Charlie wiggled her brows. “Even better. Have a fling. A super-hot affair. They write movies about stuff like this. You guys have five months to fuck each other’s brains out. Chances are, by the time those five months are done you’ll both be ready to say goodbye. I know I usually am.”
“It’s not that simple,” Linc assured her… and himself. It couldn’t be that easy.
Charlie waved off his statement. “Fucking is never simple, but it’s almost always worth it.”
“Still none of your business,” Wyatt groaned.
“Fine, whatever,” she conceded. “Anyway, I stopped by to let you know I’m your plus one for your father’s stupid fundraising dinner tomorrow.”
“You already know about that?” Wyatt asked.
Once more, she scoffed. “Duh, Graciela told Natasha, who told my mom, who told me. So, I came straight away to tell you I’d be reporting tomorrow night for beard duty.”
“My dad hates you,” Wyatt reminded her.
“Yeah, but he hates that you’re gay more. So straight son dating the rich daughter of liberal actress trumps gay son who secretly likes to get choked and fucked by his big, beefy bodyguard. He’ll deal.”
Wyatt winced. “Stop saying that.”
“Mm, no. You obviously want to bone each other. I hate subtext and innuendo. Just do it. I’ll be your cover. Tell your dad it will sell the whole straight playboy thing if I’m your fake girlfriend; he’ll be so annoyed by you choosing me he’ll never even notice you banging Captain America.”
Linc should have shut down the entire conversation. Having Charlie on board was helpful but not foolproof. It was still dangerous. They could still lose everything if anybody found out. Besides, Wyatt wasn’t stable enough for the kind of relationship Linc demanded of the boys he played with. Linc wasn’t sure he was stable enough either. He always insisted on a layer of protection—no attachments, just scenes and aftercare and then they went their separate ways. The others had understood the arrangement. But Linc was already too attached to Wyatt, he already cared. He held his tongue, though. He wanted Wyatt and if Wyatt wanted to take the risk, Linc knew deep in his gut he’d never be able to tell him no.
Wyatt watched Linc’s face, so he tried to keep his face neutral. Wyatt’s disappointment in Linc’s lack of response was obvious. Finally, he said to Charlie, “I can’t ask you to do that.”
She scoffed. “Ask? Please, I volunteered. You’re not a true celebrity until you’ve bearded for at least one closet case, anyway. I consider it another box to check on my Road-to-Hollywood checklist. Anyhoo, I’m gonna go try to find an appropriately inappropriate dress for your father’s dinner tomorrow. You guys probably have a lot to talk about.”
And then she left, leaving them on the patio with a mountain of tension between them.
Wyatt’s veins thrummed like somebody had electrified his blood. He didn’t speak. He couldn’t. What the fuck was he even supposed to say? Charlie had pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it to Wyatt as she walked away. But Linc had to know Wyatt wanted him, wanted this… more than anything. He had to. It was Linc that kept saying it couldn’t work between them, that it was too risky. Wyatt had accepted Linc at his word, but now that Charlie had put the offer on the table between them, Wyatt couldn’t remember ever needing anything more. Five months of Linc as his Daddy was more than he’d ever dared hope for and if he said no, Wyatt wasn’t sure he’d recover.
“Do you want—” Linc started.
“Yes,” Wyatt interrupted.
Linc tilted his head, narrowing his eyes. “You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
Wyatt’s hands flailed. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter what you were going to say. The answer is yes. Whatever you want… I’ll always say yes.”
Linc closed the distance between them, locking his hands in Wyatt’s hair and crushing their mouths together. He melted into him, tasting the coffee on Linc’s tongue and reveling in the scratch and burn of Linc’s stubble on his tender skin. Linc walked them backward toward the house, never breaking the kiss. When Wyatt stumbled, Linc’s hands hooked under his thighs, lifting him like he weighed nothing. Wyatt’s legs encircled Linc’s waist, their lower bodies aligning in a way that had Wyatt moaning.
When Linc finally tore his mouth away, his gaze bore into him. “You have to be sure. You don’t really understand how these arrangements work; there are contracts and limits. You’re a virgin, and I’ve never done something like this with somebody inexperienced.”
Wyatt held his gaze. “I’m only a virgin in the technical sense. My hard limits are no humiliation, no water sports, no sharing me with anybody else. My soft limits are what we talked about last night. I want to… bottom… with you but I don’t know if my body will…” He broke off, looking over Linc’s shoulder, sure it would be a deal-breaker.
Linc dragged his thumb over Wyatt’s lower lip. “Understood.”
Linc dropped them both onto the sofa, bringing Wyatt down to straddle his lap. Linc studied him until Wyatt couldn’t help but ask, “What?”
“You know more about this stuff than I thought.”
Wyatt rolled his eyes with a smile. “I told you you’d make a good Daddy the first night we met. Did you think I hadn’t done my fair share of Googling? Porn’s free now, old man.”
“Is that how you get yourself off at night? Watching Daddies dominate their boys?” Linc rumbled, one hand fisting in Wyatt’s hair, the other yanking him closer until they were flush against each other.
Wyatt couldn’t help but rock himself against Linc’s half-hard cock. Linc slapped his ass hard enough to make him hiss.
“Stop that. We’re talking now,” Linc said even as his rough hands skimmed Wyatt’s torso and chest, his thumbs tracing over Wyatt’s flat nipples. “Daddy asked you a question.”
