The Delicious Series: The First Volume

by Stella Starling

  Not, of course, that they were “together,” but they were definitely… something.

  Ben had called them an “us,” and that was as good of a definition as any. Gavin felt like an “us” with Ben—the two of them just clicked—and now that he’d felt it, the idea of being with anyone else was about as appealing as the bland oatmeal Ben used to eat for breakfast.

  Cash raised Gavin’s hand to his mouth, doing wicked things to it that made his cock start to swell in an automatic response. He bit back a sigh, trying to muster the enthusiasm that Cash’s efforts warranted. Maybe something purely physical would be enough.

  Cash laughed. “Not feeling it, huh?” He dropped Gavin’s hand.

  “I’m s—”

  “Nah, don’t say ‘sorry,’” Cash insisted with an easy smile. “Which isn’t to say that I’m not sorry, but I get it. I’m kind of in the same boat.”

  Gavin raised an eyebrow. “You’ve fallen for someone who tortures you without meaning to, by being exactly what you never knew you wanted? Someone who’s always close enough to touch, but at the same time, stays maddeningly out of reach?”

  Cash laughed. “Well, yeah. Pretty much. In my case, I know it’s never going to happen, though, so I try to stay away from him and distract myself with—” Cash snapped his mouth closed, having the good grace to blush. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t say ‘sorry,’” Gavin grinned, repeating the man’s earlier words back to him. “It’s not a bad solution. Just not one I’m ready for quite yet, I think.”

  “Still holding out hope that your man will come around?”

  “No.”

  Yes.

  Cash raised an eyebrow, seeing right through him.

  “I shouldn’t be, though,” Gavin said. “It’s not like he doesn’t know where I stand. If he wanted me—”

  “He’d pace in front of the window, glaring daggers as he wondered what we were doing, sitting out here in the car for so long?”

  Gavin laughed. “No, that’s really not Ben’s style.”

  Cash leaned in again as if he were going for a kiss, cupping Gavin’s face with a mischievous smile. “If he thought I was about to have my way with you, he’d come storming out of the house, steam coming out of his ears, and swoop in to save you from my wicked clutches?”

  “I guarantee that would never happen,” Gavin grinned, his mind trying to conjure the image of Ben acting like a jealous lover. He couldn’t picture it.

  “Maybe we should give this a try after all,” Cash suggested, his eyes dropping to Gavin’s mouth again. “Just to see if there are any sparks.”

  Cash was probably right. Gavin should say yes.

  “It’s now or never, Gavin,” Cash said, his eyes sparkling.

  He sighed. He couldn’t bring himself to do it. “Sorry, Cash, I just—eep!”

  Gavin tumbled backward, letting out a completely undignified squawk as the passenger door he’d been leaning against was abruptly jerked open. Adrenaline surged through him at the unexpected motion, but before he could even begin to worry about hitting the ground, Ben’s arms were around him. Somehow, the man managed to catch him and pull him out of the car so smoothly that Gavin found himself on his feet—well, foot—and tucked securely against Ben’s side before he knew what had hit him.

  “Jesus, Ben!” he gasped, clutching the man’s arms while he found his balance.

  “Sorry,” Ben said with that sexy little half-smile, as if he hadn’t just acted like a total caveman. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “What are you doing?” Gavin’s heart was racing from more than just the adrenaline, and combined with all the frustration he’d felt about this man, it made something snap inside him. “Put me down, for God’s sake,” he shouted, pushing Ben away from him.

  Which made Gavin stumble.

  Which, in turn, made Ben reach for him again, steadying him with those strong hands that he always seemed to be touching him with. The hands he’d undressed him with, that he’d stroked down Gavin’s back, across his thighs, over his ass.

  Is this helping?

