Page 146 of All The Things: The Last Thing He Needs Omnibus

Ben huffed a laugh. “I was thirteen and going off an old Playgirl me and Jeremy had found.” Jeremy, straight as an arrow, had been obsessed with the few women in some of the layouts, but not Ben.

Gavin took another appreciative look and nodded. “You had a lot of talent even back then. These are pretty good.”

“Yeah, well, I had a keen interest in my subject.”

With a laugh, Gavin closed the book. “You wanna keep this or… well, we probably shouldn’t donate it.”

“Toss it. I remember the most important part.”

“Which part is that?”

“Love is all you need.”

Gavin stepped closer, laughed again, and kissed Ben’s cheek. “I’m pretty sure that’s an old Beatles song.”

“Yeah, well, they summed the whole thing up nicely.” Ben brushed their lips together, smiling against Gavin’s mouth. “We should head to bed. First night in the new house…”

“You think we need to break in the new bed?”

“And the bathroom counter, and the shower, and the kitchen table, the deck—”

Gavin laughed and put a hand over Ben’s mouth. “I’ll be there in a few.”

Ben kissed his palm before he pulled back and left Gavin to finish unpacking the last box for the night.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Gavin

Gavin looked around the room. Boxes were strewn from one end to the other, and the guest bed was still in plastic, but the rest of the house was pretty well in order. Gavin had spent the last two days putting together the kitchen and their bedroom, and most of the month working on that god-awful yard, but things were coming along now.

He was about to toss the Bible into the trash bag by his foot, but something stopped him. Some remembered sense of respect that still clung from childhood maybe? Or maybe he just didn’t like throwing out bits and pieces of Ben’s boyhood. Either way, he flipped it open again and thumbed through the thin pages.

He hadn’t planned on looking anything up, but he did it anyway. 1 Timothy 5:8. Yup. He remembered that one. Mostly because right after his parents had thrown him out, that was the verse that played on a loop in his brain. He’d been forced to study the damn Bible every day as soon as he was old enough to read, so he had nearly the whole thing committed to memory at one point. Not so much anymore, but that one wasn’t going anywhere. But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith…

Gavin nearly closed it again, but instead he reached for the pen cup on the desk and grabbed a highlighter. He outlined the verse in bright yellow and then colored it in, the black type showing up nicely through the light ink. Then he surprised himself by tearing the whole page out. Why? He really didn’t know, but he did it anyway. Anger twisted in his stomach, and he almost balled the page up in his fist, but in the end, he folded it neatly and tucked it into his wallet for safekeeping before sticking the dusty old Bible on the top shelf next to Ben’s old yearbooks.

He found Ben in their bed, his eyes closed, looking peaceful. Gavin thought he might already be asleep until Ben threw the covers back for him. Gavin couldn’t stop his grin as he kicked off his jeans and tossed them in the hamper by the closet.

“You did a good job in here,” Ben said, yawning around the words.

Gavin crawled into bed next to him and pressed their naked bodies close together. “I thought I always did a good job in the bedroom.”

Ben’s soft laugh whispered against Gavin’s skin as he kissed Gavin’s cheek. “You do. But you went above and beyond this time.”

Fair enough. Their bedroom had been Gavin’s pet project, maybe even more than the yard.

“You’re not close enough.” Ben pulled Gavin over him and ran his strong hand down Gavin’s spine. “That’s better.”

With a laugh, Gavin pressed a kiss to Ben’s chin, the stubble tickling his lips. He ground his hips against Ben, wondering if they were maybe both too tired for anything more than some kisses and quick touches tonight. Ben changed his mind. He slipped his hand down over Gavin’s ass, trailed his fingers deeper until he slipped against Gavin’s entrance.

“Please tell me you found the lube in one of the boxes.”

Gavin pressed back against Ben’s touch, straddled his hips so their growing cocks brushed together between them. “That’s the first thing I looked for.”

“Smart and pretty,” Ben teased as he pushed Gavin’s hair off his face with his free hand. “How’d I get so lucky?”

As he reached for the nightstand, Gavin said, “Luck had very little to do with it. You made me chase you for a year.”

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