Page 49 of Grumpy Bear

Luke took off his shoes and stood in the middle of the room like he didn’t know where to go. I grabbed us a few bottles of water and joined him. He played with the plastic cap, twisting it off and back on again. I picked at the label on mine.

He swiped at the hair falling out of his ponytail and cleared his throat. I could sense the gears working as he tried to think of something to say.

All night, watching him dance, watching other men watching him dance, seeing guys touch him and flirt with him, I’d been trying to think of what I would say to him before I broke my rules.

I hadn’t come up with a single thing.

And if he started babbling now to fill the silence…

With an impulse that sounded in my head like a plain old what the fuck, I took away the option for either of us to talk at all.

Talking did not need to happen.

With a single step, my mouth covered his, swallowing whatever he was going to say.

His lips were soft, and the kiss itself was unbelievably gentle, in spite of its intensity. The longer it went on, the faster we moved, the hungrier we became… Salt and cinnamon and whiskey. The stubble of trimmed beard hairs around the mouth. Hard, noisy breaths through the nose…

Still so fucking sweetly soft.

How had we ever not been doing this?

How were we only doing this and not everything?

And why were we still holding water bottles? “Give me that.” I took his from him and chucked them both in the general direction of my kitchenette. “And get out of this ridiculous shirt.”

He chuckled as I dragged it off him with both hands and tossed it over the sofa arm. I stood back to take in the sight of him, backlit by the lamp beside the bed, the escaped hair from his ponytail framing him in a golden halo. He lifted his chin and squared his shoulders, conscious of my bold scrutiny.

Again, I expected him to start babbling, but he only stared at me, silently pleading with me like he had lost all ability to communicate outside of telepathy.

I had my own shirt off with a swipe, and I unbuttoned my shorts and let them fall to the floor. My hard cock thumped against my belly and swung toward him.

Luke’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“Everything,” I demanded. “Now.”

This wasn’t a strip tease. We’d already been naked together in the shower, here after the storm in this very spot, at the swimming hole. I’d already seen him. I needed to get back to that state as quickly as possible. I needed him naked so I could get on with eating him.

I’d seen his beautiful uncut dick, but now I needed to taste the salt of it. I’d felt his long hairy legs against mine, but I needed them wrapped around my hips. I’d watched his ass enough to know the most important thing now was to bury my beard in his butt and find out how long he could stand me tonguing his hole.

Eyes never leaving mine, he rushed to comply, getting his ankles trapped in the tight shiny shorts. He was buzzed enough to make it more challenging than it should have been. Giggling self-consciously, he hopped on one foot, trying to shake the damn things off.

I raised an eyebrow, silently asking Where the hell did you get those?

Reading my thoughts again, he rolled his eyes. “Austin.” Exertion over, he found his balance, took a deep breath, and pushed his hair out of his face to look at me.

He waited, arms hanging free at his sides, his own dick rock-hard, curved up tight toward his belly, tip wet and peeking from its hood.

I allowed myself one more excruciating moment of only looking at him, three more heartbeats, two slow steps toward him, and finally allowed the velvet seal of heat between us to close in a full embrace, our bodies sliding together, our cocks lining up, and all our limbs interlocking like some kind of docking spacecraft.

A great sigh poured out of me across his shoulders, and then I inhaled the scent of his hair—chamomile and damp hay drying in the sunshine.

I felt his groan against my chest, and then his arms went under mine, squeezing my ribcage with a strength that took my breath, then he did something no other hookup had ever done. He started to slowly twist from side to side.

He held onto me, our hearts thudding together, cocks pressed between us, throbbing without movement or friction.

He was just… hugging me like he’d been missing me for ages. And I thought it, I sent it out to him with my mind and my body, without saying a word, I’ve missed you too.

For half a second, I panicked at this unexpected, unallowed full admission of something unable to be named. A total, complete awareness within myself, some kind of recognition. I barely knew who he was, but I couldn’t stop thinking Here he is at last.