“Me too. It’s why I showed you. You’re my first, and if I get my way, you’ll be my last, Landon.” There was silence again, and Robert pressed his lips to Landon’s neck and breathed the man in, letting that fresh masculine scent fill his soul. Landon was his last, the man who owned his heart and would forever. He didn’t let himself overthink as he lifted his lips to Landon’s ear and said what he had wanted to say so many weeks ago, “I love you. I don’t want anyone else’s initials on our tree. Just yours and mine.” He pressed his lips to the warm pulse in Landon’s neck, opening his mouth over the tender flesh. “I want forever with you, Landon.” Robert felt his lover’s heartbeat accelerate against his lips.
Landon stiffened, not in the good way. There was a second of hesitation before Landon relaxed fully back into him. “I love you, too.”
“Say it again.” Robert wanted to hear those quietly muttered words said again and again.
Landon turned his head slightly, their breath mingling as Landon repeated the words. “I love you. I suspect I’ve been in love with you since Germany.”
Robert tightened his embrace, crushing Landon even closer to him. If he’d only known. “When I left Germany, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You were in every thought I had, every day. I was disappointed when I thought you friend-zoned me. I wanted you. I knew from the minute I saw you crossing the street to me on our first date, right then, I knew I loved you.”
“Let me turn around, Robert,” Landon said, but Robert found he couldn’t let go of the tight hold he had on Landon.
“I don’t think I’m going to like what you’re going to say,” Robert said. He felt Landon maybe overthinking his response and he didn’t want to entertain any negativity, not right now.
“It doesn’t change reality.” Landon pried Robert’s hands apart and turned, encasing Robert’s face between strong palms, keeping him from leaning forward and kissing the protest from Landon’s beautiful lips. “We’re too different, and I can’t see how we’re meant to be. I don’t belong in your world. I’m not comfortable there, and you’re gonna resent being tied to mine.”
Landon couldn’t have been more wrong, and Robert had to tell him. Landon pressed a thumb to his lips, stopping him from speaking. “I love you. I know I’ll love you until the day I…no, even longer than that. I’ll love you forever. I want this to be everything you want it to be. I’ll follow where you lead, but I’m being careful…” Landon shifted nervously against him, sighing deeply before continuing. “If it doesn’t work out, it’ll end in heartache for both of us. At least for me it will. If we were smart, we’d cut and run now before this gets too far out of our control.”
Robert didn’t want to cut and run. He pushed through Landon’s hold, crushing the man to him as he took his mouth in a claiming kiss. He was never leaving Landon, and by God, he’d never let Landon leave him. In a dance of tongue and teeth, he devoured Landon, taking every nip and suck into his soul. Slowly Landon relaxed, becoming pliant in his arms.
Seconds later, Robert yanked his mouth free. He needed air. Landon’s lips found his neck as his lover’s hands tugged at his polo. “I want you.”
“I want you too. Make love to me out here under the trees and the stars with the waves crashing against the rocks. I’ve dreamed of us that way.” Robert brought a hand to Landon’s chest, holding Landon in place as he started for the blanket and basket he had secretly hidden the supplies in. “I brought condoms and lube.”
“You thought of everything.” Landon smirked and manhandled him back into a kiss, continuing to tug at his clothes. “I just want you naked right now.” When Landon’s hard dick pressed into his, Robert abandoned his plans of grabbing the supplies and just kissed Landon back with everything he had. He licked across Landon’s lips before deepening the kiss. He held Landon pinned against the trunk of their tree, the tree that held their initials for all eternity.
Landon broke the kiss and nibbled a path along his jaw. “I’ll bottom,” Landon growled in his ear as he cupped Robert’s cock through his shorts and massaged, making Robert grind his hips from the pleasure. Landon was such a tease. Robert wanted inside Landon so badly he couldn’t think as it was. “And you use that sexy voice to ear fuck me with all those love words.” Oh, if Landon didn’t stop talking like that and playing with his dick, he was going to come right there before they ever got started.
“Okay,” Robert panted. His brain cells scrambled. At this point, he’d be just as willing to drop to his knees and suck Landon off right here. The hand on his crotch slowed, the pending orgasm eased, and Robert opened his eyes to a grinning Landon.