  “I’m on a date,” Gavin hissed, forcing the memory away. He glared up at Ben with all the pent-up frustration of the last few weeks, but Ben didn’t seem bothered by Gavin’s outrage. He still had that damn smile on his face, and he wrapped an arm around Gavin’s waist when he wobbled on his cast, pulling him close. To keep him from falling. But—fuck—Gavin swallowed past the sudden tightness in his throat. It was too late for that. “I am on a date,” he repeated, enunciating each word clearly. “With a man who actually wants me. You can’t just interrupt—”

  “Please, Gavin,” Ben said softly, cutting him off. The smile dropped away from his face, and he ran his thumb across Gavin’s forehead, smoothing away the creases as he stared down at him soberly. “Just give me a chance to talk to you before you finish here.”

  Cash got out of the car, coming around to the passenger side with a saucy wink. He pulled Gavin’s crutches out from the backseat and leaned them against the side of the house, grinning like the cat who’d just swallowed the canary.

  “I think we’re already finished,” he said to Ben, closing the car door with a solid thunk. “He’s all yours.”

  “Judas,” Gavin muttered.

  “Hopefully you’ll thank me for this later,” Cash said, laughing as he got back in the car. “That, or you’ll hate me. But either way, good luck.”

  Ben’s arm tightened around Gavin as Cash drove off, and when Gavin refused to look up at him, he leaned down to whisper another “please.” Ben’s lips brushed Gavin’s skin just below his ear so that he felt the word more than heard it, and the light touch had him biting back a moan.

  God, the man was going to be the death of him.

  Ben’s hot breath played over his skin as he waited for Gavin’s answer, and Gavin shivered, feeling at a loss. He truly didn’t know why Ben was acting this way, but it was seriously messing with his ability to maintain his composure. He’d been as up-front with the man as possible, had given him every opportunity to do something about the feelings that Gavin hadn’t tried to hide, and Ben had flat out told him that it wasn’t going to happen.

  So, even though he couldn’t even begin to guess what kind of bizarre reason Ben had for interrupting his date with Cash, he was resigned to the fact that whatever it was, it was going to be disappointing. The truth was, no matter how many ways he’d tried to talk himself out of it, what he’d told Cash was true: Ben was everything Gavin had never known he wanted, and while “distractions” may have worked for Cash, Gavin’s heart didn’t seem to work that way. Now that it had settled on Ben, he was having a hell of a time imagining ever finding a replacement.

  He didn’t want one.

  He wanted Ben.

  “What do you want from me?” he finally asked, turning in Ben’s arms to face him.

  Oh, God.

  Oh, fucking God.

  Gavin was fucked.

  Because Ben was smiling down at him that way he had, as if Gavin was the only thing that existed for him. And even though Gavin knew he needed to brace himself for whatever was coming—to get it through his head, once and for all, that no matter how intimate Ben’s behavior felt, the man was never going to offer him more than what they already had—the way Ben was holding him was making that feel impossible.

  “I can’t do this,” he said, because it was the simple truth. He had to stop fooling himself. Gavin wasn’t cut out to be friends with Ben. He needed a clean break, even if it hurt. “Please let me go.”

  Ben’s arms tightened around him. “Gavin—”

  “No, Ben. Please. I mean, I really can’t. You already know I’m attracted to you, but I’ve also—” Fallen, hard. “—become emotionally attached.”

  Ben didn’t seem to be listening. Or at least, he was acting like he hadn’t heard. Instead, Gavin’s words just made his smile widen. And his hands—oh, Lord—Ben kept playing his hands over the small of Gavin’s back, sliding unde
r the hem of his shirt and making his skin quiver with wanting. Gavin wanted to scream. Instead, he braced his hands on Ben’s chest, trying to put a little space between them.

  “Look, I know you don’t mean to do it,” he said, trying to hold onto rational thought. “But Ben, when you touch me like that, it feels like you want—”

  “You.”

  Gavin swallowed, his mouth going dry. God. If only Ben meant that the way Gavin wished he did. But this was precisely why he preferred to be plain spoken. Miscommunication left too much room for false hope.

  “Exactly,” he said, determined to make his point. “And since you don’t want—”

  “But I do.”

  Gavin froze, but Ben didn’t give him anything else.

