Page 15 of Touch In Excess

“If that’s okay with you, I mean,” he added.

Rami cocked his head to the side. “Will it be too much money for you?”

Skye chuckled like Rami had told a joke he wasn’t in on. “It won’t break my bank. I promise.”

“Then okay,” Rami said. “But I don’t want to get harder. If I do, I’ll want to invite you in, and I’m not ready for that.”

Skye stroked his jaw before taking a very deep breath. “Can I see you again?”

“When?”

“Soon,” Skye said. “As soon as I can manage.”

“Yes,” Rami told him instantly. He wanted nothing more. Or, more honestly, he wanted this night to never end. But the promise that he could have Skye again—that this might be able to work until Rami was free to give himself to Skye—was enough for him.

For now.

He didn’t trust it would stay that way, but for the first time, maybe ever, he had a little hope.

Five

Sinking into the hot tub,Skye tipped his head back and sighed. His muscles were on fire. He’d just come off the third to last appointment with a veryathleticclient. The man was an MMA fighter—amateur, but he was strong as hell. The only problem was he wanted to be the one manhandled. In Skye’s way, of course. It was slow—agonizingly slow—and maybe even a little gentle. But it was long, drawn out, and took all of Skye’s strength to reach the end of the night.

His biceps were still twitching every couple of minutes, and he made himself a mental note to book a massage because he couldn’t afford to be out of commission for too long. He’d already missed enough work from his fall, and he was determined to make this year better.

“So.”

With the bubbles off, Skye could hear Jet just fine. He didn’t open his eyes, but he felt the water surge when Jet slid into the warm water. The Tower now had a communal hot tub, which was big enough to seat eight, but Jet, Skye, and Flint were the three who used it regularly. There was a no sex in the water rule, and since Flint only ever messed around with his boyfriends at their house, and Taylor had an aversion to what he called“stewing in his own juices,” they were the three least likely to be tempted to break it.

“So,” Jet said again. “Can you hear me?”

“I can hear you. I’m just waiting for you to say something else,” Skye grumbled.

Jet laughed and began to shift his feet through the water until he found Skye’s legs. He wrapped his ankles around Skye’s—a sort of blind man’s eye contact. “Heard you got lucky.”

Skye groaned. It had been two weeks since he’d seen Rami and two weeks of pointed silence from the Sins. He had just been waiting for someone to crack and bring him up.

“Y’all are worse than old ladies at a knitting circle.”

“We’re not, trust me,” Jet said. “I actually joined a knitting club, and the shit they say…” He trailed off and whistled. “But yes, you can’t go out on a date with a hot guy and expect that to stay a secret.”

Skye finally opened his eyes and looked at his friend. Jet was lounged back against the molded seat, his head resting on a bath cushion, eyes closed. “How long did Avan wait before telling everyone?”

“Ten seconds?” Jet grinned. “Maybe twenty.” He sat up a little, and his eyes opened, gaze fixed out on the horizon he couldn’t see. “He didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but I know better.”

Jet did know better. Skye and Avan did a lot together. Their childhoods were similar, and he was one of the few Sins who didn’t hate running with a passion. But Jet had been Skye’s closest confidant for a long, long time. Jet had trained him. Jet had taught him that a life in the Tower could be more freeing than the one he was leading before.

Jet taught him that he didn’t need some tragic past full of anguish to be okay with making money with his body. He was allowed to just…like it. To embrace it. To let it be a part of him.Jet taught him there was no shame in loving himself or in the art of indulgence.

Gluttony and Sloth were closely related, after all. They often shared clients who found what they were looking for in both of them.

It had been easy to open up to Jet. Sometimes he found it hilarious that the deaf man and the blind man were best friends, but it worked for them. Jet understood his struggle in ways few of the other Sins did.

“He’s nice,” Skye eventually said. He couldn’t help his smile as he thought about the kiss. It had been slow and careful, then deep and needy. Rami’s hands had been warm and searching once he’d found the courage to touch, and when Skye kissed him good night at his door, Rami hadn’t let go for a long, long time.

“I’m gonna need more than that, bud,” Jet prodded.

Skye sighed and rolled his shoulders back before hunching low in the water. Down, down, until the warmth touched his chin. His hearing became more muffled, but he kept his hearing aids from getting wet while also almost immersing himself completely.

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