Page 76 of The Trade Deadline
“Is that a question?” He softened when he saw Ryan wince. “Sorry.”
“No, it’s fine.” Ryan drew his hands down his face and sighed into them before finally looking at Lars. He seemed less embarrassed now, if not a little resigned. “I haven’t dated anyone since high school and I don’t know if that really counts since I saw her like twice a month and never even got to second base.”
Lars wanted to ask what baseball had to do with this, but pushed the question aside for later. It related to sex, presumably, but that wasn’t the important part. High school was before they’d even met, and that’d been nearly eight years ago. “You really haven’t dated anyone?” he asked, then realized he sounded kind of like a judgmental dick. “Sorry, I should clarify that I’ve barely dated anyone, either. I get it, it’s hard to date when you’re on the road and have a schedule like ours. But I’ve had some flings. And you’re just so…”
Beautiful. Charming. Amazing. Hot.
“...much more put together than I am, I sort of assumed you would’ve, too.”
Ryan raised an eyebrow. “No one has ever told me I’m put together.”
“It is a weird thing to say,” he conceded.
“I don’t really do…flings…” Ryan said the word like he was testing it out. Lars’s heart leapt. Did that mean he’d thought the two of them were dating? Or was he downscaling because they werejusta fling? “Like you said, busy schedule. I don’t have time between games and training, and I honestly don’t like to sleep with people in town because what if I see them again?”
Lars nodded. If he were looking for a one night stand, it would’ve been easy in Portland, but also riskier. Anything casual like that, he usually opted for a road trip, too. “Conveniently, we have the same schedule,” he pointed out.
“Reallyconvenient,” Ryan agreed. He’d relaxed a little, looking more like himself. Certainly better than he’d looked since he’d arrived. Their eyes locked, and Lars instantly regretted not dealing with his bed situation last night.
“You know,” he said, “my couch is pretty comfortable…”
“Is it?” Ryan’s lips twitched like he was trying very hard to suppress a grin.
“Yes. Want me to show you?”
As soon as they were close enough, Ryan pushed him onto the center of the couch. Lars flailed slightly as he fell backward, taken by surprise as Ryan took charge. He took off his shirt and tossed it aside, then straddled Lars. He took Lars’s face in his hands, sparing a moment to gently caress his cheeks and push aside a stray lock of hair, then he leaned down and kissed him. It was chaste, barely a brush of lips, before Lars’s brain switched back on. He got his hands on Ryan’s hips and pulled him down, giving him better access to kiss him more fully.
His hands came up to trace the strong muscles of Ryan’s back. He was so warm, so pliant as Lars’s fingers pressed into his skin. It was heaven.
“You taste sweet,” Ryan said between kisses.
“Iamsweet,” he said as he took Ryan’s bottom lip into his mouth and sucked on it.
“Very sweet,” Ryan agreed, and then they stopped talking altogether. There was nothing they wanted to say, anyway, not when they could do this instead. Lars memorized the shape of Ryan’s lips, the taste of him, the feel of him pressed against his chest.
Eventually Ryan hooked his fingers under Lars’s shirt and pulled. Lars grunted in displeasure at the interruption, then sighed in contentment as their bare skin touched.
“I don’t want to get off you,” Ryan whispered right into his ear as he ground forward and brought their cocks together. “But we have too many clothes on.”
At the threat of Ryan getting off his lap, Lars tightened his grip on Ryan’s hips. He thrust upward and watched Ryan’s eyes flutter shut. “I thought you liked a challenge,” he teased.
“Pants on?” Ryan sputtered.
Lars wiggled a hand under the waistband of Ryan’s sweatpants. They were loose at the waist but tighter as they stretched around his thighs, and it took some work to get his hand where he wanted. He stopped to grab Ryan’s ass before working his index finger down until he was able to press lightly against Ryan’s hole.
“Holy shit,” Ryan hissed, thrusting forward and then pushing back against Lars’s finger and moaning. “Do that again.”
Lars did, this time tracing the tight muscle before pushing teasingly at the rim. “Pants on?” It wasn’t so much a question as a challenge.
“I mean,Ican do it,” Ryan said and rolled his hips a few times, their dicks sliding together and his ass pressing back against Lars’s hand. “Not sure about you.”
“I’m helping you!” he protested with a laugh.
Again, Ryan ground down against him then stopped, using his body weight to pin Lars down. “Am I not helping you?” And then he started sucking a bruise onto Lars’s neck, right above his shoulder. Lars arched into him, gasping as he tried to give Ryan better access. He didn’t normally like having marks on him, but he wanted Ryan to bruise him now so he could take it with him to Ohio for their week apart.
“Youwerehelping,” he eventually gritted out. He nudged Ryan’s hips in the hopes of getting him to move again.
Ryan bit him, just shy of too hard, and chuckled. He stayed stubbornly still as Lars rocked against him, barely able to move and get friction on his cock with Ryan holding him down. Somehow knowing how long to hold out, he waited until Lars was desperate before he moved again, though at a languid pace that barely offered any relief. Not even Lars teasing at his rim could make Ryan hurry up. It was equal parts agonizing and exhilarating: he hated slowing down but he loved being at Ryan's mercy.
