“‘You’re killing me, Smalls,’” Matt quipped, though there was an edge of seriousness to his tone.
Brendon flashed a crooked smile. “Eager, are we?”
“Oh yeah. I put a lot of thought into this final page. It’s been in the back of my mind the whole date. I almost didn’t have the nerve to include it, and if the date hadn’t gone well, I would have skipped it, but now . . .” He wet his lips, and the corner of his mouth ticked up. “I couldn’t be more excited for you to see it.”
“I’m sure I’ll love it, whatever it is.” Brendon took mercy on him and flipped to the back. The final page bore a much more elaborate illustration than the previous ones. A cupid’s bow shot arrows toward a faceted heart—like a diamond—in the bottom corner. Near the top was a set of green eyes that Brendon instantly recognized as his own, surrounded by flowering vines.
The final page was also unique in that it had two questions instead of one. The first had no answer options, which made sense, considering:
Did you have a good time on our date?
“I can’t say yes enough.” Brendon scooted his chair closer to Matt. “Today should be in the Dating Hall of Fame.”
Matt put a hand on his knee and squeezed. “I’m so glad.”
Warmth flooded into Brendon, delicious and potent. His body tingled where Matt was touching him. He was painfully aware of how alone they were in the restaurant. The waiter hadn’t been by to check on them since he’d brought their food. If Brendon wanted to touch Matt—and he very much did—there was nothing to stop him.
With Herculean effort, he dragged his mind out of the gutter. Though for how long, he didn’t know. He had a suspicion the last question in his date book wasn’t going to disappoint.
What would you like to do now?
The question was followed by four options.
Is sex going to be one of them? Brendon thought. It was an exhilarating idea, for multiple reasons.
The first three were innocuous: go home, plan our next date, or share a good-night kiss. Brendon’s hope was just starting to waver when he read the final option.
Come home with me?
His heart skipped a full beat and then raced. He loved that it was the only option that was phrased as a question. But they had just, and he meant just, sorted out yet another round of issues. Was it too soon for them to have sex? Brendon wanted to, that was for sure. But this could be a whole new way for him to discover they didn’t work together.
This was the ultimate compatibility test. Way more important than any magazine quiz. If this went well, they might be meant to be after all. If it didn’t . . .
Brendon took a breath. There was only one way to find out for sure.
“D.” He met Matt’s gaze. “I choose option D.”
Matt’s eyes turned liquid with desire. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Brendon’s back connected with Matt’s front door. He only had a moment to orient himself before Matt followed after him, pressing their bodies together again and kissing him with conviction. Brendon melted into it. He slid his hands around Matt’s body to splay against Matt’s broad back. There was so much to touch, to experience, but that seemed as good a place to start as any. The rough scrape of Matt’s stubble as he kissed him set Brendon’s nerves alight.
He had no idea how they’d stomached the drive to Matt’s apartment. It’d been agonizing. Brendon had let Matt drive.
“I’ll floor it and get us both arrested.” Even as he’d spoken, he couldn’t keep his hands off Matt. Matt hadn’t been much better, though he’d probably saved them from a public-indecency charge when he’d insisted they couldn’t have sex in his backseat.
It was worth the wait. Standing here with Matt, knowing what they were about to do, Brendon felt incredible. Warm and excited and tense in the best way.
Matt mumbled something against his mouth that was more moan than words.
Brendon had enough working brain cells left to ask, “Hm?”
“Your skin is so soft.” Matt slid his lips down to Brendon’s throat and darted out his tongue. “Tastes good too. Like soap and salt.”
Brendon leaned his head back in encouragement. It hit the wood with a thunk, but he didn’t care. “Get the door open, and you can see how the rest of me tastes.”
Matt growled and pulled away to look at him. “I dunno if I can stop kissing you long enough.” His pupils were huge, and his messy hair was in even greater disarray from Brendon grabbing handfuls of it. It was his kiss-red lips that made Brendon dizzy, though.
“You look so sexy when you’re turned on,” he said with a lazy smile. “Just being honest.”
