodded, encouraging Henry to mimic his motion and agree with his perfect plan.
The raised eyebrow told him that wasn’t the plan.
Damn.
He released a defeated sigh and pulled out of his arms. “Let’s go pick out those rings. Yours will be huge, obnoxious and expensive—no protests out of you.”
Henry opened his mouth, and Alex covered it with one hand.
“No protests.”
The corners of Henry’s mouth turned up against his palm. He knew damned well he’d get him whatever ring he wanted.
“We’re in agreement?”
Henry nodded, and he moved his hand so they could kiss. “Are you ready to go pick them out?”
Alex so wanted to put a physical token of his affection on his ring finger. In their short dating history he wasn’t able to spoil Henry with gifts. This stops today.
Alex drew Henry’s hand to his lips to kiss the spot that would soon be obscured by his eternal rock. Henry just smiled.
***
Henry slipped into a soft bathrobe and opened the door that led to the main corridor of the tour bus. Alex followed behind and quickly tugged him into the small room. The bathroom door slid shut, and Henry’s robe landed on the floor an instant later.
“Alone at last.” Alex filled both hands with his ass, His dark eyes were glassy with lust as he watched his eyes, as their cocks ground together. “You know the idea of making love to my husband is enough to push me beyond control. You don’t have to tease me all day to make me crazy.”
Henry grinned at him and perched himself against the vanity, scooting his butt up. “Splendid, because I don’t want to wait all day. I want your wickedly fast fingers against me—inside me—right now, you can keep me open all day.” Henry leaned further back, against the cold vanity mirror, bent his knees, and rested his feet on the countertop, opening himself wide to his Alex. To his fiancée. His soon-to-be husband. “Make me come, love.”
“Can I taste you first?”
He didn’t respond, just grabbed his hand, and tugged him forward, helping Alex to get onto his knees.
Alex inhaled deeply. “Oh fuck, baby. You smell like sex.”
His tongue traced circles around his rim, and he watched the opening flutter. Fuck. He couldn’t get enough. Henry continued to moan softly, aware they were in a full tour bus, but still craving his fingers, his cock, really anything inside of him.
Alex pulled off, and spat directly against his hole.
“Oh!” Henry gasped.
He moved up, and sucked his balls into his mouth, as he moved his finger into the opening, carving a space for himself inside Henry’s body. Henry’s eyes closed, at the onslaught of pleasure. He never knew his balls could be this sensitive. He shivered when Alex moved to pay the same attention to the other one.
Henry called out in pleasure when a second finger joined in, his cries of excitement echoing off the walls of the tiny bathroom.
Alex pulled away and shifted his other hand to his cock.
“Watch yourself, baby. Watch.”
Henry forced his gaze down between his legs where Alex was working him expertly. He knew exactly how to make him explode. Watching his fingers move, reminded Henry about the way those fingers looked when he played one of his guitar solos almost sent him over the edge.
Alex however, knew exactly when to stop, to prolong Henry’s pleasure. Quickly he lifted him off the vanity, grabbed the lube on the counter, slicked himself, and slipped slowly inside, his head notching at Henry’s opening. He slowly worked his length in small pulses to work Henry into even a bigger frenzy.
After a few, deep strokes, Alex’s cock was fully seated inside of him, and Henry could not look away from the spot where their bodies were joined. The way his cock filled him made his breath catch. Alex gyrated his hips as they watched Henry’s body stretch to accommodate his girth.
Slowly, his pleasure built again.
“Alex.” Henry needed the feel of his name on his lips almost as much as he needed the feel of his hard cock within him.
Henry lifted his head, and he met Alex’s gaze. They stared into each other’s eyes as their bodies moved together over and over again. Emotions flooded his being, stealing his breath, making his eyes ache as tenderness overflowed.
“Alex?”
The physical connection they'd always had was there. But opening his heart to him made sex so much more than simple pleasure.
“Yes, baby?”
“I love you,” Henry said.
