Chapter 7

Complete and utter perfection. Those words don't do last night justice. Not even close. Last night was beyond perfect.

The joy on Eli's face just from the fireworks … I wish I could put that look on his face every day for the rest of my life. His smile lights up his entire face, like the fireworks lit up the sky the night before. Then we slow danced. My sometimes still fragile heart beat like a stampede of wild horses in my chest as I held him and swayed to the pop of fireworks.

Eli is still sound asleep beside me as the sun works its way higher into the sky. I glide my fingers down his flank, smiling when he sighs happily in his sleep. He presses closer to me and I take a deep breath of his hair. The intoxicating scent of salt water and sunshine still somehow lingers on him.

The absolutely wild thought that I want to keep him floats through my head again. I want to keep Elijah. I want to live every day like this, with him in my arms. But we've purposefully kept things vague as we've gotten to know one another.

I know only the most basic and mundane facts about him, about his mother, about the accident that caused the gnarly scar across his perfect knee. I don't know if he does this on a full-time basis, what he wants to do with his life. I don't even know if he'd be interested in something more with me.

Also, I'm not an idiot. I'm sure every man that does this with him falls in love, because how can they not? He's the epitome of husband material. Eli makes me laugh, makes me feel free in a way I haven't in years. The man also makes me decidedly possessive. If he does that for everyone he "dates," then undoubtedly many men have fallen in love with Eli.

I still don't know how I can keep a wild and perfect thing like him. But I want to try.

I press a kiss against his hair with a weary sigh. Pulling him closer by a hand on the small of his back, sleep claims me again with him tucked safely against my chest.

The next time I awake,the sun is shining brightly through the room. I'm confused for a moment, about what woke me up, but then the wet suction around my cock sends a zap of sizzling lightning down my spine. Movement under the blanket along with a quiet moan, has me burying my fingers in Eli's curls.

"Such a good boy," I murmur into the soft quiet of the bedroom.

Eli licks at the head of my cock, then dives back down to swallow me whole. I arch off the bed, forcing my cock deep into his throat. A gasp escapes me when Eli chokes before letting out a deep moan that feels delicious around my cock. Oh, he likes that. Of course he does. Using my fingers buried in his hair, I force him down onto me for a few seconds, then drag him back up.

His fingers tighten against my thighs as I keep fucking his throat until I'm just about to come. I try to warn him, to pull him off, but he just takes my cock deeper in his throat as I let out a long, satisfied moan. My orgasm rockets through me, sending my cum right down his throat. Eli sucks me until I'm shivering with sensitivity, then he pulls off, reverently kissing the tip of my cock. Like I just gave him the most precious gift.

I tug him up to my mouth by my tight grip on his hair. He gasps against my lips as I lick the taste of myself out of his mouth. Eli tastes like us. So perfect, so honest.

I pull away from his mouth and laugh when he chases after me.

"Come up here," I demand as I tug him until he's kneeling over my face. God, the sight of him trembling over me, hair wild, eyes blown with lust makes my cock wish it could go again.

"Now fuck my mouth."

"Colby," Eli gasps, eyes round and wide as he looks down at me.

I slap his ass, making Eli whimper. "Be a good boy and fuck my mouth. I won't tell you again."

Eli nods, his breathing harsh as I take his hard, leaking cock into my mouth. He tastes divine. He tastes like Eli and the ocean and everything good in this world. His thighs tremble beside my head as he thrusts deeply into my mouth.

Years of practice have made it easy to take him into my throat, swallowing around him on each thrust. I stare up at him in awe as he buries himself in my throat over and over again. Eyes rolling back into his head from pleasure, thighs trembling, hands tightly gripping the headboard, he paints a vivid picture of pleasure. He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

My fingers dig into the meat of his thighs, probably hard enough to leave bruises. I don't think Eli will mind though. A gasp leaves his mouth as I swallow around him. Some emotion that I can't parse crosses his face as he looks down at me. His head hangs down as he hungrily watches his cock disappear into my mouth. He licks his lips and rolls his hips, making me gag a little.

