“Two floors away,” Ben panted. “Benefits of the basement.”
And then Alexei forgot about Ben’s parents, too, because soon he was naked, and Ben was yanking off his own shirt, and Alexei was so hard, he couldn’t think straight.
“Lex,” Ben said into Alexei’s neck, trailing openmouthed kisses down to his collarbone, “God, I am so glad you’re here, Lex.”
“You are?”
Alexei knew, in the logical part of his brain, that of course Ben was glad he was here. But the part of Alexei’s brain that felt vulnerable and uncertain about all this still felt gratified to hear Ben say it.
“Yes, Lex. God, I forgot howcuteyou are,” Ben said, aggressive, punctuating it with a light bite to Alexei’s left pectoral that made Alexei gasp. “Being all quiet and polite and sweet all the time.God.I’ve wanted to fuck you senseless ever since the plane landed.”
Ben’s clothes were now fully removed, too, and he grabbed Alexei’s hand and brought it to him, as if to show the proof of this statement. He groaned as Alexei’s hand made contact, his head dropping heavily toward Alexei’s chest.
“And then tonight,” he wheezed, voice strained, “you actually danced with me. I wasn’t sure if you would. But you did, and ugh, all I wanted was to drag you to the bathroom and take you in my mouth.”
“Ben.” Alexei shuddered.“I’m going to come right now if you keep talking like that.”
“Good,” Ben grunted. “But don’t.”
His tongue swirled around Alexei’s nipple. Alexei closed his eyes, focused on regulating his breathing, on not shoving his hips too violently into Ben’s.
“I just love you being here. In my house, in my town. Meeting my family and all my people.”
Ben lifted his face to hover above Alexei’s, eyes going tender. He ran his knuckles down Alexei’s cheek.
“My family is like…they’reme, you know?”
A gap opened up in Alexei’s chest. Like when the first rattlesnake had stolen his breath away.
He wanted to say,I know.
I know.
Because my family used to be me, too.
He tried to gasp air back into his lungs as Ben moved again, his mouth moving down Alexei’s torso. There wasn’t time for this, for his crisis about his family, when Ben’s body was moving so frantically, when Alexei wanted this so much, just Ben, just here and now.
“And Carolina loves you, by the way.”
“Really?” Alexei blinked, mind whirring. “She does?”
Ben returned to Alexei’s mouth for a deep, blistering kiss.
“Oh yeah.” He leaned back to grin, his fingers tickling down Alexei’s side. “She cornered me before we left. I believe her exact words were, ‘That boy is the most earnest person I’ve ever met. If you weren’t already in love with him, I think I might be.’”
Ben leaned back on his heels, nudging Alexei’s leg with his hand. “Can you flip over? I think I want you on your knees, if that works for you.”
Alexei flipped over without thinking. They had tried this before. They had tried lots of things in Tehachapi, the sole other king bed they had found between Cajon Pass and Kennedy Meadows. They had taken a full zero there, hardly left the bed other than to do laundry and shopping. It had been educational and wonderful.
Alexei had topped once in Tehachapi, and it had been good, if a bit nerve-racking. But Alexei was glad for Ben to be in control tonight. More than happy to be on his hands and knees for him.
It was only when Ben’s fingers began tickling down Alexei’s lower back did the words he had spoken sink into Alexei’s brain.
“Ben,” he said, “did you just say you’re in love with me?”
“Did I?” Ben rubbed his erection between Alexei’s cheeks with a light groan. “Oh, I guess I did. Or rather, Carolina did. Fucking A, let’s not talk about my baby sister right now.”
“You brought it up,” Alexei muttered, head dropping onto Ben’s pillow.