Alex cupped his face between his palms and kissed him softly. “I love you.” Buried balls deep, he stared into Henry's eyes. “Are you really mine?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“About time you admitted it, Professor .” He grinned, as he resumed his movement. Slow. Hard. Deep. He became hyper aware of the man against him: the texture of his skin, as he held his thighs spread wide open; the warmth of his breath against his shoulder as he bent to embrace him; the tickle of his hair against Alex’s nose; Henry’s own fingers massaging into his biceps, as Alex ground into him, filling his body to its limits with his cock.
But there was a new awareness within Alex. A swelling in his chest. A tightening in his throat. A prickle behind his eyes. Alex was so deep, and not just with the rock-hard shaft that was working Henry toward rapture. His essence, his soul, was now part of Henry, and it was clear it was essential to their existences.
Alex found a tempo that drove into him. Taking them higher. Higher.
“I hear you,” Alex whispered. “My muse.”
Knowing he was hearing one of his musical compositions while he made love to Henry caused one of those sentimental tears to leak from Henry’s eyes.
Henry rubbed his face against Alex’s shoulder. “Do you need something to write on, baby?”
He shook his head and repeatedly murmured a series of notes. “I’ll remember it.”
“I can’t wait to hear you play it.”
“I’m sorry. You must hate that this keeps getting in the way of our fun.”
Henry kissed his temple, and his arms tightened around him. “Not at all. It’s sexy,” he whispered “You composing when we make love is sexy.”
Alexe chuckled. “Damned inconvenient if you ask me.”
“I didn’t.” Henry smiled and did nothing to interrupt or change his thrusting tempo while his murmured stanzas grew longer and more complex. He was glad he had something to distract him—Henry could get all his overwhelming and tender emotions under control. Sort of.
After a few seconds the tempo and the angle of his thrusts changed, Henry yelped. Concerned Alex pulled out, but Henry didn’t have the bar of it. “Love, I am so close. Please… I need you.”
“Fuck. Ok, hang on.”
Alex quickly slid back, and Henry’s back arched. Shit, he knew he was in trouble, when he noticed the determined look on Alex’s face. The song was written and forgotten, as he began to expertly drive into his prostate, with each penetrating thrust.
Henry was stuck in a wordless moan, as he hung onto Alex’s shoulders, his legs wrapping around his soon-to-be-husbands waist. Henry’s pleasure exploded, when Alex’s hands got to action, his left hand wrapped around his ass, to lift and angle him exactly where Alex needed him. His right hand wrapped around Henry’s throat at the same time. When their eyes met, Henry exploded untouched over his abs., his body clenching so hard, it would not let Alex out of his depths.
After a few minutes, or fuck was it hours, Alex gently pulled out. They both gasped in protest, seeing Alex’s red, almost purple cock, ready ro explore.
“Let’s finish this in the shower,” he said. “I’m determined to marry you today one way or another, and we need to work on some multitasking or we’ll waste the entire day fucking in the tour bus bathroom.”
“I wouldn’t say we were wasting the day,” Henry said.
“I will marry you today, Henry Fox. Got it?”
“Got it,” he said, smiling his brightest.
While Alex adjusted the temperature of the water, Henry hopped off the counter and moved up behind him to kiss his back with an open mouth and tongue and teeth.
Henry rubbed his hands over his firm belly, his pecs, his strong shoulders. He stepped into the shower and he followed, consumed by his insatiable hunger for this man. Finally admitting that he loved him hadn’t lessened his lust for him. If anything, it made it even more pronounced. How lucky was he to be in love and in lust with the same man?
Alex turned to face him, and his gaze lowered to his thick cock standing at proud attention between them. Henry wanted his cum in his mouth. Wanted it to pulse into the back of his throat. Wanted to swallow him whole.
Without a second through, he lowered himself to his knees, running his hands up Alex’s thighs. The warm water of the shower coursed between his splayed fingers and flowed down his arms. Alex tilted his head back into the flowing water the same instant he sucked his cock into his mouth.
