Page 17 of Housesitter

That made Shepherd bite back a whimper. That was…hot. Objectively, obviously, but also in a way that felt very personalised to Shepherd’s libido. He could probably work the specifics, but...later.

“Well, like you said, you can’t say I didn’t warn you,” he murmured breathlessly.

Kel smirked as he stepped back and pulled his T-shirt off over his head. He let it drop to the floor as he reached up to rub the back of his neck.

The gesture looked casual, almost boyish, but it put his long, lean body on display. The sunset, filtered through the age-smoked glass, highlighted the heavy muscles layered over his ribs and the tight line of his biceps.

“I will, though,” Kel said. He shrugged when Shepherd looked up at his face. “Everyone does. You will too.”

Shepherd hopped down off the table. The clay shards of the broken pot crunched underfoot as he stepped forward. He grabbed the waistband of Kel’s jeans, the plane of Kel’s stomach firm as his knuckles pressed against it.

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” he said. “I like that you’re a liar. The only way you could let me down is…well, if you don’t.”

Kel’s mouth was already open to respond to whatever he’d thought Shepherd was going to say. He stopped himself before the words could get out and knit his eyebrows together as he puzzled that through.

“Gotta say, not sure I want to fuck someone who thinks so little of me,” he said mildly.

Shepherd flicked the button on Kel’s jeans open and slid the zip down. “See?” he said as he slid his hands around under the waistband to slide along Kel’s hipbones. They were bony and prominent, a natural resting place for his thumbs. He could feel the sharp intake of breath that Kel took. Shepherd smirked as he looked up at the other man. “It’s hot when you lie.”

He left the ‘badly’ part unsaid, but…that was part of the charm.

Kel grabbed the back of Shepherd’s neck, all callused fingers and bruising strength, and pulled him into a kiss that was all business and no flirt. His mouth was hard as it crushed down on Shepherd’s, and his teeth were sharp as they scraped over his lips.

That was hot too.

Shepherd leaned into it. He shoved Kel’s jeans down impatiently and grabbed his cock. Sight unseen, and this early in proceedings, it felt like a nice handful and thick enough to make his stomach clench in anticipation. He liked the weight of it against his palm and the way Kel’s whole body tightened in reaction when he wrapped his fingers around it.

He kinda liked a lot of things about Kel, he guessed…and he wasn’t going to think about that too hard.

The next few moments were a muddle of fumbled clothes and hurried logistical decisions. The potting tables were old and solid, but covered with expensive, occasionally predatory plants; the chair was right there but kind of rickety (and the cushion on it smelt odd, which Shepherd didn’t want to be distracted by).

That left the floor.

Shepherd could work with that. He dragged Kel down with him onto the hard, sun-warmed tiles between the potting tables. A grunted ‘fuck’ from Kel made him pull away for a moment.

“You OK?” he asked.

Kel gave a smile that was a lie, all tight lips and hard angles. “Yeah,” he said. Shepherd wasn’t convinced, but he was distracted. Kel took advantage of the moment to grab the collar of Shepherd’s polo shirt and drag it up over his head. When Shepherd fought his way out of the sweaty folds of cotton, he was met with a kiss that pressed him down flat onto the floor.

Somewhere in between, he lost track of any other thought in his head.

Pleasure shivered under his skin like chills as Kel sprawled out on top of him. He could feel their cocks pressed together, the scrape of the single layer of fabric separating them somewhere between delicious and torture. He arched up into Kel’s body, one leg hooked over his hip, and ran his hand down Kel’s back. His fingers traced the long, stretched-out bands of flexed muscle down to where his waist narrowed in.

Kel chewed kisses down Shepherd’s throat and over his collarbone. He shifted his weight to get better access, grunted something that was muffled against Shepherd’s shoulder, and rolled them both over. Shepherd blinked at the change in perspective as he looked down at Kel.

Laid out on the age-faded tiles, mouth flushed from kissing and ruddy hair tangled into curls, he looked like an illustration from the Lady of the Furrow’s holy book. Since most of those illustrations had been sacrificial diagrams, it should have probably given Shepherd mixed feelings, but… That had been what he’d had during a very hormonal period in his life, so it really worked for him.

“You really surprised I’m going to make you do all the work?” Kel asked, a thread of tension under the amusement in his voice.

Shepherd snorted and used Kel’s shoulders to push himself up.

“Lucky for you, I have an excellent work ethic,” he said primly, with a raised eyebrow.

Kel’s snort of laughter trembled against the inside of Shepherd’s thighs. It made his ass tighten, the ache of it dull and heavy in his gut. He had to ride out the wave of lust before he could shift to the side and strip his shorts off. While he did that, Kel sat up, his body all angles and bones as he bent it, and grabbed something from his pocket before he kicked his jeans the rest of the way off.

As he stretched back out, his weight on his elbows, Shepherd’s gaze was caught, first by the heavy lift of his cock as it angled up toward his creased stomach. It was thick and ready, the head already glazed with a thin dribble of pre-come.

Then Shepherd ran his appreciative gaze the rest of the way down Kel’s body and saw the scars.