Dante glances over in my direction and he lifts his hand, beckoning me forward. “How about you, we working you too hard?”
Even though we’re both hot and sweaty, I give in to the urge to lean against him. The power inside me swirls to life. I draw in his scent, Dante smells like worn leather with something musky underneath. Delicious. I brush my nose against his bare skin and low sound rumbles up my throat. Dante slides his fingers into my hair, his palms on my cheeks, and tips my face up so he can press his lips to mine.
He takes his time exploring my mouth, his tongue sliding past my lips to tangle with mine. I crawl my hands up his chest, loving the way his muscles bunch under my touch. Once my hands are up around his neck, I lock my fingers together and climb up his body, wrapping my legs around his waist. Dante takes my weight the moment my feet leave the ground, cupping my bottom and pulling me tightly against him.
My brash behavior is not even registering. Dante just accepts it, while I’m driven mostly by instinct alone. Keeping my arms over his shoulder I thread my fingers through his thick hair, tilting his head so I can deepen the kiss. Dante runs one of his hands over my butt and slides it up under my shirt, securing me to him firmly. I lock my ankles around his back and settle against him, enjoying the feel of his warm, hard body.
In the distance I hear car tires crunching along the driveway. Ares left to go to the store and to meet his parents so they could follow him back here. Reluctantly, I slow the kiss after several open-mouthed pecks, and I lean back and look down at him. Dante is slow to open his eyes, not making a move to release me.
I kiss his forehead and wrap my arms around his head, tucking him to my chest. Dante nuzzles his face against me, and I feel his chest expand as he drags in a deep breath. Walking over to the old green couch, he balances his butt on the back and I slide a little lower as he does, straddling his hips now. I feel his erection under me, and I tuck my face into his neck and close my eyes—it’s a fight not to rock against him.
A car door slams, followed quickly by another. I still don’t want to move, but I know I should. I give Dante one final, tight squeeze before lessening my hold on him. Dante grabs my hips and eases me down until my shoes touch the ground, and his forehead rolls across mine before he gives me another sweet kiss on the corner of my lips.
Ares reaches the open garage door with a white Styrofoam cooler in his arms. Dante lays his arm over my shoulder. “Do you need a hand grabbing anything?”
“Here, if you want to take this I can go get changed. I had Mom grab me something.” Ares holds out the cooler.
Dante steps away from me and takes it, flipping the lid up to look inside. He grabs a Gatorade and holds it outto Ares,then reaches back in for a couple waters. “If you’re going up, take this to Milo.” Dante gestures to the drink in Ares’s hand.
Ares looks around, stepping closeras he does. “You guys already got a lot of stuff done.” He pulls the plastic bottle from my hands and drops a kiss quickly to my lips. I peek up at Dante to see his reaction, but he’s looking around the garage, already stacked with furniture.
“This isn’t evenhalf of it, those people had way too much shit.” Dante cracks the lid on one bottle and hands it overto mefirst.
I take it happily, tipping my head back and gulping down the icy cold liquid.
When half the bottleis gone, I look back up and find both of the guys watching me. “Thirsty?” Ares questions.
I look at the bottle in my hand wondering why they’re staring at me. “Ah yeah, did you want some?” I offer the bottle to them, thinking maybe I drank too much, and maybe he only picked up a few.
Heavy footsteps on the stairs have me turning away before they answer. Milo is coming down the steps slowly. His arms wrapped around the bottom half of a recliner. “You want a hand?” Dante offers.
“Nah, everybody is here, I figured I’d bring this down before we took a break.” Milo sets the chair near the corner, and then he stands and looks around. “Unless westart stacking stuff on top of each other, we’re about out of room.”
Ares extends his hand out to Milo, the orange drink he asked for held out. Milo grabs it, taking a few sips while still surveying the garage.
“We could put stuff over there.” Dante points to a heavy door.
“Definitely some boxes and stuff, but it’ll suck to getthe bigger stuff through that door,” Milo tells him, closing the lid to his drink and tossing it onto oneof the couches.
“I’m going to go get changed. Why don’t you guys come up so we can show everyone around, then figure out where to pile the rest of thisshit.” Ares’s fingers brush along my neck as he passes me to head for the stairs.
Milo and Dante turn to follow him up, I trail behind them. I can hear Ollie before I see him. “I thought it was too small when we first looked at it, but now that all the furniture is out of here it’s not too bad.”
As I reach the top of the stairs, I see Linda and Matt walking around the kitchen, opening cabinet doors and looking over the counters. “Ireallylike it.” Linda spins, going closer to the window. Her hand comes up to touch the glass, “Look out there, you can see forever.”
Matt notices us first. “Hey guys.” A wide grin overtakes his face. “How’s being a first-time homeowner treating you.”
Ares continues past them. “No complaints from me.”
“Youhaven’t done anything!” Ollie calls to him as he walks away.
“It’s not like you’ve done much other thandelegate.” Milo crosses his arms over his chest with his eyebrows raised.
Ollie points at his head. “It’s all up here—paint, flooring, furniture. Somebody has to think ahead, take care of the hard stuff.”
Dante snorts and shakes his head. Their easy banter has me grinning. Ares returns, he’s in a short-sleeved, dark gray t-shirt with a loose pair of gym shorts. I’ve seen Ares in his boxers, butfor some reasonhe looks strange in the shorts.
He looks down at himself when I don’t stop staring. “What?”