  “You do… what?” he asked carefully.

  He’d thought that he’d managed to make his peace with their relationship—or rather, their lack of a relationship—their friendship—when Ben had told him no at the bakery the day before.

  I can’t, the man had said.

  Which had been pretty clear.

  Clear as day.

  Crystal, even.

  But now… now Gavin wasn’t sure what Ben was trying to tell him. He knew what he wanted Ben to be telling him. He knew what it felt like Ben was telling him. But he also knew what Ben had already told him, and no matter how tempting it was to let himself hope that the man had suddenly—miraculously—had a complete change of heart, Gavin couldn’t reconcile something as insubstantial as hope with the hard facts that he already knew to be true. It just didn’t add up, and the discrepancy was making him a little dizzy.

  Although honestly, the dizziness could have been due to the way Ben was still holding him.

  Good Lord, it was like the man was determined to drive him crazy. He made Gavin feel both giddy and grounded at the same time, could get him painfully hard with a glance, and then turn around and have him melting with a touch. Gavin wanted to jump him, pin him down and do delicious things to his body, or… God, he’d also be happy—more than happy, ecstatic, really—if Ben wanted to take charge.

  Have his way with him.

  Satisfy all that “curiosity” that the other man had hinted at.

  Spread your legs.

  Gavin groaned. He felt like he’d been caught up in a whirlwind, spun around until the things that he’d resigned himself to not being able to have, suddenly looked… possible.

  But it wouldn’t be smart to get his hopes up, because he still wasn’t exactly sure what Ben was trying to tell him. And Gavin didn’t like uncertainty.

  Ben smoothed the worry line from between his eyebrows, reading him like a book. The man’s lip quirked up in one of those sexy smiles that made Gavin feel like it was meant for him, alone, and the sight made his heart do a slow roll in his chest.

  Despite his best intentions, he started to hope.

  “Gavin,” Ben said, cupping his cheek. Running those strong fingers over his skin, along his jaw, over his lips. “I want you.”

  Gavin caught his breath. If Ben actually meant it… not that he would lie, but if he meant that he… wanted… Gavin.

  The words seemed pretty clear, actually.

  Even when he turned them over in his mind, just to double-check.

  Unless Gavin had misunderstood.

  But, really, it was hard to think of any other way he could have meant them. Especially when, a moment later, Ben leaned down and finally—finally—kissed him.

  15

  Ben

  Gavin was kissing him back.

  His date had left, and Gavin had stayed, and something inside Ben relaxed for the first time since they’d left the bakery the day before. Gavin still wanted him.

  Kissing him was just as delicious as Ben had imagined, and now that he’d started, he didn’t ever want to stop. After a moment of obvious surprise, Gavin’s mouth had opened readily for him, his soft lips parting with a needy gasp that made Ben’s cock surge to life. He fit perfectly in Ben’s arms, and with Gavin pressed against him from groin to chest, it was obvious that the embrace was having the same effect on him. Ben groaned, sliding his hands down to Gavin’s ass and pulled him more tightly against him.

  Ben had never imagined that the feel of another man’s erection rubbing against him would excite him, but knowing Gavin was getting hard—for him—was doing things to him that were going to cause him to embarrass himself if they didn’t move into the house.

  It was dusk, and as if his thought had conjured attention, a porch light flickered on next door.

  “Is that you, Benjamin?” Mrs. Barclay called out, peering toward his driveway.

  Ben stopped kissing Gavin long enough to give her a polite greeting, but when he tried to pull away, Ben locked his arms around him, keeping Gavin pressed tightly against his side. Gavin dimpled up at him, laughing, but didn’t resist.

  “I need to grab my crutches, babe,” he said, waving a hand toward them. “Unless you were planning on staying out here all night?”

  “Not into PDA?” Ben teased, not wanting to let go of him.

  Gavin’s smile turned into something hotter, and he slipped a hand between their bodies to palm Ben’s cock through the denim of his jeans. Jesus. Ben sucked in a shuddering breath as his hips jerked forward involuntarily.

