KAT
First Times and Forever
The candles have burned lower, casting shadows that dance across Dave's face as he carries me to the bed. His hands shake slightly—not from strain, I weigh nothing to his new strength—but from the magnitude of what we're about to share. Twenty-nine years of waiting, of choosing solitude over settling, and he's trusting me with all of it.
"Suzy." My real name falls from his lips like benediction as he sets me down among rose petals that smell like hope and intention. "I need you to know—"
"I know." I frame his face with my hands, feeling the fine tremor that runs through his jaw. "I know this is your first time. I know what it means. I know what you're giving me."
His eyes close, those impossibly long lashes dark against his cheeks. When they open again, the
