Page 65 of In Step

The bush suddenly thinned, and Kane pulled the Accord off the track and onto a sheltered grassy expanse alongside a sparkling river dappled with light. He killed the engine and took a deep breath, like he was cleansing himself.

“Wow. This is beautiful.” I got out of the car and leaned on the bonnet, my imagination instantly transported to fairy glades and midsummer night musings. A few seconds later, Kane joined me, his body warm against my side, and for a long while we said nothing.

Sunlight filtered through towering macrocarpas to cast an enchanted glow over the small clearing. It danced in bright patterns across clear water that bubbled and gurgled around deep, tempting swimming holes and smooth-worn boulders made for jumping—a teenage boy’s wet dream. A carpet of lush emerald grass cushioned our feet, while fifteen metres away, on the far side of the river, a towering bank added yet another wall of privacy.

Kane laughed as I ducked to avoid a bumblebee that cruised nonchalantly in front of my face, its soft drone drifting into stillness. And I smiled as the light caught the dart of a fantail flitting and dipping over the grass, edging closer, hoping we disturbed a few insects for its afternoon tea.

It was like standing in a magical bubble of time and place.

“Mum used to bring us here as little kids, and then later on it kind of became a place of refuge for Jacklyn and me. We rode our bikes here, summerandwinter, just to get away from Dad. I haven’t been back here since he sold the farm and bought the new place.” His hand slipped into mine. “I wanted you to see something that had happy memories for me, because it wasn’t all bad back then. And I wanted to share this place with you.”

He pushed off the car and stepped in front of me, crowding me against the bonnet. “You’re the first truly good thing that’s happened to me since then, and I wanted to put the two happy things together in the same place.”

I lost myself in those beautiful eyes and simply shook my head.What the fuck did you say to that?

I needn’t have worried. Kane closed his mouth over any reply I might’ve made and kissed me thoroughly, enough to curl my toes in my socks and fill every sense with him—his fresh scent mixed with the hit of salt on his skin that was so Kane. Those urgent, honest eyes and demanding lips. That needy groan of approval that rumbled down my throat to my balls. And last but not least, the fumbling jumble of his fingers between us as he worked the zip on my jeans.

“Going somewhere?” I murmured against his lips as he pushed my jeans down to my thighs.

“Mm-hmm.” He nipped my jaw, rubbing his cheek along my beard with a happy sigh. “Remember the part where I have my wicked way with you?”

Before I could answer, he’d dropped to his knees, freed my cock from my briefs, and taken my thickening cock down the back of his throat with barely a passing hello.

“Oh fuck.” I groaned and leaned against the car as Kane swallowed around my dick and set my knees wobbling. A half-dozen solid sucks and I was fully erect and wanting to drive into his mouth, but he held me at bay with a wagging finger, sucking and licking and driving me crazy.

Then he pulled off and ran the slick head of my cock all over his face, dialling the sexy up to fucking incendiary until finally his hand fumbled for mine and pressed it to his hair, patting the back. I smiled and threaded my fingers through all that silken mess until I had a good grip. Then I gently tugged his head back until our eyes met and slid my cock deep.

The drugged look on his face almost undid me on the spot. Lips swollen and slick with pre-come. Saliva dripping from his chin and the corners of his mouth.

“Jesus, you are so fucking sexy like that.” I swallowed, my voice so thick with emotion, it startled even me.

Kane cupped my arse in both hands and pulled me deeper, and the understanding hit me like a freight train. Kane trusted me.

I drove into his mouth again and again as he held me close.

He trusted me. Not just with his body, but with his secrets, his hurt, his tender places. After everything that had happened in his life to break his faith, Kane trustedme.

And I wanted that trust. I wantedhim. This was way more than a few fucks, for both of us. I wasn’t sure if Kane knew it, although I suspected he did. But I had a lot more years under my belt, and no one knew friends-with-benefits sex and short-term relationships better than I did. Andthiswasn’t it.

This was a world away from that.

And suddenly I didn’t want Kane on his knees anymore. I grabbed the base of my cock and withdrew.

He looked up in surprise. “Abe?” His face was a glorious mess.

“Shh, baby. Let’s do it this way.” I drew him to his feet. “I want your lips where I can reach them.” I flipped our positions, so his back was to the car, then unzipped his jeans and pushed them down with his briefs, freed his hard cock and took us both in hand. He sighed happily, thrusting into the hold, the slide of my wet dick against his crazy good. Then his hand wrapped around mine and the pressure exploded.

I cradled his jaw with my free hand and kissed him hard, on and on, watching his eyes widen as he absorbed the emotional shift and change in mood that I knew I couldn’t hide. For a second, I wondered if he’d pull away and shut this thing down, whatever it was happening between us.

But his mouth curved up against mine instead, and he melted into the kiss, giving himself over, an arm circling my waist as he groaned some kind of assent into my mouth and met me, reckless emotion for reckless emotion. Until finally he tensed, arched, and moaned—the sound barrelling down my throat to thunder in my chest as he shuddered in pleasure and spilled over my hand.

I joined him a few strokes later, clutching him to me like a life preserver as my body jerked and shattered in pleasure, and we were left shaky in each other’s arms, faces buried on the other’s shoulder, and me, at least, too frightened to pull away and count the cost in his eyes.

This wasn’t what either of us had signed up for.

With the courage I didn’t possess, Kane broke free first. He said nothing, just lifted my hand to slowly lick it clean, sucking one finger at a time into his mouth, his eyes carefully averted. Then he tucked himself back into his briefs and jeans before doing the same for me with a tenderness that nearly undid me. When he was satisfied, he patted my soft cock fondly through my jeans and finally looked me in the eye.

“What are we doing, Abe?” he whispered. There was a wariness in the words I hated to hear and that I knew I was responsible for.

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