One of his hands falls from the headboard to sweetly cup my jaw. His thumb presses against my lips, feeling the slide of his cock in my mouth. The expression on his face knocks all the air from my lungs. He looks swept away just from the sight of me. I have never needed someone to come down my throat so badly before, not as badly as I need Eli.

"Yeah, suck me," he whispers, voice shaky.

I suck him down harder, then use my tight grip on his hips to force him to quicken his thrusts. His cock hardens in my mouth and he whimpers. Eli looks so wrecked, so debauched, that I wish I could take a picture of this moment to keep forever.

He comes like that with a quiet gasp, shivering, thighs trembling beneath my fingers. I swallow him down, wishing for more once it's over. Eli falls to the side, panting harshly, then reaches over to lightly pat my face.

"Best cocksucker on the planet," Eli says, voice awed.

A loud, barking laugh escapes me. I roll over and place a sound kiss on his mouth. "Come on, husband. Let's take a shower and start the day."

Eli shakes his head, still panting from his orgasm, but still eagerly follows me into the bathroom. We take a slow, decadent shower, washing each other gently without any heat since it's been burned out of us. He smiles softly at me as he carefully washes his messy curls and my heart does that traitorous skip again.

I wrap a fluffy towel around Eli once we're out of the shower, then proceed to tenderly wipe the cascading drops of water from his golden skin. He rolls his eyes at me but lets me do it all the same. I'm learning that's just Eli's way with me. It's been a long time since caretaking someone brought me this amount of peace, of joy, and I appreciate Eli in a way I'm not sure I can ever properly explain to him.

I place a sweet, closemouthed kiss on the scar of his knee, and look up at him through my lashes. Eli blinks down at me, fingers twitching rapidly at his side.

"Husband," I whisper against his soft skin.

Tears well up in Eli's eyes, and his bottom lip trembles. I stand in a rush and cup his cheeks in the palms of my hands. He tries to wrestle from my grip but I hold tight, unwilling to let him go until we've talked.

"What's wrong?"

Eli shakes his head wildly in my grasp. "Nothing. I have allergies."

"Eli," I say, reprimanding him for the obvious lie.

"Colby, don't." Eli sniffs once, then places a sweet, chaste kiss against my palm. "Make me feel special today. Give me the husband experience. Can you do that for me?"

That I can easily do. I kiss him softly until the tension leaves his body and he sways against me. He leans against me, like he was made for me, like my body was made to protect him.

We get dressed in comfortable clothes due to the oppressive heat we'll undoubtedly encounter outside. Florida is predictable in the summer.

Eli looks like a showstopper just in frayed denim shorts, a T-shirt for a band I have no idea about, and beat-up Converse. He looks so young, in a way that makes me feel wildly protective of him. His age reminds me that the gulf between us is so similar to the one between Marcus and me. But age doesn't matter when souls recognize one another, right? It had worked out so well for me before. Even though the age gap had been reversed.

Eli climbs into the Jeep with a smile that shakes me to my core. God, I'm going to miss that fucking smile. We drive down the coast to only the sound of the wind in our hair. After we pull through a drive-thru for coffee, Eli puts his hand on my knee, almost out of habit. I swallow against the rising tide of emotions inside of me.

I take him to a local sprawling garden so that we can walk around with our coffees. Eli tangles his fingers with mine and swings our hands back and forth between us.

"It's not too hot out this morning," Eli comments while taking a slow sip of his iced coffee.

"Probably the rain from yesterday."

Eli hums thoughtfully. "Probably true."

"Where did you grow up?" I ask because I need to know more about him.

Eli turns to me, eyebrows knitted. "Why? You're my husband, you know already."

"Eli."

He laughs, that deep, beautiful laugh that I want to bottle up. "We moved around a lot actually. I've lived mostly everywhere. But I live in the South now."

"Where?" I demand, tugging on his hand so that he has to face me. "Tell me where you live now, Eli."

"Don't do this," Eli whispers. His eyes implore me to stop. "Colby, be good to me today."

I swallow against the feeling of him slipping away from me. Eli falls into my arms easily when I tug him to me, wrapping an arm around his waist, one around his shoulders, I hold him close to me. I kiss his wild curls and breathe him in deep.

"Sorry," I say into his hair.

