Page 61 of Riding Pine
Landon:Ben says he’ll meet you at your place when the coast is clear.
I respond, telling him I’m on my way home now and thanking Landon again for his discretion. As I drive home, I keep thinking back to my position on the team and how I’m only a rule breaker on the ice.
Is it good leadership to be sneaking around with the mascot? Would I lose theCif I came forward and told Coach? There has to be a way for us to work through this. It’s not like I’m dating someone on the opposite team and stealing secrets. But would Ben lose the job if I confessed?
God, it’s such a mess.
I’ve reached my building in a fog, and it’s not until I open the door to my apartment that the fog clears and I feel more sure about what I need to do.
My apartment smells of burnt toast, dryer sheets, and lemon tea. Most people might think that’s not a welcoming scent, but to me…it’s everything. Ben left the closet doors open, where the laundry machines hide, and a pile of neatly folded clothes sits on top of the dryer. I pick up the pair of skimpy shorts that he wears under the beaver suit before placing them back and moving to the living room.
My plants are alive, as I knew they were after he sent me all those semi-nude photos with my beloved plants. Ben has managed to breathe colour into my green and grey life, and as I walk to the kitchen and find the burnt toast in the garbage, a laugh slips past my lips.
How does it make sense that these little things settle a restlessness I’ve carried for years?
After tossing my tie, I undress from my suit and place it in the dry-cleaning bag for drop off. It’s while I’m standing in my underwear that I hear the key in the lock, and Ben enters.
“Honey, I’m home!” he sings.
The deadbolt clicks closed, and then he’s standing in my bedroom doorway, drinking me in like he’s been lost in the desert.
“Landon was good to you?”
Ben nods. “He was wonderful. He pretended to clean a wound on my hand when that guy looked in to see us. I had my head back on, so I’m still a secret, but he stared at me for a long time. A bit odd, but whatever.”
Frowning, I wonder if Evans picked up on something after all.
“Hey,” Ben says softly, and he steps into me. His palms slide up my chest to stop on my cheeks. “Everything is okay.”
I don’t know if it’s the earnestness in his words or because I want to believe him so badly, but I do. “For now, but we’ll figure it out, okay? And you should move in here permanently.”
Well, I guess I’m doing this now, then.
Ben’s eyes grow comically wide. “Shit, Lukas. I…”
“Think about it? I know it’s fast, but —”
Ben places a single finger on my lips. “When things feel right, there’s no reason to put a timeline on it.” His cheeks flush as Benhas a very uncharacteristic shy moment, and he looks away. “That’s what James told me, and I didn’t believe him at first. But maybe I should’ve.”
“We can talk about it more later. Right now, I just want to have you next to me, naked. I’ve missed you.”
Ben laughs. “And you’re horny. Don’t forget that part.” He snaps the band of my underwear. “You’re already mostly undressed. Lucky me.”
It feels like a war in my head. I want to love all over Ben. Show him physically for hours and do all the stuff that people find tender and romantic. But I also want him impaled on my dick against the wall while he holds on so tight he leaves marks.
I can do both and still be romantic, can’t I?
Thankfully, he can read my looks more easily than my mind.
He whips off his shirt and reaches for me. “Holy fuck, Lukas, I need you to own me right fucking now.” His lips crush against mine as his hand squeezes my bulge.
“Get those pants off before I rip them off then,” I growl, and he takes a step back.
Ben pauses, a slow smirk on his lips. “You still owe me a pair of undies. If you destroy all my clothes, you’ll need to buy me a new wardrobe.”
“Or I keep you locked in my apartment, naked all the time.”
Ben shrugs, like that’s not a terrible idea, then shimmies out of his pants, and all the blood rushes to my dick. “Jesus Christ, Ben. How big is your collection? Is this a G-string?”
