Semper Fidelis by Morticia Knight Kendall McKenna Sara York LE Franks Devon Rhodes T.A. Chase S.A. McAuley Page B

hips was going to leave bruises, but Phil didn’t care. Even though they’d be fading by the time he returned to Dutch Harbor, he’d still be able to see them. They would be another reminder of the man he loved.
    Soon sounds of sex and lust filled the room, and Phil discovered how intertwined with those emotions was one that ran deeper, hidden from view. Hidden until the only real thing Phil could feel was how much he loved Dean, and how much he needed him to always be there.
    As his climax rocketed through him, Phil cried out, overwhelmed with feelings he’d thought he understood. Only now he realized that he hadn’t understood them at all. His cum coated his stomach, and Dean’s flooded Phil’s passage. Phil wrapped his arms around Dean’s shoulders as his lover shuddered through his own orgasm.
    Dean collapsed into his embrace, and Phil accepted his weight, willing to hold on to Dean for the rest of their lives. He’d keep his arms around Dean until the last beat of his heartbeat was a mere echo in the vastness of time.
    Phil waited until his breathing slowed before he eased Dean over to his side. He grimaced slightly when Dean’s softened cock slid out of him. After climbing out of bed, he went to the bathroom to clean up, then brought back a washcloth to wipe Dean off.
    “Thank you, love,” Dean murmured as Phil finished up.
    “You’re welcome,” Phil replied, turning to toss the cloth in the vague direction of the other room. He crawled back under the cover, smiling when Dean drew him close. Dean’s chest was wide and muscled from all the hours of swimming and lifting he did to stay at the top of his profession.
    “Got the boat ready to go?” Dean’s voice was low, and Phil knew he was starting to drift off. Dean tended to fall asleep shortly after coming, but Phil never felt slighted by the fact.
    He’d always been a little proud to think that he’d worn out a man so physically enduring as Dean to the point that he needed to nap afterward. Phil hummed while smoothing his hand up and down Dean’s back.
    “Yeah. I heard about the call you guys got last week. I’m sorry it didn’t work out.”
    Dean shifted, moving a little closer to Phil. “There was nothing we could do. He’d been in the water for too long. I hate jumping into the water only to lift a body out of it.”
    Phil hugged Dean tightly. “I know, love, and you haven’t slept a wink since then, have you?”
    “I keep seeing his face. I hate that part of the job, yet I wouldn’t do anything else for all the money in the world.”
    “I know.”
    He felt the same way about crab fishing. Being out on the deck of a crab boat was one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but he loved it. The freezing temperatures, the lurking danger just waiting for a chance to bite him in the ass thrilled him almost as much as getting fucked by Dean did. Yet before he’d met Dean, Phil would’ve said that his job was the most exciting thing in his life.
    “Why don’t you rest for a little while?”
    Dean didn’t reply, but Phil felt the way his breathing had slowed and deepened, clueing Phil in on the fact that Dean had fallen asleep. Phil wasn’t worried though. When Dean woke up in the middle of the night, reaching to take him again, Phil would spread his legs for him, and enjoy every minute of lost sleep.
    They had all weekend to fuck and talk. Phil hadn’t wanted to bring up the unsuccessful rescue attempt, but he also didn’t want Dean to think Phil didn’t care or pay attention to what was going on in Dean’s life. They didn’t get to see each other every day like most couples, and Dean rarely talked about his missions—good or bad.
    Phil had figured out that it was just Dean’s way. The man never bragged about his job, and how he went into harm’s way every mission to save another human’s life. Dean ‘Jake’ Jacobson didn’t see himself as a hero. He was simply a man doing something he was good at, nothing more and nothing