Page 79 of Time to Shine

Casey: lmao

So now what? Landon knew what he wanted—to crawl into bed beside Casey and let his nearness lull him to sleep—but he didn’t know how to ask for it. It was an embarrassing thing to need.

Casey: wanna sleep here w me???

Well. That was easy. Leave it to Casey to make something like this seem simple.

Three minutes later, Landon was outside Casey’s door. He knocked once, softly, and the door opened. Casey was wearing only a pair of bright purple boxer briefs, and his hair was rumpled. Landon had not been mentally prepared for any of that.

“Hey,” Casey said with a sleepy smile. He stepped back to let Landon in.

Despite the fact they’d only checked in a couple of hours ago, Casey’s room was a mess. It looked like he’d tossed every single thing in his suitcase over his shoulder.

“Jesus. Were you robbed or something?” Landon asked.

“No, I was just checking to see if I had pajama pants. I don’t, by the way. I can put on a shirt and some sweats, though, if you want this to be less weird.”

Would it be weird if Casey only wore underwear? The bed was a king size; they wouldn’t be touching and this wasn’t like that anyway. They were only sleeping.

“It’s okay,” Landon said. He was wearing pajama pants and a T-shirt himself. He got cold when he wore less than that to bed.

Casey got into bed, which was a relief because Landon was having a hard time not staring at him. Landon pulled back the sheets on the other side and got in, leaving as much space as possible between them. “You can leave the lamp on,” Landon said.

“Don’t need it now,” Casey said, and turned it off.

Silence fell between them, then Casey said, “You were amazing tonight.”

Landon smiled. “You mentioned it a few times.”

“Yeah, well.” Casey yawned. “One more time, just so you know for sure.” He squirmed on the mattress, probably getting comfortable.

Then he squirmed some more. Then he said, “Can you do me a favor?”

“Mm?”

“Can you scratch my back? It’s itchy right in the fucking middle. Been driving me nuts.”

“Sure.”

Casey slid closer and rolled, presumably onto his side to give Landon access to his back. Landon reached out in the darkness until he found the warm, smooth skin of Casey’s back.

“Here?” Landon asked, scraping his fingernails lightly against the bumps of Casey’s spine. He swore he felt Casey shiver. He should probably be wearing a shirt.

“Lower,” Casey whispered.

Landon brushed his fingertips down a couple of inches. There was nothing erotic about this, obviously, but he was still holding his breath. He scratched a patch of Casey’s skin, and Casey let out a moan of pleasure that made Landon’s cock jump.

“Fuck yes. God, that’s so good, Stacks.”

Landon pulled his hand away quickly. He swallowed and said, “Better?”

“Fucking perfect.” Casey let out a long, happy sigh. “Thanks, buddy.”

Buddy. Right. Landon hoped his dick heard that.

Landon rolled to his back and stared up at the darkness. He wasn’t sure he’d be falling asleep anytime soon.

“Hey,” Casey whispered.

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