“Yeah,” said Kell. “I’ll get some clean clothes and a towel and meet you there.”
Such an ordinary thing to say, so ordinary, so everyday. A response to the opportunity to cool down after working hard on a very warm summer day. But it was more than that, and had Marston made himself clear? It was almost as if he was on a runaway truck that he’d willingly gotten behind the wheel of, only he’d not enough breath to shout out a warning to everyone around him. How fast it was going. How he had no brakes.
I want you, his heart said.You make me feel—
Breath catching in his chest, Marston laid his hand over his heart as he watched Kell rush away, almost jogging, steps sure and strong and steady, a dapple-green shade falling over him as he vanished into the woods.
Kell made him feel just about everything, all the feelings he’d stuffed down for so long, all the feelings he’d forgotten how to feel. All of that. He wanted it now.
But did Kell want it too?
He needed to find out, all of his attention focused on that idea as he made sure the power was off on the saws and tools, and zipped the pavilion closed. Even if he was being foolish, he’d be more heartsick if he didn’t try, that he knew.
Chapter25
Kell
Kell was not so new to the world that he didn’t understand what Marston’s invitation really meant, below the surface. That an invitation to cool off in the shower wasnotjust an invitation to cool off in the shower.
The slow, simmering looks Marston had been sending his way all morning, mid-morning, afternoon, could not be mistaken. Nor could Kell’s body’s reaction. There was a tightness in his belly, a looseness in his joints, a heady sensation as if his brain had been pumped full of a chemical that opened his eyes and widened every nerve to the point where every movement, everything he touched, saturated him, made him feel tall and strong and desired. And, perhaps, loved.
Sex wasn’t love, even he knew that, as inexperienced as he was. But it was connection, part of what was growing between him and Marston. In the moments between the glances and unspoken words and the small, half smiles Marston sent his way, perhaps even without realizing it.
At his tent, Kell grabbed his shower stuff, his towel, and the cleanest shirt he could find. Everything he owned was in a jumble, so it took him a few moments to dig, turning over his pillow, the pile of dirty clothes at the end of his cot. Thank goodness Wayne wasn’t there, or he would have been heaping snide remarks all over Kell’s bubbling sense of joy.
He’d had his first kiss, and now—now, he’d have his first time. It was as if the universe was rewarding him for the fact that he’d been brave enough to run away from home. Stupid enough, perhaps, to get himself arrested, but, along the way, he’d put one foot in front of the other over miles and miles, and now here he was.
Care to join me?Marston had asked. Yes, of course, the answer was and would always be yes.
Racing to the shower left him breathless and even more sweaty, but as Kell looked around, fingers clenching around his towel and shower gear, Marston wasn’t there. There was just the empty row of shower stalls and the midday echo of birdsong coming through the screens near the roofline.
For a hard second, Kell let himself imagine that Marston had decided that the shower was a bad idea, that the two of them should not, most definitely should not, get naked and wet and fool around. His heart thumping hard against his breastbone, Kell forced those thoughts away. It wasn’t fair to not give Marston the benefit of the doubt. It was the middle of the afternoon, so maybe he’d gotten held up by Gabe asking him to take care of something—
And then Marstonwasthere, stepping close behind Kell, gently touching his cheek as if stroking away a stray hair. He had a rolled-up towel under his arm, and his ratty shaving kit and, clutched in his hand, a new bar of soap, Kirk’s Castile, and a clean, folded washcloth.
“I thought—” began Marston, and he husked in a breath, mouth moving, almost wordless, as if he’d forgotten why he was there. That he’d invited Kell to join him. That what he wanted was something Kell wanted, too.
Which, oddly, relaxed Kell to the point where he gently placed his palm on Marston’s chest and moved in close, feeling as though he’d stepped into a fantasy from his high school days, dreamy yet more real, for Marston’s heart was thudding beneath Kell’s hand and his skin was warm through his snap-button shirt.
“I think,” said Marston, finally, the words coming in a low gasp. “All the stalls are the same size.” Then he shook his head as if at his own inanity. “Anyway—”
Leaning forward to kiss him, Marston’s eyes were on Kell, watching, as if testing, as if asking,This okay?The answer was yes, of course it was. Kell rose on his toes to meet that kiss, toward that warmth, the tender curve of Marston’s mouth like a brush of rose petals.
Even better than the first kiss, this second one grew from warmth to an electric pulse, the flick of Marston’s tongue startling him, the slight sound he made. The way Marston withdrew, seemed to memorize Kell’s face with his eyes, and then cupping the back of his head, kissed him again. Absorbed him, an insistent urge, that hand on his skull steady and strong, yet gentle, too.
This kiss outshone even his wildest dreams, locker room fantasies, hallway musings as he brushed past his latest crush. Marston was real, cloth tight across his shoulders as he bent to place his things in the little room in front of the last shower stall, the most private one. Water mist roiled up, warm in the warm air, and Kell placed his things on the little wooden bench as well, and his fingers reached for the snaps on his shirt.
“Let me.”
Marston’s fingers were gentle on those snaps, soft on Kell’s neck as he pulled the collar away and shifted the shirt off his shoulders, until Kell was half bared, the shirt trailing from the waistband of his jeans.
“Boots, first,” said Marston. “I’m not thinking this through.”
With a soft laugh, they both lifted their booted feet to the bench and unlaced their yellow boots, and it was with a grateful sigh that Kell dragged those boots off and peeled off his dust speckled socks. Marston did the same, and then Kell reached up to help him take off his shirt, marveling at the dense strength of Marston’s chest as he unsnapped buttons and pulled the cloth off Marston’s shoulders.
Marston took Kell’s shirt and folded it and then did the same with his own. Now they were half naked together, their chests bare, sweat on their necks, dusty bare toes on the flagstone floor.
“This fancy shower,” said Marston with a shake of his head, as if they’d been discussing the state of it and how, the following summer, only folks who could afford it would be able to leave the water running.
