“Yeah?” Graham focused on Thad’s eyes again.
“Yeah. I finally have some anchor points now,” he said gruffly. “I’m done running. I’ve got important things to stay here for.”
Graham threaded his hand through Thad’s soft hair, then leaned in to kiss him, letting it linger. “Good,” he said when he finally drew back. “Because I want you here too.”
Thad smiled.
“Hey, where are the fucking graham crackers?” Tanner called out. “I need to make me another s’more.”
Graham sighed. Fuck, they really needed to be alone.
“Right here,” he said, letting go of Thad long enough to grab the package on the ledge of the firepit. He tossed it across the flames to Tanner, who caught it with a grin.
“Thanks for the graham crackers, G-man,” he called back. He cackled. “Oohh, buddy, I have a nickname for you now.”
“Ugh,” Graham said. This could be very bad. “What?”
“S’mores!” Tanner grinned, his smile blinding. “I’m totally calling you that from now on.”
Graham made a face. He didn’t hate it. It was way better thancracker. “If you must.”
Tanner cheered.
Thad chuckled, the vibration of it something Graham could feel against his own chest. “You are pretty sweet,” he said in Graham’s ear. “And you melt when I touch you …”
Graham turned his head, their lips brushing. “I still like it better when you call me your dirty boy.”
“Oh, trust me.Thatcan be arranged.”
“Like now?” Graham said. “Because our earlier fun got interrupted. Well, mine did anyway. You had quite the orgasm.”
Thad made a face. “It was something, I guess. I thought it was bad when we were talking about my brother when I was naked but having him bust in on us mid-nut was …” He shuddered. “I’m gonna needyearsof therapy to deal with that one.”
Graham chuckled. He could only imagine. “But you two are good now?”
“Yeah,” Thad said. “I think we are. I mean, we have a lot of fucking work to do. Tonight didn’t magically make that go away. But I think it’s the closest we’ve gotten in years to a real fresh start.”
“Good.” Graham squeezed him tighter. “Now, how about you take me home?”
“Well,aboutthat. I drove here, but it was stupid because I probably shouldn’t drive now.” He nodded toward the tray of empty shot glasses.
Graham shrugged. “So, we’ll take a ride share to my place and pick up the car in the morning …” He grimaced when he remembered something. “Oh, but then you’ll probably want to go home and sleep at your place, right?”
“Yeah.” Thad scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’d love to think I’ll be able to sleep at your apartment tonight now that we got everything out in the open, but I don’t know that it was really the problem and …”
“No, I get it. So, let’s sleep at your place tonight. See ifthatworks for us,” Graham offered.
“You don’t mind?”
“Nah.”
“What about Murphy?”
“Murphy is watching classic Halloween horror movies with Mrs. Glass. I knew it would be a late night for me, so I asked her to keep him at her place overnight. I don’t need to pick him up until early afternoon.”
“Perfect.” Thad grinned and reached down, squeezing his ass. “Let’sgo, baby.”
Mixed cheers and boos followed their exit, guys calling out various levels of congratulations and lewd suggestions about what they were going to get up to.
