Maybe he’d read this wrong, because Will’s gaze seemed far too heated for someone about to turn him down. “But?” Patrick prompted when Will didn’t seem inclined to continue.
“I’m sure it’s a really bad idea, and Ben will more than likely kill me when he gets back. But maybe it could work? As long as we both know where we stand going into this, and it’s only for these two weeks, yeah?” He gave Patrick a pointed look, and Patrick swallowed down the nervous excitement suddenly coursing through his body.
Shit.Patrick never actually believed it would work out like this. “Yeah, and it’s just sex, I know that.” He forced his nerves back down and smiled, hoping it looked more natural than it felt. “It was me who suggested it, after all.”
Will smiled back, and some of the tension left Patrick’s shoulders. “How about we leave it for now and see how things go? You might change your mind in the morning.”
Patrick snorted. The image of Will coming was burned into his brain forever. “I doubt that.” But he knew what Will was trying to do, and they probably should think it over for the night. The evening had been a little intense so far, and Patrick wasn’t sure he could handle anything else happening, especially on an empty stomach. So he stood and clapped his hands together, then gestured to the kitchen. “Okay, how about we forget about that for now and make some dinner, then. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“Yeah, okay.” Will got up to follow Patrick into the kitchen. “What are you making me?”
THE RESTof the evening was surprisingly relaxed. Considering how it started off, Patrick was amazed he managed to string a sentence together, let alone eat dinner and hold a conversation. They didn’t mention the sex thing again, and Patrick couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Will had changed his mind about it all.
By eleven o’clock, they were both yawning, and since Will had work in the morning, he decided to call it a night. Patrick stretched his arms up behind his head, enjoying the pull on his muscles—stiff from sitting for too long. He looked down to see his T-shirt had ridden up a little, revealing the start of his happy trail, and subconsciously tugged it back down. He had a runner’s body—lean and toned—but he still felt a little inadequate now that he’d seen Will half-naked.
“I’m going to use the bathroom if that’s all right?” Patrick looked up to find Will staring at him, and he couldn’t quite read the look on his face. “Unless you want to go first, seeing as you’ve got work in the morning?”
Will appeared to snap out of his daze and smiled as he stood up, shaking his head. “No, that’s fine. I’m going to get a drink first anyway.” He licked his lips, as though talking about it had made him thirsty, and Patrick’s gaze immediately dropped to follow the sweep of Will’s tongue.
“Okay… yeah.” He swallowed, trying to get his mouth under control again. “I’ll just….” Will smirked at his obvious floundering, and Patrick gestured behind him toward the bathroom, wanting to move before he embarrassed himself further. ButGod, he wanted to kiss Will right now. He turned on his heel and ducked into Ben’s room to grab his bag and his pyjamas before locking himself in the bathroom with a sigh.
He went through his routine—take his contacts out, have a quick shower, clean his teeth—all the while trying to ignore the fact that maybe he was going to get to have sex with Will sometime in the next few days.
Hopefully.
WILL WAITEDuntil he heard Patrick lock the bathroom door, then let out a groan of frustration. He rubbed a hand over his face and tried to work out how everything had veered so spectacularly off course. He hadn’t planned exactly what he was going to say to Patrick earlier, but he was pretty certain it hadn’t involved agreeing to fuck around with him.
He’d expected it to be awkward after a conversation like that. When Will had been Patrick’s age, he’d have died of mortification if that had happened to him, but everything had been so easy. They got on well and had a surprising amount in common—more so than Will remembered—and he found himself not focusing so much on their tentative agreement.
That was, until Patrick stretched and that stupidly short T-shirt rode up high enough to show off his belly. Will may have seen the whole thing when Patrick dropped his towel, but this was almost worse—a thin sliver of skin, just enough to tease him with what lay underneath Patrick’s jeans.
Will had been tempted to sayfuck it, why wait until tomorrow?But he managed to keep it to himself. He’d given Patrick the night to decide whether or not he wanted to start something, to make sure he knew what he was getting himself into, and he needed to stick to that plan.
Ben’s words rang in his head, and Will wondered if this was an incredibly stupid thing he was about to do.
The door to the bathroom opened, and Will realized with a start that he’d stood in the same spot the whole time Patrick had been in there.
“Hey, are you all right?” Patrick walked toward him, a curious expression on his face. “You’ve not even moved.” He’d taken off his shirt, now only wearing a low-slung pair of plaid pyjama bottoms, and Will swallowed hard.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just thinking.”
Now that Patrick wasn’t flailing with embarrassment, Will had the chance to look him over properly, as Patrick walked over to where Will still stood rooted to the spot.
“Oh? What about?” Patrick’s voice sounded all husky, and he quirked an eyebrow making Will want to laugh. He then added a little swagger to his walk, and the whole thing should have been ridiculous, and it was, but Will also found it oddly hot.
As soon as Patrick came near enough, Will hooked two fingers into the waistband of Patrick’s pyjama bottoms and tugged him closer. “I wanted to say goodnight properly.” He let his hand linger, tracing the soft skin of Patrick’s hip with his thumb, but not dipping any lower.
“Okay.” Patrick licked his lips, his gaze dropping to Will’s mouth, and even though somewhere in the back of his mind Will knew this was potentially a bad idea, he leaned forward and kissed him.
Patrick’s skin felt warm under his hands as Will slid his palm up along Patrick’s spine to grip the back of his neck and hold him in place. He pulled his other hand from between them, holding tight to Patrick’s hip, and drew Patrick flush against him.
They were both half-hard, Patrick’s pyjama pants hiding nothing, and Will felt the full body shiver run through Patrick as he shifted his hips a little.
He tilted his head, changing the angle, and moaned when Patrick followed his lead. It felt so easy to kiss him, far from the initial awkwardness that usually came from kissing someone for the first time. Will lifted his hand, bringing it round to cup Patrick’s jaw. He had surprisingly little stubble for someone with such dark hair, especially a student. Will had hardly ever shaved when he’d been at uni, even now he always had more of a close-cropped beard than stubble.
Sure enough, when Will pulled back a little, Patrick’s mouth was already a little puffy, and the skin around it had started to turn pink. Will grinned, liking the way it looked, and ran his thumb along Patrick’s bottom lip, his breath hitching when Patrick caught the tip with his teeth and sucked it into his mouth. He looked so dirty with his lips wrapped tight around it, his eyes dark and focused entirely on Will.
It took all his willpower to slowly drag his thumb back out and lean in to give Patrick a soft, chaste kiss before stepping out of his reach. “Good night.” Will laughed softly at the frown instantly appearing on Patrick’s face.