Matt shuddered. “Fuck. We need to get inside now, or my neighbors are going to be in for a show.” He fumbled with his keys.
Brendon stepped away to give him some room, but as soon as Matt went for the dead bolt, he draped himself against his back.
Matt dropped his keys. He hung his head and made a pitiful noise. “That is so not fair.”
“No, this is unfair.” Brendon dropped to his knees, picked up the keys, and looked up at Matt with a mischievous grin.
Matt’s hungry expression intensified. “I’m going to get you back for this, and you’re really going to like it.”
That was all the motivation Brendon needed to stop teasing. He handed the keys back to Matt and managed to keep his hands to himself as Matt got the door open.
The interior of Matt’s apartment matched the complex they’d just driven through: neat red brick walls, minimal decoration. But the décor was the last thing on Brendon’s mind. He generously allowed Matt to close and lock the door behind them before he pounced. Now it was Matt’s turn to get pinned. Brendon used the couple of inches of height he had on him to hold him in place as he kissed him languidly.
Matt indulged him for a solid minute before he muscled Brendon back, walking him into the small living room.
“Do you trust me?” he asked as he shuffled them expertly around end tables and over throw rugs, his lips never more than a hair’s breadth away from Brendon’s. It was slow going, but if it meant Matt was going to keep kissing him, Brendon didn’t mind.
He shivered from the tickling feeling of Matt’s featherlight breath. “I do.”
“You didn’t even pause to think about it.”
“Didn’t need to.” Brendon took Matt’s face in his hands and looked him in the eye. “I trust you.”
Brendon felt Matt’s throat move as he swallowed. “That’s sweet, and also really hot.”
Brendon started to veer for the comfy-looking blue sofa on the far wall, but Matt seemed to have other plans. He gripped Brendon’s hips and directed them a different way.
Brendon wasn’t willing to stop kissing him long enough to look behind him, and so he let Matt guide him sight unseen. Or trusted him to, rather. Matt’s hands were firm but gentle on him. He had no doubt he could pull away if he wanted to, but that wasn’t even a thought in his head. He had one goal: get Matt naked and on top of him as soon as possible.
The wood floor changed to carpet beneath his feet, and Brendon finally peeked behind. They were headed into a bedroom. Excellent. Matt paused long enough to flick on the light before he claimed Brendon’s mouth again. And God, could he kiss. If Brendon weren’t hell-bent on getting naked, he might be content to do this all night. But boy did he want to have sex with Matt.
He spared a cursory glance at the bedroom—sage walls, pine furniture, a big bed covered in squishy pillows—before Matt regained his attention with a devilish grin.
“What do you think?” He held out his arms as if to encompass the room, but Brendon’s focus was on the flash of skin that showed above his waistband.
“I think you’re wearing far too much clothing.” Brendon reached for Matt’s shirt. With the help of his raised arms, Brendon had it up and over his head in no time. Matt was leaner than he looked under his terrible sweater-vests, but still built like a house. He didn’t have a six-pack or
anything like that, but it was clear from the tone of his arms and back that he did weight training.
Brendon stared like he was trying to memorize Matt’s torso. His eyes latched on to the trail of dark hair that went from Matt’s belly button to the hem of his jeans. The band of his underwear was visible, and Brendon had a sudden, aching desire to slide it slowly down.
Before he could act on it, Matt shivered. “When you look at me like that, I feel like I’m gonna faint.”
Brendon’s eyes snapped up to his. “I know the feeling. All my blood is rushing around like it doesn’t know where to go.”
“Well, mine has a few ideas.” He stepped closer. Brendon’s breath caught in his throat as Matt grabbed a handful of his hair. “I want to figure out everything you like, everything that makes you squirm. I want to watch you totally come apart beneath me.”
“Fuck,” Brendon breathed. “You are a writer.”
Matt laughed, dark and low. “You just gave me an idea.” He slid Brendon’s jacket from his shoulders and then tugged at his shirt. “What do you find most sexy in a partner?”
“Confidence,” Brendon answered without hesitation. “I love a man who can take charge.” He unbuttoned Matt’s jeans while Matt did the same to him. “You giving me another quiz?”
