The Island

"Oh god," I breathed as I finally came down, my face pressing against the cool sheets. I have no energy left.

He began a slow, rhythmic thrust again and I sighed in wondrous adoration of the man. He pulled me back against his, holding me to his chest as he thrust from behind and I lay back on him as he held me. There was such a perfection in the moment that it brought tears to my eyes.

I realized I was no longer conflicted at all. I had finally allowed him in and I was at peace, knowing it was the right decision. He was what I wanted, what I needed and it was beautiful. The joy the peace brought me was overwhelming and when he shoved into me and came with a low groan, I broke down crying tears of happiness.

He held me against him, kissing the top of my head as he stroked my cheek with his thumb. I held onto his arms, turning my face to his shoulder until I finally gained control of myself and settled down.

"Better now, my Snow Angel?" he asked gently.

"Yes," I whispered, kissing his arm lightly.

"Mmm, good, because it is getting cold fast now that I am not moving," he teased.

I laughed and hugged his arms tight against me, then let him go. He turned off the light quickly, then climbed into bed and held me tightly against him, rubbing my shoulder. I knew he wasn't sleeping, I could almost feel how preoccupied he was.

"What's wrong?" I asked sleepily, my body exhausted and screaming for sleep.

"I am an incredibly lucky man," he said softly. "Some do not find happiness like this once in their life, I have found it twice. By sheer coincidence. I wasn't supposed to be in the store that night, Ihvon missed a turn and was circling back to it. I saw the store and knew I needed to stop anyway. To have found you there... and to feel as I do... I am almost afraid."

"Because of what happened to your wife?"

"Perhaps."

"What happened? If it's not too hard to talk about."

"We were at dinner. She had just made partner and we were celebrating. She had three glasses of wine, but I'd had none, I was on call. I was called in near the end of the meal. I called her a cab to get her home... but I should have taken her keys with me. That was my mistake."

"Of course it wasn't your fault, she made a bad choice, that's not on you. You called her a cab, you did the right thing."

"It is done now and I cannot take it back. I had been lucky enough that I had made some good investments. I gambled wildly in my grief on some risky investments. They happened to pay off and I felt like it was her telling me to stop being reckless and to start over again. So I did. The way I felt though, during that rough time, I had become morbidly obsessed with the end of the world, and the more I looked into it, the more I felt like something bad could easily happen and I wanted insurance against it. A place to ride it out. I got high end investors to buy in for a place to come if anything ever happened. Then I made it my business to keep a finger on the pulse of the world and know when something was coming. I have been very lucky in many ways in my life and I kept gambling more and more with risks that paid off. Like buying this island and putting so much into it. I had nothing to lose, nothing at all. Now I do. It is a good worry to have, but I want so badly to keep you safe."

I smiled and kissed his chest softly. "I'm not going anywhere," I whispered.

He squeezed me tighter. "Sleep now my little Snow Angel," he said gently.

"I love it when you call me that."

"I know," he said with a smile that I could feel. "You are awful at hiding your emotions. You wear everything you think on your face."

I blushed and snuggled into his chest sleepily and sighed a contented sigh. Had I ever really thought he was anything but perfect?