Page 43 of Romance Languages

I jutted my hips out to give him a clear grip. He did the same.

I cracked out a groan as I shot my load, waves of release wringing me dry. His balls tightened under my grasp, and he shuddered as he came.

We blinked open our eyes at the same time. His pupils were blown wide open, his round cheeks flushed with color. I looked down at the mess we’d made on his floor. Our releases were mixed together. There was something a little romantic about it.

Lust, not romance.I reminded myself of the cardinal rule of this arrangement.

He gazed at me, lost in the hazy afterglow. It’d been a long-ass time since someone looked at me that way. He ran his finger down my beard, savoring each bristle.

“Jules’s first handjob. Check,” I said with the accompanying finger motion.

“When did you decide to grow a beard?”

“It was really cold in January. I needed to keep myself warm.” I was proud of myself for being able to grow one. When I’d tried in the past, it had come in patches, as if I were forever going through puberty.

“I like it.” His voice was scratchy, as if he just woke up. It threatened to make me hard again.

“Jules, you’re half-naked in your apartment.” I nodded at his exposed bottom half.

“It’s a start.”

Julian brushed his palm over my facial hair, like I was all his.

Was it normal to regularly get hard over a guy? A guy who was my friend, first and foremost? I knew I would get some type of enjoyment out of this arrangement. A hand on a dick was a hand on a dick. But was I enjoying it too much?

“Do you have paper towels?” I asked, nudging my chin at the mess on the floor. It was better than thinking of the mess currently happening in my head.

We eventually got the floor and ourselves cleaned up. Now that we’d gotten all the sex out of the way, I had built up an appetite. We split the leftovers from his catering session while watching a rerun of Julian’s favorite showFrasier.It was nice just hanging out together, no school talk, no sex talk. We could just be.

“I’m sorry again for exploding at you earlier,” Julian said during a commercial break. “Whenever I see my mom, she gets inside my head.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d alluded to this. “What’s the deal with you two?”

He swirled the roasted vegetables around his plate. “She’s been on me about my weight forever. I went to a fat loss summer camp when I was a teenager, but it didn’t stick. I gained the weight back by Christmas. I think…” He let out a heavy sigh. “She’s always been gorgeous and popular. My armchair shrink opinion is I don’t think she can process having a child who isn’t as gorgeous. I think she blames herself for me having weight problems, like she failed as a mother.”

“That’s a lot to put on you,” I said. And I thought my parents were a lot because they yelled all the time, though that was normal for big Staten Island families. It was better than the passive-aggressive thing that seemed to permeate Julian’s family.

“I’ve gotten good at tuning out her comments. And I know she means well. She does, deep down. Even though we’re mother and son, we come from different worlds.”

“Jules, I meant what I said earlier. You are a sexy bitch. For a sexual newbie, you are very talented. You just gotta get better at believing your own hype.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Make it quick beforeFrasiercomes back on,” I cracked.

“Even though I’ve checked off certain items from my sexual to-do list, would it be weird if we continued doing them?”

My dick immediately perked up. “Like practice?”

“Exactly. I didn’t know if our arrangement only allowed for one time for each thing.”

It probably should since I was mostly straight and shouldn’t be enjoying this so much. But fuck that. Rules were made to be broken.

“It doesn’t.”

“So if when this episode ofFrasieris done, I wanted to go again…that would be okay?”

“Yeah.” I shrugged. Fortunately, as a guy, I’d had lots of practice staying calm while savagely horny. “I’m here to help you out. I mean this from the bottom of my heart, Jules: use me for my body.”

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