Page 75 of Crying in the Rain

“No. George—” Kris screwed his eyes shut and clamped his teeth together.Will I ever learn?“I’ll get the oil,” he said, turning away and swinging his legs off the bed to sit.

“Babe?”

The mattress shifted as Ade crawled across to sit beside him.

“Look at me.”

Kris glanced sideways, making fleeting eye contact.

“It’s OK, you know. Everyone has a past.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?”

“I betrayed a confidence.”

“George’s?”

Kris nodded.

“Well, you didn’t tell me anything. I mean, I can glean from what you’ve said that the erotic massage idea came from him, and I promise it won’t go any further.”

“I know. I trust you. Completely, which is…” Kris picked up the bottle of massage oil and shook it, not realising the lid wasn’t shut properly. It flipped open, spilling oil over his hands and thighs. “Shit.”

“You know what this means?” Ade asked, shifting again so that he was kneeling behind Kris.

“What’s that?” The words merged into a gasp as Ade leaned forward, sliding his palms over Kris’s shoulders, chest, belly, down to his thighs, then back up again, spreading the oil as he went.

“We can’t waste all this oil, so we’ll have to make it up as we go along.” Ade kneaded Kris’s shoulders. “You may need to relax a bit.”

“I’m trying,” Kris said, but he was so tense, the gentle pressure was uncomfortable and not in the least erotic. “I’d rather massage you.”

“You can…soon.” Ade kissed Kris’s neck as he worked his way down his arms.

“And find all the places that feel good for you.”

“This is more of your ‘making it right for everyone but Kris syndrome’, isn’t it?”

“Maybe. But is that so bad?”

“What you want matters too.”

“I really want to get to know your body. We could be in the throes of passion and I touch you somewhere or say something that reminds…that takes your mind off what we’re doing.”

“Same’s true for you,” Ade pointed out. “Now, tell me how this feels.” He slid his hands around Kris’s sides, spanning his stomach and applying just enough pressure with his fingertips to keep it on the right side of tickling.

“It feels OK,” Kris said.

“OK?” Ade repeated. “We can do so much better than that. Give me that oil.”

Kris handed over the bottle.

Ade squeezed a good amount into his hands, some of it spilling over and trickling down onto Kris’s belly. “What were you going to say about trusting me completely?”

“That it’s freaking me out.”

“Oh.”

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