Words were complicated. Words could wait. Liam needed this, needed the way that Riley's lips felt against his own, needed those warm arms around him. He needed to be held and kissed and touched like he was wanted, not like he was owned.

The way that Riley kissed him back, the way the arms came around him, it set that heat only intensifying in his blood, as if it might boil it away entirely if he were not allowed to sate it. He wanted to be swept away, wanted to forget everything and let the world fall away, all of it except for this beautiful, brave would-be-knight.

His tongue brushed along Riley's lips, dipping past in a tentative unspoken request for more.