Chapter 19 #2
Dmitrii took it from him, whispering, “Thank you.” Then he opened it up. Tyler hadn’t noticed the other night was how the keyboard was different, but it was only a few minutes before Dmitrii had his email open and was composing a reply to the letter in Russian.
“So they mailed it to you, but they expect you to email them back?” It really didn’t make sense.
“I know. They don’t want to have any of the ‘Your medical attention in America is costing a lot of funds.’ little veiled remarks to be able to be accidentally leaked to anyone.
So all I am sending them is that I am making progress and in my first weeks, strides have already been made and promise that I will get the forms they want to the Doctor and the Coach so they can get their confirmation that way.
” He rolled his eyes. “Honestly, it’s annoying, but they are the ones paying for all of this, so I can’t really complain. ”
“All of this, a two star extended stay hotel?” Tyler let his fingers move back to Dmitrii’s shoulders as he tried to tease.
“The hotel is not the expense. Your coach is not even the expense. Five days a week of intensive therapy with Dr. Aubrey is the expense.” He let his eyes close for a second as he leaned back into the touch.
“I don’t know who she is.”
“The first night you saw me skate, there was another woman in the stands. That’s her. She’s a psychiatrist, but not just a regular psychiatrist. She specializes in sports trauma.”
“I didn’t even know such a thing existed. Are there enough people with sports-related traumas for her to have clients?” Tyler leaned in to press his lips to Dmitrii’s shoulder.
“She works with a lot of professionals and higher-ranked amateurs. She does a lot with the US Olympic Team, but I’m her main case right now.
My former doctor in St. Petersburg recommended her and made all the arrangements after he realized he couldn’t help me any more than he already had.
” There was a soft scoff before Dmitrii continued, “Yes, this is after four months of various doctors trying to fix me.”
Tyler wrapped his arms around Dmitrii as the man resumed typing. “But she’s like the best, right? So if anyone can help you, it’s her?”
“Yeah. The big emphasis is on the if. If this doesn’t work, that’s it.” Dmitrii shrugged. He tried so hard not to let himself feel defeated, but as he finished typing and hit send, he felt so hopeless.
“It’s going to work.” Tyler took the now closed laptop and set it on the nightstand. “You’ve made a lot of improvements, and even when you did the Axel today, you didn’t fall. You just had a little reset.”
“That might be the kindest way to describe what happened.”
“You are trying so hard, and you are making a lot of progress. Coach Truskel has a lot of faith in you. She’s a really great coach.
I wouldn’t be half as far as I am without her.
” He twisted around so he was facing Dmitrii.
“There isn’t anything you can do until Monday about any of this though, so you should try not to worry? ”
“You’re right.” Dmitrii tried to give him a smile back, but it was just a pale attempt compared to how happy he had looked earlier.
“I know. Let’s put on some TV. It’s Friday night. We can find something and just relax?” Tyler let his fingers run over the short hair above Dmitrii’s temple, not breaking eye contact for even a moment.
“Last time we tried to watch TV in bed, it ended up with kissing for two hours.” Even though his words didn’t seem as if he thought it was a good idea, Dmitrii was still kicking his shoes off to climb further onto the bed.
“We did.” Tyler smiled though as he kicked his own shoes off before Dmitrii handed him the remote.
“And last time you didn’t realize I had the wrong audio on and no subtitles for you.” Dmitrii was clearly not at all upset about that.
“Well, see, I had this incredibly handsome man here?”
“A handsome man? In my room?” Dmitrii laughed though, shaking his head as he let Tyler pick a TV show.
It didn’t matter to him what was on TV. He just clicked it to one of the ghost hunting shows, not even caring they were already fifteen minutes into the program.
Tyler pulled Dmitrii back into his arms. The taste of that cherry lip balm was everything again as he pulled him close.
Tyler lost all track of time. When he gasped for air and Dmitrii dropped his lips to press them against Tyler’s neck, for a second, he wanted to whisper to be careful.
He didn’t. If he ended up needing to wear a turtleneck in the summer, he didn’t care. It would be worth it.
Tyler’s back pressed into the mattress with Dmitrii’s knees on either side of his hips as the man kept kissing at his neck.
His hands dropped to jean covered hips as he took hold of Dmitrii to press him closer.
He couldn’t hold back a moan from the contact.
This might have been a first date, but he was only human.
“Oh …” Dmitrii laughed against the skin of Tyler’s neck. “That feels good.”
“It does?” Tyler didn’t bother to hide the smirk as he did it again.
“Mmm, now you are just being a pain.” Dmitrii leaned in, kissing Tyler’s lips as this time he was the one to press himself against the other man.
“Oh, yeah. You are so hot.” He pushed off the button-up shirt.
He did not miss the slight hesitation from Dmitrii, but before Tyler could say anything about it, Dmitrii was helping to take the shirt off as well.
He needed to be sure he wasn’t pressuring him into this. “We don’t have to if you don’t want.”
“I want.” Dmitrii’s hands slid under Tyler’s shirt. Nimble fingers pressed against the strong abdominals honed from years of skating. “I want.”
Tyler took hold of Dmitrii’s waist, rolling them over so Dmitrii was on the bottom. Kneeling between the other man’s legs, Tyler quickly pulled his shirt off, tossing it aside. He paused, breath taken away by how Dmitri’s sea-glass green eyes were looking up at him. Oh, he had fallen so hard.
