Page 127 of Walking Wounded

Luke has waited years for this, always hoping, never thinking…and it takes his breath away: Hal, the two of them together, the rightness of it.

After, sweaty and tangled together, Luke digs his fingertips into Hal’s back, not wanting him to pull away, or shift his weight off of him. He wants to stay like this forever. His eyes sting, and his heart threatens to beat out of his chest, and he doesn’t think he can speak, choked-up with emotion.

Hal’s hand moves with quiet reverence down his side, tracing the rivulets of sweat on his skin. “Look at you,” he murmurs. “God.” He sounds enraptured.

Luke closes his eyes tight against the tears when Hal presses their foreheads together.

“Baby, look at me,” Hal whispers, breath warm against his lips.

Luke opens his eyes, and through the tears he sees the truth in Hal’s gaze when he says, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

And they are together.

And they are whole.

And this is love.

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