“Do you want a drink or something?” he asked. “We can talk or get comfortable first?”
Thomas scratched at his temple, looking around Ben’s apartment with a nervous interest before his stare settled on the bulge between Ben’s legs.
“How old are you?” Thomas asked him.
“Twenty-eight,” he answered. “Is that a problem?”
“I’m older than you.”
“With age comes experience,” Ben said. His dickhurt, and he flattened it down with the heel of his palm. He barely stifled a groan and found himself hoping that Thomas didn’t want to drink or talk after all.
Thomas’s eyes tracked Ben’s hand down between his legs, and his mouth twitched into the briefest hint of a smirk before falling away.
“No,” Thomas answered him. “I don’t want a drink.”
CHAPTER4
THOMAS
“Didyou want me to show you the bedroom?” Ben asked.
Thomas swallowed down all of his apprehension and fear, wishing he could zap it from his bones, and answered Ben with a jerky nod. He had no idea what he was doing, no idea why he thought it had been a good idea to tell this ridiculously out-of-his-league younger man that he wanted to go to bed with him.
Thomas had spent nearly a week scrolling through One-Night, never quite ready to reach out to anyone, and no one had reached out to him either. But it was Valentine’s Day and he was lonely, and apparently Ben was lonely too, and Thomas didn’t really see the harm in taking care of his virginity once and for all. Not that he was really a virgin. He’d been with Jennifer for years, and girls before her too. He’d just never been with a man, and while he knew porn wasn’t a fair indicator of what actual male-on-male intercourse was, he was fairly certain he’d be able to pick up the logistics of it.
“How do you feel about kissing?” Ben asked when they reached the bedroom. The room was small but cute, plain white walls decorated with ornately framed paintings and art. The bed was simple, and the nightstand and dresser looked like they were from a box store.
What a weird thing, Thomas thought to himself, that Ben only had one nightstand. Even after moving out of the house and buying new furniture to begin the next chapter in his life as a single man, Thomas had bought matching nightstands. He hadn’t thought twice about it until seeing Ben’s single nightstand on the side of the bed that he clearly chose to sleep on.
As for the question, he had a lot of feelings about kissing in that he’d never kissed a man, and that felt like it should be a special thing. Not that sex shouldn’t be special, and he assumed it would be…the next time. Or worst case, the time after that.
“I’d rather not,” he answered.
Ben reached behind him and balled his shirt in his hands, rucking it up and over his head before tossing it onto the floor between their feet.
“That’s fine.”
Thomas’s shoulders sagged with relief that kissing wasn’t a deal breaker, and he matched Ben’s movements, taking off his own shirt and casting it aside. His gaze raked over the sharp angles and lines of Ben’s body, and Thomas fought to not feel self-conscious about his own. He was older, he had more life on him, but it was hard to not compare.He knew picking out a guy like Ben might have ended poorly for him. It could still end poorly, but he tried to ignore that. Ben was considerably younger, extremely good looking, and clearly experienced. Most importantly though, he didn’t want attachments, and neither did Thomas. Ben, for all of his benefits and leaps beyond Thomas’s league, was safe.
“Are you nervous?” Ben asked him.
“A little,” he confessed. “I don’t make a habit of this.”
Ben grinned and teased his fingers along the waistband of his shorts. “Should I feel special?”
Yes, Thomas thought emphatically, but he knew he couldn’t tell Ben why, so he answered with a casual shrug.
“So, no kissing,” Ben said, taking a step back toward the bed. “Any other limits?”
“I don’t think so. You?”
“Just don’t spit on me.” Ben shoved his shorts down, revealing a thick cock that bounced toward his stomach after snapping past the elastic waistband. Thomas tried really hard not to stare, but it was the first time he’d looked at another man’s cock in real life with a sexual intent.
He wanted to appreciate the moment, maybe savor it a little. And if he’d had any lingering doubt about his attraction to men, the way he got lightheaded when all of the blood in his body raced toward his dick eliminated it all. He popped open the button of his jeans and reached behind his underwear to palm his cock, unable to stop the groan that left his mouth.
“Do you like what you see, then?” Ben’s voice was heavy with teasing.
“Very much.”
