He’d been close before Nate even got in him—not that he’d have ever confessed that. It felt like exposing himself, like he couldn’t control himself the way he’d expect. But it didn’t take long for Nate to peel away the rest of his self-control, even as Ramsey tried desperately to dig his nails into it.
“Fuck, fuck,” Ramsey panted as Nate hit a particularly exquisite angle. “God—right there.”
“Oh yeah, I wanna feel you,” Nate groaned.
Nate’s thrusts were beginning to get more erratic, his breathing labored, and Ramsey decided he should come soon, too.
But before he could push himself over the edge, Nate leaned in, thrusting harder right on that angle, and Ramsey fell apart, the orgasm practically dragged out of him.
Nate’s head collapsed onto his shoulder, mouthing at the bare skin there, and Ramsey felt rather than heard the moan deep in his chest as he followed.
For a breathlessly long moment, Ramsey just lay there. God, he’d done this before. Heknewhow to do this. Gently push Nate off. Get up. Clean up. Get out.
But he was so tired. He didn’t want to. Nate was a heavy and warm but ultimately reassuring weight on top of him. Normally that would make Ramsey feel hemmed in. Controlled in a way he hated. In a way he always tried to avoid.
But not right now.
Now, he didn’t feel caged, but cherished.
“Better than I imagined,” Nate murmured into his ear. “Good for you too?”
There was a sudden urge for Ramsey to laugh hysterically. To ask, actually out loud, if maybe it would have felt like this if he’d ever gotten Wes and Marcus into bed.
But he hadn’t, and so he hadn’t known sexcouldfeel like this.
He didn’t feelthatdifferent. He was still Ramsey Andresen. Still a professional hockey player, even if he wasn’t getting on the ice. Still had the headaches. Still knew how to weave a better web than anyone else he’d ever met. But Nate made him feel softer, too.
Something had eased inside Ramsey that had always felt tight before now.
“Yeah,” Ramsey agreed.
This was probably the moment Nate was going to get up. Clean him up. Want to cuddle. Hope, despite everything that Ramsey had said before he’d gone home with him, that Ramsey might be amenable to another night. To putting his phone number in Nate’s phone.
There was still that diamond bright, hard as nails center to him. He could reach for that. Use it to get him out of here. He’d done it so many times before in a way that had always felt natural and as easy as breathing.
But he didn’twantto. Not tonight.
“You want something to drink? A shower?”
Ramsey’s mouth was dry. He wasn’t sure he could tolerate a shower—because undoubtedly Nate would want to be up in his space, andthatfelt like a step too far—but he wouldn’t mind a drink.
Sharing a drink in Nate’s kitchen or his living room wasn’t cuddling, but it wasn’t leaving either.
It occurred to Ramsey then that part of Nate seeing through him so well wasthis. Nate anticipating Ramsey’s moves and circumventing them.
And even more interestingly, Ramsey not instantly feeling the need to counter.
“Yeah, a drink,” Ramsey said.
Nate pressed one last kiss to Ramsey’s shoulder and pulled away.
Ramsey got his first good look at Nate’s body then, and it was every bit as incredible and powerful as he’d hoped. He’d spent a lot of time in locker rooms and wasn’t a stranger to built guys, but this was different.
When Nate returned a moment later, he had a damp washcloth in his hand and he handed it over to Ramsey. Like he knew that too was a step too far.
Ramsey cleaned up, and pulled on his briefs and jeans again, but didn’t bother fastening them or putting his shirt back on.
He didn’t miss Nate’s approving glance either as he tugged on a pair of sweatpants from a drawer in the dresser opposite the bed and then led him into the kitchen.
