“I don’t want you living out of a suitcase anymore. I don’t want you to be a guest.”
He waved a hand toward Luca’s bookshelves.
“Bring your things.”
Still, Luca just stood there, while Emerson slowly died.
Until, finally, the corner of Luca’s mouth curved.
“I don’t need to bring any of these things. I’m good with them living here.”
Emerson breathed out. Luca’s half smile felt good, but the rollercoaster of the last forty-eight hours, the enormity of the unknowns of the future were still roiling through Emerson’s gut, a massive, slow-moving wave.
Luca craned his neck, staring around at his room like it was the first time he was seeing it.
“I’ll probably move some stuff from my cabin, though.”
His gaze met Emerson’s again, shiny and smiling ever bigger, and Emerson’s chest began to settle, the wave receding, at least a few inches, at least for now.
“Good,” he said, hands resting on his hips like he’d just finished a long day in the fields. “Good.”
“You wanna go see it next, actually?My cabin, I mean. Before we head home. Like a—” Luca waved a hand, and Emerson wanted to reach out and grab it, bite down on Luca’s knuckles. “A whole Luca Yaeger tour. I mean.” He laughed like he’d laughed back in the car, self-deprecating and joyful all at once. “I already brought you here, so. Why the fuck not, right?”
“Yes,” Emerson answered. “I would love that.”
And then he couldn’t stand it anymore, and he backed Luca up against the nearest wall and kissed him. Luca kissed back, as aggressive as he’d been in the old barn, reaching for Emerson’s hips, pulling them closer.
“Was it okay,” Emerson said between kisses, “that I brought upDriftat dinner? Sorry if it wasn’t.”
Luca growled, pressing his growing erection into Emerson’s stomach.
“Yeah, it was okay. You are—” But then he kissed Emerson again, both hands clutching Emerson’s face, and never finished his sentence.
“When we get home,” Emerson said a few minutes later, feeling overheated and brave once more, “I want to fuck you again. On our sides this time, like you said.”
“Mm,” Luca agreed, kissing him as he said, “Eat me out first, though.”
“Yeah,” Emerson breathed back. “Yeah. Anything you fucking want, Luca.”
“God, we gotta—” With a groan of frustration, Luca pushed Emerson back. Just enough to have some breathing room—they were still connected at the hips—but far enough. “I haven’t been this hard in this room in like…over a decade.”
Emerson rubbed his thumb against the hem of Luca’s t-shirt.
“You bring a lot of boys back here in high school? Or—” He pulled back another inch, “Girls?”
Luca shook his head with a shy smile.
“Always been boys for me. But yeah, no. Never.”
“Not even the baseball player?”
Luca laughed, still shy, a little breathless, and Emerson wanted to devour him.
“Definitely not the baseball player. You’re, um. The first one.”
Despite himself, Emerson felt his face light up. “Really?”
“Look, there weren’t a lot of options growing up in Greyfin Bay, okay? Even if there were, I shared this room withJacob. Just trying to find the time and space to jerk off every day was, like, a covert operation.”
