Leo (Vigilance 3)

His eyes got huge. “Really? Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything. I want you here with me. I want to wake up with you every morning and go to sleep curled around you every night. I’ve gotten used to you in my bed. I’m not giving that up.”

“You’re not, huh?” He gave me a stern look that had my cock trying to rise again.

“No, I’m not.”

“That’s good because I’m not leaving. I already inquired about what it would take to break my lease.”

I smiled. “Did you get an answer?”

“I have to pay an extra month’s rent.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“You don’t need to do that. I start working for X next week, and the salary is… generous.”

“I still want to take care of you.” He started to argue, but the look in my eyes must have told him that would be pointless.

“I want to contribute to the rent if I’m going to live here.”

I shook my head. “You can pay me in baked goods. That’s all.”

“Leo.”

“I don’t need any more money. I just need you.”

“And my baking.”

“Fuck yes. Speaking of, I need those cannoli. Now.” Ezra started to slide from the bed, but I put a hand on his arm. “Stay there. I’ll bring them in here.”

He frowned. “I’m a mess. The bed’s a mess.”

“You’re covered in my cum, marked as mine. I want you just like that.”

“I… um… Wow.”

“If I could keep you like this all the time, I would.”

He shivered. “Jesus, Leo. That’s… so fucking hot.”

“Nothing is as hot as you destroyed from surrendering to me.”

I returned a few moments later with the box he’d brought home. I set it on the bed between us. When Ezra reached for a cannoli with cherry cream, I took it from his hand and held it up to his lips. After he’d taken a bite, I used my tongue to clean the excess cream off his lips, then took a bite myself.

“Hey, that’s mine,” he protested.

“It’s ours. They’re all ours.”

He swiped some of the cream with his finger, spread it on my lips, and licked it off the way I’d done to him.

“I thought you’d need time to recover.”

“I do.”

“Then don’t be so fucking hot.”

He huffed. “I’m lying here naked with your cum running down my legs. I’m not sure how to tone that down.”

I laughed as I handed him the rest of the cannoli. “Eat. I want you on a sugar high.”

“So you can take advantage of me?”

“Fuck yes.”

“I love you, Leo. I love being here like this. I love laughing with you. I love bringing you cannoli, and most of all, I love that you trust me with your secrets.”

I smiled and caressed his shoulder with the backs of my fingers. “Would you trust me enough to put something permanent on your skin?”

He glanced down at my hand. “You want to tattoo me?”

“So very much.”

He bit his lip. “I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to needles and pain.”

“Yet you stared down a powerful, vicious man, then killed his minion to save me.”

“That’s different. Our lives were at stake.”

I smiled. “Just think about it.”

“I will, but right now, I’m going to think about how lucky I am to be here with you.”

“Not half as lucky as I am.”

36

Epilogue

1 year later

Christmas

Ezra

I woke up to Leo shaking my shoulder. “Come on, sleepyhead. It’s Christmas morning.”

“Are you five?” We’d had Christmas Eve dinner the night before with Leo’s mom—who was as wonderful as I’d expected her to be—his sister, her husband, and their son. Today, his mother was going to be with a new gentleman friend, and we wouldn’t be seeing Cathy until tonight, so there was no reason to get up early.

“Don’t be so grouchy,” Leo scolded. “I want you to open your present.”

I tried to fight off the desire to curl back up and go to sleep. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay in bed?”

“I’ve already been up for an hour. I even made cinnamon rolls.” I turned over and realized he was wearing his reindeer pajama pants.

“You made cinnamon rolls?”

“From a can, but still.”

He looked nervous about that, so I sat up and pulled him to me for a kiss. “That sounds wonderful.”

I stretched, and he gave me a heated look. “We can always go back to bed later.”

“To sleep?”

He laughed. “Not likely. Come on.”

I scooted off the bed and found the Christmas pajamas Leo had given me. I paused as I pulled them on, thinking I heard a squeaking sound. Leo didn’t seem to notice, and I dismissed it as something in the pipes or the neighboring condo.

When we walked into the living room, I saw a large box sitting in the middle of the floor. A second later, it squeaked and moved.

“Leo?”

“Go on.” He gestured toward the box. “Open it.”

I knelt by the box that was now rocking back and forth. When I lifted the lid, I gasped. A ridiculously adorable pit bull puppy was inside.