Page 68 of Stay in Your Lane!

“Nope.”

“Yes, but only with protection until we get tested.”

That was more than fair. “Where are your condoms?”

“Bedside table.”

Perfect. I grabbed one, put it in my pocket, then stepped right into Kyle’s space and pulled him into a kiss.God, he was eager now; there was no more ice to break between us since I’d pulverized it into shards, and it was just him and me and?—

“Meow.”

“Mmrrp.”

I pulled away with a “what the fuck?” that made Kyle laugh, then turned to glare at the two fuzzy voyeurs sitting in the doorway. “Dudes. No. You can come in after, but I’m not into being watched in the act,” I said, and shut the door in their faces. One of them hissed with indignation, but I ignored them and returned to kissing the hell out of my boyfriend as I slowly maneuvered him out of his clothes and onto the bed. By the time Kyle was undressed, he was hard and I was breathless with how much I wanted him. Kneeling in front of him at the edge of the bed was the easiest thing I’d ever done.

I paused when I saw his bruises, though. They looked even darker than the last time I’d seen them, and had spread and drained some since then, rendering his entire left side a canvas of purple and blue splotches. I squeezed his good hip and kissed the point of his knee. “Do you need to lie down?”

“Not yet,” he said. “I’ll let you know, I promise.”

“Good.” I lowered my lips to the smooth skin of his stomach, just above his groin, and pressed another kiss there, a lingering, sucking one. Kyle quivered, and one of his hands hovered over me for a moment before he wound it into my hair.

“Mmm, feel free to pull,” I said with a grin as I nuzzled lower and lower, until he had to spread his legs to make space for me and I could reach his balls with my mouth, which?—

He hissed, sensitive, but didn’t pull away or tell me to stop when I took one of them into my mouth. I used my hand on the other, rolling and tugging and losing myself in how fucking good he tasted, how he sounded, how he moved against me. He finally pulled me up by the hair, whichyes please more, and I made a sound I’m not proud of but that seemed to do it for him if the way his grip tightened was any indication.

“Get the condom,” he said. I pulled it out of the package and rolled it down his length, then lifted up a little bit so I could get a better angle and slowly, smoothly, sucked him into my mouth as far as I could take him. Maybe a bit ambitious of me on the first try, but I was desperate to taste him, to have him as deep as he could go, to put him inside me. I wanted him in me, wanted to feel him come apart for me. I gripped the base of his shaft with one hand and used the other to unzip my jeans as I moved for him, up and down, a slow slip-slide of our bodies merging over and over.

Even with the latex between us, the heat of him was intoxicating. How much better would it be when he was bare, and I could taste him for real? How much better would it be when he could put me on my knees, finger me open, and fuck me so hard I’d have to brace myself against the wall to stay up? All of that would be so good, but this was so good too—hewas so good, fuck, he was holding my hair so tight, so perfect, moving my head in the rhythm he liked and I was never going to forget now, and I sucked harder, enough to make him groan all broken and eager as he went even harder, and?—

Kyle came, almost soundlessly, carefully contained so he didn’t hurt his ribs, but he showed me how much he liked it with the tension in his body and the way he looked at me after, as I finally drew back. “Holy shit,” he croaked. “That was so good.”

“Yeah?” Screw it, I needed affirmations as much as the next guy.

“Yes, oh my God. Come here.” He scooted back and drew me with him, pulling me on top of him as he gingerly lay down. I hovered over him, not sure what he was going for until his hand slid through the fly of my jeans and beneath my boxers. He wrapped his fingers around my dick, grip warm and firm and sure, and my eyes squeezed shut as I moaned.

This, someone else’s touch—I’d been missing it for so long. It was so much better than it had ever been before, too, because this was Kyle, and it took me all of about ten seconds before I was coming in his hand. I collapsed down onto my elbows, just managing to keep my weight off him because I wasn’t about to send him back to the hospital due to an orgasm, and he initiated the kissing this time. He kissed my cheek, my chin, and the very tip of my nose before finally touching my mouth. We kissed again and again, warm and hazy and satisfied, until?—

Scritch.“Meow.”Scritch-scritch.“Mrrrrrpp. Meow!”

Kyle started laughing. “So much for the afterglow.”

“Eh, afterglow, who needs it?” I said, although in all honesty I would have loved more cuddle time, but I knew how to prioritize. Damn it.

Ten minutes, a quick wash-up, and one bowl retrieval later, Kyle and I settled into bed. Wow, his mattress was… “Is this memory foam?”

“Hybrid, springs and foam,” he told me as Patches curled up at his feet, purring.

“It feels like floating.”

“Yeah, it’s nice.” He sounded drowsy, half asleep already after a tiring day. I leaned over and kissed the point of his shoulder, then rolled onto my back and relaxed against the pillow. I was nearly asleep when I felt paws begin to bat at the ends of my hair.

Thanks, Jeff.

CHAPTER 20

KYLE

For all the Ricky Leighton carnival of fuckery had turned my world on its ass, I would concede thatsomegood had come of it. There were, after all, worse things than waking up with Everett snoring softly beside me.

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