“Okay.” Graham frowned. “So you didn’t love him, but you also didn’t fuck anyone else when you were with him?”
“Thatwas mostly practical. They don’t sell condoms in the commissary, you know. Some guys use gloves from the medical unit but they’re hard to come by. And not exactly as effective.”
Graham hadn’t known any of that.
“Well, I’m glad you had Teddy,” he said, and meant it.
Thad frowned. “Yeah?”
“If he was what you needed then, I’m glad he was there for you.”
A brief, sad smile crossed Thad’s face. “He was.”
“So, monogamy,” Graham said firmly.
“Yeah. I won’t be hooking up with anyone else.”
“And I won’t be dating anyone else,” Graham said. “But you, uh, want to take the sex slow?”
“Not like … vow of celibacy slow,” Thad said with a crooked smile, tracing his fingertip along the curve of Graham’s lip.
The touch made him shiver. The thought of what else they could do only heightened that.
Thad continued. “But I think it’s good if we get to know each other better before we fuck.”
Graham swallowed at that word coming from Thad’s lips. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t heard him swear before. Hell, he’d heard him talk about sex plenty of times. But he’d never heard the word directed at him. About what they would do together. “Okay,” he whispered.
“It’ll give us both a little bit of time to get used to the idea of dating. In some ways, this is new for both of us.”
“True. Uh, whatareyou into? Like, in bed.”
Thad smiled. “Nothing that wild, I promise.”
“No?”
“At the end of the day, I love touching someone,” Thad said huskily. “Tasting them.”
“You don’t like, um, penetration?” Graham asked, surprised. Because, sure, some guys weren’t interested in it at all. But Thad? Really? That would surprise him. Especially because of what he’d said previously.
But maybe Graham had assumed wrong. Or, fuck, maybe there had been a bad experience in prison or something. Or even after.
Thad gave him another crooked smile. “Oh, no, I do. And we can talk about who does what to whom, if you want at some point. I’m flexible about most things, so we can work our way up to it and see what feels right for us.”
Graham shivered. “Yeah, okay.”
“So.” Thad dropped his head and brushed his lips across Graham’s. “Give me a little time, okay? I … I want to do it right with you, Graham. I want to be rightforyou.”
“Okay,” Graham said a little thickly. “Okay. Yeah, that sounds good.”
CHAPTER TEN
Thad’s head was reeling as he stepped out of Graham’s room a short while later.
It hadn’t been easy to leave, not with Graham sprawled out on the bed, hard in his jeans and looking completely fuckable.
But it had been the right choice. That he was sure of.
Now, Thad blinked at the brightness of the hallway lights, then blinkedagainwhen he saw his brother walking down the hall. Any remnants of Thad’s hard-on shriveled at the sight of Gavin and he was suddenly glad he’d taken the time to smooth down his hair and be sure he didn’t look too disheveled.
