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Their lips met slowly, the kisses gentle, exploratory. At the same time, Cass’s arms slipped around Ash’s midsection, holding them together, and Ash let his hands drift up Cass’s chest and then around to clasp together at the back of Cass’s neck.

He’d imagined this. He’d been imagining it for nearly five months now—getting to kiss and touch his boyfriend, having Cass hold him. He’d imagined more, too. Every time they’d fooled around together on the phone or on a video call, every time Ash had had the urge to put on a little show for Cass, get naked, jerk himself off while Cass watched—he’d imagined how different it would be to do that in person, to be able to step up to Cass and let Cass touch him, too. To be fulfilled in the need he felt afterward, rewarded by Cass’s arms wrapping around him. A real hug. An actual kiss. Contact.

Right now, though, felt different. It wasn’t teasing and playful or even hot and intensely arousing. Instead, it had a softness to it, something quiet and purposeful and healing. Each kiss slowly tugged at a deep need inside Ash—a need he hadn’t even known existed until earlier that night.

He moaned as Cass’s hand inched under his T-shirt, smoothing slowly along his lower back.

“Mmm, is this okay?” Cass asked, pulling back and letting his lips trail down along Ash’s jawline and then his throat.

Heat spread through Ash’s chest, and he gasped, “Yes, yes, it’s good.” He tilted his head back to give Cass better access and was rewarded when Cass paused right at the junction of his neck and collarbone, sucking gently on Ash’s sensitive skin. With a groan, Ash added, “Whatever you’re doing, please keep doing it.”

He felt Cass hum against him, and Cass continued, kissing every inch of exposed skin as his hand slowly caressed back and forth above the waistband of Ash’s sweats. His heart thrummed unevenly in his chest, heat growing with every kiss and every touch. The next time he moaned, even he could hear how rough and needy he sounded.

Cass’s lips paused right below Ash’s ear, and his fingers slid up higher, lifting Ash’s shirt. “Mmm, Ash . . .” Another kiss brushed his skin. “Can I take this off?”

He nodded and mumbled another yes, and with all the gentleness and care Ash had come to expect, Cass slowly shifted them, slipping Ash’s shirt off and then guiding him to lie flat on his back on the couch. He closed his eyes with a soft sigh and let his hands smooth down Cass’s shoulders and back as Cass moved over top of him, kissing a deliberate path up his neck and to his mouth.

“You’re so beautiful,” Cass murmured. “All of you.”

Ash’s stomach fluttered, and when Cass kissed his lips again, it was deep and soft at the same time. They kissed until Ash was breathless, and then he tilted his head back with a moan as Cass lowered his mouth to Ash’s throat, lazily tracing his lips down Ash’s neck to his exposed collarbone.

It all felt overwhelming in the best way.

“Cass . . .”

“Hmm?” Cass paused and lifted his eyes. His mouth was slightly parted, his tongue peeking out to wet his lips.

Ash closed his eyes and groaned as heat surged through his chest and down low into his groin.

Okay, so he’d lied. It was intensely arousing. It’d just been a slow burn, and now the flames had been fed and wanted to burst to life, and—

Cass’s lips touched him again with a warm hum, and Cass shifted above him, wedging one leg between Ash and the back of the couch while the other slipped between Ash’s thighs, pushing his knees apart.

He took a long, slow breath in as Cass inched downward, pressing languid kisses along his sternum. Each one felt hotter than the last, searing his skin, even though Cass seemed to be deliberately soft and light. And when Cass finally took one of Ash’s nipples into his mouth for the first time, his tongue teasing the stiff bud, Ash gasped an “oh god” and then moaned, muffling the sound as best he could into his elbow. Sparks shot through him, all the way down to his toes, and his cock pulsed with need.

He pushed his head back, screwing his eyes shut as Cass continued pleasuring him, alternating between flicking and sucking and maybe something where he grazed his teeth lightly over Ash’s sensitive skin. Just when he felt like everything was maybe too much, Cass switched to the other nipple and gave it the same attention.

Ash moaned and writhed and made some other noise that sounded suspiciously like a whimper. He dropped his hand to Cass’s shoulder and squeezed encouragingly.

“Fuck, Cass . . . please . . .”

He wasn’t even sure why the curse had slipped out or what he was begging for. But Cass gave it to him anyway, his hand slipping gently down between them, rubbing over top of Ash’s sweatpants along Ash’s outer thigh, then shifting inward and upward. Stopping just before he touched the spot Ash really, really wanted him to touch. And even that—that tease—was exactly right.

Ash groaned and brought both arms up to cover his eyes.

Cass paused and lifted his mouth off of Ash’s chest, breathing heavily against him. “Is this all okay?” he asked. “Touching you like this?”

Without waiting for a response, he teased Ash again, caressing down to Ash’s knee and then back up and inward. Ash’s shaft throbbed eagerly, and he nodded.

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“And if I wanted to . . .” Cass trailed off for a good few seconds, kissing a path down Ash’s pec to his stomach. He stopped again just below Ash’s bellybutton, his breath hot against Ash’s skin. “If I wanted to touch you more?” he said. “If I wanted to make you come?”

Ash sucked in a breath and forced his eyes back open. Cass’s chin rested on Ash’s stomach, and he gazed up at Ash, his cheeks flushed and his lips red and swollen.

Cass smiled softly and kissed Ash’s stomach. “Can I make you come?”

His fingers inched upward even more, brushing the underside of Ash’s cock through the thin fabric of his sweats, and without warning, the fire inside him burst to life again, hot and desperate. Ash threw his head back with a rough moan.