Page 83 of Set Fire to This Cardhouse

“Take it back.” Toby glares up at him. If anything, Mike’s grin grows.

“Make me.”

“Michael.” Toby puts a lot of emphasis on the name. He loosens his grip enough to slide both hands down Mike’s back, spreads his fingers. “If you admit, right now, that I am the most stunning, awesome man you have ever met, that there is no one else you could ever fall in love with, then I promise that at some point today, you will learn just how long I can hold my breath for a blowjob.” He pauses to watch Mike’s pupils dilate just slightly, that damn grin slipping, before he adds, “Underwater.”

“Fuck, you fight dirty.” Mike’s tone is an equal mix of admiration and delight.

“Don’t tell me you’re surprised,” Toby tells him. He moves one hand lower, pushing at the trunks. They cling to Mike’s waist and really, what an offending piece of clothing. Maybe Toby will rip it. He could. Easily. It would be like something out of a cheap porn movie, but it might be worth it to see Mike’s reaction. Toby suspects it could be pretty fun.

“I’m not.” When Mike shakes his head, his nose nudges against Toby’s. “I think I know what I’m getting myself into.”

Toby tugs at the trunks, just to test the strength of the fabric. He grins. “Yeah, you better.”

Mike lowers his head, his mouth brushing over Toby’s. “Oh, I do. Trust me.” His low voice melds perfectly with the flow of the ocean and the calls of morning birds outside.

“I do not trust you.” Toby lets his legs fall open for Mike to settle between them. “Not at all, not even a tiny little bit.”

“I take it that’s a yes.” When Mike pulls back just a little, the crinkles around his eyes make another appearance, and—yes. Yes. Toby wants to stay around to watch them become permanent, so much that his stomach feels hot and heavy with it.

“You can’t prove anything,” he says.

“Hey.” Mike tilts his head, his look thoughtful. The shift of his hips against Toby’s is calculated. “Did I mention I’m in love with you, Bas?”

Toby exhales on a soft gasp. “Fuck you, that’s not fair.”

“Get used to it.” Mike’s smile is brilliant and Toby returns it, his stomach still uneasy, but it’s a different kind of uneasy, a good kind. The best kind.

“Yeah.” When he inhales, he smells summer and salt and Mike. “You know what, babe? I plan to.”

Epilogue

“D

rive faster.”

Behind the wheel, Mike raises both brows and glances over with a superior little smirk that he knows Toby finds infuriating. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me the first time.”

“I don’t think I did.”

Fine—if that’s how Mike wants to play it, Toby is game. “Michael,” he says, with all the gravity of a priest listing the Ten Commandments. “It took me a year to talk my brother into moving here. A year. And I am not missing Haley’s first day of school just because our flight was delayed and you’ve decided to drive like a normal person for once. Drive faster.”

“I love it when you boss me around,” Mike tells him, still with that infuriating smirk—and then he hits the gas. The car swerves off the H-1 into some residential area, probably one of Mike’s shortcuts that will end with a semi-legal merge back onto the highway further up ahead, after bypassing one of its more congested areas. Toby still doesn’t know the island quite like Mike does, but he’s coming to learn more and more of its ins and outs, has even tried surfing a few times and didn’t completely hate it.

“Thank you,” Toby mutters.

Houses flash by, another sharp turn, past the Convention Center, and over the canal. Toby keeps one hand on the dashboard, just to be prepared in case Mike hits the brakes without warning, and angles himself so he can watch Mike do his thing. It’s fun, not that Toby would ever admit as much.

“Better?” Mike asks, glancing over, and of course he’s enjoying this, the bastard. After ten days in North Korea and a missed flight connection that extended their return trip by almost twelve hours, he still looks fresh and alert, happy to be back home.

Home.

“Better,” Toby allows. “Eyes on the road.”

“You know,” Mike says, “it would really help me concentrate if you got your mouth on my cock right now.”

“Get us to Haley’s school on time, and I’ll think about it.”

---