Feel the Fire (Hotshots)

by Annabeth Albert

  “That and more of those kisses.” Tucker took the hint and stretched out, patting the spot next to him. Joining him, Luis was only too happy to indulge him in long minutes of kissing, hands lightly skimming Tucker’s arms and back as they lay on their sides. Tucker’s intense appreciation of even the smallest gestures made kissing that much more fun, discovering what made him shiver and what made him groan. He seemed to like it most when Luis took control, moaning softly when Luis sucked at his lower lip and clutching his shoulders when their tongues met.

  “Good?” Luis retreated far enough to study Tucker’s face, trying hard to follow his signals for where he might want this to go.

  “Very.” Stroking Luis’s jaw, Tucker met his gaze. “What do you like? You’re so concerned about what I need and want, and that’s appreciated, truly. But I want to know about you too and what turns you on.”

  “You turn me on.” He laughed, but Tucker made a frustrated noise. “Seriously, I’m pretty easy. Getting you off turns me on, however that happens, but simply kissing is great as well. I want you comfortable.”

  “I am.” Tucker bumped his hips forward, letting his cotton-covered cock graze Luis’s thigh. “Well, most of me at least. Now, tell me what you like.”

  “You wanting specifics?” He didn’t want to push Tucker into fucking or give him a step-by-step plan to follow, not when letting things evolve on their own was so much fun. But if Tucker wanted a little direction, that he could manage. Tugging Tucker closer, he nuzzled his neck, loving the rub of the stubble there and on his jaw as he kissed his way up from Tucker’s shoulder. “This turns me on, right here.”

  “Me too.” Tucker shuddered and rolled to his back, taking Luis with him.

  “And this absolutely turns me on.” He grinned down at Tucker, adjusting their position so that he was straddling Tucker’s hips. Moving slow enough that he could gauge Tucker’s reactions, he rocked forward, letting their cocks rub together through their boxers. “And most definitely this.”

  Bucking up to meet Luis’s slow grind, Tucker gave a breathy moan. “Definitely that.”

  “Want to feel it with skin?”

  “Yes.” Tucker joined him in wiggling out of their boxers, groaning low when their bare cocks touched for the first time.

  “See? Another turn-on for me. Love feeling you like this.” He resumed a slow but firm rhythm, thrusting together. “You like it?”

  “Uh-huh. More.” Tucker’s eyes fluttered shut and his hips started following Luis’s motions, making their cocks drag together between their bodies even more. The friction was delicious, but he also knew what would make it even better.

  “How do you feel about lube?”

  “Uh...” Tucker’s sudden intake of air and big eyes said that Luis had been right that he wasn’t quite ready to consider fucking as an option.

  “Not for fucking,” he reassured, trailing his fingers down Tucker’s arms. “But slick can make this grinding together even sexier.”

  That got him a tentative smile from Tucker as he bumped his pelvis up against Luis’s. “Bring on the sexy then.”

  “You’ve got it.” He made quick work of getting the bottle from the nightstand where he’d stashed it. “This is what I use when I’m jerking off.”

  Squeezing a little into his palm he slicked up both of their cocks, loving how Tucker moaned and bucked into Luis’s hand.

  “Ahhh. Yeah. That’s good. Damn.” Tucker bit his upper lip as Luis aligned their bodies so that he could jack both cocks together. “And I should have known that the King of Paint Wars would like it a little messy.”

  “Messy is good.” Taking away his hand, he dipped his head so that they could kiss while he rocked against Tucker, their cocks slipping past each other in a way that had them both moaning.

  “Too good,” Tucker panted, body following Luis’s lead as easily as if they were dancing, movements perfectly in sync.

  “No such thing.” Taking advantage of the way Tucker’s head had tipped back, Luis licked and sucked along his collarbones.

  “Says you.” Tucker gave a laugh that ended on another moan.

  When they’d kissed as teens, he’d always been so careful to never mark Tucker, never leave evidence of their secret passion. But now some primal urge made him drop a light love bite there, below where Tucker’s shirt would cover but something for him to know about nonetheless. Looking at his handiwork, he growled softly, hips picking up speed on their own.

