He clinked their bottles together. “Cheers.”
God, he had to wonder if he’d seemed like an asshole, like some desperate middle-aged dude sitting on the floor at the gathering.
He drank deep, telling himself to relax. Self-doubt wasn’t sexy, and it didn’t help anything.
As he lowered his bottle, Saul took his other hand and gave it a squeeze. “You have good beer.”
“That’s the nice part about drinking with a cook, right?” He had to have some taste in his mouth.
“Huh. I didn’t know that was a thing. Makes sense I guess.” Saul took another sip and set the beer bottle down, then lifted his hand and pressed soft lips to his knuckles. Three long, thoughtful kisses across the back of his hand without a word.
Troy’s abs drew in tight, and it was all he could do to swallow back a moan. Goosebumps popped up on his arms and his nipples went rock hard.
Saul reached for him, hooking fingers under his jaw, leaning in and coaxing him closer. He watched Saul swallow and then their eyes finally met. “I’ve wanted to do this all day.”
“That’s a long time to wait.” He leaned in, letting himself relax toward Saul’s hand.
“Yeah.” Saul kissed him, slow and sweet, with a surprising patience for a young man, and a less surprising confidence. He sensed the heat simmering just behind Saul’s careful restraint, though, and the longer the kiss went on the more of that wild hunger he could taste.
Troy leaned in, one hand settling on Saul’s thigh. The strength there made him moan, and this time he didn’t hold it in.
Saul answered with a deep sigh, and in one smooth motion, took his beer from his hand, set it down and shifted to face him on the sofa.
He was hard in his jeans, not aching, not yet, but hopeful that it would come to that.
Saul smiled at him, eyes searching his, thumb tracing the line of his cheekbone. “Good?”
One side of his mouth pulled up, the old roper’s scar at the corner tugging. “More than, I think.”
“All right, then.” Saul leaned in, grinning against his lips, tasting him with a curious tongue. It was the easiest thing on earth, to open, to touch the tip of his tongue to Saul’s.
Saul circled the tip with his own, then let their tongues slide together and took a deeper kiss, hands stroking over his scalp. The touch on his freshly shaved skin made him dizzy, and he answered the caress by drawing a long line along Saul’s spine.
Saul only broke the kiss for a second as a soft T-shirt slipped between them, baring a strong chest sporting fine, light hair.
“Mmm… look at you.” Troy dragged his hands along Saul’s chest, letting them both feel.
Saul’s eyes followed his hands and that chest expanded with a deep breath. “Uh-huh. Your turn.” Saul reached over and tugged at the hem of his hoodie.
He struggled out of it before pulling his T-shirt off. He got a gasp as Saul got his first, real look at his chest. He had dozens of triskelions—some were fierce and sharp, others flowed like they were dancing. He had a series of them on his collarbones that were stylized flowers. His nipples were pierced with short barbells, the balls both hugging his nips close.
“Whoa, look at you…” Saul’s fingers went right to his piercings and tugged on them gently. “Geoff does lovely work.”
“H-he does.” Oh fuck him, he felt that deep in his balls. It made him want to beg.
One of Saul’s eyebrows lifted. “Like that, huh?” He expected another jolt, but instead, Saul drew wide circles around his hardware, teasing. “I’ll remember.” Saul’s fingers moved on to trace several of the symbols, swirling and twisting with the patterns in ink on his skin. More teasing. “So fascinating. I could do this for hours.”
“I have a lot of skin. I lot of ink.” A lot of little surprises. He leaned back so Saul could explore.
“We have a lot of time too. Nice.” Saul could easily have stepped off the couch to get a better view from behind, but instead the kid climbed over him and the sofa cushions like a monkey, then landed with a plop at his back without once breaking contact. “These are amazing.”
“Geoff does wonderful work. Twenty years’ worth.” He did have a little unmarked skin—his backside, his hands, his groin, the bottoms of his feet.
“I’ve just never seen anyone do the same symbol over and over and over like this, it’s incredible.” Warm hands flattened out across his shoulders and Saul pressed a kiss into the base of his neck.
“It is. Geoff says we do good work together.” He was an eager canvas. “The blue one on my shoulder was the first.”
“This one here?” Saul traced it with his finger, and then with his tongue.
“Mmhmm…” He closed his eyes so he could focus. “I was so fucking nervous.”
“Really?” Saul laughed, hot breath brushing his neck. “You’d rodeo but a tattoo made you nervous?” The soft kisses that followed Saul’s words traced the line of his neck and across one shoulder.
“I’d quit already. It’s a long sordid story.” No one wanted to hear that shit. “I was addicted from the start.”
“You must be. You’re running out of room. Someday you’ll tell me all your long sordid stories. When we’re in the right frame of mind, which is definitely not right now.” Saul chuckled against his back, still landing kisses and tracing ink.
“Mmhmm.” Geoff would just cover over the parts he was bored with. Right now that didn’t matter. Right now all that mattered were those touches.
Saul moved, this time stepping off the sofa before sitting beside him again, much deeper into the cushions. “Come here.” One hand snaked around him and pulled him in for another kiss.
Troy moaned and dared to swing himself over to straddle Saul’s lap, the motion as familiar as breathing.
That earned a groan from Saul that he could feel vibrate against his tongue as they kissed. Saul’s hands went right to his hips, tugging him even closer. He followed straight away, and when their bellies met, he fed Saul his cry.
Saul’s hand slid up his back and the kiss turned hungry, their tongues tangling as Saul’s fingers dug into his skin. He met that hunger with his own, refusing to shy away. He wrapped one hand around Saul’s head, keeping them together.
Fingers dragged over his abs to his chest and gave one of his piercings a pinch and tug, the other hand kneading his ass through his jeans. Jesus, that was like electricity, lightning sparking between Saul’s touches.
Saul rocked under him and he could feel that need pressing against him now, hard and impatient. “Fuck. Troy.”
He was willing and able. He reached between them, stroking that hard ridge of need. Oh damn, he wanted some of that.
Saul tightened an arm around him and shifted sideways, dumping him on his back in the cushions before nimble fingers dove in and started working his jeans open.
He lifted his hips, pushing right up into Saul’s hand. He knew he looked like a slut, but he wanted to know what all they had to teach each other.
“Love how you move.” Saul wriggled and dragged his jeans down, humming as his cock sprang free of the denim. “No ink here?” Saul dragged his fingers over Troy’s bare skin.