Page 72 of The Long Game

How would he ever go without again if this didn’t work?

That thought, alarming as it was, slipped from his grasp when Grady’s arm wrapped around him and the full length of their bodies pressed together. Jack gasped, his chest heaving.

“Jack,” Grady whispered, his lips running over Jack’s cheek and behind his ear.

Jack wanted to say something, even just Grady’s name, but the best he could do was a desperate, “Nngh.”

Grady tucked his lips behind Jack’s ear and his knees wobbled again. Grady’s arm steadied him, even as his lips made it worse.

They brushed Jack’s skin when he murmured, “God, Jack, are we doing this? Is this real?”

Jack managed to nod and slide his fingers into Grady’s hair, holding him in place against his neck. This was hopefully a sufficiently clear means to communicatehell yes, we are doing this and it is so fucking real.

Grady’s lips and teeth were magical. Blood throbbed in Jack’s ears, his belly hot as need poured through him from his hypersensitive earlobe down into his rapidly filling cock.

He arched his hips forward, wanting more contact. More pressure. Grady’s broad palm at the base of his spine held him steady and tight, the denim between them annoying.

“Jack, tell me what you want,” Grady whispered, his voice a plea.

“This. You,” Jack moaned, tipping his chin up while Grady nibbled a line down Jack’s neck and beneath the collar of his shirt. He gripped Grady’s hair and brought their mouths back together. The kiss was hot and wet and deep, and Jack could’ve kept doing nothing more than this all night if his dick wasn’t so insistent. He shamelessly ground it against Grady’s thigh, shuddering when Grady’s hard cock pressed into his hip.

Jack broke their kiss, his breathing ragged and loud.

Grady pressed their foreheads together while Jack tried to get air into his lungs and his heart rate under control.

“What are we doing?” Grady asked quietly, and Jack heard something besides passion in his voice. He heard fear.

A chill ran down Jack’s back. “Kissing?”

He felt Grady’s smile against his cheek. This was a strange way to talk—so close he didn’t dare open his eyes because they’d cross if he tried to focus on Grady. But it was also good, because he was a coward and feared where this conversation was about to go. At least with Grady holding him this close, his cock trying to drill into Jack’s hip, he could be reasonably sure he wasn’t in this alone.

“Is this…” Grady paused and Jack could hear him swallow. “Is this hooking up? Like…a casual thing?”

“No.”

“So…”

Jack sighed and Grady’s lips brushed his again, achingly soft. Just the merest hint of a kiss, like Grady wanted to capture the sigh with his mouth.

“I want…” Jack didn’t know the right words to use. Heshouldsay something about wanting to see where this could go, but it didn’t feel honest. He was already there.

The nervy fear Garrick, Rhian, and Savannah had helped him conquer came roaring back, but he still managed to whisper, “More.”

“More kisses?” Grady asked.

“No. Well,yes. Lots more kisses, definitely.”

He felt Grady’s smile again.

Jack brushed his cheek over it, then said, “But more than kisses. More than just…”

“Sex?”

Had a single word ever been more arousing and terrifying? “Yes. To that, but also more than that,” he added, trying to be clear. He knew he was basically asking for a commitment after one kiss. One fucking spectacular kiss, but still. What if Grady…

“I want that, too,” Grady whispered. “So much.”

Jack sagged and kissed him again, losing himself in a heady combination of relief and pent-up desire. Grady’s hand skimmed over Jack’s ass, sending shivers up his back. He cupped one globe in his long fingers and hiked Jack higher against him.

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