  “Damn. Hard to...hold back.” Eyes squishing shut, Tucker held Luis tighter as their bodies surged together.

  “Don’t. Want you to feel good.” Hand on Tucker’s hip, he urged him faster. “Want to hear it and see it and feel it when you let go.”

  “Soon. God. Luis.” Each of Tucker’s words was practically a whimper, and every sound had Luis right there on the edge too.

  “That’s it. Damn, you are so sexy.” He tried to memorize all the little details—the sounds, the expression on Tucker’s face, the way his back arched, whole body tensing under Luis, the restless movements of his legs, one of which he hooked around Luis’s calf. Even the scent of sex thick in the air was sexy, ramping his desire up further. “You wanted to know what turns me on? This right here, you coming apart for me.”

  “Want you to go too.” Tucker managed to sound demanding even as his body strained.

  “Oh, I will.” He chuckled darkly because that much was a given, and trying to hold back wasn’t any easier for him than for Tucker.

  “Good.” Drawing the word out on a moan, Tucker arched his body again. “Feel so close to you.”

  “Me too.” So many emotions were swirling through him beyond the obvious physical pleasure. He could feel Tucker’s heart hammering against his chest, each intake of breath, every tensing muscle contributing to this sensation like they were...linked somehow. One in that moment. And knowing Tucker was feeling it too made it all so much better. Deeper.

  “Yeah. Fuck. Want...” Trailing off as his body shuddered, Tucker moaned as his cock pulsed against Luis’s. In that instant, Luis would have promised him any damn thing he wanted.

  “Do it. Come for me.”

  “Luis.” Clutching Luis like they were in a raging hurricane, Tucker came with a strangled sound, and the way everything suddenly got slicker and slipperier was all Luis needed for his hips to pump harder, thrusting fast against Tucker until he too was coming.

  “Yes. Fuck.” Felt like he’d hurled himself off a cliff, intense endorphin rush as he slowly floated back to earth with smaller surges of pleasure.

  Laughing and panting at the same time, Tucker peppered Luis’s shoulder with kisses as he stroked his back. His tenderness was almost better than the orgasm, another wave of sweet pleasure. “I didn’t think it could get better...but it did. Wow.”

  “That was something alright.” God, what was Luis going to do without Tucker? How was he supposed to let something this good go? His mind spun, questions crowding out the last waves of satisfaction. His body might be exhausted, but his mind spun.

  “And now we’re a mess.” Apparently not suffering from the same affliction, Tucker playfully pushed at Luis until he rolled off to flop next to him on his back. He was still trying to make sense of how deeply Tucker made him feel, the sort of rare connection that scared him senseless. He didn’t want to feel these things. Not now.

  Breathing deeply, he tried for a normal tone, one that matched Tucker’s good mood. “Hotel bathroom is super tiny, so I can’t show you all the fun of sharing a shower, but give me a minute to remember I’ve got legs and I’ll help you clean up.”

  “I have a big shower.” Tucker’s smile was almost shy, an invitation there for more than just another round of sex.

  “Filing that away for future reference.” Luis’s chest hurt with wanting more encounters, more memories, an endless string of them, not a few stolen m
inutes here and there.

  “Good.” Breath whistling out softly, Tucker let his head fall on Luis’s shoulder and went quiet for long minutes. Luis tried again to drink it all in, bottle it up, do everything in his power to save this moment and these feelings.

  “I can’t sleep here,” Tucker said at last, yawning.

  “I know.” And he did. Tucker had a life. The boys would be done with their party soon, and he had a curfew to enforce. Much as he wanted to, Luis was going to be good, not tease him into going for seconds.

  “I wish though...” Tucker’s eyes were as serious as Luis had ever seen them. Not sad precisely, but intense. And all the longing Luis felt in every muscle fiber in his body was there too, all his wants and secret dreams, right there reflected back to him.

