Lane had to forcehimselfnot to jolt. What if he’d just finally convinced himself there was nothing to worry about, only for all his worries to suddenly become justified? That would fucking suck.
“What stuff?” Lane tried to keep his voice normal and even, but it was a struggle. He wanted to panic. To beg.Don’t leave me, don’t leave. God, not yet. I’ve just . . . I’ve just gotten you, after all this time.
But Trevor looked over, and when their gazes met, his brown eyes were soft and fond. Full of affection. Not rejection. Not denial. “This is really good, isn’t it? I didn’t think it could be like this.”
Lane had always been afraid it could be like this. That it could, and it might, and he’d never get it, anyway.
“Yeah,” was all he could get out, though. He’d already confessed too many closely held truths.
“You like it?” Trevor asked.
Lane rubbed a thumb against Trevor’s ankle bone, stroking it. Wondering if he could tell him everything else he felt by osmosis. He’d never been good at voicing his feelings, and he was even worse with Trevor, because he’d spent way too fucking long swallowing it all down, over and over again.
“Yeah, I do,” Lane said.
Trevor shot him a look. Still fond, but more challenging around the edges. Maybe the demon twins nickname had come about because he’d not handled being in denial well, but the thing about Trevor was he’d never let Lane go without challenging him. Not when he deserved challenging.
Maybe that had scared him before. It still scared him a little bit. But it wasgood, too.
“Come on,” Trevor said. “That’s all you’ve got?”
“You asked me if I liked it, and obviously I do,” Lane retorted.
“We said we were experimenting and we did,” Trevor said.
Lane couldn’t help it. He tensed, and this time, because he was touching Trevor, caressing his ankle while also trying to act like he wasn’t literally holding him in place, Trevor didn’t miss it.
“What?” Trevor asked.
“You said,did,” Lane admitted. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was enough. Trevor wasn’t stupid.
“What, do you think I’m gonna . . . wanna stop?” Trevor laughed. “I don’t want to stop. That’s the whole point. We experimented with sex. And that was good.”
“That was great,” Lane agreed.
“And then we kinda started experimenting with other things, too,” Trevor said. His voice wobbled just a little, and it suddenly occurred to Lane that Trevor was afraid too.
Afraid, maybe, that Lane wouldn’t like this conversation. Wouldn’t like what lay at the end of it.
But Lane needed to know, for sure.For sure.“Like what?” Lane asked.
“Don’t be stupid,” Trevor said. There was another one of those looks. “You know with what. The dinners and the cuddling and the sleeping in the same bed. All that other stuff. Therelationshipstuff.”
Lane didn’t tense, but he did freeze. “Uh, what?”
He couldn’t miss how Trevor took a deep breath. Like he was nervous and maybe even terrified and he was going to say whatever was on his mindanyway.
And God,God, Lane was so crazy about him. Not just how gorgeous he was. How much he liked touching him and being touched by him. But howgoodhe was. Even when he was a little self-righteous about it, Lane was still super into it.
“I like it. I want more of it. I want it withyou. But—”
Despite many people who might argue the opposite, Lane was not stupid. He wasn’t about to wait around to hear what thebutwas—not when Trevor finally, finally wanted him.
Before Trevor could get thebutpart of his statement out, Lane leaned over and kissed him.
Trevor made a startled noise against his mouth, but then relaxed into the kiss, pulling Lane right along with him.
It was hot, because it always seemed to be hot between them, but it was relaxed too, easy in a way that it hadn’t ever been before. Like they could both take a deep breath and just enjoy it, because they were finally on the same page.
