Travis could only gape, taken aback by the utter sincerity in Bay’s words and tone. “N-No, it’s fine. Don’t apologize,” he finally blurted out. “It doesn’t even hurt that bad.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Bay asked.
“I don’t… why would I? It’s not your problem.” Travis’s brows knotted as confusion drifted through him. Bay was upset because Travis hadn’t complained about his blisters?
“They look irritated. Have you treated them today?”
Travis nodded. “Yeah, this morning when I woke up.”
“It’s time to treat them again. Will you let me do it?” he requested.
The thought of someone else caring for him made him… uncomfortable, but the guilt in Bailey’s eyes was too much to handle. “If that’s what you want to do, but you don’t have—”
“I do, yeah. Come on,” he said, and stood up to offer Travis his hand.
Tilting his head to the side to study him, Travis placed his palm in Bay’s and let himself get pulled from the bedroom. Bay didn’t release his hand until he led him to the bathroom and then motioned for him to sit up on the counter. The marble was cold against his hands as he hoisted himself up onto the countertop.
Bay collected the alcohol, gauze, and the disinfectant cream before kneeling on the floor. When he glanced up at Travis, his brown eyes were wide and searching as he rolled up the legs of his pants.
With no warning at all, he doused some gauze in alcohol and pressed it to the back of his heels.
“Fuck!” Travis shouted, as pain radiated out from the infected area. “You suck,” Travis gritted out with a glare.
Bailey’s grin was unexpected, and Travis wished in so many ways that he was on his knees for a different reason.
TRAVIS
By the time his heels had stopped screaming from the assault of the alcohol, Travis couldn’t see anything past Bay on his knees for him… tending to a whole other type of ache.
When Bay stood back up, Travis inhaled as quietly as possible. Bay was tall to begin with, but with Travis seated on the low counter, he towered over him and it was… intoxicating.
Of course Bay was oblivious to the way Travis stared at him as he packed away the first aid supplies. Or so he thought. But when Bay closed the cabinet to his right, he turned around and stared down at Travis before moving closer. So close that only inches separated his hip from Travis’s knee.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, and Travis rolled his eyes.
“Stop apologizing. They’ll heal, and it’ll be fine. Seriously,” he replied with conviction, and extended his arm to grip Bay’s bicep.
He didn’t know what it was about that movement that made Bay pause and meet his gaze. It was like time froze, wrapping them in a haze of tension and hyperawareness.
Travis couldn’t help the way his gaze dipped to Bay’s mouth. As he stared, Bay darted his tongue out to wet his lips and Travis caught the whole movement.
He didn’t know who moved first, who crossed the distance, who kissed whom, but it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was finally tasting Bay.
Anything Travis had assumed from his dream Bay was erased in a matter of seconds as the real Bay’s lips crashed down onto his. He widened his thighs as Bay moved between them, first gripping his hips and tugging him tight against him. Then his hands drifted up to frame his face as their lips moved together.
Any surprise that hovered in the back of his mind was overshadowed by the excitement and the thrill and the heat engulfing him. Bay’s lips were softer than Travis imagined, his kisses exploratory and firm and perfect. White fabric crumpled under Travis’s fists as he twisted his hands in Bay’s shirt. It wasn’t even possible to pull him closer, but with his lips under the assault of Bay’s, he didn’t know how to voice what he needed.
At least not until Bay broke the kiss, his lips full and red and his cheeks flushed as he pushed Travis to arm’s length. His hands fell from their grip on Bay’s shirt to brace against the counter as he stared up at Bay. Gaze latched onto Bay’s, Travis would have given anything to read his mind as he froze in place, hands on his shoulders. All he got from the heat in his eyes was that he wanted Travis just as much as he wanted Bay—but then why did he pause for so long? He couldn’t read the emotion on Bay’s face.
Travis sighed, pulse racing as he tried to organize his thoughts into any semblance of order. Instead, all he could think about, focus on, imagine, was stripping Bay and tasting every inch of him.
“I am outrageously attracted to you,” Travis confessed bluntly. “Have been ever since you rescued the bar from me. I know I’m only here for a short time, but I need you to know that this—you—are already far more to me than anyone I’ve ever been with.”
He didn’t fully know what all he was saying, but he just knew it was the truth. Of all the men he’d been with since he’d been outed, he hadn’t shared a connection with any of them.
So no, Travis wouldn’t let Bay leave that room without knowing where they stood. If he was going to push Travis away, he needed to have that out in the open. But Bay did the exact opposite. His fingers tightened where he held Travis.
“I know you’re a famous rock star. But this—” He motioned between them. “It’s not because of that. It’s because I’ve hardly thought about anything else since I’ve gotten to know you.”
A heaviness filled Travis’s chest as his words registered. Something he hadn’t felt before, but whatever it was, he liked it. Affection, maybe? The sentiment of his words made Travis’s heart skip a beat. He could hardly focus on anything but the warmth of Bay’s hands on his shoulder, still holding him away. Travis didn’t know exactly what they were, but he knew what they weren’t. It wasn’t just a lay, it wasn’t a nameless hook up just for the sake of having another’s touch.
It was so much more than that, and that was why Travis didn’t bother holding back when Bay finally pulled him close once again. Their lips crashed together, hot and wet and hard and just like before but better, because this time Travis knew there’d be no stopping. He opened his mouth as soon as Bay’s tongue gently traced the line of his lips, deepening the kiss. He pushed into Bay’s touch as he was tugged closer, framing the back of Bay’s neck with his hands. At first, he just ran his fingers through Bay’s short blond hair, but when Bay placed a hand on his lower back and tugged him to the edge of the counter to grind their hips together, he grabbed hold of it and tilted his head into the kiss for more. He wanted all of Bay pressed against him, wanted to lose himself in every part of him. Travis tugged at the collar of his shirt to remove it, their lips parting with a wet pop as Bay’s hands fell away in order to help. The heat from his touch remained, branding his hip and lower back.
Travis got off the counter and to his feet as Bay stripped his shirt over his own head. Tanned, muscled flesh was revealed as he tossed the shirt aside, and Travis licked his lips, itching to explore all of Bay. But before he could, Bay reached out and tugged the hem of Travis’ shirt up and off, and he lifted his arms to assist. Once his shirt had joined the other, Travis framed his hips with his hands and pushed him backwards. At the last second, Bay reversed their positions until Travis was the one pinned against the wall. One of Bay’s hands was flattened on his chest, the other on the wall next to Travis’s head. The position made him seem taller, bigger, and Travis groaned when Bay leaned down to take his mouth again. He arched forward against Bay’s hold, searching for friction, and Bay answered by rolling his hips against his and sliding his knee between Travis’s. The hard press of Bay’s erection against his thigh sent a kick of arousal through him, answered in kind with the way Bay ground himself against his hip. Travis sucked in a sharp breath when he connected their lips and trailed kisses to his neck. Chills rippled across his skin and he gripped Bay’s hips to pull him closer. His skin was all smooth and warm and Travis couldn’t get enough.