Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty minutes later, we were sitting side by side at the pool’s edge.Our legs dangling in the cool water.I was feeling more than a little sheepish.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.
Kai laughed.“That’s the eighth time you’ve said it, so I kinda got the message by now.”
I took a deep breath.Let it out, slowly.Things didn’t quite seem real, and I found myself retreading over old ground in an attempt to catch up.
“But you have to go back,” I said, eventually.
There was a lot loaded in those few words, I knew.Knew that Kai understood, too.That it was distrust that he really wanted to be something more with me than a vacation fuck.Concern that distance would make things exponentially harder; that the pressures of his classes would make whatever our relationship might be too troublesome to continue.All laced through with an undercurrent of general self-doubt.
“I do,” he agreed.“But that just means it’ll take a little bit more effort than, y’know, my walking over from next door.And maybe that’s worth it.”
Nodding, not quite trusting my voice, I reached down between us to find his hand.Laced my fingers through his.
“I feel like an idiot,” I admitted.
Kai turned to me, smirking.“You are an idiot,” he agreed.Then, before my face could register outrage, added, “but I can live with that.”
“Generous of you,” I grumbled, trying not to pout.“What about the people who think you’re dating an old man?Are you sure you can live with that, too?”
“First off, you’re older, not old.Sorry if that little detail gets in the way of you fishing for compliments.”He squeezed my hand, pointedly.“But more importantly, I told myself - after I ended up facing a lifetime’s medical school debt because of what one person insisted I should be - that I was going to stop caring about what other people thought of my life.Certainly not strangers.”
“And your friends?”It was a scab I couldn’t help but keep picking at.
“Maybe they’ll joke about it, some of them.Because that’s what friends do, right?”He gave me a searching look, as if suddenly concerned that my self-imposed isolation had chased away some fundamental understanding there.“They make jokes, they tease you, and you give them shit back.And that’s okay, the jokes only work because you know that underneath it all they just want you to have what makes you happy.”
I swallowed.“And that’s me, is it.”
He squeezed my fingers again, then tugged my hand to pull me in against his shoulder.“You are a very silly man.”
“Probably,” I agreed.
“Is it okay if I kiss you, silly man?”
I nodded, holding my breath as he slowly leaned in until our lips were touching.
We held there for a minute, maybe two.The kiss deepening, my own lingering uncertainties fading as my hunger for him took control.His torso was as thrilling to my touch as I remembered, the muscles taut and smooth as I pushed my fingertips under his shirt.
“Are we going to have make-up sex?”
I wasn’t sure whether it was a question or a suggestion; either way, I liked how him saying it sounded.Enough that I was already smiling, as I stood and pulled him up after me.
“The bedroom is in a worse state than here,” I warned, as I led him through the lounge.
Kai laughed, shaking his head.“Your assessment of my priorities is all wrong,” he pointed out, his touch roaming down my arms, squeezing gently.“We could fuck right here on the floor and I’d be happy.”
The sudden mental image of his body wrapped around me, our frenzied rutting on the floor.I wasn’t sure whether he was inside me or vice-versa in this particular fantasy, but it didn’t really matter.Only the intimacy and the contact of skin.
I reached down, wrapped my fingers around the heft of his crotch.Felt him hardening in my grip, his erection swelling as I kneaded him.
Kai grunted, low under his breath.
“Get on the couch,” he growled, turning us so that I was backing away to the seat, my groping uninterrupted.
