“I didn’t tell them,” I said quietly. “My family. About us. I had the chance, and I didn’t take it.”
“It’s okay.” No judgment in his voice. Just understanding.
“My mom basically handed me an opening. And I just…froze.” The shame of it burned in my throat. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He pulled back enough to look at me, his eyes soft in the dim light. “I know what it’s like to be scared of losing people. Even people who hurt you. Even people who don’t deserve the space they take up in your heart.”
I thought about my mother’s hands in the dish towel. My father’s cold dismissal. The way I’d spent twenty-two years trying to earn approval that was never going to come.
“Just promise me something.” Tanner cupped my face in his hands, thumbs brushing my cheekbones. “After the season. No more hiding. No more pretending. We tell people. Together.”
“I promise.” The words felt like a vow. Like the most important thing I’d ever said.
“Good.” He kissed me again, softer this time, lingering. “Now take me to bed,” he murmured against my lips. “I’ve spent four days missing you, and I’m done waiting.”
I didn’t need to be told twice.
I walked him backward toward the bedroom, my mouth never leaving his, hands already tugging at the hem of his shirt. We stumbled through the doorway, and I pulled the fabric over his head, tossing it somewhere behind me. His skin was warm under my palms, familiar in a way that made my chest ache.
“Missed you,” I said against his throat, pressing kisses down the column of his neck. “Missed this.”
“Show me.” His voice was rough, breathless. His fingers worked at my buttons, clumsy with urgency, until he gave up and just yanked. I heard something tear and didn’t care.
We fell onto the bed together, a tangle of limbs and half-removed clothes. I pinned Tanner beneath me, taking a moment just to look—the flush spreading down his chest, his lips swollen from kissing, his eyes dark with want.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” I told him.
He pulled me down, kissing me hard, his hips rolling up against mine. I could feel him through his jeans, hard and straining, and I ground down to meet him. The friction dragged a moan from both of us.
“Too many clothes,” he gasped.
I agreed. I sat back long enough to strip off what remained of my shirt, then went for his belt. Tanner lifted his hips to help me drag his jeans and boxers down, and then he was bare beneath me, cock flushed and leaking against his stomach.
I wrapped my hand around him, stroking slowly, watching his face. His head fell back, lips parting on a soft sound that went straight to my own cock.
“Seth—” My name came out broken. “Please.”
“I’ve got you.” I leaned down to kiss his hip, his inner thigh, everywhere but where he wanted me. He squirmed, fingers threading into my hair.
“Stop teasing.”
I smiled against his skin, then finally took him into my mouth. The sound he made was worth four days of being apart—desperate, relieved, like he’d been holding his breath and could finally let go. I worked him slowly, savoring it, relearning the weight of him on my tongue, the way his thighs tensed when I took him deeper.
“Fuck, your mouth—” His hips stuttered, fighting the urge to thrust. I held him down with one hand splayed across his stomach, the other reaching lower to cup his balls, rolling them gently. “I’m gonna— Seth, stop, I don’t want to come yet.”
I pulled off, pressing one last kiss to the head of his cock before crawling back up his body. He was trembling beneath me, chest heaving with ragged breaths, skin flushed and damp with sweat. When he kissed me, it was like he was drowning—desperate, clinging, his fingers digging into my shoulders hard enough to leave marks.
“Want you inside me,” he breathed against my mouth, the words barely more than a whisper. “Need to feel you. Please, Seth.”
The raw need in his voice undid something in me. I reached for the nightstand, fumbling blindly until my fingers closed around the bottle of lube and a condom. Tanner spread his legs wider, making room for me between his thighs, and the trust in that gesture—the vulnerability of it, the way he opened himself to me without hesitation—made something fierce and protective surge through my chest.
I uncapped the lube, coating my fingers until they were slick and dripping. He watched me with dark, heavy-lidded eyes, his bottom lip caught between his teeth, his cock still hard and leaking against his stomach. I circled his hole slowly, teasingly, watching the way his breath hitched, the way his hips tilted up seeking more.
“Seth—” His voice cracked.
I pressed the first finger inside, and his eyes fluttered shut, mouth falling open on a soft, punched-out sound. He was tight around me, hot and impossibly soft, and I had to remind myselfto go slow. I worked him carefully, feeling the resistance give way as he relaxed into the sensation, his hands fisting in the sheets on either side of him.
“That’s it,” I murmured, pressing deeper, curling my finger just slightly. “Just like that. Let me in.”
