---

I groaned when my watch started beeping. I reached over and grabbed it off the nightstand and turned it off. Timmy looked so peaceful cuddled up with his head on my chest, I just hated to wake him. I gave him a light kiss on the top of his head and he stirred and opened his eyes slightly and looked up at me.

"Good morning," I said.

"Morning... What time is it?" he asked groggily.

"It's early. I gotta get showered and dressed for work. Why don't you go back to sleep?"

Tim stretched and then hugged me tight.

"I slept really good with you here, Hank. Thank you for staying with me."

I bent my head down and kissed him. He closed his eyes and sighed. He was so fucking cute. Even with the black eye.

I kissed him again and then peppered his face with light kisses, causing him to let out a quiet laugh.

I sat up and took a deep breath, stood and stretched my arms over my head. Tim was clutching my pillow with a smile on his face as he watched me. With a chuckle, I grabbed my boxers off the floor and pulled them on. Tim sighed and got out of bed and grabbed his t-shirt and underwear off the floor.

"Go back to bed, Timmy," I told him.

"I'm gonna make you breakfast," he said as he slipped into his underwear and pulled on his t-shirt.

"You don't need to do that. I'll grab something on the way."

"I want to. Go take a shower and get dressed. Let me do this for you, Hank."

I relented and opened the door and went across the hall to the bathroom as Tim quietly descended the stairs. After a nice hot shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist and returned to Tim's room to get dressed. I put on my uniform and sat down on the bed to pull on my boots. I threw yesterday's clothes into my bag, picked it up and headed downstairs.

I followed the smells into the kitchen, where Tim was standing at the stove stifling a yawn and scrambling eggs. I dropped my bag on the floor near the door. He turned his head and smiled at me over his shoulder.

Tim had made coffee and had two mugs on the table. His had milk in it, mine was black. I picked up the cup and took a sip.

I walked up behind Tim and put my arms around him and looked down at the stove. He was frying bacon in one pan and scrambling eggs in another.

"You didn't have to go through all this trouble," I said as I laid my chin on his shoulder. "I'd have been happy with an apple or something."

"It's not any trouble."

"Well, I do appreciate it, Timmy."

I kissed Tim's neck, then nipped it with my teeth causing him to giggle and squirm out of my arms.

Tim took a plate and put a small amount of eggs on it with two pieces of bacon. On a second plate, he put the remaining mountain of eggs and four pieces of bacon. The toaster popped and he put two pieces of wheat toast on our plates.

He set the plates on the table and I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him to me.

"I love you, Tim Matthews."

I gave him a kiss that made him weak in the knees. When I pulled back, his face was flushed. He steadied himself on the chair and then slumped into it.

"I hope you like it," he said.

I sat down and sprinkled my eggs with a little pepper and dug in. I resisted the urge to scarf it down and took the time to savor the food.

"This is great, Tim," I said. "Thank you."

Tim beamed at the compliment and then started eating. I quickly cleaned my plate and then got up for another mug of coffee. I leaned back against the counter sipping my coffee while I watched Tim pick up the dishes and put them into the dishwasher.

This was exactly what I wanted. A life with the perfect guy, someone I loved and adored, who loved and adored me back. I knew right then that I wanted Tim for the rest of my life... to make love with him every night, to wake up every morning with him, to have him cook for me and take care of me, and I would protect him and take care of him.

"What?" Tim asked with a puzzled look on his face.

I snapped out of my day dream and focused on his face. "Hmm?"

"You were looking at me funny."

"Just thinking... About how perfect you are."

"I was thinking the same thing. About you, not me," he giggled.

I set down my mug and pulled him to me and leaned my head down and kissed him hard. I wrapped left hand around the back of his neck and slipped my right into the back of his underwear. I pulled him closer to me, pressing my growing dick against his belly. My tongue entered his mouth and he played with it and sucked it, letting out a little whimper as he pushed his own dick into my hip.

"Don't mind me," Mr. Matthews said as he walked into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Tim blushed profusely at having been caught making out with me. He pulled away from me and stood slightly behind me, presumably so that his Dad didn't see his arousal. He let out a little groan and leaned his head on my back.

"Sorry, Jack," I chuckled at Tim's dad. "I got a little carried away."

The corner of Jack's mouth turned up in a little smile. "I would've thought you had enough of that last night."

Tim gasped softly and whispered to himself, "Oh my god..."

Jack and I both laughed at his embarrassment.

"Yeah. Sorry about that, Jack," I offered. "We were trying to be quiet."

"Don't worry about it. I remember what it was like to be young. Shit, even at this age, I still hit it two or three times a week."

"Oh, my god! Dad!"

Tim buried his face in his hand.

Jack chuckled to himself and went outside and grabbed the newspaper.

