Page 52 of Ropers Can't Tie Knots
He holds up a finger and places his glasses on the counter before stepping into the shower fully with me. Water runs down his face, and it’s odd not to see him with glasses like this. His long lashes clump together, and his hair sticks to his head under the spray, and I bring my mouth to his, desperate to keep tasting him for as long as I’m awake.
“Hunter…are we getting off in the shower?” His lips brush mine as he speaks. “I’m fine if we are. I just don’t want to get caught under a cold spray.”
“You’re right. The hot water doesn’t last that long.” My hands slide down his arms as I take a small step back. “Clean up and we’ll take this to my bed.”
“I won’t say no to that,” he says, and quickly reaches for the soap. We both laugh like kids and race through a shower to avoid the blast of cold water when my aging hot water tank runs out. We fight over the soap and tease each other until I force myself to just stop touching him for the next five minutes, not because I know the hot water will run out, but because I don’t want him to be cold.
He hates being cold.
We dry off in the steam-warmed bathroom, and Gabe rubs a towel over his hair while I stare. I should be embarrassed at how I’m ogling him, but he’s too fucking gorgeous to not. Broad shoulders, lean build, and defined arms all catch my attention. He has the most adorable soft belly, with a sparse sprinkling of hair that’s not a typical straight line treasure trail. It’s more like a beacon towards the entire beach, throwing light in a wide swath to encourage you to find all his sensitive spots and not just one.
When Gabe stops drying his hair and catches me drinking him up, he licks his lips. Those plump lips that stretch so well around my cock I leak just thinking about it.
He lets the towel around his hips drop to the floor.
“If you keep looking at me like that, we won’t make it to the bed, doll.”
I suck in a breath. There’s that name again. Why does it sound so good from his lips? “Would that be so bad?” I ask, my voice hoarse, and Gabe shakes his head.
“Not really, but Hunter…I don’t just want sex. I want you.”
He’s next to me in a few steps, sliding his hands up my chest and wrapping his arms around my neck. “I want all of you. Sex, tears, broken promises with awkward apologies, and long days where you forget to come inside and eat. Your quirky cleanliness in the kitchen and the way you’re looking at me right now.” He presses a kiss to my throat. “I want all of you, not just these bits you think I want.”
“I…I want to hold you all night and never let you go.” The admission scares me, but once I’ve said it out loud, I wish I’d have done it sooner.
Gabe hums and presses a kiss to my lips. “That sounds like heaven.”
“But I want to make us come first,” I add with a laugh, and Gabe laughs, too.
“Thank fuck, because this hard on is gonna kill me if it’s not taken care of soon.”
With a final kiss to my lips, Gabe turns and takes off across the hall to my bedroom, leaving the warmth of the bathroom behind. I’m hot on his trail, and he’s under my blanket in seconds.
“I have a hard time warming up once I get cold.” He burrows further into my blankets, and I think I might like the winter just a little more this year if I have a snuggler in bed with me.
“How am I supposed to get close to you like that?” I ask from the side of the bed.
Gabe laughs and holds up a tiny corner of the blanket. “Get in quick.”
I jump in next to him and immediately pull him against me. “How are you so warm? You just had a shower, and it’s cold out, but you’re like…a human furnace.”
“I guess I run hot.” I laugh, but Gabe falls silent.
“At the risk of killing the mood,” Gabe whispers. “You are hot. But Hunter, I…” Gabe swallows hard and runs a finger over my right eyebrow. “I really like you. Whatever happens tonight or tomorrow or three months from now…I won’t regret a single thing.”
I don’t know what to say to that, so I kiss him instead and hope he understands my feelings are bigger than anything I’ve ever known. Our legs tangle and hands explore in new ways. Not with the passion-driven lust we’re used to, but something closer to the intimacy of knowing how to touch a lover that reaches their heart. A well-placed caress to commit to memory and the soft sighs of pleasure to go with it.
I could spend hours mapping every inch of his skin with my fingers and watching each reaction he gives. Gabe has woken something in me I’ve never experienced before. At one time, I thought I knew what it was like to care for someone, but this is something new and exciting.
More freeing than confining, and that’s another barrier he’s blown away.
Gabe frees a hand and pushes the cover down after several minutes of us making out. “Now I’m too hot.”
I blanket my body over him, bracing myself on my arms. “I bet I can make you hotter,” I whisper, and Gabe lifts his hips, grazing our cocks together.
“I know you can,” he breathes, and I slide down his body, pushing his legs back so I can eat his ass. “Oh, fuck…”
I laugh softly at his exclamation and nip at his ass cheek. His fingers curl into my sheets at his side, and I don’t know why that’s such a turn-on, but it is. To know Gabe loses his refinement with my mouth on him is headier than any drug.
