Page 80 of Fish Out of Water

“Do you want me to go?” Jake asked, making to sit back down on the bed before stopping himself. After Robbie had put in all that extra effort, he didn’t want to be the one to ruin it again.

“No,” Robbie answered faster than Jake expected. “Please don’t. I want you here. I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t. Just don’t—” he paused, inhaling deeply. “Don’t make fun of me tonight.”

“I won’t,” Jake said. Robbie sat back down on the bed, and finally Jake joined him. “Why would I ever do that?”

“Because I’m nervous, and you like finding my weak points and needling them.”

Jake looked down at his lap. “I’m nervous too. I’ve never let myself get this far with someone before, and I’ve sure as hell never been in a place like this. I don’t want to fuck it up.”

“Neither do I.”

“Then let’s agree to drop the teasing for tonight. You have a gorgeous house, Robbie. Let’s make the most of it.”

Slowly, a smile spread across Robbie’s face. His lower lip wasn’t quivering with tension anymore, and his eyes had softened into that charming twinkle people either loved or despised. Jake rather liked it when it wasn’t attached to a smirk, and even then it was growing on him.

He closed his eyes as Robbie’s lips met his. He slipped his tongue between Robbie’s parted teeth, the taste all at once familiar and yet still intriguing. His hands slid down Robbie’s waist, finding the hemline of his shirt before pulling it up.

It wasn’t frantic this time, or impulsive, but it was every bit as passionate. There was a slow, methodical rhythm to Robbie’s breaths, the gentle thump of his heart just barely audible as Jake nibbled at his neck.

A breeze picked up outside, swaying the trees beyond the backyard. Jake glanced up, but Robbie didn’t even take notice. He was used to these things. This was his home.

And now, at least for the night, it was Jake’s home, too. And that meant more to him than any big-dicked stranger pinning him against the wall in an unfamiliar house.

21

BLINDING LIGHT

Robbie dimmed the lights with a control and opened the drawer in the bedside table. It looked ancient, and it creaked liked it needed sanding down a bit. He pulled out a condom, tore the end of the packaging, and tossed it aside. Jake watched, his eyes flicking between Robbie’s hands and his face, and then back to his hands.

There was so much room on the bed, Jake could spread out as much as he wanted and not even come close to either side of the mattress. From where he lay propped up on his elbow, he couldn’t even see the end of it. It didn’t help that Robbie was blocking his line of vision, not that he had any right to complain about that.

“Turn around,” Robbie said.

“Not tonight.”

“Hm?”

Jake slid down an inch or two on the bed and spread his legs. He guided Robbie’s hand to his cock, making sure Robbie wasn’t going to pull away before letting go. “I want to look at you tonight.”

Robbie’s lip twitched. “You’re bold, Jake, I’ll give you that. I let you into my house, and still you think you get to make the rules?” There was no bite to his tone, and even as Jake pressed his hand into the bed, ready to turn around and let Robbie have his way, Robbie shook his head. “All right, you win. I could never resist you for too long, could I?”

“I don’t know, you did a pretty good job of it that first month or so.”

Something in Robbie’s expression changed. His eyes were still bright with desire, and the hint of a smile still crossed his lips, but something was different. After their conversation mere minutes ago, Jake couldn’t help but worry that neither of them was in the right headspace.

Before Jake came to Eventide, that sort of concern was something that had never even crossed his mind. Now it was ever-present; it gnawed at him every time he was forced to confront the reality he’d built for himself here.

Robbie slipped a finger slick with lube inside Jake, his movements slow and deliberate. He added another finger while his left hand continued to stroke Jake’s cock. His eyes roved across Jake’s body in a way that no other man had looked at Jake in years. It wasn’t just lust; there was something more to it. Jake furrowed his brow slightly. It wasn’t possessiveness either. Robbie, of all people, was not a particularly possessive man.

He ran his thumb over the tip of Jake’s cock, and Jake clenched his teeth to keep from shuddering. He watched as Robbie’s own cock stiffened, desperate for the same kind of attention he was giving Jake.

“I think you’re ready now,” Robbie said softly.

“I think you are too,” Jake replied.

“What?” Robbie looked down and blushed. “Oh, yeah.”

He was gorgeous when his cheeks flushed like that. Jake would never say that out loud. Robbie didn’t need to hear howhandsome he was. He’d probably heard it a hundred times before already.