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By morning, he felt rested and content from a long night, even though they’d done nothing besides hold each other. His sexual needs were Pavlovian trained, responding too easily and too perfectly to warm lips and firm hands. But Adriano didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t push Noah where Noah didn’t want to be pushed, and he respected the importance of that night.
Noah woke with the dawn, a prayer of thanks on his lips that he was able to feel Adriano’s hand cupping his thigh without tumbling over the edge. Adriano didn’t sleep much longer than him after that either. Noah went to the bathroom, and when he came out, he found the bedroom empty. He heard noise from down the hall, though, and followed the smell of coffee and browned butter to the kitchen.
Adriano greeted him with a kiss—quick and perfunctory but warm and now familiar—which made his head spin. Noah was falling hard, and it terrified him a little because he didn’t exactly know what he meant to Adriano.
He’d been there less than a week, had known him only a few weeks beyond that through stilted chat and text messages. But he didn’t feel like a stranger. Something in Noah’s gut told him to trust the other man. That little voice said if he asked, if he just said his fears aloud or on his hands in his slowly measured signs, Adriano would tell him.
And he should, but there was another voice speaking softly about the glass shattering. He didn’t want this bubble to pop yet. He wanted to be more than just a handful of videos that might save him from crushing debt and something to keep Adriano occupied while his lawyer sorted out the rest of his life. He would live if this whole thing was nothing more than that, but Adriano would take pieces of him when he left.
He pushed the thought aside for the quiet afternoon. Adriano didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere, leaving only to walk Jude before he settled right back in. He kept Noah close, he petted Marshmallow whenever the cat deemed them worthy of his time, and he threw the ball for Jude when the pup started getting restless. He cooked lunch and helped prep for dinner so Noah could cook the moment Shabbat ended. Adriano looked at him with soft, fond eyes, and he kissed him a lot.
It felt too good to be true.
Noah stretched like a cat as the sun dipped low on the horizon. He felt the anxiety buzz forming around the base of his spine, that familiar, antsy hum when the sun began to set. It would be another hour or so—maybe more—before it was finished, but he was anxious to do more. Noah appreciated that his faith required these reprieves from life. He technically didn’t always do what he was meant to do. He didn’t always think about himself. He didn’t contemplate ways to be a better person, or a better Jew, or a better brother.
Sometimes he didn’t even feel grateful for this life or being alive.
Yet he always walked away feeling like the Shabbat had meant something.
Breathing in motes of dust floating in a warm stream of sunlight, Noah turned onto his side. He felt Adriano startle a little, then glanced up to see him reading on his phone. Adriano’s cheeks went faintly pink, offering a sheepish smile as he flashed his screen toward Noah. It looked something like a webcomic, and Noah felt a rush of affection toward this man. This giant, stoic-faced, aloof man who also liked nerdy comics and had a pocket-sized dog and, for whatever reason, just really seemed to like Noah.
Once upon a time, he had wanted to know him beyond his personality in films. He never felt brave enough to make up stories about what he might be like when he wasn’t Sylent, the imposing bear taking twinks apart one hand job at a time, but he had been curious. He wanted to know if he’d still like Adriano if he got to see deeper layers of him.
It was better than he could have expected. He was just as arrogant and spoiled as he was on Twitter, but he was also softer. He was kinder and sweeter. He was brave, and he was protective. He could read the subtle motions of Noah’s body language, and he instinctively knew when to step closer and when to pull away.
Noah hadn’t realized how much he’d needed that in his life, but it was hard to know those things when he’d never let anyone close. He’d spent most of his years actively avoiding attention, but with Adriano, he wanted it. He wanted that laser focus on him, those dark eyes holding him in place, the mouth devouring every single one of his kisses like he was starving for them.
Fuck.
He was falling in love.
Pushing up onto his elbow, he let Adriano take him into his arms. He didn’t have to move. He just had to give in. Adriano used his strength against Noah, but Noah didn’t care. He wanted it, wanted to feel overwhelmed by every inch of this man’s body.
Adriano’s thighs beneath him were powerful, and they spread to let Noah fit between. His head dipped, lips already parted, and Noah was ready for him. The heat of Adriano’s kisses always seemed to consume him but in the best way. He let Adriano tip his head back, let Adriano nudge his lips farther apart, let his tongue fuck into his mouth in a rhythm that Noah knew—on instinct more than anything—that he wanted in other places.
“Please,” he groaned, unable to stop himself. His fingers dug into Adriano’s shoulders, and he spread his legs because he was close. Again. And Adriano knew.
“Noah,” Adriano said.
The orgasm crested…
“Hey, Noah?” Adam’s words punctuated the charged air between him and Adriano just before Jude began to bark.
The orgasm retreated, leaving a painful ache behind, and Noah fought to cover the space in his lounge pants that was tented and wet with come. Adam appeared only a second later, and Noah knew there was no way he nor Adriano looked put together. He watched it all dawn on Adam’s face, watched the color drain a bit, watched him take a step back.
“Ohfuck, did you—”
“No,” Noah ground out. Not yet. But he had been too close to begging for it. “Is there something you need?”
Adam looked vaguely embarrassed as he nodded toward Adriano, then cleared his throat. His eyes held a gleam of mischief, and Noah knew this wasn’t the last he’d hear of what his brother had just walked in on. “I brought over some stuff from the truck that didn’t sell last night. I left it in the kitchen downstairs and wanted to let you know I was ready to come back to work. At least for prep.”
Noah glanced at Adriano, who was clearly not following Adam’s cadence of speech, so he quickly interpreted before answering his brother, first in speech, then in sign. “Actually, I was going to call you to see if you could handle prep tonight.”
Adriano stood up and turned to Noah, laying a hand on his cheek, touching the edge of his mouth with his thumb. ‘I’m going to walk Jude.’
Noah nodded. ‘Okay. Sorry. He doesn’t normally burst in here like that.’
Adriano quickly snapped his fingers for Jude, and the pup came to attention, primly turning so Adriano could attach the leash. ‘Nice to see you again,’ he signed to Adam, then headed out the door.