As Tyler leaned in to kiss again, Dmitrii’s hand gripped bare flesh.
His moan sounded closer to a whimper as Tyler kissed down his neck.
“I was … I was going to tell you how your shoulders …” Talking was so hard.
He wasn’t letting go of Tyler’s shoulders as he gripped onto them, not wanting the man to pull away at all.
“My shoulders?” He whispered the question against Dmitrii’s collarbone.
“They’re perfect. When you skate, they just …
and …” Maybe Dmitrii was less than coherent at the moment, but the sentiment behind those words was clear.
Then Dmitrii’s one hand moved to Tyler’s belt, trying to pull it off without letting go, and it became infinitely harder for Tyler to think.
Everything became a haze of hormones and needs as Dmitrii’s hands wandered.
Tyler pulled back, looking down at how flushed Dmitrii looked.
The steamy dreams he had had of Dmitrii in the past couldn’t compare.
Tonight, reality was imitating the most seductive of his wishful fantasies.
He reached for Dmitrii’s T-shirt. Slowly, he pushed the fabric up to reveal pale flesh he hadn’t yet had the privilege of seeing.
Everything about Dmitrii’s body was perfect.
While the man’s muscles were less pronounced, he had a litheness and athleticism to his form that spoke of how his training had been so different from Tyler’s.
He knew Dmitrii had so many more years of ballet, almost every Russian skater did.
There wasn’t weakness anywhere in those muscles, and as Tyler finally got that shirt off, he could appreciate every way in which Dmitrii had wriggled to help him remove the offending fabric.
“Fuck.” He froze for a moment at how irresistible Dmitrii looked.
His woefully inadequate imagination had not come even close to reality.
Tyler didn’t have time to admire for long, just enough time to try desperately to commit every last detail to memory.
Dmitrii pulled him back down as their now bare chests pressed together. A brief click of teeth echoed in the room before Dmitrii tilted his head and once again their lips perfectly pressed against each other’s.
Reaching down, Tyler let his hands snake under Dmitrii’s body, gripping the man’s ass through his jeans.
Their bodies slotted perfectly, held back by only a few layers of denim.
Before Tyler could think of slowing anything down, Dmitrii ground their bodies together, seeking the sensation they both wanted.
He couldn’t fight it. He didn’t want to fight it.
Tyler gave in, thrusting down as he felt those strong thighs grip his hips.
He reached down and grabbed onto one of Dmitrii’s back pockets to angle them even better.
His hands pressed into firm flesh, feeling how those muscles tensed from Dmitrii’s legs clutching him tight.
It was too late to take any more clothes off.
Nothing was going to pry him away now. Everything was just the press of their bodies together, desperate for even just the slightest increase in contact.
They were too far gone. There were no second thoughts or worries in the moment. Right now, he had Dmitrii. Not a thought of anything else existed in his head. His world had coalesced into just them in that bed, and he was painfully close from the friction of their bodies.
Before Tyler’s brain had even half a chance to warn about anything, Dmitrii’s back arched as a hand reached out to grip the hotel comforter.
Tyler couldn’t breathe, eyes rolling as every muscle in Dmitrii’s body clenched.
Seeing that orgasm surpassed every benchmark for sexy that had been present in Tyler’s life to this point.
As Dmitrii collapsed onto the bed, Tyler didn’t even think as he reached into his own pants.
He barely even touched himself before his own release coated his hand and his stomach.
Somehow he had had the sense not to make a mess in his pants, or maybe it had just been desperation to follow Dmitrii over that cliff.
. He collapsed onto the bed, face down and gasping for air.
With his face pressed to Dmitrii’s side, everything in his world smelled like the man. They were both covered in sweat, trying to catch their breath, but so unwilling to stop touching each other.
“That was…” Dmitrii paused in the middle of his sentence, eyes locked on Tyler, “So …” Whether he couldn’t find the word in English or if he just couldn’t find words at all wasn’t clear, but the soft, vulnerable way he looked into Tyler’s eyes said everything.
“That was amazing.” Tyler knelt on the bed, a sloppy kiss pressed to Dmitrii’s lips, then another and another.
Dmitrii threw an arm around Tyler’s neck, holding him close for a longer kiss. The soft, languid contact couldn’t last forever. Eventually, Dmitrii let go and whispered. “I need to get out of these pants.”
Tyler could only nod as he watched Dmitrii stand up and walk into the bathroom. He hadn’t intended it to go this far this fast, but he didn’t have any regrets. He really hoped that Dmitrii didn’t regret anything either. There was no denying how Tyler felt. He had fallen so hard and so fast.
When Dmitrii walked back out of the bathroom in only a pair of sweatpants and a smile, he knew there were no regrets about how tonight had gone. When Dmitrii straddled Tyler’s lap again to kiss him, any worries about having rushed Dmitrii evaporated.
This time the kisses stayed softer as the TV moved on from ghost hunting to something about aliens. He still wasn’t thinking as it got so late and the TV was clicked off, leaving them both kissing each other in a mess of tangled blankets.
He hadn’t expected to stay the night, but it was so late he would be in just as much trouble if he left now, anyway. Staying meant he got to sleep with Dmitrii in his arms.