“More like a questionnaire.” Matt had his pants open and down to his thighs in record time. A hot burst of arousal swept through Brendon. Matt was good with his fingers. The thought was dizzying. Was it too late to change his answer?
Matt guided him toward the bed. After shimmying out of his pants, Brendon sat on the cotton duvet. Immediately, Matt stepped between his thighs, forcing him to spread them. Brendon shivered and glanced down at himself. He’d been half-hard since the restaurant, but thanks to Matt’s talented lips and fingers, he was rigid. And his tight briefs were doing nothing to hide it.
Matt looked him over unabashedly. “I thought you were beautiful with your clothes on, but naked you’re gorgeous. Your skin is so lovely.” He tilted Brendon’s head back with a finger under his chin. “I wanna leave marks all over it.”
Brendon exhaled sharply. “Please do. I’m not naked yet, though. And tragically, neither are you.”
Matt grinned. “Fixable. Want me to do a little striptease for you?”
“Next time. Right now, I want you on this bed with me.”
“Yes, sir.” Matt pushed his jeans and boxers down. Watching him work them past his muscular thighs was a pleasure all its own. When his cock was revealed, Brendon tried not to stare, but it was hard, for lack of a better word. Matt’s cock suited him. Not huge, but thick like he was, and a dark, ruddy color. Brendon salivated just looking at it.
But Matt didn’t let him look for long. As he removed his clothes, he leaned over Brendon and kissed every bit of him he could reach. He started at the shell of Brendon’s ear, drifted down to his neck, and then he caught Brendon’s collarbone between his teeth, which was ridiculously sexy. “Where do you like best to be touched?”
“My neck, but that last thing you did was . . . wow.”
“And what about here?” Matt paused long enough to circle a thumb around one of Brendon’s nipples.
Brendon moaned. “Honestly, all of the above.”
By the time Matt was naked and standing in front of him, Brendon was aroused to the point of pain. His body screamed at him to get a move on, but he couldn’t stop looking at Matt. After seeing the trail of hair on Matt’s stomach, he’d expected the rest of his body to have more of the same.
As it turned out, Matt’s body hair was mostly restricted to his arms and legs. His chest and groin were suspiciously bare. Did he shave? Wax? Brendon would have to ask him later, and if the answer was yes, Mr. Anything-More-Than-Five-Minutes-Is-Too-Much was going to get a serious teasing.
Speaking of teasing.
Matt sunk to his knees, a wicked grin on his face, and reached for Brendon’s briefs. Brendon had to take a breath. Just the sight of that made him so hot he felt light-headed. He lifted his hips so Matt could drag his underwear down one tantalizing inch at a time. He kissed the skin that was revealed, his mouth so close to where Brendon wanted it, but so far.
“Do you usually top or bottom?” Matt asked. His breath was its own touch. The different sensations all came together to cloud Brendon’s head with need.
“Doesn’t matter.” Brendon struggled to make his mouth do something besides moan. “I mean, I don’t much mind. I’ve done both. So, I guess that’s another all of the above.”
“Then if it’s all right with you—” Matt sucked a section of Brendon’s inner thigh into his mouth and nibbled on it oh-so-gently “—I would very much like to fuck you.”
A sob escaped from Brendon, and he couldn’t tell if it was from the way Matt was touching him, or what he’d said. Either way, he was beyond ready to go.
“Yes, that.” He was babbling and he didn’t care. “I want that.”
Matt ran two reverent hands down Brendon’s thighs before turning around and reaching for his discarded jeans, which had pooled on the carpet beside him. He went through the pockets until he found what he was looking for: a condom.
Brendon wrinkled his nose. “You had that in your pocket our whole date?”
Matt’s cheeks turned adorably pink. “I wasn’t sure I’d need it, but I wanted us to be safe if we did. Besides, keeping condoms in your wallet is a terrible idea all around.”
“Fair. And, admittedly, that’s kinda hot.”
“Glad you think so.” Matt winked. “Grab the lube out of my nightstand?”