  “Me too.” Neither of them were going to voice that longing, give a name to those wants, and that was for the best. But for now they could lie there, bodies touching, breath still in sync, wishing.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “You were out late last night.” Wade wandered into the kitchen Saturday morning, itching his stomach and blinking the sleep out of his eyes before heading to the cereal cabinet. Tucker hurried up pouring his coffee before Wade could help himself to half the pot.

  “And you were back early.” He’d lingered over goodbye with Luis in the hotel parking lot far longer than necessary. As a result, Tucker had pulled into the driveway minutes before the twins, Walker dropping Wade off before taking Mary Anne on home.

  “Party was boring.” Shrugging, Wade reached for a mixing bowl. Moving quickly, Tucker plucked it from his fingers and replaced it with a normal-size bowl before Wade could pour in the cereal.

  “You don’t need the whole box and a gallon of milk. And sorry to hear that about the party.” He served himself his own average portion of cornflakes, wishing they were some of Luis’s eggs. It had been simple food but perfectly made, and he’d fallen asleep dreaming about spicy kisses. And not worrying about the kids, which in retrospect, maybe he should have done more of. “Everything go okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. Scrimmage was awesome, so that made up for the boring. And on the way home, we stopped for food and I got you this.” Wade slid a small box across the island countertop to him. It might have been a few years but he knew instantly what the small square box with gold foil held.

  “What the—”

  “Language.” Wade did a fair job of imitating Tucker’s deeper voice while laughing. “And I’m just saying the same thing you say to us. Be safe and have fun.”

  He stared down at the box like it might explode any second. And honestly, it might be easier if it did. Easier than this conversation at least. “Why are you pushing so hard for me to...”

  “Get laid?” Wade wiggled his eyebrows.

  “I was going to say date.”

  “You’re funny when you’re all flustered.” He claimed the seat next to Tucker at the breakfast bar end of the island. “And somehow you were way more chill when giving Walker and I the talk than when talking about your own sex life.”

  With good reason. Tucker sputtered around his next bite of food. “My... I don’t have...”

  “Seriously?” Tilting his head, Wade gave him a long look. “You never lie to me. Ever.”

  Well, he had Tucker there. Damn it. “Okay, maybe I do have...a personal life, but not one I’m discussing with you.”

  “Trust me, I’m not asking for details.” He held up his spoon.

  “And yet here you are, offering me condoms and giving safe sex advice.”

  “Because I want you to have fun.” Wade patted him on the shoulder before returning to his breakfast.

  “I have plenty of fun.” Like last night. All of it—the scrimmage, the food, the sex, the cuddling afterward and the goodnight kisses—had been the most fun he’d had in years. Not that he was confessing that to Wade, and not that he’d admit that Wade might have a point about the other 99 percent of his life.

  “No, you don’t. And soon we’re going to be gone and you’re going to be all alone—”

  “Trying not to think about that, thanks.” Appetite way less now, he turned to his coffee instead of the cornflakes. All alone. No Luis, no kids, no fun...

  Wade looked away from him, gazing out at Tucker’s little backyard oasis, recently watered plants glistening in the morning sunshine. Drawing in a deep breath, Wade rolled his shoulders back and Tucker instinctively braced for whatever was coming next.

  “There was a scout from a college in Idaho there last night. He was mainly there to see Mitch, but we talked a little too. My chances of going to a Division One program are pretty slim, even if I get my grades up, but at a good smaller school, I could see a lot of playing time.”

  “That’s...that’s good.” Idaho might as well be the moon for how quickly Tucker’s stomach sank at this news. But Wade didn’t need him shooting down his new prospect just because Tucker wasn’t ready for any of this. “We’ll find the right program for you, wherever that ends up being.”

  “Thanks. And in the meantime, you should have some fun. Then maybe I won’t feel so bad about leaving you and Walker and everyone else.”

  Ah. It made sense now. Wade wanted Luis to fill a gap, but unfortunately Tucker had to admit the truth to him. “I get that, but Luis isn’t staying around. So even if there was something going on there, it’s not going to last.”

