“Oh fuck you,” I sighed, throwing a comb at Dara as we closed up the shop for the night, only us two here as Fern was with Clara today since she was fussy, “He didn’t want anything.”

“Please! If I hadn’t been here, that customer would have been all over you. He was staring at your ass whenever you’d leave the counter.”

“Not my fault. Everyone stares at my ass,” I rolled my eyes and turned to check over our appointments for tomorrow.

It was the week before Nick’s wedding, and Dara and I had gone on multiple dates at this point. It was natural, shifting our long friendship to something romantic, and while it hadn’t progressed from holding hands and kissing each other on the cheek or forehead, it was everything I had ever really looked for. We would wrap up our evenings on the couch together, Dara always holding me as we lay there watching movies. Fern was always our priority, we took her out every weekend we didn’t go on a date, and started calling them our family outings, finding new places to explore and things to do. Being with Dara this way felt secure and safe, something I don’t think I could have pictured for us a year ago.

“Yeah,” he whispered, coming over and sliding his hands into the back pockets of my jeans, making me jump, but I didn’t move, “It is really nice.”

“Day!” I giggled, “You’re never so forward.”

“Do you hate it?”

“Not at all.”

He bent over me and pressed a soft kiss to my cheek before moving to gently bite the rim of my ear. A whimper came from my throat, and I dropped my pen, gripping the counter.

“Do you think of me? I hear you sometimes. The little moans and cries coming from your room. Tell me what you’re doing,” he whispered again, his voice thick and deep.

“I-I have a few toys and… I do think of you. It’s new, I never used to think of anyone. I just wanted to get off. Now… Now I imagine it’s you… I never thought I’d picture you that way.”

“Mmm,” he hummed, “Is it one you can bounce on?”

“That’s in my bathroom. I can stick it on the bottom of the tub and r-ride it. Which I do a lot,” I pushed back, and he rubbed against my rear, “D-Day, are you…”

“Sorry,” he chuckled, biting the nape of my neck, “We’ve been going out for four months, and I can’t even get the nerve to kiss you. But I think of you all the time when I’m in bed. Slowly rubbing myself, imagining you on top of me, letting me fill you all the time. I could even close the curtains and take you right here sometimes.”

“Pretty damn bold from someone who won’t kiss me,” I teased.

Dara immediately spun me around, picking me up to sit on the counter. I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck, and he slid between my thighs, grabbing my waist and pulling me until our hips matched. He carefully pinched my chin before pressing his lips to mine, both of us letting out a soft, happy sigh. I slid my tongue into his mouth, my piercing clicking against his teeth, and Dara smiled, wrapping a hand in my hair and holding me close. We failed at breaking apart, the kisses becoming fevered and hungrier, Dara nearly laying me on the counter as I clung to him, wanting him closer than I could get.

“Dara…” I hummed, letting him rock against me, “Oh…”

“I want you so bad,” he whined between swipes of his tongue, my legs now locked around his waist, “I have never wanted someone this badly.”

“I want you too,” I panted, my head tilting back as he moved to my throat, kissing and biting hard, “We don’t have time… We have to get Fern…”

“I know, I know. You’re my date to Nick’s wedding, right?”

“Yeah? Duh, of course.”

“I rented us a room. Purely so we didn’t have to drive home after. But I want to put it to good use. I want us to… bond that way. I want to finally share that moment with you. I’ve thought about it for nearly a decade. I swear it’ll be good. We’ll take it slow, full of affection and care, and spend all night wrapped up.”

“Yes. God, yes,” I nodded quickly with a smile, and he kissed me again, my heart racing, “Nothing like picking up Fern when we’re both way too worked up.”

“Hm,” he muttered, looking at the ceiling before smiling, “You’re not on your period right?”

“No.”

Dara ran over and closed the curtains, drowning the shop in darkness before turning on the light strip that ran the length of the ceiling. I watched him send a few texts before he threw his phone onto his station and came back to me.

“Pull your pants to your ankles but don’t get off the counter,” he rubbed my outer thighs, kissing my throat softly.

“I wanted our first time to be romantic,” I pouted.

“I’m not going all the way, I want that too. I just have an idea, and I want you to feel good, baby. Please?”

“Well…” Smiling, I undid my pants, and Dara helped me slide them down, moving until my legs were over his shoulders as he sat on my stool. He took himself from his pants, my eyes wide as I watched him start to take care of it. He was thicker than Kipling and long, making my mouth water as I wanted to taste him.

“Mmm,” he hummed, leaning forward and running his tongue between my thighs, a squeak escaping my throat, “Oh… You’re so sweet,” he smiled before burying his tongue into me.

Dara worked me over thoroughly, cries escaping my chest as I pulled his hair, doing my best to stay on the counter. He was panting loudly, pressing hard against me as he groaned and growled, his free hand joining not long after I released for a second time and causing stars to explode behind my eyelids. He quickly stood up, shifting my legs around his waist and slipping just the tip in, both of us gasping.

“Day!” I let out a cry, gripping his arms, “T-Too much!”

“I just needed to know how warm you are. God,” he growled, his hand twitching on my thigh, “I’m not going all the way, and I don’t count this, but I just… I just… Can I do it inside? Just right here.”

“Yes!”

Dara smiled, grabbing my throat and pulling me forward to kiss me as he panted into my mouth, rapidly spilling over. I could feel the warmth slide down my rear and drip slowly onto the counter and floor, a huge mess left behind by the time we were done. He carefully took the time to clean me, kissing me from time to time as he did before scrubbing the counter and floor with a sterilizing solution. It took me a bit to feel my legs again, and Dara helped me down, fixing my pants and wrapping me in his arms.

“That was better than I ever could have expected. We didn’t even do much,” he laughed, kissing my hair.

