He could feel Linc’s gaze burning a hole in his skin, but he refused to look at him. “I will not forget it. You’ve been moody for days. What is going on with you? Just talk to me. Whatever is on your mind, just… say it.”
“Why do you keep pretending you care about me?” Wyatt wanted to suck the question back the moment it left his lips, but it was too late. Linc froze. Wyatt wasn’t sure which one of them looked more horrified. “Just forget it,” he muttered, face in flames.
He slid off the stool, ducking under Linc’s arm, moving to do what he’d asked. Wyatt swept the remains of the sandwich into the garbage and wiped down the counter before replacing the peanut butter lid and returning it to the cabinet.
He could feel Linc watching him as he moved, but he refused to look up, refused to even acknowledge he still stood there. He just couldn’t. Linc’s silence was a knife twisting in his heart. What had he really expected him to say?
It was a testament to Linc’s military training that he never heard him coming, never even saw him move, just found himself pressed between Linc’s frame and the edge of the countertop now biting uncomfortably against his hips. Outside thunder rumbled and lightning lit up a nearly black sky. Linc’s hand closed around his throat, his other arm locking around his chest. Wyatt wished Linc’s arms didn’t feel like home.
“Do you remember the day you flooded the kitchen?” Linc asked huskily.
“Yeah,” was all he could manage.
“We were just like this. You were frantic… indignant… acting like the dishwasher had betrayed you. I wanted you even then. You were beautiful. Spoiled. A total brat. You were absolute perfection.” His lips skimmed along Wyatt’s ear, then his cheek. “I wanted you so badly I contemplated quitting. I couldn’t imagine spending the next six months trying to keep my hands off you.” Wyatt melted into him, his head resting on Linc’s chest, pressing himself back against Linc’s half-hard cock. “All I could think about was burying myself inside you. You’ve been under my skin since day one.”
Wyatt sucked in a breath when the hand on his chest plunged beneath the waistband of his pajama pants, roughly gripping his erection and stroking him. He couldn’t fight the whimper that escaped.
“I wanted to fuck you just like this, bent over the kitchen counter while you begged me to fill you up, make you mine.”
“Yes,” Wyatt breathed, suddenly wanting that more than anything.
Linc’s hand tightened around Wyatt’s throat. “Are you mine now?”
“Yes, Daddy,” he vowed, breath hitching.
“Only mine,” Linc rumbled.
Only ever his. Wyatt couldn’t imagine loving somebody else the way he did Linc, no matter how crazy it sounded. “Yes.”
Linc squeezed tighter still, cutting off Wyatt’s air supply, his heartbeat becoming erratic. “Yes, what?”
“Yes, Daddy,” he managed.
Linc allowed him to breathe, massaging his throat. “Say it.”
The words felt like a vow. “I’m yours, Daddy.”
“Yeah, you are. Just mine. Only mine.” He jerked Wyatt a few more times, but then his hand disappeared. “I wish I could fuck you right here.”
Wyatt sucked in a breath. He needed Linc inside him now, needed it more than he needed the air he gulped into his lungs. “Yes. Do it. Fuck me. Right here. Show me I’m yours.”
“Everything we need is in the bedroom.”
“You’re a fucking Marine… improvise,” Wyatt reasoned.
“I can improvise lube, but not condoms.”
Wyatt glanced over his shoulder. “I’m negative. My father had me tested after the cater-waiter. You?”
Linc searched his face for a long moment before he nodded. “Yeah, testing is mandatory in the military.”
Wyatt swallowed hard, his tongue darting out to lick over his lower lip. It was fucking stupid, reckless even. But he really was safe, and he trusted Linc was telling the truth. “Then do it. Fuck me. Right here. Come inside me. Mark me. Show me I’m yours in every way.”
Linc’s only response was a low growl and then he was shoving Wyatt’s pants down. He let his eyes drift shut as Linc bit along the side of his neck and shoulder, letting the pain soothe his ragged edges. Linc hadn’t said he cared, but it was close enough, good enough, more than Wyatt deserved.
After a moment, Linc’s slick fingers suddenly pressed against his entrance.
Wyatt gave a breathless laugh. “Is that… oil?”