  “To be honest,” Gavin said in a casual tone at odds with the sparkle in his eye. “Not usually. And especially not now. I’ve wanted you for so long that if you keep kissing me like that, I’m going to come right here if we don’t move this indoors.”

  Ben’s whole body flushed at the image. Gavin. Coming. For him.

  “Crutches,” Gavin said.

  “No.”

  Gavin laughed, but when he tried to leave Ben’s arms again and hop toward them, Ben scooped him up with a grin and started striding toward the house. He normally considered himself a patient man, but there was no way he was going to waste time on anything that didn’t involve getting naked with Gavin. Immediately. He needed to touch him. Needed to hear Gavin gasp his name again. Craved the taste of his lips, the feel of his skin, the touch of his breath. Needed to be with him, after the weeks of denying that he wanted it, with a fierce sense of urgency that went deeper than just the throbbing of his cock.

  He kicked the front door closed behind them and carried Gavin into the guest room, stripping off his shirt and pants the moment he had him on the bed.

  “No cupcakes?” Ben asked once he had Gavin down to just boxers, his lip quirking up in a teasing reminder of the last time they’d found themselves in the same position.

  Gavin laughed, shaking his head. “And I sincerely hope you’re planning on doing more than just giving me a massage this time,” he said, reaching down to stroke himself through the plain black boxers that were currently tented with his impressive erection.

  Ben groaned, freezing in the act of taking his own clothes off. He swallowed. Hard. It was the sexiest sight he’d ever seen, and his own cock throbbed in response to the motion of Gavin’s hand.

  “Please tell me you’re going to do something about this, babe,” Gavin said, his tone changing from playful to something hotter. “Because I really want—”

  “Yes,” Ben said, his feet finally unsticking from the floor.

  Yes.

  He finished getting undressed in record time, joining Gavin on the bed and pushing the other man’s hand out of the way to palm him through his boxers. Gavin’s hips jerked toward him, his back arching off the bed with a low moan, and Ben felt a hot surge of primal satisfaction. In the past, he would have asked permission with a new lover, but this was Gavin. Ben knew he could trust him to speak up about what he needed, to tell him if there was anything he didn’t want. Thank God. Because at the moment, stopping to ask might have just about killed him.

  Ben shoved Gavin’s boxers out of the way, sucking in a sharp breath as the other man’s cock sprang free and slapped against his taut stomach. Ben’s erection throbbed in response, but he ignored it, consumed with the
need to explore the man in front of him. He wrapped one hand around Gavin’s shaft, slicking his thumb over the drop of precum that pooled at the tip, momentarily surprised by how natural it felt to hold another man’s cock in his hand. The size and angle were different, but the familiar feel against his palm gave him confidence. He tightened his grip, stroking Gavin’s length and earning a delicious moan for his efforts.

  “God, Ben,” Gavin panted, thrusting upward. “Your hands. You don’t know… what you… do to me.”

  The last came out as more moan than words, and Ben stretched out next to Gavin with a fierce smile, grinding against Gavin’s hip as he watched him come undone. Gavin reached for him, but Ben captured his wrists with his free hand and held them away. He didn’t want any distractions from the incredible sight of Gavin losing himself in the pleasure of his touch.

  He’d been drawn to this man from the beginning—had wanted him, wanted to please him, to care for him, to be near him—but somehow, somewhere along the way, Ben’s wanting had turned into need.

  He needed to see Gavin’s dimples in the morning, needed to tease the worry lines from his face, needed the other man to be part of all the small moments that made up his day, his thoughts, his life. For the first time in his life, Ben was emotionally invested… and he was loving it. He loved the way Gavin spoke his mind. Loved that Gavin went after what he wanted and was comfortable in his own skin. Loved, even more, the fact that Gavin shivered at Ben’s touch. The feel of him in his arms. The taste of him on his lips.

  And right now, he would really love to make him come.

  “Ben,” Gavin groaned, writhing against him. “You’re going to make me—”