Page 51 of Skating to Him

“It’s fine.” He bent it slightly. “A little stiff. I think I need to move it.” His gaze found mine, and he gave me a small grin. “I can’t believe I just had anal sex.” He rested his hand on my cheek. “And I fucking loved it.”

He used the wordlove.“Yeah? So you’re not freaking out?” I kissed his palm.

“Nope. Guess I’m definitely bisexual. Or maybe gay?” He brushed his fingertips down my chest. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I’m smitten.”

With a stuttered laugh, I said, “Smitten?” I edge closer to him. “Isn’t that some older-generation slang?”

“Nope, just Rowan slang, I guess.” His brows furrowed. “Tyler, I know we talked about condoms, and you’re on that anti-HIV drug. But what do you think about going bareback someday?”

My heart lurched. “Bareback?” I’d never done it. “Uh, I suppose if things progressed between us and?—”

“Progressed how?” Twisting to his side, he tucked his hand under his pillow and studied me.

“Like if we agree to be serious.” Should I have just said boyfriends? I was in love with him, for fuck’s sake. What was I waiting for? “Or, I mean, boyfriends?” I winced. What if it was too much for him?

“Yes.” A grin crept over his lips. “Yes, I’ll be your boyfriend.” His brow furrowed. “Because if I found you so much as looking at another dude, I’d be crushed.”

My heart flip-flopped. He was all but saying those three words. “You don’t have to worry. I only see you.” Leaning in, I kissed him deeply. How had I fallen so hard and fast for him? As the kiss broke, I glanced at his knee. “Let’s see what we’ve gothere.” I positioned myself over his knee and started to unwrap the bandage.

“You’re changing the subject. If we’re boyfriends now and we get tested and come up negative for everything, can we try it without the condoms?” He peered at me.

I stopped unwrapping and snapped my gaze to his. “I, uh, yeah. I guess so.” Why was I being hesitant about this? Because it meant so much.

“You guess?” He sat up straight and placed his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t want anything between us, Tyler. I want all of you.” His brows wrinkled.

Was I still dreaming and didn’t know it? I raked my gaze over his gorgeous face and down to his muscled chest. “Okay then, yes. We’ll get tested, and no more condoms.” My pulse picked up speed. This was one hell of a commitment. But then, I trusted him, and I sure as hell didn’t want anyone else. Taking a deep breath, I shifted my attention to his knee. “Now, let’s check this out.”

As he bent his knee slightly, I unwound the bandage from it. “Shit, it’s swollen.” I pressed my index finger into the inside of his knee, where the swelling was its worst.

“You going to ice me up?” He smirked at me.

“Of course.” Bending over, I kissed the swelling. “Have to try and kiss it better first.” I snickered.

With a soft laugh, he said, “You’re a goof, but you’re my goof.”

After icingRowan’s knee and helping him shower, we dressed, and I got him comfortable on his couch. “What do you have for breakfast around here?” I left him with an ice pack on the sofa and strolled into his kitchen.

“Everything a growing hockey boy needs. Eggs, whole grain bread, fruit, yogurt, you name it.”

“Okay.” I opened cabinets and peeked inside, getting familiar with the layout of his kitchen. Everything was well organized. “How about I make us some eggs in a basket?” I pulled bread down from an upper cabinet and then grabbed eggs out of the refrigerator.

“Oh, I haven’t had that in forever. Hell yes.” He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the television.

“Coffee?” I eyed his single-serving coffee maker. He had to have pods around here somewhere.

“Yes, please.” He put on a news program. “This is like being little and having my parents taking care of me again.”

“Just call me Daddy.” I snickered and pulled out a frying pan and butter. After finding the coffee pods, I started a cup. I wanted to spend some time with him today, but should he be out of the apartment much with his knee? “Hey, what do you want to do today?” I was pretty much caught up on my assignments, so…

He twisted around on the couch. “Spend time with you. I don’t care what we do.” He glanced at his knee, spread on the couch with an icepack. “But I’m going to need to get out of here at some point, or I’ll go bonkers. I can walk with my brace.”

“Okay.” Nodding, I added creamer to his coffee and brought it to him. “You know, we could go see a matinee and have dinner somewhere.”

“You mean like a real date?” He took the coffee from me and sipped it.

“Yeah, like a real date.” I rubbed my hands together. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone on a date. “We could go to Tempe Marketplace.” They had a movie theater and restaurants in proximity, so he wouldn’t need to walk much.

“Perfect.” He squeezed my hand and released it.

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