Page 52 of Twice Shy

Chapter Fifteen

“What do you want?” Joel breathed as they kissed, sprawled on his beautiful leather sofa. “Tell me what you like.”

His house was amazing, all polished hardwood floors and painted walls in calming, earthy colors. Not that Ollie had taken the ten-cent tour yet. After climbing back up to the Majestic and collecting the car, they’d both been so amped-up they’d fallen on each other as soon as the front door closed.

Now they were in an open-plan living room with wide picture windows overlooking, he assumed, a yard. It was too dark to see out, but Joel hadn’t bothered closing the wooden blinds after switching on the table lamp, so Ollie assumed it was private.

“I like anything,” he said, his voice loud in the quiet of the house. So quiet, just the distant rustle of leaves outside and the ticking of the refrigerator in the kitchen. He’d learned to relish quiet.

“Anything?” The gentle lamplight softened the angles of Joel’s face, and with his mussed-up hair falling forward, he looked warm and approachable even in his smart blazer. It had matched his eyes in the restaurant, but here they looked darker.

Ollie cupped his jaw, enjoying the subtle roughening of evening shadow against his palm. “I just want to feel like an adult,” he said. Did that sound weird? “To be myself.”

Smiling, Joel ran his fingers up Ollie’s arm to his shoulder. “I like this sweater. The color suits you.”

“Thanks. It was a present from my mom last Christmas. I don’t wear it often, I don’t want it to get messed up.”

“Special occasions only?”

He grinned. “Definitely.”

“The last time I…fooled around with a guy was over ten years ago,” Joel said, his hand resting on Ollie’s shoulder. “I know it shouldn’t, but this kind of feels like a big deal to me.”

“I haven’t hooked up with anyone since my boyfriend dumped me a couple months after I got the boys, so… I guess it feels like kind of a big deal to me too.”

Joel’s eyes widened. “Your boyfriend dumped you because of Rory and Luis?”

“Axel was barely twenty. He was right to split, he hadn’t signed on for any of this. I didn’t blame him.” He squeezed Joel’s hand. “But— Let’s not talk about that. I want to…” His pulse kicked up a notch. “I want to let go. I’m nobody’s parent tonight.”

Leaning forward, he captured Joel’s mouth in another electric kiss. It prompted a low growl from Joel as he slipped his arms around Ollie’s waist, pulling him down until he lay on top of him. They kissed on, helpless, the soft leather warming beneath them and entirely too many clothes between them.

Breathless, Ollie pushed himself up on his elbows and smiled at the sight of Joel. He’d wondered what he’d look like undone and this was it: hair disheveled, eyes wide, lips parted and glistening as he caught his breath, skin flushed beneath the shadow on his jaw. Ollie smiled, running a fingertip down from Joel’s chin to the base of his throat and tugging lightly on the button of his shirt. “Why don’t you show me the bedroom?”

They padded in socked-feet upstairs, where the hardwood floor gave way to a cream carpet—Ollie immediately imagined small chocolatey fingers in the carpet; he pushed the thought aside—and Joel’s bedroom opened to the left of the stairs. Ollie’s heart drummed as Joel led him inside and from the death-grip Joel had on his hand, Ollie could tell he felt nervous too.

In the bedroom, Ollie got a general impression of clutter-free space, more windows, and a large pristine bed.

“I’ll just…” Joel dropped his hand and went to switch on one of the bedside lamps, giving the room a gentle welcoming ambiance.

Ollie reached for him when he came back around the bed, felt coolness in Joel’s fingertips. Nerves. “This is nice,” Ollie said, moving in to kiss him again. He had to tilt his head up slightly to meet Joel’s lips and found that he liked the dynamic, liked Joel’s broad shoulders and the strength in his arms as they came around him, the serious look in his eyes. It made him feel wanted. Ollie threaded his fingers through Joel’s hair, loving the silken weight. “We can take this as slow as you like,” he said. “I’ve got nowhere to be tonight.”

And, God, the freedom of that…

Joel ran his hands over Ollie’s arms again. “I like the feel of this sweater,” he said with a smile that was charmingly coy. “I’d like to see what’s underneath.”

“Would you?” Ollie grinned, grabbed the hem of his sweater and shirt and pulled everything off in one grand sweep. The air felt cool against his bare chest and back, but the heat in Joel’s eyes more than compensated.

Ollie had never been self-conscious about his body. Since adolescence he’d tended toward skinny, but had never bothered trying to achieve a six-pack, or any kind of pack. Over the past two years, he’d maybe lost a couple pounds—it happened when you were racing after kids twenty-four/seven, skipping meals, and trying to hold down a job. But he didn’t think he looked gaunt. Wiry, maybe, was the best description.

Whatever the word, the appreciative look on Joel’s face did wonders for his ego. “Look at you,” he said, and reached out a hand to touch Ollie’s clavicle. He followed with his lips, kissing him there, one arm slipping around his waist and a warm hand settling between his shoulder blades. Ollie closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of his bare skin against the cotton of Joel’s shirt, feeling heat bleed through from his body beneath. Joel’s hands roved up and down his back, fingers idling along the links of his spine, palms spreading over the small of his back while Joel nuzzled into his neck, kissing along his jaw in a way that made Ollie’s knees wobble. “God,” he gasped thickly, gripping Joel’s shoulders to keep his balance.

He felt a smile against his skin. “You like that?”

“Uh, just a little.”

Joel did it again, Ollie’s scalp prickling with pleasure as goosebumps rose up his neck. Needing to reclaim some control before he melted entirely, Ollie started working on the buttons of Joel’s shirt. Joel’s expensive shirt. Up close it wasn’t just white but a subtly textured weave that felt soft and luxurious beneath his fingers.

Joel sucked in a little shuddering breath as Ollie’s fingers touched the skin beneath his shirt, lips moving silently as Ollie pushed it off his shoulders and let it pool on the floor behind him. Now it was Ollie’s turn to drink his fill, letting his gaze run over taut nipples and a scattering of dark hair between his pecs and below his bellybutton. Joel wasn’t ripped, either, but looked strong—like a man who worked rather than worked out. Unusual for a teacher, but he remembered Jackie saying something about Joel fixing up his house. Whatever he did, he looked good on it.

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