“Ah,” he gasped. “We meet aaah… here …shit fuck… a.aagain.”
Henry grinned. He held the base of his shaft with one hand as he bobbed his head fast, sucked him hard, and cradled his heavy balls in his palm. He wanted to reward him for being so good to him.
For loving him.
Henry knew what Alex liked, what he needed. He moved his free hand between his legs and slid his fingers into his own ass, gathering some of the excess lube. When he’d collected enough on his fingertips, he lifted his hand between Alex’s legs.
His slippery fingers pressed against the opening of his ass, and Alex grunted before widening his legs, getting the message. Henry slid a finger inside him, gently thrusting in and out until Alex began to whimper. He knew what was coming. Knew how good Henry could make him feel. Trusted him with his body.
Henry released Alex’s shaft to free his other hand and shifted it to his own cock which began to harden again. Soon he was stroking himself in the rhythm of his fingers, just before his fingers began to curl forward inside Alex.
Alex’s entire body shuddered as he cried out in hot bliss, Henry quickly moved his mouth over Alex’s cock and began to suck quickly. He was rewarded almost instantly as his fluids pulsed into the back of Henry’s throat. As soon as he could taste his pleasure, his own body locked and his orgasm blazed through him. White hot pleasure intensified, when Alex grabbed his head to slow its relentless bobbing as he sucked him off, but he refused to lay off until he’d spent every last drop.
Alex sagged against the shower wall, gulping for air and shaking with aftershocks of pleasure. Releasing his cock with a loud sucking pop, Henry teased the opening at its tip with his tongue, still rubbing him inside to prolong his bliss.
“God, baby,” he groaned. “I don’t know what I did to deserve that, but let me know what it was so I can do it repeatedly.”
“Only when you tell me, you love me.”
“That can be arranged” Both of their eyes met again, as they giggled to themselves. Love was evident between them.
***
Right in front of the jewelry shop, Alex sank to one knee at Henry’s feet.
“Alex, what are you doing?” Henry whispered, glancing nervously at the store clerk, who grinned broadly, and then looked back down at the man at his feet.
“Asking you properly,” Alex said, gazing up at him with love shining in his eyes. “Henry Fox, I love you with all I am, have been, or will ever be. Will you marry me?”
“I already said I would,” Henry said around the lump in his throat.
“You should answer me properly,” he said. “In front of this witness who is about to make a huge commission.”
Henry laughed because he was so damned happy. His only other option was crying. And for the same reason.
“Yes, Alex Claremont-Diaz, I will marry you,” he said.
The clerk clapped her hands excitedly as Alex slipped the ring on Henry’s left ring finger.
Henry practically tackled him to the ground when he dropped into his arms and kissed him desperately. Alex chuckled against his lips, tightening his arms around the love of his life. After a moment, he turned his face toward the jewelry counter, and Henry moved his kisses to his jaw and neck. Henry quickly grabbed the other black box, and without hesitation slipped the other engagement ring onto Alex’s willing hand.
They met in the kiss again, after grinning at their joined hands like big idiots.
“We’ll also take a couple of wedding bands to go,” Alex said to the clerk. “As you can see, we’re a bit anxious to get to the honeymoon.”
After purchasing engagement rings and their matching wedding bands, they headed to a tailor to get their suits.
The rest of the band joined them to complete their wedding party. Liam, Spencer and Raf cheered loudly as the tailor brought out two champagne bottles for them, and closed the shop for the rest of the day.
Not even 20 minutes into their dressing appointment, when there was a loud knock on the door. Everyone looked around the room, their eyes all falling onto the tailor.
“Are you guys expecting someone else?”
Just a second after, a pop of pink hair could be seen through the door and Henry letting out a yelp, when a large, obnoxiously white bouquet of roses appeared through the door.
“Pez?”
They stumbled to the door, when a ridiculously gorgeous black man entered the store, dressed head to toe in a vintage Armani suit.