"Forgiven," Eli mumbles into my chest.

His fingers curl against my side just once. He pushes me away and grins brightly up at me. "Where is the butterfly garden?"

I tenderly push some curls from his face, letting my fingers linger at the edge of his forehead, then trail them down to press my thumb against the dip of his lips.

"I'll show you," I tell him.

Eli quirks his head, smiles, but doesn't reply. I take his hand back in my own and tug him towards the butterfly garden. The butterflies are so active today, flying all over the place. Must be the humidity. It's an open garden, full of bright, blooming flowers. Sweat breaks out across Eli's back, dampening his shirt. I watch as he strolls through the garden with a large grin on his face. That awed look crosses his face as he sweeps his fingertips across the blooming flowers, lingering on some bright blue hydrangeas.

A butterfly lands on his outstretched hand. He gasps in happiness, then turns to look at me, nodding towards his hand so I see the butterfly.

"I see, baby," I say, voice strained even to my own ears.

Eli doesn't notice that I'm about to break down. I pull out my phone to snap photos of the moment, wanting to capture it forever. The picture can't capture the purity of the moment though. Not by a long shot. The butterfly lifts off and flies away. Eli watches it until it disappears from his sight. I can't help but feel like Eli is that butterfly for me. Giving me a few moments of awed bliss, before flying away to better skies.

This hurts more than I ever thought it could.

We spend the rest of the early morning walking through the gardens. After we're done there, we hop back into the Jeep, and head towards the local pier. It's a tourist trap, but it's fun too. I want to show Eli the best that there is to offer here. I try not to think about why.

The pier is pretty packed considering it's the day after the Fourth, but it's worth it. We shop and I spend money on Eli even though he tries to stop me. I buy him souvenir items to remember his time with me. We buy matching hats because they have manatees on them which oddly makes Eli smile.

The last store we wander into is a jewelry store, with expensive beach-themed jewelry. I'm sure we look a sight, but the sales people must be used to people like us wandering through the store. Eli stops at a glass case of ocean-themed necklaces in varying shades of gold. He smiles down at them, before moving on. I grab his forearm to stop him.

"Pick one," I tell him softly, out of hearing of the nearest sales person.

Eli swallows, throat bobbing. "That's too much."

I shake my head fervently. "I want you to take something with you. I need to do that for you. Let me?"

Eli purses his lips, but nods without argument. For which I am very grateful. He spends a while perusing the glass case, before settling on a gold conch shell on a matching chain. It"s beautiful.

I wave at the sales person that's been watching us a few feet away. "We'll take the gold conch shell."

The salesperson nods and leads me over to the register to check me out. It's not crazy expensive, but it's real gold, so I know it'll last as long as Eli is careful with it. Which I know he will be. Once we're outside of the store, I take the box out of the bag, and pull the beautiful necklace out of the cushioning.

Without a word, I spin Eli around, and tenderly place the necklace around his neck. His fingers come up to play with it, his lips tipping up in that smile that I know means I did good. Pushing those pesky curls out of his gaze, I dip down to kiss him chastely, just a sweet press of mouths.

Finally, after we've bought bags' worth of things we definitely don't need, I take him out to the edge of the pier.

"No one's fishing?" Eli asks with a frown.

"No, because people swim here. They don't want to attract sharks."

Eli nods in understanding. "Makes sense. What are we going to do with the rest of the day?"

I lean against the railing, looking out at the horizon. "I kind of want to just take you home and have you as many times as I can."

"Sounds good to me," Eli replies. He bumps his arm against mine so I look over at him. Eli looks at me tenderly, eyes shining sweetly, like he knows everything I'm not saying.

So, I take him back home. The house that I had purchased for me and Marcus suddenly feels less like a reminder of what I lost with him, and more of a reminder of what I'm going to lose with Eli. I'd purchased the beach house as a surprise for Marcus but he never got to visit. The cancer came out of nowhere and stole him from me so quickly. Diagnosis to hospice in the matter of months.

I'd wanted to bring him here but never got the chance. An odd part of me is grateful that I never did. Although it was purchased for us, for him, now I'll always remember this week with Eli when I visit the beach house. This one perfect week.