“What? No. I barely knew him. He asked me to suck him off, so I did, a lot, until I realised he thought he was too good to return the favour.”
“He never did?”
“No.”
“Wow. He sounds like a treat.”
“He was an arsehole. But I was... I don’t know. Desperate is too strong, but it was kind of like that. I wanted him to touch me. Like, craved it. Not from him in particular, but from anyone. He just happened to be my best hope.”
“And it didn’t pan out?”
Luis shook his head. “Not even a little bit.”
“Was there anyone else?”
“No.”
Paolo did the maths. “So is my blowjob-addled brain correct in assuming no one has made you come sincebeforeyou went to prison six years ago.”
“What makes you think I didn’t score the second I came out?”
“I don’t know. But I don’t think you did. I think taking care of yourself, in any way whatsoever, was the last thing on your mind.”
“You seem pretty sure of how my mind works.”
“Am I wrong?”
“About what? My selflessness or lack of sex life?”
“Both.”
Luis made a low noise in the back of his throat. “Why do you see me so well? I don’t get it. No one else does.”
“Maybe no one else is looking.”
“That’s too fucking true to contemplate right now.”
He was right. Rolling around on Paolo’s bed, clothes disappearing as fast as Paolo could strip them away, contemplating anything that wasn’t making Luis shudder and groan wasn’t going to happen. It had been a hell of a day, and it was turning into a hell of a night, but once Paolo had Luis exactly how he wanted him—naked, on his back, eyes wide with desire—nothing else mattered. He took Luis apart with his hands and mouth, drawing him into a climax that seemed to last for hours. Then, when Luis was done, Paolo came again, painting his belly.
They didn’t shower. Sleep came too easily, and Paolo drifted away with Luis’s head on his chest.
9
It was still dark when Luis woke up. He came to slower than usual and without the kickstart to his pulse. The shot of fear he’d never truly understood. Instead, he opened his eyes to the warmth of another body pressed against him from behind, strong arms wrapped around him, and morning wood digging into his back.
Paolo. He relaxed even more.
Everything was misty, like a dream, but the dick carving a hole in his spine was real. A smile formed even before Paolo’s bedroom took shape. Luis was bone tired, his legs ached, and his eyes scratched like sandpaper, but god, he felt good. For the first time in fuck knew how long, he felt... alive.
He felt human.
Human enough that his bladder drove him out of bed and down the hall to Paolo’s tiny bathroom.
Luis relieved himself and stumbled back to the bedroom.You should go.
But Paolo’s sleeping form reeled him in. He hadn’t moved. He was deeply asleep, dark hair a riot that made him even more gorgeous than normal. Luis lay down next to him and brushed it off his forehead. He traced the shadows beneath Paolo’s eyes, wishing them away, and glanced around for something to cover him with. They hadn’t made it into bed. Had passed out sticky and sweaty, kissing until they fell asleep.
Luis had never spent an entire night in a man’s bed. Too busy with thug life for sleepovers. Perhaps he’d missed out on a hundred mornings like this, but he doubted it. He’d never been with anyone like Paolo. No one who saw him like Paolo did. Knew things without Luis having to say them. And fuck,no onehad ever touched him like Paolo. Made him shout like that when he came, and the whole world had turned white.Fucking-A, that shit was off the scale.
