Page 20 of The Swap Masquerade

“I want you to lie there and enjoy this, okay?”

He nodded, his whole body trembling with need. “Yeah, okay.”

I pressed in closer, lining our cocks up and then I took them in my hand, stroking us together. “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chanted as he thrust into my hand. He tossed his head back and his words became incoherent. With my own orgasm quickly approaching, I bent down and covered his mouth with mine as his body bowed up off the couch. Hot come spilled between us, first his and then my own.

It took several minutes for us to come back down from the high and to catch our breath. When we had, I was settled down on top of him, my cheek resting against his smooth chest. I looked up at him, gauging his reaction to what we’d just done and hoping I hadn’t freaked him out in any way. I soon found I had nothing to worry about because the happy grin on his face said it all.

I snorted a laugh. “You look pleased.”

“Pleased doesn’t begin to describe what I’m feeling right now.”

I grinned back at him. “Good.” We kissed for a few more minutes until I told him we should probably clean up if we didn’t want to end up glued together. Surprisingly, that didn’t sound bad to me, but I didn’t tell him that. After locating a box of tissues and using them to clean ourselves up, we started to get dressed.

“So will you be at the next party?” he asked as I lifted my shirt above my head. I paused with my arms in the air and looked at him. He shook his head. “Never mind. That’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have asked.”

I finished pulling my shirt over my head then walked over to him. “I didn’t hesitate because I didn’t want you to ask, it’s just…”

“Just what? Come on, we’re being honest here, right?” He arched an eyebrow as he used my own words against me.

I chuckled. “Touché.” I looked at him for another moment before taking the plunge. “Fine. In the spirit of being completely honest, I don’t want to keep meeting up with you at these parties.” I realized the way my words must have sounded the minute I saw the hurt that crossed his eyes. I reached for him quickly, taking his hands in my own. “No, that came out all wrong. What I meant was, these parties leave too much up to chance. I like you and I want to spend more time with you, but I don’t like the thought of you being paired up with some other guy. I’d rather meet somewhere we’re guaranteed to be together.”

He cocked his head. “What are you suggesting?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “We’d have to meet somewhere neutral since we both clearly feel the need for privacy.” I gestured toward our masks to show him what I meant. He nodded his agreement but didn’t say anything as he waited for me to finish explaining my idea. “What do you think about meeting at a hotel? We could continue wearing our masks and do whatever we feel like doing with no pressure. The only difference is it will only be the two of us.”

His smile was radiant. “I think I’d like that. A lot. But please quit worrying. Like I said, I trust you. You had plenty of opportunity to push me into more the two times we’ve been together, but you didn’t, and I know you won’t. I’m not worried about that, so I don’t want you to worry about it either.”

“Okay. I’ll try.”

We exchanged numbers then and I laughed when I saw he put me in his contacts as Tyrion. I labeled him as Mystery Man in mine and then tucked it in my pocket. He kissed me one more time then left. I gave him a few minutes to get out to his car before I left the room. By the time I made it outside, there was no sign of him.

It was disappointing, but I knew, for now, that was how it needed to be. We each had our own reasons for hiding who we were, and those reasons hadn’t changed just because we liked each other. I looked down at my phone as I walked down the steps and out to my car, smiling at his number. At least we’d figured out a way to keep seeing each other.

Chapter 8

ELLIOTT

Nabbing the first empty spot I saw, I pulled in and parked my car. A couple of houses down, I could see the Habitat home we’d been building. Only three weeks into the project and I could see a huge difference from when we’d first started. The foundation was set, we’d finished framing everything in, and one of the walls had already been put up by volunteers who worked throughout the week. Working on the other walls was our project for the day, and I’d been looking forward to it.

I’d always liked working alongside my dad, taking pieces of lumber and making them into something usable. I liked working with my hands and the feeling of accomplishment I got from building something from the ground up. That was why I’d chosen architecture as my area of study. Studying the engineering ideas behind some of the world’s most historic buildings, then expanding on those ideas and using them to develop new structure designs, excited me. I hoped one day, I’d be able to stand next to a building I’d designed myself. And I suppose a part of me also hoped that by choosing a career in something that was important to both of us, my father might be able to forgive me for not pursuing a career in baseball.

Brushing off that line of thinking before it could depress me too much, I climbed out of the car. My toolbelt, along with the hammer and drill I’d borrowed from my dad were on the back seat, so I grabbed them, slipping the belt around my waist before heading up the sidewalk to the construction site. Habitat provided a variety of tools for their workers, but there never seemed to be enough, so I’d decided to bring my own like Professor Holt did.

Speak of the devil. As if my thoughts had conjured him into existence, I suddenly spotted him. He was sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck, looking gorgeous in a pair of old jeans and a white t-shirt. He was talking casually with a couple of girls I recognized from class. The girls were giggling at something the professor said and one of them began twirling her long blonde hair around her finger as she stared at him with open admiration. Even from a distance, I could tell they were flirting with him, but he seemed oblivious. Either that or he was used to advances being made by his female students and had learned to ignore it.

My lips quirked up in a grin. I was sure it was the latter of the two. Everything I’d learned about him over the last few weeks pointed to him being a genuinely good guy. He was an incredible teacher with a passion for the subject matter and his sharp wit kept all of us interested and engaged in class discussions. But more than all of that was the kind of man he was outside of class.

With my skills and knowledge of building and repairs, Cassie had placed me in the same group as Professor Holt each week. The two of us had spent a great deal of time working side by side and we’d filled the long hours talking about everything from books and movies to the latest innovations from Elon Musk. We had a surprising number of things in common, including a love of Mustang cars and a loathing of green olives. It was nice and I looked forward to Saturdays simply because I knew I’d be spending time with him again.

I still thought he was sexy as hell and had joined most of the rest of the student body in having a crush on him, but getting to know him had also allowed me to see he was so much more than just his good looks. He was funny and smart, and I considered him a friend of sorts. I knew that was probably crazy since he was my professor and I was his student, but the truth of the matter was I liked talking to him.

Sure, Adam was my friend, but he was always busy with Rachel. Besides, just because we were roommates, it wasn’t like we sat up at night doing each other’s nails and having heart to heart chats. Most of the guys on the team only ever wanted to talk about sports, girls, or partying. I was tired of discussing baseball, I wasn’t into girls, although none of them knew that, and there was no way in hell any of them would understand the types of parties I’d been to lately.

It felt good to have someone I could finally talk to about other things that interested me. Like architecture and the places I wanted to travel to someday. Professor Holt had listened intently and then he’d shared some of his own traveling stories with me. We’d also talked about the projects he’d done around his home and how he’d always dreamed of buying houses that he could flip. He was easy to talk to and while I hadn’t shared anything too personal about myself, I got the feeling he was someone I could trust with my secrets. The thought was nice, but it was also scary as hell because for the first time in my life, I found myself actually wanting to open up to someone. To finally let someone know the real me.

Professor Holt looked up then and smiled when he saw me approaching. That look made butterflies erupt in my belly, but I tamped them back down as I smiled back at him. The last thing I wanted was to make him feel uncomfortable around me by fawning all over him like those girls. No, I wanted him to view me as a friend because his friendship was so much more valuable to me than some silly crush a student had on his teacher. As I moved closer, he stood up from the tailgate. “There’s my partner in crime now. I guess that means we better get to work. Ladies, have a great day and be careful.”

The girls followed him with their eyes as he brushed past them and came over to me, carrying two paper cups. They looked disappointed, but with no other choice, they eventually turned and walked away. “Here. I stopped and picked us up a couple of drinks on the way in. I remembered you didn’t like coffee so I got you a chai tea instead.”

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