“It was everything I ever wanted,” I giggled, my eyes closed, “I can’t believe we did that in here, though! I mean, I’m happy to fool around no matter where we are, but it shocked me to know you were fine with it too.”

“Oh, after we have our beautifully romantic time in the hotel, I’ll probably bang you in here like every night when we’re alone. In my barber chair. Over the counter. In your office. I have an intensely high drive; can you handle that?”

“Duh. Oh, I want to ride you in the truck, too.”

“You’re such a dream come true. Everything I wanted in a partner.”

“We aren’t together?” I tilted my head as I started to gather my things.

“We aren’t?” Dara stopped, his keys hanging from his hand, “I uh…”

“Oh. Well, you never asked so…”

“Wait, you didn’t see the letter I left you? It was next to the vase of peach roses I brought home yesterday.”

“No! Oh my god, we need to get Fern and go home!”

“Okay, okay. Jesus. Also, I told Mom I wanted to buy you a quick drink, so we were going to be an hour late. If she asks, just tell her you got a Cosmo. I didn’t exactly want to tell her I was planning to eat you out for an hour.”

“Yeah, that would be super embarrassing,” I giggled, taking his hand as we left the shop.

We picked up Fern a bit later, grateful she was still awake, and headed home. I gave Fern her bath as Dara made us a light dinner, and once she was fed and I read to her, she fell asleep in her crib. I joined Dara at the dining table, quickly eating my bowl of spaghetti, and he handed me an envelope that I had clearly missed when I saw the roses he had bought me.

I ripped open the envelope and started to read the letter he had clearly taken his time to write for me:

Dear Ren,

I want to make you the happiest you’ve ever been. I want to be your safety and comfort. The warm place you come to after a long day, the way I always have been. Sometimes, I ask myself what I did to deserve you after everything I put you through. After the pain I gave you because I was jealous you weren’t mine. But I have to tell you something. I love you. I love you because you’re the person who taught me to love myself. I love you because every time we look at each other, I can feel the peace and security that being at your side gives me. I love you because you actually put effort into me and never gave up the hope that I would come back to you when I got my head on straight. I love you because you make me realize I’m worth something to the world. I love you because you accept me, flaws and all. I love you because you respect and support me entirely. I love you because I can’t picture a day without you by my side anymore. You’ve changed my life in ways I never would have thought possible or believed I deserved. Every day with you, even before we were dating, has been a blessing- a moment I will hold onto forever. You’re my person. The person I want to share everything with. The quiet moments, the loud ones, the messy and imperfect ones- because they’re perfect if I have you. It’s in those quiet moments when I find you lying on the couch or playing with Fern that I realize how stupid I was to ever try and run you out of my life. I can’t imagine who I would be without you, Ren. I know I’m not perfect, and I can’t give you the world. But I can be here for every moment. I can raise Fern with you. Treat you the way I always wanted to, as the man I love and have loved since I was young. This is my long-winded attempt at asking you a question that you have every right to run away from. Ren, I love you, and I would give you anything you wanted if it meant you were my partner. My fiance. I don’t want to just be your boyfriend. I know it’s stupid of me to jump steps, but we’ve been side by side for nearly two decades. We don’t have to run off and get married. But let me put a ring on your finger. If it’s too much, too fast, then I’ll happily be your boyfriend. All I want is to know that I’ll get to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter how short that might be.

Always yours,

Dara.

I wiped tears from my eyes as I read the letter again, my heart thundering against my ribs. I felt something hard in the envelope as I went to put the letter away and slid it out, finding a thin silver ring with our initials engraved on the inside.

“I’ve had that since we were 16,” Dara whispered, and I raised my head to look into his eyes, “I was going to ask you to be my boyfriend, but Eddie beat me to it. I held onto it this entire time, hoping someday I could give it to you. I’ve decided to use it as an engagement ring. I know we’ve only been dating for four months,” he kneeled next to my chair, and I wiped my eyes on my sweater, my throat closed, “But I have loved you for so long. I don’t care about what anyone will say if you agree to marry me. We can face anything together, the way we always have. I don’t deserve you, Ren. I never have. But I love you more than anyone in the universe, well, except Fern, and I will love you until they lower me into the ground.”

“You want to marry me?” I hiccuped.

“Yes. I want to make you, Ren O’Connor, and adopt Fern as my daughter. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, even if you don’t want to marry me.”

“I love you too,” I whispered, bending down to kiss him, “I think I always have, but I ignored it. I never thought we’d even get this far, Day. Yes. I’ll marry you. I don’t care what anyone says. I want to be your husband. Just don’t ever leave me, and I promise to be the best husband you could have ever asked for,” I gave him the ring, and he took my left hand, slowly sliding it onto my finger before cradling my face and kissing me deeply, both of us crying and smiling.

“Are we crazy?” He started laughing, pressing his forehead to mine.

“We used to have fake weddings when we were little, remember? I guess I was born to marry you, Dara. Yes. We’re crazy. But we can take time to plan a wedding. We don’t need to rush it. Sleep in the master from now on. We’re engaged. I need my fiancé next to me.”

“Absolutely, baby.”

“Should we share?”

“How? It’s nine at night.”

“Social media. We still look nice after work. Take a picture with me.”

I jumped up to grab my phone, and Dara came over, wrapping an arm around my waist before stealing my phone as he was taller and could take a photo of us more easily. I laid my left hand on his chest to make the ring visible, and we took two photos, one of us smiling and the other sharing a kiss. I quickly uploaded them with the caption “I said yes!” and giggled, admiring the ring and waiting for the inevitable flood of texts that would come in regarding our sudden engagement after four months of dating.

“I don’t care what anyone says,” Dara gently tucked my hair behind my ear before softly kissing me, “I love you, Ren. I promise we’ll be happy.”

“I love you, too.”