"It smells good in here," Jack said as he came back in and sat down at the table.

"I made bacon and eggs for Hank," Tim said. "Do you want some? I can make it real quick."

"Sure, Tim. That'd be nice."

While Jack unfolded the paper and started reading, Tim opened the fridge and pulled out a couple of eggs and bacon and started to make his dad breakfast.

"I gotta go, babe," I said to Tim. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. I love you, Hank. Be careful."

"I will."

I gave Tim a kiss and put on my hat and winked at him.

"Love you, babe," I said as I grabbed my bag and headed out the front door.

***

Work was pretty uneventful. We assisted with a couple of traffic stops and that was really about it. After my shift ended, I climbed in my truck, lit a smoke, and was just pulling out of the lot when Jeff called.

"Hey, bud. What's up?" I asked.

"Not much. I hear you been getting pretty cozy with my little brother lately. Dad says you somehow got him to get up early and cook you breakfast. That's a fucking miracle."

"Well, it wasn't my idea. Not that I would object if he wanted to do it every morning."

"I had a crew take care of Tim's carpet and the back door today. Also, tell him he needs to mow the grass."

"I'll let him know, and I'll take care of the grass next time I'm over. He's itching to go back home, but I don't think he should be there alone."

"I agree. You know, there's a pretty easy solution to that."

"I don't think we're ready for that yet, Jeff. We've only been back together for a couple of weeks."

"Yeah, right. I'm telling you, if the two of you try to draw this out for another six years, I'll fucking kill the both of you with my bare hands."

I laughed and said, "Mind your own fucking business, Matthews."

"Make me, Ballatori. Anyway, you and Tim wanna get together at my place and watch the game this weekend?"

"Sure. Sounds good. The past couple weeks have been crazy. It'll be good to get together to just relax."

***

A warrant was issued for Pete Olivieri's arrest when he had skipped bail. After breaking into Tim's house to grab his stuff, he most likely hit the road. I wouldn't feel totally comfortable until the bastard was behind bars.

With Pete gone, the assault charge against Jack Matthews was dropped. To be honest, they weren't that eager to prosecute him after what Pete did to his son.

Tuesday afternoon, I was able to get away for an hour and get an HIV test. As I expected, when I stopped in for the results on Friday, it came back negative.

I spent my next off day on Thursday with Tim all day, then spent the night with him again that night. By Friday morning, he had more than enough of his parents house. After he made me breakfast and I headed out to work, he packed up his clothes and returned to his house.

By then the bruises on his face and body had mostly faded away and weren't visible unless you got really close. He still had a really dark purple bruise around his left eye, but that was slowly fading as well.

Friday night, I headed home and changed out of my uniform into a pair of jeans and a polo shirt. I packed an overnight bag, grabbed a clean uniform and headed to Tim's house for the night.

I pulled into the driveway and parked behind Tim's jeep and flicked my cigarette butt out the window. I grabbed my bag and uniform and walked up to the front door. It opened before I reached it and Tim grabbed my bag and took it back to the bedroom and set it on the bed. I followed him and hung my uniform up in the closet on the empty side that previously held that motherfucker's clothes. Tim seemed to be deep in thought as he looked at the hanging uniform.

I looked around the bedroom, noticing that the room had been cleaned and freshly vacuumed and the bed was made.

Tim moved up next to me and slid his hand in mine. I grabbed Tim for a hug and a kiss.

"Dinner is almost done," he said and hurried back to the kitchen.

"It smells great, Timmy," I called out to him.

I walked over to the back door and checked the glass and the lock. Everything looked in order, like new. I went back and locked the front door while I was thinking about it and then walked into the living room. The carpet was spotless. Everything was clean and put back into its proper place. Tim obviously spent a lot of time cleaning the house today.

"The house looks great, Tim. They did a great job on the carpet."

"Yeah, they even cleaned the sofa, too," he said from the kitchen.

"It looks like you spent some time cleaning as well."

Tim walked into the living room. "I wanted everything to be perfect tonight. Dinner's ready. Come on, have a seat."

I followed Tim to the table. He had a white table cloth on the table and a lit candle in the middle. There were two places set and I picked one and sat down. Tim smiled and walked to the kitchen. He returned with bowls of rigatoni pasta and red sauce and a bowl of caesar salad. One more trip and he came back with a bowl of grated cheese and a plate of chicken parm. It looked just the way Ma makes it and smelled fantastic.

"Jesus, Timmy. This looks and smells great. Chicken parm is one of my favorites."

"Yeah, I know. I called your mom and she gave me the recipe for the sauce and chicken and told me how to make it. I had to call her back once for some more help, but I think I mostly got it right."

"I don't know what to say, Tim. This is just too much. Come on, sit down. I'm starved."

"Oh, wait!" he said.

