“Reece?”
The voice was just a whisper, a quiet rumbling under his ear. But it was the anchor he needed to drive away the threatening wave of unconsciousness, so that the body under him became solid and real, so that the thick gray fog of missing emotions receded to a light mist.
He turned his face and let his lips brush the bare skin of Grayson’s chest.
Arms tightened around him. “Reece?” His name again, muffled and distant, a vibration under him. “You awake?”
Reece let his lips brush Grayson’s skin again, right over his heart. “Maybe.”
Grayson exhaled, the gentle movement shifting Reece with it.“Maybe?”
“This could be a really good dream.” Grayson’s skin was so warm under his lips. “Goddamn, are we really touching?”
“Sure, sure, that’s definitely the thing to focus on.” Grayson’s dry sarcasm hitched as Reece began kissing a trail up his skin. “After all, why would you want me to explain where you are—”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“—or tell you what happened—”
“Didn’t ask.”
“—or let you know if you’re in danger—”
“Don’t care.” Reece kissed his collarbone. “Fuck. We cantouch.”
He felt Grayson’s breath hitch again under him. He moved his lips to the hollow of Grayson’s throat as his hands traced Grayson’s chest, his ribs, anything they could reach, until he tried to push up and met a wall of restraining fabric. “Wait. Are we in thesleeping bag?”
“I could tell you if you’d stopdistracting me—”
Reece pushed his head out from beneath the sleeping bag’s edge, emerging under Grayson’s chin into air that was shockingly cold. The darkness was still encompassing, but he could just make out Grayson’s outline in the sleeping bag under him, their small space lit by patches of pale glow in the shapes of squares and rectangles. The truck’s windows now covered in snow.
Grayson’s hands ran up his back, and Reece was arching into the touch before he’d known he was going to move. “You were like ice before,” Grayson said, fingers and palms splaying on Reece’s upper back. “You feel warmer now.”
Reece squirmed under his hands, managing to pull himself another few inches forward. “Bet we can get warmer still.”
And he lifted his head, stretching up in the dark, lips finding the top of Grayson’s throat, then his scratchy jaw, then—
“Fuckingfinally,” he muttered as his mouth aligned with Grayson’s.
Grayson made a sound that cut straight to Reece’s chest. The last of the fog abruptly cleared, or maybe that was the entire world disappearing as suddenly they were kissing, really kissing.
“Fuck,” he heard Grayson mutter, more of an exhale than an actual word. The hands on Reece’s back tightened, then slidback to his waist. A moment later, Grayson hitched Reece up like he weighed nothing, so their mouths were better aligned as he slipped his tongue between Reece’s lips.
Reece fought the sleeping bag still tight around his shoulders, not breaking the kiss as he shifted until he was fully on top of Grayson. One of his hands found its way into the upper part of the sleeping bag, lingering along Grayson’s stubbled jaw before sliding up.
“So you do let people touch your hair,” Reece whispered against his mouth as he twined soft strands between his fingers.
“Some people.” Grayson’s hands were sliding lower on his back, sending sparks over Reece’s rapidly heating skin. “You still a hypothermia risk?”
“Definitely,” Reece said without breaking the kiss, hearing the lie in his words. “You better not let me go.”
“That was a serious question.”
“That was a serious order.” Reece felt Grayson’s hands slide another inch lower on his back, and realization set in. He broke the kiss, pulling back just an inch. “Am Inakedin this sleeping bag?”
“I’ve been trying to tell you what happened. We’re stranded in the—” Grayson’s words became a soft groan deep in his throat as Reece shifted his thigh, exploring “—stranded in the truck somewhere in the forest. It was storming and—”
“And the snowflakes stole my clothes?” The endless expanse of Grayson’s skin was making him dizzy. “Doesn’t feel like you’ve got much on either.”
