Page 27 of On the Edge

“Yeah.” Declan released an unsteady breath, slumping against me. He wasn’t a small guy, but his weight on my lap felt incredibly right. I wrapped my arms around him, as much to keep him there as to prevent us from tumbling backward. “I guess I’m lucky no one ever rejected me as terribly as your family?—”

“It’s not a competition. Pain still hurts.”

“And that’s the point I’ve been trying to make. It hurt thinking I was broken and bad at sex?—”

I cut him off with a growl. “You’re not broken.”

“For the first time, I might believe you.” He let his head fall against mine. He smelled like shampoo mingled with some sort of expensive aftershave. “The other night with you, that was the first time I felt like I truly fit somewhere. I didn’t need to make myself smaller or bigger, less or more. I could justbe, and I want that again. You can tell me it shouldn’t be you, but what if I never get to feel that way again?”

“You will.” I stroked his hair and face. He’d recently shaved, and the smoothness of his cheeks against my fingertips made my stomach quiver. “I promise you will.”

He gave me the softest kiss ever, looking up at me with big eyes. “Please?”

“I don’t think I know how to tell you no.” I brushed the uneven sections of hair off his forehead. “A secret fling is a terrible idea.”

“I won’t tell.” He smiled slyly.

And that right there was a huge part of the problem. I groaned. “I know.”

“Kiss me again,” he demanded as if there was a chance I might refuse.

Chapter Thirteen

Declan

After the quickest of all kisses, Jonas gently pushed me off his lap and onto the bed. I opened my mouth to protest, but he held up a hand.

“I need to lock the door.”

“Yes.” My triumph as he trotted over to the stairs and locked the basement door before flipping on the dryer on his way back to the bed was on par with the adrenaline of winning a qualifying heat. I kicked off my slip-on sneaker from my uninjured foot, already thinking ahead to potential naked time. “I win.”

“You win.” He didn’t sound too sad about that turn of events. I grinned up at him as he sat back down on the bed. Riding the high, I straddled his lap again. I arranged myself so I wasn’t putting stress on my walking boot before pushing him backward.

I’d waited to seek him out until the house was largely quiet for the night, and he was in a soft gray sweatshirt advertising some sort of nursing union and blue flannel pants. Between the flannel and his lumberjack beard, he looked like an ad for the best pancakes on earth, and I couldn’t wait to gobble him down. I had to laugh at my awful internal joke.

“Tell me what to do,” I demanded. Anticipation thrummed through me. I was rock hard, yes, but all my energy was directed at making Jonas come. “Tell me what you like. I want to know how to get you off.”

“Getting you off gets me off.” He provided the non-answer of the century, and I groaned.

“But it didn’t the other night.”

“Because I didn’t let it.” Jonas’s tone was patient, but I still groaned again as he continued, “Trust me, I was plenty turned on. Pleasuring you is my biggest turn-on.”

“So I just…” I trailed off as he reversed our positions in a nifty move I needed to learn.

“Lie back.” He gave me a feral grin. “Like you wanted. Let me make you feel good. I promise I’ll get there too.”

“I’d rather do stuff to you,” I said weakly, ending on a happy sigh as he kissed me again, a lingering exploration that left my fingers curling against the covers. Jonas made it hard to stick to my resolve to be less selfish, especially when he yanked my hoodie aside to kiss my neck. I shivered, giving in to my urge to let him have his way with me. “Okay, this works too.”

“Glad you approve.” He chuckled against my collarbone, a warm rush of air against sensitive skin. “May I undress you?”

“I can undress myself.” I struggled to sit up under the warm, wonderful weight of Jonas’s thighs pinning me down.

“I know youcan. I asked if Imay?” Jonas raised the hem of my hoodie, revealing the T-shirt underneath, his fingers teasing their way under both layers of fabric. The sensation was intriguing enough that I settled back down and let him do as he wanted.

As it turned out, that was a supremely good idea as he turned undressing into a slow dance. First the hoodie, then my T-shirt, then kisses on all the skin he’d exposed. He kissed, licked, and nibbled his way across my arms and pecs and down my torso.He gently helped me out of my loose sweatpants, easing them over my cast, leaving me in my black boxer briefs. My cock had shifted to press against the waistband, head peeking out, but Jonas seemed in no hurry to give it attention.

Instead, he returned to my chest. I had small, pale nipples, and I’d never really given them much thought beyond wishing for more pec definition, but when Jonas sucked on the right one, I practically levitated off the bed.

---