Page 53 of A Box of Wishes
Ben had realised it before Ryan grew too embarrassed, which was how they’d ended up in Ben’s bed. Where Ben slept, undisturbed by wandering cats.
Morris turned his head and regarded his human. Whether he was judging Ben for not paying attention to him, or pointing out that he’d found another perch, Ryan couldn’t have said. The purr grew louder and Ryan found Morris’s warm weight and the steady rumble wonderfully relaxing. He kept his hands on the cat, stroking now and then, and drifted back to sleep.
The purr dwindled. Morris hooked needle-sharp claws into Ryan’s chest for a fraction of a second, and then hopped off the bed.
Ryan didn’t know whether to yelp in alarm, laugh at Morris’s antics, or curse that he was now awake again. He shifted, trying to get comfortable, and the movement brought his leg and hip into contact with Ben’s warm bulk.
His body took immediate notice.
Last night he’d been scared, hurt, and tired, but now Ryan couldn’t get his mind off Ben. His fingers itched to touch and Ryan fought a losing battle.I’ll just snuggle up to him and go back to sleep, he promised himself, and settled his palm on Ben’s upper arm, just under the edge of the T-shirt’s short sleeve. He’d not been with anyone for so long, the need to explore the soft skin was the worst kind of compulsion. Ben made little snuffling noises in his throat, and then he chuckled.
Ryan froze. He even held his breath as he waited for Ben to fall back to sleep.
Ben did nothing of the sort. He turned until he faced Ryan and gave him a sleepy smile. “Morris wake you up?”
“Twice,” Ryan whispered back, as if he was sharing a secret. “First, he landed on my stomach like a rock dropped from a great height. Then he purred me back to sleep. That was nice.”
Ben was grinning now, the flash of teeth visible in the glow from the alarm clock. “And then he dug in his claws, for just an instant, before he wandered off.”
“He does that to you, too?”
“It’s his way of letting me know that he’s going out. I’ve long stopped noticing when he walks all over me, so he had to come up with a different signal. Sometimes, he sleeps on me for hours and I wake up feeling like a ninety-year-old, because I’ve not moved a muscle all night. He’s also quite persistent when he wants something. He wants to sleep on your lap, he’ll sleep on your lap. Whether you want him to or not.”
“Oh, really?”
“Hm-hm.”
“So what do you do when he wakes you in the middle of the night?”
“Go back to sleep?”
“Oh.”
“Unless I have a reason not to.” Ben’s smile morphed into something softer and warmer. “How are you feeling?”
Ryan thought about his answer. He could say he was fine and let Ben make the choice where this would go. But he was tired of holding back and he didn’t want to lie when the truth would be obvious the moment Ben came a few inches closer.
“Randy as a goat,” he admitted. “I’m sorry if I woke you, but my fingers were itching and I don’t have a lot of resistance when it comes to you.”
“You didn’t wake me. I’ve been more aware of Morris since the accident. I woke the moment he landed on top of you.” Ben slid his hand under Ryan’s pillow, settled his other one on Ryan’s hip. “There’s nothing wrong with snuggling until we go back to sleep.”
“Is there anything wrong with kissing?”
“Not if you’re offering.”
Ben’s voice was deeper now, with a touch of gravel that tightened the coil of desire in Ryan’s belly. Dear God! If that was what Ben sounded like in bed, then Ryan wanted to grow roots right where he was. Ben’s hand on his hip prompted him to come closer, and Ryan obeyed with alacrity. Ben was warm. He smelled of musk and shower gel, and his embrace was as comforting as it was arousing.
They’d both gone to sleep in T-shirts and boxers, and Ryan looked forward to getting rid of both. He wanted to see Ben, touch Ben… but there was no need to rush.
Ryan buried his face in Ben’s neck. Ben’s warm breath stirred his hair, and when Ben slipped a hand under his T-shirt to settle in the small of his back, Ryan sighed in bliss. Seemed he wasn’t the only one craving skin.
Ben was the first to move, sliding his fingers up Ryan’s spine to his neck, then back down to the waistband of his boxers. He did it over and over, as if he was learning the shape and feel of Ryan’s back. Or as if he tried to soothe Ryan back to sleep.
If that was Ben’s intent, he was failing abysmally.
Ryan nuzzled a spot right under Ben’s ear. “This… is nice.” He nipped Ben’s earlobe, then soothed the sting with his tongue. The strangled gasp that came out of Ben’s mouth was an amazing sound. Even better was the full-body shiver Ben couldn’t hide.
“Oooh, seems I’ve found a hot spot.” Ryan took another bite.
