Page 66 of Persuaded

“I’ve never said that.”

“No? Well, you say it with your eyes.”

Finn suspected that his eyes, currently hiding behind his sunglasses, were saying something very different right now. “It’s not my fault you’re so hot.”

“It’s not my fault you’re so insatiable.”

“Hey, it wasn’t me doing unmentionable things in the shower this morning.”

Josh grinned, putting his feet up on the dash. “I’m pretty sure you were there too.”

“Yeah, well, you started it.”

But Finn had finished it. Oh, how he’d finished it, with Josh’s hands braced on the shower wall, head thrown forward and spine flexing as water ran between his shoulder blades, Finn fucking him easy and tender, one arm wrapped around his waist and their hips moving in slow, synchronous rolls.

Fuck, he was getting hard just thinking about it. Josh’s hand sliding across his thigh didn’t help matters. “Yeah,” Finn snorted, “I’mthe insatiable one.”

They ate lunch at a bar in a place called Brady, which had great food for a town that was nothing but a speck on the map, and took care to keep their hands to themselves just in case. Although Finn doubted any red-blooded homophobe would mistake the heated smiles they shared over their remarkably good burgers, or the way Finn’s eyes lingered on Josh’s slender hips when he headed out to the car while Finn settled up. Like a dazzled teenager, Finn couldn’t keep his eyes off Josh. He couldn’t stop smiling either.

Storm clouds welcomed them into Denver, brooding over the city and the gay-friendly inn Finn had booked. The wind picked up while they unloaded the car, and on their way back from dinner the heavens opened with a thunderclap. Laughing, they ran through the rain, but outside the inn Josh stopped and flung his arms wide, face tipped to the nighttime sky. “God, I love the rain!”

Finn’s heart lurched, swamped by memories of another rainstorm half a continent and a half lifetime away. He’d been a kid then, just coming to understand his feelings, but he was a man now and he knew exactly what he wanted—whohe wanted. Taking Josh’s face in his hands he gazed into his lovely eyes, watched the tiny raindrops sparkling on his lashes. “I love you,” he said. “I loveyou, Josh.” And he wanted to shout it to the world, wanted everyone to know. Heart thumping with a new, unrestrained joy Finn leaned in and kissed him, right there in the street for the world to see. Josh tasted of rainwater and the beer they’d been drinking, his lips cool and mouth hot as they kissed and kissed until they were soaked to the skin.

When a passing truck honked, Josh pulled back with a rueful smile. “Maybe we should go inside.”

They stripped, laughing, out of their wet clothes as soon as their bedroom door closed behind them and fell into each other’s arms on the bed’s crisp white sheets. But then they slowed, Finn propping himself up on one elbow to gaze down into Josh’s face, overwhelmed by a flood of tenderness. “I can’t believe we’re here,” he said, stroking damp hair back from Josh’s face.

Josh lifted an eyebrow. “Among the bright lights of Denver?”

“You know what I mean.”

His eyes softened. “Yeah, I know.” He reached up to touch Finn’s face, running his thumb over his lips. “I can’t tell you how happy I am, Finn. How happy you make me. I don’t have the words.”

And because Finn didn’t have the words either, he leaned down and pressed their lips together in a deep, languorous kiss. No need to hurry when they weren’t counting the hours until they parted, no need to hurry when their time together stretched out into the boundless future.

Josh was still sensitive from the morning’s tryst in the shower, so he happily let Finn take him apart with his mouth, his lips, his tongue. Stretched out on the bed, eyes closed, Josh was all feline grace and soft gasps, and it didn’t take long for him to climax with a wordless cry, fingers knotting in Finn’s hair and back arching off the bed. Then, with hooded eyes, he pulled Finn up into his arms and kissed him thoroughly as they tangled together, whispering Finn’s name into his skin like a prayer. Finn came like that, in Josh’s arms, with swift and unexpected force, muffling his shuddering groan against Josh’s shoulder, their slick and sweaty bodies entwined, hearts hammering.

Later, rain pattering against the window, Finn drifted toward sleep spooned around Josh’s back, one arm draped over his waist to keep him close. Their room was dark, thick curtains keeping out the lights of passing cars, and his body felt heavy, sated. Content.

With a sigh, Josh closed his hand over Finn’s, threading their fingers together as he pressed deeper into Finn’s embrace. “Promise me something?” he whispered into the dark.

“Anything.”

“Don’t let go.”

Finn’s heart squeezed as he hugged Josh tighter, pressing a kiss to the nape of his neck. “I’ll never let go, Josh. Never.”

* * *

They chased the sun into Los Angeles.

By the time they reached Finn’s waterfront house—mansion, really, Joshua supposed—the sun was low on the horizon, its golden light spilling across the water and gilding everything it touched.

This wasn’t the first time Joshua had visited Finn’s house. He’d flown out a couple times over the last few months, but those had just been visits—now he was coming to stay for good. He couldn’t suppress a flutter of excitement as he climbed out of the car, stretched out the kinks in his back, and gazed up at his new home, his home with Finn.

He’d have been just as excited had it been a studio apartment.

Finn held out his hand with a smile, his own anticipation as eager as a child’s. “Come on in, then.”

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