“If it’d make you feel better, we can head back to my place,” Nixon quipped. “This is me trying to meet you in the middle. I promised you I would, but I realized I’d been doing a shit job of it.”
“You’re doing fine,” I assured him. After glancing around to make sure no one could see us as we walked between two buildings, I leaned in and placed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I know it’s going to take time for you to believe that the world won’t end if you let people in. Lucky for you, I’m a patient man.”
“Yeah, I guess you are,” he agreed, resting his head on my shoulder as we came to a stop. “Iamtrying, Linc. I don’t want to stay locked away from the rest of the world. It took watching you struggle to deal with this Patrick stuff on your own for me to realize how me being an asshole affects everyone around me. I don’t want you deciding you can’t keep waiting around on me to get my head out of my ass.”
“I won’t,” I promised.
These heavy moments were reassuring in a way. They told me what Nixon and I shared was real, not some passing fling we’d both look back on years from now, wondering what went wrong. Whether or not Nixon realized it, he did little things every day to show me he was committed to us.
We walked until the sun set behind us. Someday, we’d do this while holding hands, leaning into one another, but for now, it was enough to simply be together. Nixon complained every time a kid cut him off, but it was easy to see he wasn’t truly pissed off. And he made a point; their parents should’ve been somewhere in the vicinity, keeping their kids from getting hurt because no one was paying attention.
The beach cleared out as the skies grew darker, leaving us cocooned in our own little world. A rumble of thunder in the distance warned us to turn back unless we wanted to get caught in the storm. While Hollywood made it look romantic, I most definitely did not want to walk back to the car in soaking wet clothes.
By the time Nixon pulled into the garage at home, I felt energized. He’d helped me talk through my plans and seemed to agree it might be one way to get through to players.
I pulled up a stool at the island, smiling when a glass of water appeared next to me as I tapped away at the keyboard. I wanted to get these ideas down before we went to bed.
Tomorrow, while Nixon was at work, I’d try and mold them into something a bit more cohesive, and maybe I’d finally follow through with calling Patrick to see how he was doing. If it was a good day, I’d run my idea past him and maybe he’d agree to help me as much as he could.
“Hey, I’m going upstairs,” Nixon said, draping his arms over my shoulders.
He kissed the side of my neck and I cocked my head to the side, opening up for more. He hummed softly, the vibration shooting through my body. Work would still be here in the morning; for now, it was time to reconnect with Nix.
It hit me as I closed my laptop and slid off the stool that I’d been neglecting Nixon, obsessed with wanting to do something to help Patrick and protect Hunter to the point of pushing Nix to the side. Now I was the one who needed to meet him in the middle.
“You don’t have to come up right now. I know you’re excited to finally have the start of a plan.”
“I am,” I agreed as we reached the top of the steps. I grabbed Nixon’s waist, pushing him back against the wall. As I ground our hips together, my fingers worked at the buttons on his shirt, needing to feel skin against skin. “But I’m more excited to spend some time with you.”
“I can tell,” he teased, sidestepping his way across the landing, pressing his palm to my erection. We separated, leaving a trail of clothes from the door to the bed as we stripped. By the time the backs of my knees hit the edge of the mattress, we were both naked as the day we were born. I pressed my hand to his chest, wondering if I’d ever tire of the contrast of his paler skin against my own dark complexion. “You going to pet me all night or are we going to fuck?”
“Always such a way with words,” I quipped, pulling him down as I flopped onto the bed. “And no, we’re not going to fuck. Fucking is something you do with a buddy or some random guy you meet in a bar. I plan to show you just how much I love you tonight.”
“Yeah?”
I smacked his chest. “Yes, you grouchy idiot. I love you. If I didn’t, it’d be easier for me to fly home.”
“If you need to go—” I cut off his offer by pressing my mouth to his. I appreciated that he wasn’t clingy and trying to get me to pack up and move to North Carolina, but he needed to believe that I was right where I wanted to be.
He moaned as I nipped my way along his bottom lip, curling my leg around his so I could flip him onto his back. He opened his mouth to speak, so I pinched a nipple before kissing him again. I’d do this all night if I had to, however long it took to make him realize I wasn’t going anywhere.
Wilmington was already becoming home to me. Alabama was the place I flew every other weekend to see my son, but he wasn’t around much, which left me plenty of time to calculate the hours until I’d be back in this bed, sleeping with Nixon’s body covering me like my favorite blanket. Nixon smiled up at me when I broke the kiss long enough to breathe. “So, I take it that’s your way of saying thanks for the offer?”
Nixon took my shock at his more playful demeanor to regain the upper hand. He flipped me over like it was nothing and ground his dick against mine. I moaned, momentarily forgetting that he’d asked me a question.
“Yeah, something like that,” I finally responded. I tried to wrap my arms around Nixon’s back, but he slid out of my grasp, coming back with the bottle of lube and two condoms. That might be a bit ambitious for tonight, but it never hurt to be prepared. His fingers traced every ridge and valley of my torso, sending shockwaves through my body. I hadn’t realized until that exact moment how distant I’d been, how much I needed this intimacy with the man I loved.
He looked at me through hooded eyes, his pupils dilated to the point there was barely a ring of light blue at the edge. When his tongue peeked out from between his lips as his gaze traveled to my cock, I swear I could practically feel it. My cock twitched, anxious to get on with the show, because no way was I going to last.
“Need you. Please,” I begged him, curling my hands around his biceps, trying to pull him down for a kiss. But Nixon had other plans. He doubled over, parting his lips just far enough to tease the head of my dick. I fisted the sheets, willing myself to keep from tangling my hands in his hair, taking control so I could fuck his mouth.
My heart raced with need I’d rarely felt before, even with Nixon. Something had changed tonight; neither of us were holding back how we truly felt. My pleas turned to incoherent rambling every time he took me deeper into his mouth, sucking hard, reaching between my legs. My balls tightened to my body at the feel of his skin. I moaned, reached up to push him away.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, concern deeply furrowing his brow. I ran my hand down his arm, hating that I’d caused him to have any doubt. For months—hell, years—I’d worked at getting him to trust me, but my recent distance had brought his old fears back to the surface.
“Absolutely nothing,” I assured him, wrapping my fingers around the back of his neck, pulling him down for a tender kiss. “Unless you count the fact that I’m too old to last long as a problem.”
“You’re younger than me,” he quipped, rolling over me. Our dicks fitted perfectly beside one another and he began rocking slowly. I was still perilously close to the edge, so I gripped his hips to take control of his movement.