“Hazza, my boy. You could’ve told me sooner, you snagged a rock star.” He grinned. “Enchanté boys, I am Percy, but you can call me Pez”
The room erupted in chaos.
Let the party begin, thought Alex, as he grinned looking around the room at his chosen family. His heart was full
***
Henry seriously needed to get a bigger car. His Aston Martin D85 convertible did not seat five comfortably. Hell, it didn’t seat four comfortably. Raf, Liam and Spencer sat hip to hip across the vintage seats, at the back, their long legs awkwardly squeezing together. Him and Alex at the front, as he did not trust anyone from the band to drive his baby. He was also the one not drinking at the tailors, wanting to remember everything from today.
The car pulled into a drive-thru wedding chapel, the rumble of Jace’s Harley following behind them, with Pez wedged behind him. As they sat in line waiting their turn, Henry fidgeted with his engagement ring.
Alex’s hand covered his and squeezed. Henry looked into his eyes, and the concerns instantly evaporated. This was how he’d fallen. Exactly this. Alex was wonderful, and Henry was incredibly lucky he hadn’t given up on him. And they would make it work. They would. Henry wouldn’t give up on him, on them, ever.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“I’ve fallen.”
“And I can’t get up!” Liam said from the back of the car, his butt stuck between Raf and Spence.
“Liam, we’re going to have to gag you, aren’t we?” Raf said and reached out to squeeze the drummer.
“I have a gag,” Jace said. “But it’s back on the bus.”
If Henry didn’t love these guys as his surrogate family, he would have clobbered them all. “Guys, today is all about us,” he said, “so kindly, shush.
Alex chuckled and lifted his hand to his lips. “Thank you Professor.”
The car in front of them pulled away, and Alex eased up to the window. Jace moved the motorcycle next to the car and shut off the rumbling engine. They were greeted by Elvis Presley. Well, a pretty good imitation of him. Elvis slid his large, white-framed sunglasses down his nose and offered a wide smile.
“I say-uh, welcome to the Chapel of Rock, baby.”
“Fitting,” Spence said.
“Do you got the paperwork, baby? We need a license to make it legit.”
Alex handed Elvis the marriage license they’d picked up at the bureau that morning. “Best sixty bucks I ever spent,” Alex said.
While Elvis did whatever it was he needed to do with the marriage license, Alex slid up to sit on the dashboard of the convertible with his feet resting on the front seat. He drew Henry up to straddle across his lap, wrapping one strong arm around his back.
He took Henry’s hand in his free hand, holding it gently. They stared into each other's eyes. Alex’s encouraging smile made his entire world melt away. This was really happening. He was marrying Alex Claremont-Diaz. Becoming his husband. Forever. Henry’s smile widened until his cheeks hurt.
“Is this man your hunka hunka burning love?” Elvis asked.
Henry laughed. “I’ll say.”
“Does this man have you all shook up?” Elvis asked.
Alex grinned. “Yeah, he does.”
Elvis broke into a decent rendition of “Love Me Tender.” Raf joined him in the second chorus. By the time Elvis finished, the entire band was accompanying him at the top of their lungs, even Alex. Henry couldn’t stop laughing. How many men could claim that Elvis and the Sinners serenaded them on their wedding day? Only him. And as obnoxious as it was, their willingness to make fools of themselves on his behalf meant the world to him. At the end of the song, Henry hugged Alex and whispered into his ear, “God, I love you... and your stupid band too.”
He chuckled. “That’s good, because you’re stuck with us for life.”
And where that idea had once terrified him, a lifetime suddenly didn’t seem long enough.
He looked up into Alex’s intense brown eyes, his throat tight with emotion, his eyes prickling with tears.
“Do you have vows you want to recite to your baby?” Elvis asked.
Words tumbled from Henry’s lips like toppling dominoes. All the things he’d been afraid to voice, to feel, since he’d first met Alex, poured out in one rush of emotion.
