Page 89 of Daily Grind
Rob slipped off the bed and stood. “I’ll give you a hand.”
He held out one. Brian curled his fingers in Rob’s and Rob pulled him off the bed and into his arms. They moved with the same sense of non-urgency toward the bathroom, touching and kissing—not to tease—but to taste. To exist—be with each other.
God, he loved this man. Loved that the world vanished, that his body sang, that his heart and soul ached as much as his well-fucked body.
Even the shower was a study in exploration, their hands and tongues finding those places to stroke, to touch, and finally, to clean all over again.
Part of him wanted his cock to rise, for his libido to be that of a teen again, but there’d been too much pleasure heaped on the stress of the day. Even Rob only managed to get semi-hard.
But Rob’s eyes, his smile, those were exhilarating and quickened Brian’s pulse. They dried each other off and headed back to bed. Rob tossed the towel into his hamper and slid under the covers next to Brian. “Please tell me you have tomorrow off.”
And there was the shop again, inching between them like a jealous lover. “I can’t,” he whispered. “But Miranda works opening shift.”
“So I have you all morning?” In the dim light of the room, Rob traced his fingers over Brian’s cheeks.
“Don’t have to be in until two.”
Rob’s lips were on his, opening him and just as quickly, the shop was gone. Fingers danced against his skin, driving heat into his blood and sapping the last bit of energy he had. When Rob relented, there was a huff of warm breath against his cheek. “I can fill those hours quite nicely for you.”
Fill more than the hours, Brian bet. “Can’t wait.” In the quiet of Rob’s room, Brian kissed Rob’s shoulder and closed his eyes. If every night could be like this, his life would be complete.
Chapter Seventeen
Rob pacedin his living room. Since the day of their interrupted hike two weeks earlier, everything between him and Brian had eased out. Yes, Brian spent an inordinate amount of time at his shop, filling in far too many shifts. That hadn’t changed. But when he was with Rob—he was entirelywithRob. Bike rides, working on their photographs. Dinners. Shopping. Geocaching. Whatever they did together, Brian was wholly there.
That had been the silver lining to the uncomfortable episode. They’d always been so matched in bed—now they moved with the same grace and passion outside of the bedroom.
He checked the wall clock. It was almost exactly five minutes later than it had been the last time he’d looked—and still about an hour before Brian would arrive at his place.
They were going to the Keppler family dinner, where Rob would meet not just Brian’s parents—but his brother and sister, too.
Rob had walked into hostile board meetings when earnings were down, and ruled the room. He’d stood in front of jaded venture capitalists and given cases for why they should hand him hundreds of thousands of dollars and gotten the cash he needed.
Never in his life had he been the nervous wreck he was right now. He wouldn’t be facing business men and women—but Brian’sfamily.
His own had been tiny and dysfunctional and now dead and buried. All his previous relationships had either been short or meaningless.
How was he supposed to act? What was he supposed to say? He was forty years old, not some bumbling teen.
He didn’t evenhavesiblings. What did he say to them?
When the doorbell rang, he nearly jumped out of his skin. A glance at the clock told him it was far too early for Brian to have arrived.
Except when he opened the door, that’s who stood on his doorstep. “Hey.”
No bike helmet. No bike. Just a backpack slung over one shoulder. “Hi.” He opened the door wider. “You’re early.”
Brian’s grin was sheepish. He strode through the door. “Yeah. I decided to take the bus rather than bike.” He stowed the bag near the stairs. “It’s warm and I didn’t want to be a sweaty mess.”
Rob liked when Brian was a sweaty mess, especially when he made him that way. There were no showers quite like the ones with Brian. “Pity.”
Brian chuckled and leaned in for a kiss. “Well, I am early.”
That was just invitation enough to deepen the kiss until Brian squirmed. Lovely. But as much as he wanted Brian, perhaps right before meeting his parents was not the time to fuck. He broke the kiss. “I’ll save the cream for dessert.”
Red flushed Brian’s cheeks. “No appetizer?”
For someone only two years younger, there were times when Brian exhausted him. He took a taste of those lips again. “I’ll make it up to you.”