Brendon did, and as soon as they had their supplies together, the heat between them rose from a spark to a flame. Matt offered to prepare him and then spent a solid twenty minutes fingering him open. Brendon was a quivering, aroused mess by the end of it. And all the while Matt asked Brendon what felt good, what didn’t, how fast or hard he wanted it. And he told Brendon how sexy he looked, how beautiful he was.
Brendon was breathless from start to finish. He’d never experienced sex like this before, where it felt like he was actually getting to know the person he was with through the act of being with them. He’d heard a term once that he’d dismissed as overly sentimental: being intimate. Now, it made perfect sense to him.
Matt might have fingered him all night, had Brendon not begged him to get going before he came apart. Matt obliged and positioned him so he was lying on his back, half-buried in a pile of the best pillows he’d ever lain on. Brendon couldn’t tell if they were special or if he was just so happy to be here that everything seemed better than usual. Matt knelt between Brandon’s legs, holding the base of his cock as rolled the condom onto it. When he’d finished, he leaned down and kissed Brendon softly, gently.
Brendon half expected him to ask before starting, but in a move that Brendon found deeply sexy, Matt used his lips to distract Brendon as he slid into him. After all the preparation, there was almost no discomfort. Matt filled him like he belonged there. Everything from his size to his body on top of Brendon’s felt perfect.
Electricity shot up Brendon’s spine as Matt bottomed out and stilled, giving him time to acclimate. Brendon spread his thighs and angled his hips the way he liked, but beyond that minor adjustment, he was precisely where he wanted to be. Matt’s mouth found his neck and kissed it, hot and wet, as Matt began to move. Slowly, at first, no more than a gentle rocking motion, but with rising vigor as Brendon showed no sign that he was anything other than blissed out.
The part of Brendon’s brain that could still think past the baseline of pleasure thrumming through him was pleased to discover Matt wasn’t precisely what he’d expected in bed. He’d been attracted to him from the moment they’d met—and had spent plenty of his free time daydreaming about having sex with him—but never in all his imaginings had he expected Matt to be vocal. Not like before, when he’d made a verbal catalog of Brendon’s erogenous zones, but wordlessly enthusiastic.
Every time Matt thrust into him, he mad
e this deep, pleasured sound in the back of his throat that sent an answering hum of desire through Brendon. He almost thought he could come just from listening to how much Matt seemed to be enjoying this.
When Matt’s hand found its way into his hair and pulled just a little, using it to angle his head back so Matt could get at more of his throat, Brendon knew he didn’t have long for this world. He hadn’t been kidding earlier when he’d said his neck was his favorite. And he wasn’t going to say no to some hair-pulling either; his was long for a reason.
“You feel incredible,” Matt breathed against his skin. A drop of sweat rolled down Brendon’s neck, and Matt licked it. “I could stay like this forever.”
The pang of desire that resonated between Brendon’s legs was so sharp it was almost painful. “I’m close.” He slid a hand between their bodies, aiming for his cock, but Matt beat him to it. Matt wrapped thick fingers around him and pumped a half dozen times. That was all it took. His palms, just on the right side of rough, unraveled Brendon. He came with a shout that he couldn’t have contained if he’d tried.
He lost focus on the world around him for a good few seconds, but he was aware of Matt’s rhythm quickening. A moment later, Matt choked out a pleasure-soaked version of Brendon’s name and slowed to a halt.
For a minute, their mutual labored breathing was the only sound.
Then, “Brendon, that was amazing.” Matt leaned down to kiss him. They were both too tired to do more than brush their lips together, but the sentiment behind the gesture was there. “Does anything hurt?”
“Not even a little.” Brendon wriggled beneath him. “I am starting to get a little cramped though.”
“Oh, sorry.” Matt sat up and pulled carefully out of him. He rolled off the bed and disappeared, undoubtedly to dispose of the condom.
Brendon didn’t even have the energy to watch his ass as Matt walked away, much as he wanted to. He closed his eyes and flopped onto his side, pulling his hair up so it was off his neck and splayed across the pillow.
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