Tim hurried back into the kitchen and returned with a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a corkscrew.

"Your mom said pinot noir goes with it."

I opened the wine and poured a glass for each of us. I took Tim's plate and served him a helping of salad, pasta and chicken. I poured some sauce over the pasta and chicken. I did the same for me, but in a little larger portions.

I lifted my wine glass. "To us," I toasted.

Tim smiled at me as his eyes turned a little glassy. We clinked our glasses together and took a sip of the wine.

"It's good," I said.

I could tell Tim wasn't really crazy about the wine, but he smiled and pretended that he liked it. I just shook my head. I took a bite of the chicken.

"Timmy, this is fucking fantastic. Don't tell Ma, but it's just as good as hers."

Tim had a huge grin on his face and took a bite for himself.

"Wow, this is good," he said, his voice telling me that he was surprised.

It was good that I had a second helping of chicken and pasta and ate until I was absolutely stuffed.

"I'm gonna have to hit the gym extra hard after that," I said as I set my napkin on the table and leaned back in the chair and patted my stomach. "Timmy, that was seriously the best meal I've had in a long time. Thank you, baby. I really appreciate how much work you put into it. It was delicious."

I leaned over and put my hand on the back of his neck and pulled him towards me and kissed him. When I pulled away, he let out a huge breath and a tear fell down his cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb and kissed his cheek.

"Are you okay, baby?" I asked. "What's wrong?"

"I wanted everything to be perfect tonight. I'm just so relieved that you liked it."

"'Liked' it? I fucking loved it. You're gonna spoil me."

Tim took another nervous breath. "That's what I want to do, Hank. I want to spoil you," he said and then he started rambling. "I want so much to make you happy. I know we just got back together, but I know how I feel about you. And I think you feel the same and I just hope that you want this, too. I don't want to make the same mistake I did before. I--"

"Tim, slow down. Relax."

Tim took a sip of wine, then took a deep breath.

"Hank... I love you. You're my soul mate. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to move in with me. I want us to share our lives together. I don't want to be apart from you ever again."

"Tim..."

"I know it's soon, but I just feel that it's right. It could be like this every night. I swear, I can make you happy, Hank--"

"Tim. Stop."

Tim looked at me, his eyes brimming with tears as they stared back at me, pleading for the answer he wanted. I thought about teasing him and prolonging his suffering, but he had such pitiful expression on his face that I couldn't stand to keep him hanging.

"I'll call Jeff in the morning," I said. "He'll help us move my stuff Monday night."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I do. I knew I was spending the rest of my life with you when we were in the kitchen the other morning," I said with a chuckle.

Tim practically leapt out of his chair into my arms and laughed on my shoulder. I rubbed his back and kissed his temple.

"I love you, Tim," I whispered into his ear. "I promise I'll do everything I can to make you happy and keep you safe."

We kissed passionately until the awkward position got to Tim. He stood up and looked down at the table. He picked up his plate and reached for mine.

"Sit down, Timmy. Let me take care of this."

He paused for a second like he was going to argue with me. I raised my eyebrow and he sat down. I smiled to myself and stacked up all of the dirty dishes and took them around to the kitchen. I rinsed them off and loaded them up in the dishwasher.

Tim walked in carrying the plate of chicken.

"Hey, I told you to sit," I said with a frown.

"You don't know where everything goes yet."

He opened a cabinet and pulled out some containers and we packed up all of the leftover food and put it into the fridge.

I refilled our wine glasses and we took them out to the back yard. We sat at the little wooden patio set and drank our wine while I had a smoke. Whenever I looked over at Tim, he had a happy smile on his face and that made me smile in return. It made my dick hard as well.

"It's warm out here," I said.

I let my cigarette dangle from my mouth and grabbed my polo shirt with both hands and pulled it over my head. I looked down at my white wife beater undershirt and noticed that it was a little ratty. Not very romantic. But there's not much I can do about that now. With a shrug, I tossed my shirt onto the back of one of the empty chairs.

I was well aware that Tim had been staring at me taking my shirt off and was still watching me. I suppressed the urge to smirk or look at him. My eyes had narrowed from the smoke drifting from the cigarette in my mouth. I took hold of my smoke with my right hand and took a deep drag as I adjusted my hard dick with my left hand. I cupped and squeezed my dick. I held the smoke in my lungs for a few seconds before leaning my head back and blowing it out in smoke rings. I took another drag and then dropped the butt into an empty beer can on the table as I exhaled the last of the smoke.

I heard Tim gulp loudly and I finally shifted my eyes to look at him. His face was flushed red and he was breathing heavy as I locked my eyes onto his.

"I got something I wanted to show you," I said.

I stood up and his eyes moved down to my crotch. My cock was fully erect in my jeans and obscenely bulged towards my left thigh.

