Page 9 of Heart of Glass

“What? No, I’m…I’m fine.”

“Lachlan, come here.”

“Really, I’m okay. I don’t—”

“I like you, Lachlan. A lot. And I think you like me.”

“I do,” Lachlan confessed in a voice that barely carried to Xeno’s end of the sofa. “Probably too much.”

“No such thing.” Lifting the blanket from his lap, Xeno beckoned the man to him. “No funny business, okay? Promise.”

Though Lachlan didn’t move right away, Xeno waited silently, letting him work through his worries and insecurities. His patience paid off when Lachlan finally pushed away his own blanket and slid across the cushions.

His warm, lithe body fit so perfectly against Xeno’s side, and his head rested on Xeno’s chest as though it was meant to be there. He remained stiff and tense for several minutes, but eventually, his muscles relaxed, his heart rate slowed, and his breaths deepened into quiet, adorable snores.

When he curled in closer and fisted his hand in Xeno’s T-shirt, though, Xeno closed his eyes, pressed his lips to Lachlan’s forehead, and fell just a little bit in love.

Chapter four

Groaning as he cameawake, Lachlan rubbed against the soft fabric beneath his cheek and smiled. The gray light of early morning filled his living room, and those first bright rays of morning stretched his lips wider. He’d slept through the night, slept without waking in a cold sweat, and for once, his dreams hadn’t been plagued by darkness or the sound of screeching tires and breaking glass.

“Good morning,” Xeno greeted him around a yawn.

The anxiety from the previous night tried to crawl its way to the surface, but Lachlan shoved it back down. It felt good to be held, to just exist with another person, especially with Xeno. The man enchanted him, made him feel things he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Did I wake you?”

“No, sweetheart.” He pushed Lachlan’s hair back from his forehead and brush a tender kiss across his brow. “How about breakfast?”

The endearment, the kiss, the way Xeno looked at him, it overwhelmed Lachlan, causing his heart to pound and a lump to form in his throat. “We have the cinnamon rolls.”

“They’re probably hard as a rock by now.” With a casualness and familiarity that belied the short time they’d known each other, Xeno wound both arms around Lachlan and nuzzled his cheek. “What if you jump in the shower, and I’ll run down to the diner and get us some breakfast?”

His palms slicked with sweat, and his muscles trembled. “Y–Yeah, okay.” Lachlan didn’t know what he’d just agreed to, but when Xeno’s plump lips skimmed along his jawline, he didn’t really care, either.

“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Right then, Lachlan felt a lot of things, but not uncomfortable. All the blood in his body rushed southward, swelling his cock and making him lightheaded.

“Do you want me to stop?” Xeno asked when Lachlan didn’t respond to his first inquiry.

Did he? Things were moving too fast, and he couldn’t get his bearings. The realist in him knew he wasn’t ready for anything beyond kissing, but damn, he wanted that kiss. “No, don’t stop.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

The teasing lilt in Xeno’s voice soothed Lachlan’s nerves, but when their lips met, a whole new kind of tension emerged. Xeno’s tongue teased the seam of his lips, encouraging him to open, which Lachlan did with a lusty sigh. The slide of their tongues together ignited his body, made him crave things he shouldn’t want, not so soon. The way Xeno cradled his face and stroked his hair, however, elicited feelings of peace and safety.

The conflicting emotions warred for dominance while his rigid cock tented the fabric of his lounge pants, throbbing in rhythm with his pounding heart. The kiss deepened, pulling Lachlan under a wave of sensations and drowning his inhibitions. So lost in the melding of their lips, he made the mistake of forgetting is body’s limitation and pushed up on his knees in an attempt to get closer.

Searing pain exploded through his right hip and lanced down his thigh to his knee. “Wait, stop.” Falling back to the sofa, he kept one hand on Xeno’s chest and panted for breath. “I’m sorry.” Humiliation heated his cheeks, and he stared down at his erection rather than meet Xeno’s gaze. “I just…I…”

One, long finger slipped under his chin, and Xeno urged his head up until he had no choice but to look at the man. “You don’t have to explain.” He kissed Lachlan’s lips, soft, sweet, and chaste. “I’ll go get us breakfast.” After one more kiss, he rose to his feet and stretched his arms over his head. “We should pick up groceries at some point, though.”

“I have an app—” Lachlan stopped himself. He didn’t have to hide from Xeno or pretend to be someone he wasn’t. “I have physical therapy today at three, but we could go tomorrow.”

“Right, I forgot about that. Every Friday, isn’t it?”

“Yes, but how did you know that?”

“Grady.”

---