As soon as Yussa's leg slides over his hip, Caleb uses his grip to pull him those last few inches flush to his body, negating the space between them. He is utterly dazzled by this man, who is certainly the finest thing he's ever owned, even temporarily. When the kiss breaks, Caleb looks at him with something akin to wonder, quickly mingled with the sort of startled, helpless adoration of a man who had not prepared his heart to endure such sweetness.

(And Yussa may not call him boy, but the phrase is close enough for him to hear it anyway.)

"How could I do otherwise? I am not the sort of man who can afford to take fine things for granted," he says, the softness of his voice between them belying its intensity. "And I have never had anything so precious just for me."

His heart aches with that admission, as true in reality as in fantasy.

"But already I have decided that I cannot let the first time also be the last."