“Yes,” he said, and when the surprise showed on my face, he smirked. “Cait made me sit in her office until almost three in the morning, thinking about what I wanted and what I was going to say.”
“Oof, right, time out, you said,” I said between my teeth. “Yikes.”
“Time out,” he repeated with a shake of his head. “Yes. I don’t know how it’s going to go…but yeah. I wanna at least try…and try for real.”
“Then that’s all I need from you right now,” I said with a smile. “It’s been a month, just over, you realize that, right?”
“Has it? Huh.”
“At this stage, all I want to know is that you want to be with me, to see how we do. That’s how I handle relationships.We’re going to move to ‘we’re official’ and be official. There’s no oath of undying love or promise of eternity. There’s just…two guys dating each other. Something new for you, but from what I’ve heard, it’s not that much different once you get past the mechanics.”
“How many…people do you know who have, uh, shifted teams?”
“A few, and I’ve dated a couple of bisexuals,” I said with a shrug. “Plus, you already hurdled over the whole ‘oooh sex with a guy is so different’ and with gusto, so I think we’ll be okay. Everything else is just about personalities and communication.”
“Two things I excel at,” he said grimly.
“One of those things requires an acquired taste that I seem to have, and the other can be taught,” I said and then snickered. “Apparently it can be taught by having you sit in your thoughts for a few hours.”
“Don’t you dare try it,” he growled, and I peered up at him with a smile.
“Turn-on, remember?” I asked him.
He paused and then grunted. “You know what? I don’t care, or I do…because good, I want you turned on.”
“Then you just need to exist around me,” I said in a low voice. “Or…wear those jeans.”
“What jeans?”
“God, the ones where it looks like you have to be oiled up to fit into them. Your thighs need to be shown off and those pants should always be on you unless they’re on the floor.”
“You’re so fucking horny,” he said in that low growl that he had to know was the quickest way to make his accusation even more true.
“Shut up and kiss me,” I told him with a laugh.
“Wanted to from the minute I saw you standing here,” he said, bending down and kissing me.
I’d always loved the way he kissed me, like he was claiming me with a tender gesture, as if his kisses could somehow mark me for all the world to see. It was the same, and it was as if it was happening all over again. His hand slid from my waist and cupped my ass, pulling me closer to him, and I sighed contentedly. I would swear sometimes he tried to hold back his possessiveness, as if that would somehow keep me from seeing it, as if I hadn’t seen it the first time he’d touched me. I didn’t mind at all; I even enjoyed it, so long as it stayed between us. I could revel in the feeling that I was wanted as much as I wanted him.
I pushed against him, feeling the happy rumble in his chest as I reached between us and cupped him. He was growing hard and fast. If I wasn’t careful, I might end up tempting him to drag me straight to his cabin. Hmm, maybe with everyone gone, I might tempt him to drag me into the communal showers where I could reenact the first time he’d seen me.
“Ayo!” someone called, and I jerked back. “Free gay porn? On our salary?”
I flinched, peeling myself away from Xander as I saw Jake and Reno had returned. I sighed when I saw Carter and Trevor were with them as well.
“Jake,” I said with a frown as I inched away from Xander, who remained facing the counter. Not that I blamed him, he was as on display as you could get in his pants, and I didn’t think he wanted to add to his embarrassment after being caught with?—
“Stop,” he said, taking hold of my arm and pulling me back. It served the purpose of being able to press against me so he wasn’t showing offeverythinghe had. It also meant he was obviously standing there, a hand wrapped around my lower back as he faced the rest of them.
“I can feel that,” I said in a low voice as I felt Big Boss pressing against me.
“Shut up,” he grumbled and squeezed my side. “No point in trying to hide it anymore.”
“Hide what?” Reno asked, and when I saw him glance down, I gave him a dirty look that made him straighten. “I was right.”
“Shh,” Jake muttered, elbowing him. “Big Boss is gonna give a speech, and you know he hates it when we interrupt him.”
“How did Jake end up being the one with sense here?” I wondered.