“No. You certainly ran off with that theory.”
“Our first kiss . . . you weren’t just proving a point. You wanted it.”
“And a million more, if you’ll give them to me.”
Lake began pacing, cringing at all the signs he should have seen. “That fancy dinner . . . Was that a date?”
“I’d hoped so.”
“I brought Harry along!”
“It certainly cemented my understanding of your cluelessness.”
“Karaoke.” Lake halted before Knight. “You’re The One That I Want. Holy shit, slay me already.”
Joyous laughter.
Lake glared. “Is there any other sign I missed?”
“Other than watering you during your Philip-Shakespeare palaver, and letting you sleep in my bed, and making love to you, I think you have it.”
Lake collapsed against Knight’s chest and buried a mortified whimper in his shirt.
Knight encircled him in tight, comforting arms, and kissed the top of his head. “I like that I can do this now.” He kissed him again. “I like it very much.”
“I like it too.” Lake pulled back, and that unfamiliar shyness took him hostage once more. “Could we go to bed?”
Lake padded inside Knight’s bedroom and quietly shut the door.
Dawn hedged the drawn curtains, giving everything a silvery glow. Standing in the middle of the medallion-print rug, Knight took in the state of his room, including yesterday’s clothes that Lake folded over the trunk at the end of the bed, and the twisted sheets.
Lake hugged himself. “I, um . . . I . . .”
Knight faced him, tenderness filling his gaze. He drew Lake close. “How long?”
“All week.” Lake flushed, dropping his arms. “I missed you.”
Knight’s kiss bloomed through Lake.
He pulled back, breathing in deeply, and searched Knight’s eyes. Glistening, touched, happy.
Shivers zinged between them, and Lake questioningly clutched the hem of Knight’s shirt.
Knight raised his arms.
They undressed one another, trading keepsake smiles. Soft, tender, adoring.
Calloused fingers glided down Lake’s sides to the small of his back, and their naked, aching bodies meshed.
Giddiness rose through him from heel to scalp and his heart pounded. They fell onto the bed in a rush of gravity, parting briefly with laughter.
A mad craving for closeness overwhelmed him.
Lake rolled atop of Knight and stretched his arms above his head, clasping his wrists against the mattress. Lake smiled down at him and dipped for a kiss. Their noses grazed and their lips connected on a wondrous sigh.
How could Lake have not seen Knight’s glorious feelings for him? How could he have been so blind to his own?
He’d make up for lost time. For every evening Knight had gone to bed nursing an ache in his large, kind, beautiful heart.
Lake molded himself to Knight. Soft kisses became passionate, deep, searing.
Still, neither spoke.
Lake found the condoms, the lube. Knight steered Lake’s slippery fingers, a whisper tickling Lake’s neck below the ear. “Take me?”
Chest and cock throbbed. Lake shimmied down, trembling, and gripped Knight’s base. He lowered his head. He’d dreamed of tasting Knight, of taking him deep into his mouth, of giving him so much pleasure he couldn’t think.
He flicked his tongue over salty pre-come, lubed fingers playing at Knight’s entrance, dipping into the soft ring.
A deep moan vibrated through Lake, so open, so trusting, so real. Lake wanted to undo him. He sucked Knight into his mouth, tongue sliding up and down his shaft in humming strokes. In tandem, Lake worked lube into him, slowly, teasing him open.
Knight bucked with taut, needy grunts.
Opening his throat wide, Lake took his pulsing cock deep as he stretched three fingers into him.
Knight cried out, gently gripped his hair, and steered him off. He grabbed the condom and shakily ripped into it.
Lake buckled against Knight’s broad shoulders in a pleasured gasp as Knight swiftly rolled the latex over him.
They crashed into a desperate kiss, falling back to the mattress. Lake hooked Knight’s leg, and their eyes met. The world spun and untangled, everything clear. Everything right. He nudged Knight’s entrance, and Knight nodded, threading a sure hand through Lake’s hair, kissing him again. Lake breached him, gasping at the tight, slippery heat. He held himself still, aching. “Are you—?”
Knight cupped a cheek, thumb rubbing over the bow of his lip. “Perfect. Keep going.”
Lake eased in, Knight throbbing around him. Oh God, too good. He melted into mindless babbling. I won’t last. Good thing we can do this again and again. The rest of our lives.
Knight entwined their fingers and squeezed.
Butterflies invaded Lake’s chest, and he slanted a fervent kiss against Knight’s slackened lips. He rotated his hips and pulled out to the tip.
Knight arched up as Lake pushed in again, a gravelly uttered “Emerett” stealing Lake’s breath.
Another kiss. This one emblazoned with desire, the headiness of emotion giving way to baser instincts.
Lake pushed into him, eagerly, burrowing as deep as he could.
Knight wrapped his legs around Lake, urging him for more, meeting every thrust. Every move stoked their pleasure until Lake didn’t know where he ended and Knight started. They were a cocoon of grunts, gasps, shudders, pleas. The bed shook, and they breathed in each other’s mindless whispers.