"Not that," I said. "Well, not first anyway."

Tim's eyes shot up to mine. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up. I put my hand on the small of his back and led him inside through the back door, locking it behind me. I took his hand and we went to the bedroom. I turned on the lamp on the nightstand at 'my side' of the bed. I opened my bag and pulled out the paper with my test results. I handed the paper to Tim and dropped the bag onto the floor. Tim looked over the results and his eyes got wide and he looked up at me. I smiled and nodded at him.

I cupped Tim's face in my hands and bent down and kissed him. I moved one hand behind his neck and the other under his arm and around his back. Tim sighed as I moved my mouth down to his neck where I gently sucked and nibbled. I pulled back and lifted his shirt off and tossed it onto the ground.

Tim reached for the light and I gently grabbed his wrist and shook my head. "I want to see you."

"But..."

"Tim, you know I don't care about the bruises. They're almost all the way faded. Let me see how beautiful you are."

Tim nodded, but I could see the mixed emotions in his eyes. I ran my hands all over his chest and back. I tweaked his tiny pink nipples and they stiffened in my fingers. I bent down and took one into my mouth and gently sucked and licked it. Tim whimpered and moaned as he ran his hands through my hair and all over my shoulders. I reached down and unbuckled Tim's belt and unzipped his jeans. I pushed them to the floor with his boxer briefs. I pulled his leg and he stepped out of the pants and I kicked them away. I squatted down and removed his socks. I stood and looked at Tim, completely naked in front of me.

I ran my large hands down his back and cupped his hard little ass with both of my hands. I bent my head down and attacked his mouth with mine. His hands moved between our bodies and rested on my hair-covered pec muscles.

"I love you so fucking much, Timmy," I told him. "Damn, you make me so hard. I want you so fucking bad."

Tim stepped back and pulled my undershirt from my jeans. I bent at the knees so that he could pull it up over my head. His small hands unbuckled my belt and then unbuttoned my Levis. He pushed my jeans and boxer shorts down and my steel hard cock bobbed up and smacked him on the chin. He stopped when he realized I still had my cowboy boots on.

He knelt down and lifted my left leg. I steadied myself on his shoulder as he pulled the boot off.

"I can't believe you still have these."

"I love 'em. They were the best gift I ever got, from the only person I've ever been in love with. Of course I still have 'em."

A big grin appeared on Tim's face and I ran my hand over his dimpled cheek. It was so easy to make Tim smile and I loved to see him smile.

"They look nice and worn and comfy," he said as he pulled the other boot off. "And they look really good on you."

Tim pulled my jeans and underwear off, then my socks. He looked up at me from his kneeling position. He stood up and looked at my body. I saw his dick jerk and a drop of pre-cum ooze out of the slit and dribble down the shaft.

"Hank... you're the sexiest man in the whole world. I can't believe you're mine."

"I'm yours, baby. Just like you're mine. I'm never gonna let you go ever again. I promise."

I wrapped my arms around him and surrounded his little body with my own. I cupped his ass again and reached under and lifted him up. I turned him towards the bed and lowered him down onto the bed with myself on top of him. I reached down into my bag and fished around and pulled out a bottle of lube.

I laid down between Timmy's legs and spread his cheeks with my thumbs. His pink hole puckered and twitched in anticipation. Looking at the little pink ring, I couldn't pass it up. I swirled my tongue around his tight hole and Tim whimpered and his body shuddered. I licked and sucked at the sensitive skin, attacking it with my tongue and lips. I worked my face and chin in his crack, rubbing his skin with my beard stubble.

Tim's hips bucked up into my face and he rubbed his hands through my hair and moaned, "Oh, Hank, yes!"

I pushed my tongue into his hole and Tim cried out again. I groaned and shook my head as I ate him out. I rimmed Tim for a good ten minutes. Tim was writhing around on the bed, panting and whimpering. I lubed up my fingers and pushed my middle finger slowly into his hole. I finger banged him, thrusting and twisting my finger as I licked and sucked on his nuts. I pushed in a second finger and soon added a third.

I knelt between Tim's legs and lubed my cock up. I was hard as a steel rod and ready to sink it into his ass.

"Make love to me, Hank."

I pushed Timmy's knees back and wrapped his legs around me. I lined up my cock head with its target, which was red and swollen from my mouth action. I pushed in gently and slowly and Timmy moaned and his hands grabbed my ass and beckoned me to go in further.

I began moving in and out of his tight hole.

"Oh, fuck, baby. I'm gonna fuck your ass so good."

I leaned down and kissed Tim as I thrust in and out, rubbing his prostate with my cock on each thrust. I locked eyes with him and he looked at me begging and pleading.

"Fuck me, Hank... fuck me, fuck me..."