Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
I walked into the bedroom, taking in the covered trim of the walls. There were canvases spread across them, all about an inch apart. Elio had been painting like a madman lately, coming in here when I’d be at work and not coming out until dinnertime.
He seemed to be stockpiling, almost. Or maybe his creativity had taken over again. I whistled from behind him, watching as he turned my way with a smile. “Good thing we’re moving. We’d run out of space if you kept up like this.”
My Sunshine was covered in paint and didn’t seem to believe in wearing an apron.
The black crop top he wore was splattered with greens, blues, and whites, all coming together to make their own masterpiece.
“I’m so excited to have a room just for painting.
” He walked up to me, wrapping his arms around my neck.
“I also can’t get this one specific idea out of my head. ”
“Yeah? What’s that?” I touched our noses together, smiling at him.
“Could you imagine if I fucked you right against those windows?”
I turned my face just in time to cough a little, taken aback by the fantasy he’d put in my head. “Oh, wow. Yeah, that’d be really nice.”
He hummed, chasing my lips with his own. We inhaled through our noses at the same time, breathing each other in. “Mmm, you smell like blueberry muffins. I just want to eat you up.”
There was never a dull moment with him, most of them ending with me getting a hard-on. “At least let me shower first, Sunshine.”
Sighing dramatically, he stepped back. “Ugh, no fun. I’m also probably gross, all covered in paint and shit.”
“Oh, no, you look fucking delectable. Shower together?”
“How could I say no to that, huh?”
Fuck, I loved hearing his voice in all its glory again. All that time with my earbuds in to drown out the voices had taken such a toll on me, and I hadn’t even realized it. Until the day I died, I’d remember the slight rasp he had when he was talking dirty.
It made me shiver every time.
I grabbed a couple of towels and headed to the bathroom while he packed all of his art supplies up for the night.
We still had to cook and eat dinner afterward, anyway.
Elio was going to be cooking with me for the first time since he’d left Jude.
It was a big milestone for him, and one I was honored to share with him.
Making sure the water was warm enough, I pulled all of my clothes off and stepped under the spray, cleansing my body after a long day at work. I knew Elio liked the smell, but after so long working in it and smelling like an entire bakery, it got old really fast.
It wasn’t long until I heard the door open, then Elio was stripping and stepping in behind me. “Hi, honey,” he whispered, placing his hands on my shoulders. “Have you washed yet?”
Shaking my head, I finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair. “No, I haven’t.”
“Aw, you waited just for me, didn’t you?”
“You know I did, baby.”
“Good.” I could feel the washcloth gently scrubbing my shoulders and the back of my neck, trailing down my back as he focused on every inch exposed to him.
No part of me was left untouched. He skipped over my ass, washing down the backs of my legs, paying special attention to my calves. When he came back up, he glided the soapy rag over my ass cheeks, circling them for far longer than he needed to.
“Fuck, Cres. Your ass is so goddamn pretty.” He was practically moaning, pushing my cheeks apart.
I let myself sway for a moment before turning around, facing him. His smile was enough to soothe my soul, even if there wasn’t anything to soothe. He had this uncanny ability to make everything better. No matter what it was, or if things were already good, Elio made everything better.
The washcloth ran down my chest and around my stomach as he went as far as to wash inside my belly button. It tickled, making me giggle before he trailed it farther down. My breath hitched as he swirled around my hips, leisurely swiping along my upper thighs, curving back up to my cock.
He took hold of me with the washcloth, stroking me slowly. His gaze never left mine, forcing eye contact with me. I didn’t mind. Every swirl of color in his irises had me longing for more. More of what, I wasn’t sure, but I was pretty sure it was a future.
A long future. The forever kind. With rings on our fingers to match the house we were about to own, and long nights of talking, laughing, and scrolling through cat videos.
I reached out, grabbing onto his wrist. He looked at me for a second, more confused than anything, as I slowly knelt. The water sprayed in my face a little, but I didn’t care.
Looking up at him from this position was different. He was so tall this way. And the way he looked at me, with nothing but adoration, was a power trip I didn’t think I’d ever get used to.
His cock was already hard and waiting for me. I wrapped my hand around it, tugging on it experimentally. Feeling him in my palm for the first time was new, and beautiful, and reverent in a way.
When his hand cupped the side of my face, I tilted my head further back to meet his eyes. “Are you sure, honey?” He whispered the question, the sound barely louder than the water hitting the shower floor.
“I’m positive. I want to taste you, El. I need to. I need you.” Elio’s thumb hooked on my bottom lip, pulling it down. I pushed my tongue out, swiping for a taste—just a small taste of him. The salty, almost sweet hint of sunshine, rainbows, and forests of green.
“Okay. Just be careful, and don’t push too far.”
I used my hand to pull his cock toward me, holding his attention as I pressed my lips against the tip. And then I did it again, but on the side. And again. And again, following a path down his shaft.
He was breathing heavier now, small pants in between each kiss. On the first lick, I had to close my eyes and moan to savor him. The experience. It was so new to me, yet so comforting, like it was always meant to be this way.
“Fuck, Cres. Fuck.”
I pulled him into my mouth, hollowing my cheeks as I sucked. Only a little bit, just to see how he felt in my mouth. I swirled my tongue over his underside, mapping every divot and the softness of his skin there. I fucking loved it.
I was fucking addicted to it.
Addicted to Elio in every form.
When I sucked more into my mouth, I could feel him in my veins. The blood in them was pumping harder and faster, desperate to feel him coursing through them. He placed his hand on top of my head, gently tugging on my hair.
