Page 103 of Unrivaled

Max’s laugh whispered against Grady’s mouth, and then their lips met again. Grady got his hands on Max’s hips and pulled him close.

They’d wasted so much time. Grady wouldn’t waste another second.

All the times they slept together, Grady couldn’t remember Max being so sweet or so quiet. His rib cage hitched under Grady’s hands. When Grady pulled back to look at him, kneeling between his thighs, he took in the bruises on Max’s body and the desperation in his eyes and thought,Okay.

It had been a fraught couple of months. Yesterday Max had been traded twice in a handful of hours. Maybe he needed someone to be gentle with him.

It didn’t look like anyone had been gentle with him in a long time.

So Grady kissed him, and touched him, and held him, softly, in a way he’d never dared. He peeled away all their layers until they were bare.

They laced their fingers together. Max’s calf hooked around his ass. The fingers of his opposite hand burned against Grady’s hip as he aligned their bodies so they could slide their erections together.

But the tenderness remained. The steadily quickening beat of Max’s heart stuttered in the space between their chests. Grady let go of Max’s hand and slid his fingers into his hair, like that could tether him, like he could ground Max here in California, in his new home.

Finally Grady’s arm slipped on the sheet. Max made a sudden sharp sound into Grady’s mouth as his hair pulled, and then they were tumbling over the edge, messy and intimate and clinging to each other.

Grady kept kissing him, but the ache in his shoulders from supporting his weight forced him to move onto his side.

After a few more minutes, Max exhaled heavily through his nose and opened his eyes. “Can’t believe I’ve been in California for, like, twelve hours and I need a second shower already. There’s a drought on, you know.”

Grady gave him a small smile. “Would it make you feel any better if I told you I have a gray-water reclamation system?”

Max laughed and sat up, pulling Grady with him. “Of course you do. Come on, we can conserve water together.”

Their shower amounted to a quick warm rinse and some more kissing, which Grady wouldn’t complain about.

Max’s fingers tickled against Grady’s stomach as he smoothed them through the slick mess they’d left there, until the glob of come washed down the drain. His eyes were dark and calculating as he did the same to his own abs. He must’ve known what Grady was thinking, because he smirked. “You should do me raw next time.”

Grady’s breath whooshed out like Max had boarded him. “Your pillow talk is something else.”

It was all very lighthearted and silly until Max snatched away Grady’s towel and his eyes went to Grady’s tattoo.

He ran his thumb over the ink in the bowl of Grady’s hip. Goose bumps prickled up Grady’s spine. “What’s this?”

The giddiness settled into a bone-deep happiness, edged with embarrassment. “That was my forfeit.”

Max sat on the edge of the bathtub and pulled Grady closer to get a better look at the design. He traced his fingertips over the linework, the two handles, the jagged teeth of the jaw of the lobster cracker. Grady’s skin jumped under his touch. It tickled. “This is what you got when you lost the bet?”

“I don’t know if Ilost,” Grady said, echoing Max’s words from months ago. “Doesn’t feel like I lost. Feels like I got exactly what I wanted.”

“Hmm.” Max raised his eyes to Grady’s. “Kinda risky. Might not have worked out between us. Then what?”

It still might not, Grady thought. But they both wanted it to. That was good enough for now. “Then I would have learned a very painful lesson. Physically and emotionally.”

“One you were going to carry around on your skin forever.”

What did that matter? It was under the skin that counted, and Max had already left his mark there. Grady shrugged.

“I love you, you know,” Max said finally. He brushed a kiss over Grady’s tattoo. “In case it wasn’t obvious.”

Grady did know. Hearing it again still made him feel like his heart was made of feathers. “I know.” Unlike Grady, Max had always been pretty good about showing it. It had just taken Grady ages to believe what he’d seen.

He was starting to think they should forget the whole staying clean thing and go back to bed, when Max’s stomach growled so loudly it echoed in the bathroom.

Max’s face scrunched into a laugh that he hid against Grady’s hip.

Grady pulled him to his feet. “Subtle hint?”

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