“I don’t know how you knew what I needed more than I did. Or why you refused to give up on me. I’m just so very glad you didn’t. You loved me when I didn’t want to be loved. Lifted me when I didn’t realize I was down. Gave me so much I was too stupid to take, too afraid that I’d come to need you and lose myself. I used to think loving you would weaken me, but now I see it doesn’t, Alex; it makes me stronger.” he tugged his hand against his chest over his pounding heart. “I vow to love you, openly and consistently. I vow to stay beside you no matter what the future brings. Have faith in you. In us. I also vow to be true to you—heart, mind, body, and soul—and never cheat on you with Raf.”
Alex laughed and touched his cheek. “Never?”
“Never. I want only you. Need only you. Always.”
Henry turned towards Spencer. “Ring?”
The rings were dropped into his hand, a thick platinum band in his hand. Henry took Alex’s left hand and slid the ring onto his ring finger. “With this ring, you’re entwined with me, forever, because I refuse to ever let you go.”
Alex grinned, his eyes turning skyward with a look of elation. How could any man resist a man who was so overjoyed by his expressions of love? Alex should have been married years ago. Henry silently sent a word of thanks to Raf for being such a jackass and destroying Alex’s previous relationships. In a strange way, he owed Raf one. Or twenty.
Waiting for the words he would say to her, Henry suppressed the urge to hug Alex. He didn’t want to distract him. Henry needed to hear what was in his heart.
Alex cleared his throat and stared at Henry’s chin. “Spence was right: I should have written this down.”
“You wish you would have listened to me now, don’t you?” Spencer said.
“Just tell me how you feel, love,” Henry encouraged, stroking Alex’s hair behind one ear until he looked up at him again.
“I thought I knew what love was, that I understood its depth, its importance, its beauty and the happiness and the heartache it brings.” He huffed—a small sound of amusement. “I wasn’t even close. When I look at you, I see radiance. I know pure happiness. Everything else pales in comparison. The thought of living a single moment without you tears me apart inside. Just when I think I love you as much as possible, you open your heart to me a little more, and my love expands—grows—wanting to fill every emptiness inside you.”
“You have,” Henry whispered. And that was just it—the reason he could love him forever. This moment wasn’t the ultimate expression of their love; it was just the beginning. As long as they continued to nurture what existed between them, their affections would burn brighter, lift them higher, bring them closer. Grow.
“I love you, Henry.”
Alex snatched the ring from Spencer’s palm.
“With this ring, I claim you as mine and give my heart to you. Forever.”
Alex lifted Henry’s hand to his lips and kissed the ring he just slid in place. Henry didn’t need the material possession. Didn’t need the piece of paper that legally bound them. Didn’t even need the ceremony before witnesses. The only thing he needed—to know this union was sacred and forever—was the look of love on Alex’s handsome face.
Henry carefully slipped his engagement ring back on his finger—keeping his wedding ring nearer his heart—so he didn’t drop the expensive thing with his trembling hands.
“I now pronounce you husband and uh-husband,” the Elvis justice of the peace said. “I say-uh you may kiss.”
Henry wrapped both arms around Alex’s neck and their lips met with tenderness that quickly burgeoned into insatiable need. There was more to this kiss than a mutual sharing of pleasure. It was a physical expression of their love. Henry let the emotions take him, holding nothing back, knowing this man was incapable of intentionally destroying him. He could destroy him, but he wouldn’t. Henry trusted him completely. As his last defenses crumbled, he wondered why he felt victorious instead of defeated. He’d lost. He’d given in to him, yet he’d won so much for himself in return.
Oh God, he loved him so much, he could just go on kissing Alex forever.
***
Alex gazed down at his husband—his husband—spread across the bed in their penthouse honeymoon suite. Damn, he really did get married-up. His husband was such a catch, he wanted to shout across the city.
See this guy, right here. This hot AF babe. Well, he’s fucking mine, all mine.
“Come lie beside me,” Henry said and patted the mattress next to him.
