Reluctantly You (Our Exception Book 3)

Gideon

I’m nervous—the audacity I had to do this. The assumption I made that he’d want this.

What if he doesn’t want it?

What if I overstepped?

All those days working to make this come true, to make this space for him. God, let him love it.

“Can I open my eyes now?” Mitch asks, a blindfold over his face.

I stare at him candidly, letting my gaze roam across him. Fuck, he’s so hot. How did I never think he was my type? I had it all wrong. All fucking wrong.

He’s mine. In every way.

I’m keeping him.

“One second,” I murmur as I lean down and capture his lips with mine. He groans, leaning into me, always such a needy boy for me. I never knew he’d be like this when we first met, but something in him called to me. Something in him fit right into that missing part of me.

I hated him then, but I love him now.

I fucking adore him.

“What was that for?” he asks, breathless.

“Because you look edible. I want to eat you.”

He scoffs, but I see the color bleed into his cheeks. He likes it when I talk dirty. The past few nights, I’ve whispered filthy things into his ear whenever I’ve had the chance. Watched him squirm, watched him anticipate.

He’s anticipating this.

But not yet.

Not quite yet.

“Okay,” I say, spinning him around and then untying the silk bandana from around his eyes. Those long lashes blink as he takes in the room, and then those dark eyes widen.

“What the hell?” he murmurs as he turns, taking it all in. The open, expansive window, the skylight I had installed, the large canvas on an easel, the paints, the drop cloth, his recent paintings mounted on the walls.

“Do you like it?” I ask, feeling my nerves start to splinter and fray.

“Gideon,” he breathes. “This—” His voice grows choked, and I hear him sniffle. “I love it.”

I feel my chest expand, my fingers grabbing on to him as I lead him around the room, explaining what everything is.

“I want you to be here when you create. I want to watch you do this.”

His eyes are watery pools. “I—I can’t accept this.”

“You can and you will. I want you to have this. I want to watch you grow into the man you’re meant to be.”

He sniffles and swipes at his eyes. “Shit, first therapy, then painting, and now crying. I’m really fucking gay.”

I grin at him and then pull him into me. “Yeah, you fucking are. Would you like me to show you how much?”

He nods eagerly and we crash into the wall, my hips grinding into his as I work his pants open. His own fingers fumble with mine, and we kick them off at the same time, our cocks hard and insistent, knocking into one another as we rip at each other’s shirts. They come flying off as our teeth clank together.

“Lube,” he groans as he arches into me. “Please.”

“Yes, baby,” I whisper against his lips, leaving him for just a moment, only to return to find him standing in front of the blank canvas.

“I’m going to paint you,” he tells me. “And then maybe some of Basil’s vegetables for his wall.”

“I think he’d love that,” I say as my fingers splay across his chest and tweak his hardened nipples. His skin pebbles and he leans back against me.

“Fuck me. Make love to me,” he begs, and I do as he asks, falling to the floor, spreading him wide open and sinking inside of him. His legs wind around me, my cock tunneling into his tight channel until he’s gasping, my name a prayer on his lips.

“More, more.”

I kiss him softly, sucking on his tongue and lips until he’s spilling across his chest, my own release following shortly after.

We lay there, our heaving bodies pressed against each other, his eyes sliding from me to the canvas.

“What are you thinking?”

“How I’m going to paint you.”

“Can I see?”

“When I’m done.”

My fingers slide through his hair and his eyelids flutter shut.

“Does this mean you love it?”

“I do. I fucking love it.”

We lay there a moment and then I hear him inhale deeply.

“Thank you, Gideon. For everything. For putting up with me, for standing by me.”

“You’re welcome, Mitchell. You, my love, are worth it.”

“Am I?”

“You are.”

He stares at me a moment, confusion in those depths, and I can’t help but think how much I love him.

I need to tell him. Need to secure this thing between us.

I want to do more than just have him.

I want to marry this man.