Page 89 of No Rules
He set off, and when he’d reached the end of the hallway, he broke out in a run. It was as if his feet couldn’t go fast enough, and he was out of breath when he stumbled into the gym. Everyone else but Wander was working out, and Alex was in the corner, punishing a boxing bag with rapid-fire punches, all hitting their aim. Fuck, he was so sexy in a tight-fitting tank top and those shorts that showed off that round ass.
Ryan walked over, and when Alex spotted him, he stopped. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I wanted to… I needed to…” Fuck, how did he say this? Where did he begin?
“Are you okay, Ry?” Alex frowned. “You’re sweating. Is something wrong?”
“No, everything is fine. More than fine.”
“Then what is it? You’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m in love with you.” There, he’d said it. And now that those words were out, the rest followed like a waterfall. “I love you, baby boy. I’m sorry I needed some time to work that out, but I was afraid. After Quinton, I was so scared of loving again, of hurting again, or worse, of hurting you. Rationally, I know what happened to Quinton wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t. But emotionally, it’s still hard to let go of my guilt and feeling responsible. And the thought of something happening to you… Jesus, it terrifies me. I can’t stand the thought of anything happening to you. Because I love you, my sunshine. I love you so goddamn much.”
The entire gym had grown silent. The others had stopped their workouts and were now watching them. Ryan didn’t care. If they could watch him and Alex having sex, they could certainly witness him declaring his love. He wasn’t ever going to make Alex a secret, someone or something to hide and be ashamed of.
“You love me?” Alex whispered. “Are you sure?”
“Oh, baby boy, how could I not love you? You’re perfect.”
Alex tore off his boxing gloves, then jumped straight into Ryan’s arms, sending both of them tumbling onto the mat. Ryan held on to him, then rolled on top of Alex and kissed him under a chorus of cheers and whoops. Ryan didn’t stop kissing Alex until he was out of breath.
“I love you,” he said again. Now he knew why Alex had kept saying it in the beginning. It was too big to hold inside.
“I love you too, Ry. Sir.”
“Can I be both? I want to be your Ry and your Dom.”
“I want to be your baby boy and your sub. I want to be your everything.”
“You already are.” Sappy as it was, nothing had ever felt so true.
Alex smiled. “This cheesy side of you, that’s not gonna stay, right? ‘Cause it’s freaking me out a little.”
Ryan kissed him again. “Yeah, I don’t think so. I’ll be back to my old grumpy self in no time.”
“That’s okay. I love your old grumpy self.”
EPILOGUE
Love was strange, wasn’t it?
Saying those three words aloud had changed everything between them, and a month later, Alex still couldn’t believe it. Ryan had lost that super sappy, touchy-feeling mood…but Alex was okay with that. It hadn’t been Ryan anyway. He liked him grumpy and sarcastic.
But that soft and tender side still came out way more often, and they made sweet love as often as they did intense scenes. They could switch from plain vanilla to kinky in no time, and even more fascinating was that they could read other’s moods and intentions. Alex knew when Ryan needed to blow off some steam on Alex and always happily volunteered. But Ryan also knew when Alex was needy, and he never failed to provide Alex with what he craved.
Love. That was what it looked like between them.
They were working on a different job together, shadowing a man whose wife suspected him of being involved in a Ponzi scheme. Not exactly glamorous, but Alex didn’t mind.
Marilyn and Sam had asked them to stop by, and when they had, they’d expressed their gratitude all over again and gifted Ryan and Alex a painting of Sam’s Promise that now hung on the wall of Ryan’s office. Their office. Somehow, Alex had become Ryan’s right-hand man, and no one questioned it, including Wander. How had Alex gotten this lucky?
“I want to ask you something,” Ryan said that morning after they’d woken up and exchanged mutually satisfying blow jobs.
“What’s on your mind?”
“I think we need to talk about your limits again now that we’re together.”
Ah, yes. Alex had waited for Ryan to bring that up. Ryan hadn’t shared him since they’d been officially together, and while Alex hadn’t missed it, he wasn’t sure if he would miss it in the future. But how would Ryan feel about it? “I’m assuming you mean monogamy.”