“Mine’s a queen. And we’ve got time to try it.” Isaiah reached out and touched Mark’s face. “I’m in no rush.”
That got a little smile from Mark, one that warmed Isaiah’s insides like a warm brownie.
“Can I... I want to kiss you good-night,” Mark said in a rush.
“Of course.” Isaiah leaned closer but let Mark be the one to initiate. It was achingly sweet, the way Mark took his time. They kissed without tongue for a good long while before Mark deepened the kiss, exploring Isaiah’s mouth with increasingly confident motions. Isaiah moaned as Mark went back to nibbling his lower lip.
Pulling back slightly, eyes glassy and dark, Mark asked, “Did you mean what you said the other night? That you can come just from kissing?” Mark sounded more curious than eager.
“That and some grinding, like what we were doing on the couch.” Isaiah reluctantly pulled away. “But not tonight. Let’s take this slow. We’ll get there.”
Mark nodded, confirming Isaiah’s intuition that he wasn’t quite ready. “Thanks.” He gave him another quick kiss. “This was really nice.”
“Hey, that’s my line. I just lay here. You did all the work.” Grinning at him, Isaiah stood up.
“Night, Mark.” He grabbed the baby monitor from the top of the dresser and let the door close behind him. He needed out of there before he was tempted by more kissing. Mark wasn’t ready. Hell, Isaiah wasn’t ready either. He meant it about slow. If Mark’s previous experiences with sex had been mainly negative, Isaiah wanted to be damn sure things between them would be different for him, that Mark would feel the kind of connection he needed.
You’re playing with fire. Yeah, he knew that. Looking to become more bonded to the one guy capable of turning his heart to ash wasn’t exactly smart. But he still wanted it with Mark, wanted to be the person Mark needed.
* * *
“The girls say you do better stories,” Isaiah reported as he came downstairs from getting the kids settled for nap time. With their fitful nighttime sleeping, they both needed their naps, although Daphne had tried the “Mommy wouldn’t make me nap” point of attack, which just made Isaiah’s bones weary, made him look more forward to the break from kid duty and to some adult time with Mark. He’d left Mark cleaning up lunch in the kitchen. They were getting better at sharing tasks, figuring out what they were good at. Like Isaiah was the better cook, but Mark could outclean a professional crew.
“They just like the voices. Easy audience.” Mark had moved from the now-sparkling kitchen to the family room couch where he’d laid out rows of playing cards in front of him.
“Dude. You do know there’s like hundreds of apps for that on your phone or tablet.” Isaiah couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen someone with real, paper playing cards.
“You think there’s unlimited data and charging stations in all the places I get to? I can go weeks without my phone.” Mark continued setting up his solitaire game. “Cards are great. Cards I can play by myself or with a group. And if a deck gets bloody or muddy or lost, it’s like two bucks to get a new one, which you can buy in all sorts of out-of-the-way places. Heck, I’ve even traded decks or bribed local kids with them.”
“That’s really cool.” Isaiah liked picturing Mark out on a mission, playing with his buddies, collecting decks in other languages. “Aunt Cecily likes cards. Taught Cal and me how to play rummy and spades and other games. I should see if there are decks for the sight-impaired.”
“You should. Anything you can do to keep her involved is probably good right now.” Mark scooped up the cards, apparently unhappy with his deal. He shuffled like a Vegas card shark, snapping the cards in a perfect arc. “It’s good to have something to do with restless energy.”
“Can’t wait to get back to duty?” He’d never tell Mark but he was a little sad, knowing their time of being together with the kids was coming to an end soon. They made a good team, even if Mark would never admit it.
“Yeah. Something like that. I don’t deal well with downtime.” Mark began dealing but instead of solitaire, dealt two hands of cards. “Round of speed before you go back to the yard?”
“You’re on.” Scooping up the cards, Isaiah took a seat opposite him. He’d been working in the yard every chance he got, getting new plantings in, removing the pointy and dated brick borders and replacing them with a cleaner, more modern look, and constructing raised beds.
“What do you and your buddies usually play? Poker?”
“If there’s a group of us, yeah. There’s a lot of hurry-up-and-wait in the military, so that’s always popular when we’re all hanging around waiting for orders to come down. And we’re not supposed to play for money, but some guys like playing for favors or getting out of tasks, that sort of thing.”