“And taking risks,” Gabriel added, just as quietly.
“Am I the Fool?” Drew said, looking up at Gabriel. Their faces were very close. Gabriel could almost count Drew’s long eyelashes.
“You’re the Fool, but notafool,” Gabriel said. “At least, I hope you’re not.”
“Would it be foolish if I kissed you right now?” Drew said, and Gabriel’s heartbeat, which was already racing, thudded against his sternum.
“No,” he said. “It would be perfect.”
Chapter 10
Drew
Gabriel’s kiss tasted slightly of salt and of beer.Drew had leaned forward, though he hardly needed to move, and kissed him. The kiss wasn’t tentative, but it wasn’t overly passionate, either. It was steady and intentional and exploratory. Gabriel had encouraged him to embrace new beginnings and take risks, and that was what he was doing.
The entire day felt like it had been leading to this. An extended act of foreplay in which they had slowly been growing more comfortable with each other, opening up bit by bit, letting each other in.
By now, Drew was certain what he wanted: he wanted Gabriel.
Their first kiss was long and slow, gently exploring each other’s mouths. Drew cradled the back of Gabriel’s head in one of his hands, and Gabriel’s fingers rested on Drew’s thigh.
Drew pulled away. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now,” he said.
“So have I,” said Gabriel. His eyes were wide, and his cheeks were red. “You don’t care that I’m younger than you?”
“You’re an adult, and you’re mature.” Drew hesitated. He didn’t want this to be a circumstance where he accidentally took advantage of Gabriel. “I know that the power balance here seems strange, with who I am. I hate saying that. It makes me sound full of myself. But I want to acknowledge it, and I want to make it very clear that if this isnotsomething you want to do, I have no intention of pressuring you into that.”
“I completely understand,” Gabriel said, “and I absolutely want this. Would you like to go to my bedroom?”
“Lead the way.”
They didn’t make it all the way to the bedroom before kissing again. Drew pressed Gabriel up against a wall in the hallway, knocking pictures askew, and kissed him again. Gabriel’s hands roamed under Drew’s shirt, feeling the hard muscles of his chest. Drew shivered at Gabriel’s cool touch and bit lightly on Gabriel’s bottom lip, causing Gabriel to moan in pleasure.
“I don’t know what you’ve done to me,” Drew said. “It’s like you have this power over me, and I’m powerless against it. I’ve barely been able to resist you since meeting you.”
“Stop resisting,” Gabriel said.
And so Drew stopped resisting. He had longed, his entire mature life, to share an intimate emotional connection with a physical or sexual partner. He had thought he’d had it with Quentin, but Quentin had always been reserved and guarded, mostly holding himself back from Drew. Gabriel held nothing back. He presented himself wholly to Drew. They had known each other for only a week, but Drew felt like heknewGabriel already. He saw Gabriel for who he was, and he liked what he saw.
Words failed to express what he wanted to say, but his body was able to say it. He kissed Gabriel with passion and desire, his hands roaming all over Gabriel’s body. Gabriel was strong, muscular, and firm beneath Drew’s hands.
“Is this okay?” Drew gasped, and Gabriel nodded frantically as Drew reached down to grip Gabriel’s cock through his shorts. Gabriel moaned, his head tipping back against the wall, as Drew kissed his neck.
“You don’t know how badly I’ve wanted this,” Gabriel said.
“I think I do,” Drew said, “because I’ve also wanted it.”
“Bed,” Gabriel said. “Take me to the bed.”
“Show me where it is.”
Gabriel’s bedroom was small, with an old bed, large windows, and a lamp beside the bed. They closed the door with their bodies, kissing against it, and then Drew laid Gabriel on the bed, still kissing him. They took their shirts off in a struggle of limbs and kisses, tossing them aside. Gabriel was beautiful beneath him, tanned and shirtless and sweating and smiling.
“Just let me know how far you want to go,” Drew said. He kissed Gabriel’s neck and then his chest. Gabriel moaned in pleasure.
“Keep going,” he said.
Drew kissed Gabriel’s stomach, tasting the salt of his sweat. “And this?” he murmured, looking up at Gabriel.
