Page 47 of Date and Switch

We toasted, and then he continued, “there were the pyramids, floating in the dead sea, buying a piece of gold from a vending machine in UAE, going to their indoor snow park, seeing the elephant sanctuaries in Thailand…the list is actually really long, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to see any of that this time.”

There it was again. This time. As if his future already included me.

“How about the places we can control? The ones we will see?”

He took a deep breath, tilting his head back and rubbing his eyes.

“Taking the toboggan slide in Switzerland, the northern lights in Iceland, Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, bullfighting in Madrid, just experiencing places I’ve never been to like Montenegro, Corfu, Dbvorick. Oh, and I am looking forward to the Louvre, particularly in a piece by Gregor Erhart.”

“I’m making a mental tally of all the things I need to make sure that we do, just for you.”

We made it back onto the ship and asked for a late night snack to be sent to the room. We’d missed the dinner seating because curtain was at eight, and we’d cut it too close to have dinner prior to use leaving.

“I don’t know if I’ve told you…” Bryce had me pulled into his lap on one of our lounge chairs on the balcony, watching the bustle of the city on one side, and the quiet expanse of the ocean on the other. “This whole trip as been indescribable, and I am so glad I got to experience this all with you.”

I turned around, straddling his hips, and holding his face between my hands

“You’re something special Earl Bryce Mountbatten Ellis.”

Sitting in there in the quiet solitude, feeling Bryce’s arms around me, reflecting on all of the ways he’d ensured I felt safe, respected, seen, cared for—the list went on and on. The realization of how much he cherished me over these past months, nearly choked me with all the emotions I felt.

“Sei così buono con me,” I whispered against his cheek. You’re so good to me. “Prima hai detto che ti amo,” I continued, dodging his attempts to kiss me. You said you loved me earlier. “Sai cosa hai detto? Intendi quello che hai detto?” Do you know what you said? Mean what you said?

“The answer is yes,” he replied, as if suddenly he learned Italian. “Whatever you’re asking me you can have it.”

Bryce tried to hold me close, to snuggle me against his body, but that balloon of tenderness had morphed into such a complexity of emotion I needed to get out.

“E se chiedessi il tuo cuore?” What if I’m asking for your heart? I leaned against his chest and whispered in his ear. “Perché sono innamorato di te.” Because I’m in love with you, I told him. “Non riesco a pensare a nessun altro modo per dire la mia verità.” I can’t think of another way to speak my truth.

I felt his cock stiffening beneath me, pressing against the cotton of his lounge pants. Without a word, locked eye to eye, his engaging green to my sincere brown, I gathered my sundress on my hips before pulling his cock out and pushing it against my soaked panties.

“Voglio fare l'amore con te” I want to make love to you, I continued. Bryce groaned in response pushing his hips against mine, grinding his tip along my already weeping seam, “proprio così nudo senza niente tra di noi” Bare, with nothing between us.

I pulled my panties aside, shifted to a straddle, and lined his cock up to my entrance. The thrill of realization skittered through my nervous system. Bryce was the only man I’d ever welcomed inside me bare.

“So che non puoi dire le parole, ma so che mi ami, lo sento ogni giorno” I know you love me, even if you can’t speak the words. You show me your truth every single day.

Just as the very tip of him pressed inside me, Bryce jolted from his sensual haze.

“Sera! No! I’m not wearing a condom.”

I lifted my sundress, and guided his fingers to the little bump where the birth control injection went. While there was a barely discernable bruise, and only the slightest hint of raised skin, it was enough to show him what I meant.

“Birth control,” I told him, kissing away his objections. “Dr. Raj in Los Angeles, and me again four days ago.”

“Oh god, Seraphim.” He pushed up into me, holding my hips in place while he slowly entered and retreated.

He called me by my actual name. Not angel or any other pet name, but the name given to me at birth. It felt different. Special.

“Sono egoista, voglio tutti voi soprattutto il vostro cuore.” It’s selfish of me, but I want all of you, especially your heart.

“Seraphim,” Bryce’s hands were everywhere. He ran is fingers through my hair, before directing the motion of my hips, and then pulling me toward his eager mouth. “I feel you everywhere.”

In barely two breaths, the two of us were already tipping towards the point of no return. The sounds of the city, the rush of the sea all conspiring to drown out the one thing I’d been desperate to hear for weeks.

“I love you, Seraphim.”

thirty-one

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