“I don’t know if I will be able to resist you once we are horizontal, baby.” Alex lamented, Henry just laughed. “Once I get started with you, husband of mine, I’m not going to stop.”
Henry smiled gently. “Come cuddle with me first.” As he moved to unbutton a couple of buttons of his shirt. Damn that suit was fucking sexy. Alex could not wait to strip him out of it with his teeth.
He quickly kicked off his shoes and crawled up onto the bed beside him.
Henry lifted a hand to trace the contour of Alex’s cheek with his thumb. He smiled and then cuddled up against his side, his head resting on Alex’s shoulder.
“Where are we going to live?” Henry asked.
The idea that they would be separated for even an hour made his chest ache. “It’s still summer holidays, yes?”
“Yeah, but that’s only a couple more weeks. How long will you be on tour after that?”
“Until almost Thanksgiving.”
Henry hand curled into the fabric of his crisp dress shirt. “I don’t want to live a day without you, but I’m not ready to give up my career either.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to. I know you love your work.”
“Some of it,” he said, his voice wavering with uncertainty. “I’m not sure if my unconventional ways of thinking will ever be embraced by my peers.”
“I’ve always wondered why you specialized in human sexuality.”
Henry laughed. “Seriously?”
“Just curious.” Alex knew Henry didn’t like to talk about himself that much. Henry was very guarded about certain aspects of his life, his work. Especially his past.
“Because I love sex. The way it feels. How much it influences people. Its wondrous variety. I’m sure you already know that.”
Oh yeah, he definitely knew he loved sex and all its variations. He’d never met a man who appreciated sex more than Henry Fox. Erm, Henry Claremont-Diaz-Fox. He liked the sound of that.
His hand moved to the back of his head to press him closer to his chest. He could scarcely believe he was his husband now.
“But there’s more to the subject than just hands-on experimentation. I like to study how it affects people—physically, emotionally, spiritually. It’s biology. Psychology. Sociology. I never told you this, but I use guitar riffs in one of my classes and have my students discuss the sexual nature of rock music.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, and do you know whose riffs evoke the strongest sensual response?”
He lifted his head to look at her.
“Yours. The way you play is like sex on strings.”
He chuckled. “Especially since you came into my life.”
“You’ll have to play for my class sometime.”
“Sure. I’d love to see where you work.”
Henry smiled, before taking a deep breath. Something was niggling in his brain for a better part of the time since Alex proposed. “Soon, I’ll consider quitting my full-time job to start a family. I really want to keep working one more year. I’m excited about the topics I get to teach this coming year, but soon it will be time for a change. I want to do some other things.” he snuggled closer to his chest, hiding his eyes “Mostly I want to have a family with you.”
Stunned speechless, Alex’s vision blurred. Had he heard him correctly? Henry wanted to start a family?
“Unless you don’t want children,” Henry said, obviously mistaking his dumbstruck silence for hesitation toward the idea. “I know you’ll make a great father, Alex. Even though it’ll be tough to raise a family when you’re on the road so much, you’ll be there as often as possible” Henry continued to ramble, his brain not turning off, however the since from his husband was concerning “Alex?”
Make a baby with Henry? Yes, please. He was ready to start immediately. In one swift motion, he rolled him beneath him, covering his body with his own and cupping his lovely face between his hands.
“You make me so happy, Henry. I can’t wait to start a family with you. Can we start right away?”
A brilliant smile lit Henry’s features. “You know it doesn’t work that way.”
“No harm in trying,” Alex said, kissing Henry's neck.
Henry laughed at the tickling sensation. When their lips met again, Alex’s brain started to run a million miles a second. Honestly, he was surprised Henry’d made this decision so easily. It was as if their admission of love changed his entire outlook. He was glad he’d been patient with him and hadn’t pushed him too fast or too hard and driven him away.
It was nice to get something right and be rewarded for it. “Fuck. I love you so much my dick is hard.”
“Charming, love.”
“Mmmhmm, that’s right, I am your love.”
“Forever.”
“Always”
***