Knowing he was there was more comforting than scary. Just beneath the surface, he was with me. His rays of sun were shining from underneath, but it wasn’t concerning. It was like they were warming me from the inside out, cradling me in their arms, holding all of my cells and molecules together.
Elio held me together.
The head of his cock hit the back of my throat, forcing a slight gag out of me. He pulled on my hair, just the tiniest bit, getting my attention. “Breathe through your nose. Relax your throat. Go slow.”
My eyes rolled to the back of my head at the gruff sound of his voice. He was truly affected by me, and I couldn’t get enough of it.
Following his instructions, I took him back down my throat, nestling my nose against him.
When I inhaled, I could smell the soap we were sharing.
It was intoxicating. My throat spasmed unexpectedly, wrenching a deep, rumbly groan from him.
Pulling back, I felt tears starting to fall down my cheeks, blurring my eyes.
I took a deep breath through my nose before taking him back into my mouth.
This time, I held his balls in one of my hands, massaging them, rolling them between my fingers—getting used to the unfamiliar feeling.
I was so lost in pleasuring him, I hadn’t noticed his grip tightening in my hair. “I’m going to come, Cres. If you aren’t ready to swallow, back up now.”
I kept going, listening to the echoes of our combined moans, Elio’s getting higher and longer just before his hips started to thrust into my mouth. I let him, holding myself still.
The first spurt of cum hit the back of my throat, catching me completely off guard.
I sputtered, jerking away on instinct, but he was too far gone, groaning and thrusting with his hand loosely gripping the back of my neck.
I let him hold me in place, closing my eyes and letting my tongue hang out, desperate to catch every drop.
His cum decorated my face, splashing across my nose, cheeks, and right onto the middle of my tongue. When his moans died down and his hand left my head, I opened my eyes to look at him.
From below, Elio truly looked like an angel. Water ran down his chest, dripping off his stomach. There was a gleam from the vent light above the shower, accentuating the shape of him. When he first came home with me, all that was there were bruises and hints of his ribs and hip bones.
Now? He was softer, with a slight curve to his waist. There were still scars from a life he never should’ve endured—just small, almost completely white things that reminded us of his past. A past he’d never have to go through again.
In another life, Elio must’ve had wings and maybe even a halo.
He’d soared through the skies, his wings stretched out for the wind to catch, the feathers there shifting with the air.
I just hoped I was there in the sky with him.
No matter the lifetime, no matter the universe, I knew I had always been there.
Hand in hand with my angel. My Sunshine. My everything.
Elio swiped his thumb over the mess he’d made on my face, staring straight into the soul that burned only for him.
He placed his thumb right onto my tongue, and I closed my lips around it.
I could feel how swollen they were, my bottom lip tingling, bordering on a slight burn. I loved it. I loved him.
One side of his mouth turned up into a smile, his canines peeking through. “You look so beautiful, my crescent moon.”
“So do you, Sunshine. So do you.”
The chicken was ready to shred, and Elio was having a fucking blast. He held up the two forks, a wide grin on his face. “This is the fun part, isn’t it?”
Nodding, I moved out of his way. “Oh yeah, the best part.”
We were making shredded chicken tacos, one of his favorite recipes from when we were teenagers.
It was one of the first things he’d learned how to make when we were in high school, and he’d make it at least once a week.
Sometimes, he’d make enough for the whole family, but it was usually just for us.
I watched as he got to work, shredding the chicken into small pieces. After making sure he’d be okay, I turned my attention to the bell peppers sitting on the counter beside him.
Honestly, I thought he’d have a harder time with this. But it seemed cooking with me, rather than for someone else, was helping him.
“Oh, do you know when Moon will be here?”
I paused, my knife hovering over a bell pepper. “Well, next Tuesday, probably after I get off work. He’s bringing Mom and Dad’s RV, so that’ll be fun to park.”
Elio snorted. “Yeah, can’t wait to see that. At least we’ll have a lot of room to cram our shit into. Ugh, that’s going to be such a pain in the ass.”
“If we have to come down again, I’ll hire a moving truck. Mom and Dad were just very excited to help us. How could I say no to them?”
“Eh, you’re right.” He scraped some of the chicken off the forks, picking up the plate to dump it all into the pan on the stove. “You think we could convince Star to come help us unpack?”
I joined him, taking over the chicken while he washed his hands to grate some cheese. “I may have to bribe her, but yeah. All of them will help us. I’m just surprised the buying process has gone so smoothly.”
“You know the moment we get the keys, I’m picking you up and taking you on every surface of the house.”
Raising an eyebrow at him, I huffed a laugh. “Oh, we believe in christening, now?” I shook my head. “You know Mom will want to burn a hundred different types of incense and put up all sorts of stuff for us before we spend too much time in there.”
I could hear him snickering before he cleared his throat. “Yeah, I know. I say we let her—and then put all the incense out. That’s one thing I don’t think I could bring from our childhood. I’ve got you, and that’s all I need.”
Remembering to take the chicken off the hot stovetop, I made my way over to him. I pulled him into a hug from behind, kissing the side of his head. “We’ve got each other.”
He turned in my arms, wrapping his around my neck. “You bet your ass we do. I’m never letting go, Crescent Miller. Just like you never did, either.”
I kissed him, smiling against his lips. I loved him so much, I didn’t have words for it. Not back then, and not now. There were thousands and thousands of them I could try to string together, but they all fell flat when it came to how I felt in my heart.
Nothing could ever accurately describe how lucky I felt.
How at peace I felt. This time, when I started fresh, it would be in a town we used to love, around the people we loved the most. There were no therapists chastising me for a poor decision, or the worry of my entire family.
It was just me, his crescent moon, and him, my ray of sun.
Me and Elio against the world for the rest of our lives.
Just how it was always meant to be.