The words sail through Michael with the force of a shot arrow. At first, he sort of thought they were just in his own head, his own thoughts, but, no. That was Alex's voice, and it was aloud, and Alex was clinging to him now in a way that said, yes, he'd just heard that.

Michael stilled--not freezing in shock so much as putting a pause on distracting activity--and brushed another kiss over Alex's pulse before lifting his head to look at him.

After how this night had started, it was the last thing he expected to hear, but he most certainly wasn't complaining about that. Instead, he smiled slowly, then ducked his head to kiss Alex properly, slowly and thoroughly, before pulling back with another smile.

"I love you, too..."