Bryce rocked back onto his heels and stared up at Holden. He was utterly debauched, with spit smeared across his chin and tears streaking down his cheeks. His body still shone with sweat, and Holden didn’t want to think about the mess Bryce had made on his kitchen floor. But that stopped mattering as soon as Bryce nodded his head yes.
“Let me get you into the bath,” he said.
Bryce groaned in protest, but Holden leveled a look at him that cut the sound off before he could finish it.
“If you’ve taken a vow of silence, I think argumentative noises fall into what’s not allowed,” he said, helping Bryce to his feet.
“I haven’t taken a vow,” Bryce countered, words quiet and rough. “But…”
“I know,” Holden said quickly, not needing Bryce to finish the thought.
This thing between them was supposed to be sex, a fun exploration of a kink in a safe and controlled environment. Holden hadn’t counted on whatever else had come from that space or what it meant for them. It was probably a worry for someone with a clearer head, though, so he ignored it as he plugged the tub and turned on the warm water.
“Is it wrong to say I’d rather sleep covered in sweat if it means your cum will stay in me longer?” Bryce asked, frowning at the tub as it filled.
He looked so despondent in that moment, Holden answered him with the only thing that felt right. He boxed Bryce in against the wall, slanted their mouths together, and he kissed the other man until he was back to speaking in nothing more than sounds.Bryce softly rested his hands against Holden’s hips, pressing their chests together and opening his mouth to make more room for Holden’s tongue.
Holden’s heart did a funny somersault behind his sternum, and he ended the kiss so he could breathe again. He rested his forehead against Bryce’s, and the two of them sucked in matching lungfuls of air as Holden came down from whatever high the night had put him on. Bryce was a drug, and Holden needed to be careful or else he’d get addicted.
“It’s not wrong,” he said.
“You’re sure it’s okay for me to stay?”
Holden bit the inside of his cheek, nodded his head.
“Will you fuck me again?” Bryce asked.
“Can you handle it?”
“Yes, I…I think so.”
Bryce gave him a lopsided smile, and it was all Holden could do to not kiss him again.
“You can stay,” he agreed.
“And the fucking?”
Holden chuckled, overwhelmed with a dozen different feelings that had no place existing together at the same time.
“I’ll fuck you again,” he said. “I’ll even keep my dick inside of you after I finish.” He skated his fingers down Bryce’s ribs, turned him toward the almost full tub. “To keep you full and bursting with it.”
Bryce chuckled, accepting Holden’s help into the bath.
“You can’t say things like that to a man if you don’t mean them.” Bryce winced as the hot water reached his thighs, but he sank under the surface with a contented little sigh.
Holden’s tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth as he watched Bryce get comfortable, watched him float his tattooed fingers on the water.
“I’m going to go change the sheets,” he said, because it felt easier than admitting he very much meant the rest of it.
Unfortunately, he also meant all the things he hadn’t said.
And that was the worst part of the whole thing.
CHAPTER 10
Bryce
Holden kept his word.