  “It could.” Wade clapped him on the shoulder, tone encouraging. “You never know. And it could be the start of your grand dating adventure. Lots of...people.”

  “I’m demisexual. Remember?” Explaining ace spectrum identities to the kids had been a challenge, right up there with coming out, but it had been important to him. “We talked about what that means. I’m not looking to sleep around.”

  “Then don’t.” Wade’s tone said that Tucker was making this harder than he needed to. And maybe he was. “But you can have fun regardless of whether you’re having sex.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “It could be.” Wade’s chin took on a familiar stubborn tilt, the same kid who refused to accept defeat at board games and family arguments.

  “Wade...” He started stern, then gentled his tone because the kid did mean well even if his objectives were less than realistic. “Maybe lay off the matchmaking, okay? I don’t think Walker likes it either.”

  “Don’t think Walker likes what?” Walker clomped down the stairs and into the kitchen, heading straight for the cereal Wade had left out.

  “Dad’s not thrilled with our condom present.” Rolling his eyes, Wade made a dismissive gesture.

  “Oh that.” Walker didn’t even look up from pouring himself some of the coffee.

  “You were in on this?” He expected this sort of stunt from Wade, but Walker was a different matter altogether. Not to mention, he was still under the impression that Walker wasn’t the keenest on Luis.

  However, Walker merely shrugged. “I wasn’t out on it. You bought some for me.”

  “Well. Thanks. Both of you.” Blinking hard, Tucker struggled for a response. “But I can handle my own social life.”

  “Not very well,” Wade muttered into his cereal, but Tucker decided to ignore him and get to his real plan for the day.

  “But speaking of social, who wants to tackle the Cline Butte trail with me this morning before it gets super hot?”

  Groaning, Wade made a show of stretching. “I’m out. Still sore from the game. But that’s Walker’s favorite. You should go, bro.”

  “Will we be back by lunch?” Eyes conflicted, Walker pursed his mouth.

  “Absolutely.” With any luck it wouldn’t take that long for Luis’s plan to work.

  While the boys finished up breakfast, Tucker collected water bottles, sunscreen, and hiking snacks. The drive to the trailhead was quiet with him trying to give W
alker the sort of space that might induce him into opening up. The first part of the trail was steep with a number of switchbacks, but even after the trail leveled out some, Walker stayed quiet. Even the increasingly epic view of the rock formations wasn’t enough to perk him up.

  Finally, though, right as Tucker was about to give in and start asking questions, Walker slowed down and his shoulders slumped. “Mary Anne doesn’t want to go away to college. Like at all, not even U of O over in Eugene. She wants to stay here, go to school in Bend, get a teaching degree.”

  “I see. You were planning to apply to places together?” Tucker worked to keep his tone conversational, easy, wanting to keep Walker talking.

  “Well, yeah. Of course.” Walker picked his way over some rocks, not looking back at Tucker.

  “But central Oregon doesn’t have Marine Biology as an option—”

  That got Walker to whirl around, eyes steely. “I know.”

  “Sorry.” Tucker held up his hands, then tried again. Damn, this was hard, figuring out what to say. He wanted to insist that Walker not give up his dreams for this girl, even as nice and sweet as she seemed to be. And Tucker did get her perspective too—he’d never wanted to leave this area himself, and Mary Anne came from a big, close-knit family that went back to the pioneer days. “Plenty of couples do long-distance relationships for college...”

  Walker made a scoffing noise. “And how many of those break up?”

  “Probably some.” Tucker couldn’t lie. Hell, he was proof that distance and young couples didn’t work out well, and he knew plenty of other stories of high school couples who couldn’t make it past a freshman year apart. The trail looped around, starting the descent that would carry them back to the trailhead parking lot. And maybe he needed the reminder that distance didn’t work for seasoned adults either. Whatever delightful dreams he’d had last night where Luis developed a burning urge to visit more often were about as realistic as Walker finding an ocean in their county.