Chapter 17 Skylar
SEVENTEEN
SKYLAR
Skylar might have been more excited for Adam to come visit him than he’d been to make it up to Minnesota himself. Adam came up on a Tuesday and met him at Jackson and Ryan’s house.
Adam’s little pickup truck pulled up in front of the house, and Skylar, who was looking through the window as he waited, burst out the front door. The yard was snowy, and Skylar ran straight through it, crushing Adam to the side of his truck as soon as he stepped out.
“You made it,” he said, smacking kisses over Adam’s face.
He didn’t know if he had the right to do that, but Adam had come all this way for him, and his anxiety was dispelled when Adam cupped his face in his hands and pulled him in for a kiss.
The air outside was frigid, but Adam’s lips were warm.
From the front door of the house, Skylar heard catcalling.
Adam turned red, and when Skylar looked up, Jackson and Ryan were both watching from the front door.
“You have to come meet Jackson and Ryan.” He grabbed Adam’s hand and pulled the sheepish bartender toward the front door. Jackson, of course, went straight in for a hug, with Ryan giving him a calmer handshake.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Adam said. “It feels good to know that Sky has someone looking out for him up here. And not just for hockey.” Jackson’s smile was at maximum brightness.
“My and Ryan’s favorite thing is to make sure that call-ups feel like they’re part of the team and have a good time.
I know that Burnsie is anxious to have time alone with you, so we’ll let you head to dinner, but we’re excited to get to know you better.
” From between their legs, a golden retriever wiggled out, her tail wagging her whole body, her front feet tippy-tapping as she asked for pets.
“I know this is Lola,” Adam said. Skylar wasn’t naturally a dog person, but he kept saying “I’m not a dog person” and then would spend fifteen minutes telling Adam all about Lola’s day, so maybe the tide was turning.
They headed back to Adam’s truck, and Skylar pulled his phone out to type an address into the maps app.
He had insisted on taking Adam out for dinner—a nice dinner—and on paying for the hotel that they would stay at while he was in town.
Adam said that at thirty-five, he felt like he should be able to pay for this, but Skylar was a professional athlete with money burning a hole in his pocket, so Adam could accept the nice meal.
Skylar took them to an Italian place in downtown Minneapolis that was moody and dark. Adam made a comment about feeling underdressed in his flannel and jeans, but then they saw somebody in jean cut-off shorts in twenty-degree weather.
“Sometimes, you can tell a place caters to rich people because they show up looking like shit,” Skylar said. “I’m not sure what that phenomenon is.”
They got seated in a booth with high backs and a candle on the table. The menus had the date printed on them, since they changed daily for seasonal fare, but there weren’t any prices listed.
“Sky, I’m more of a dive bar guy. I don’t know if I can order anything that doesn’t have a price tag on it.”
Skylar reached out and held his hand. “I promise that not every dinner I take you to will be this stuffy, this fancy. Next time I’ll take you for tacos. But this time, please do me a favor and order the mystery-priced food. Order the thing you want the most.”
Skylar could tell Adam felt self-conscious, but they were both so fucking hungry that they ordered right away.
Adam got a nice glass of red wine, even though he didn’t drink very often, and Skylar thought about ordering a Shirley Temple before he opted for a beer.
They got pasta and bread. Everything was buttery, everything was cheesy.
It was rich and decadent. There was a person whose job was filling up their water glasses after practically every sip.
Adam claimed to be too full for dessert, but Skylar ordered it anyway, opting for what he thought would be a light lemon tart that was nearly the size of a dinner plate when it came out to their table.
“So much for being just a taste of dessert,” Skylar said.
“I’d say we’ll have leftovers, but I don’t know if we’ll have a fridge to put it in,” Adam said. The lemon tart was delicious, and though they gave it their best effort, they had more than half left when they left the building.
They headed to the hotel and left Adam’s truck with a valet, and brought their bags into the hotel room. Adam didn’t need to worry about not having a fridge. In addition to a minibar, they had a kitchenette with a minifridge.
Their suite had a separate bedroom, two bathrooms, a living room, and the biggest bathtub that Skylar had ever seen. He hoped they got to use the tub. Skylar could barely wait to pounce as Adam put the food away.
When Adam turned back toward him, Skylar took his hand and reeled him in.
“Thank you for coming up here and letting me take you to dinner,” Skylar said, his voice low now that they had a quiet space to themselves.
Every hotel room in the world felt like Skylar’s personal space, since he’d spent so much time in them.
He didn’t have a real home in Minnesota yet, but he felt confident in the place he’d chosen to take Adam.
He tipped his forehead to meet Adam’s, and he looked back up at Skylar with those deep, soulful eyes.
The tension hung between them before Adam closed the distance, pressing their lips together. Adam wasn’t much shorter than him, but the couple of inches Skylar had on him were delicious.
Their kiss was soft presses of lips, little peeks of tongue, testing each other as they both got bolder. Slowly, Adam worked on pulling Skylar’s shirt out of the back of his pants so he could put his hands on Skylar’s bare skin, and he couldn’t make himself continue to be gentle and go slow.
He nipped at Adam’s bottom lip as he guided Adam backward toward the bed.
“I can’t believe you’re really here,” Skylar said, pulling away from the kiss to get a few deep breaths in.
“I can’t believe you want me here.”
“Of course I do.”
There was something Adam was holding back, but he pulled Skylar into another kiss, and Skylar’s thoughts left his brain.
He shrugged out of his sweater and pulled his t-shirt over his head, hands going straight to the hem of Adam’s shirt to do the same.
“Wow,” Adam said, his fingers ghosting down Skylar’s torso. Skylar spent a lot of time with professional athletes, and he didn’t think his body was anything to write home about, but he preened under Adam’s attention.
“Get ready to be underwhelmed,” Adam said as he let Skylar pull his shirt off next.
“Ad, what the fuck, you’re fucking beautiful,” he said, taking in Adam’s body. His stomach and chest didn’t have gym-definition. What he had instead was a body that was strong from working and climbing.
Adam couldn’t look him in the eye, so Skylar tipped his chin up toward him. He kissed Adam softly, trying to convey the gravity of his feelings.
“Please feel confident that I’m here with you right now because there is nowhere else I’d rather be,” Skylar said. “I thought I’d shown you how much I want this. How much I want you. How hard I’m willing to work for it.”
Adam looked tentative, but he pulled Skylar back toward him with fingers in his belt loops. Skylar ripped his pants off as quickly as he could and tried to be patient while Adam slowly took his off. He didn’t want to rush him. He looked contemplative.
Skylar got busy pulling the sheets out from the tight perfect tuck around the bed so they could climb in.
He was getting into bed with Adam Lark again.
For the second time. He was so giddy about it, he was afraid he was going to break into song and dance.
Instead, he slipped under the covers, trying not to shiver.
“This feels familiar,” Adam said, following him into bed. The sheets were cold, and the two of them gravitated toward each other for body warmth above all else.
Skylar fit Adam’s body against his the way they had back in Adam’s apartment, after the furnace broke and they’d had to cuddle for warmth. Skylar would send the furnace a thank-you note if its imminent death wasn’t a threat to Adam’s livelihood.
Their kisses were slower under the covers, now that the sharp edge of urgency had dulled. Adam was here, nearly naked with him, and the moment stretched out patiently in front of them. Time had stopped for their kisses.
Skylar didn’t have a problem having a fun, quick night with someone that ended with him getting his clothes back on only moments after they finished.
He had less experience with this—building to something profound with someone he really liked.
Adam wasn’t a casual person. He was a committer.
He was deeply loyal. He considered everyone in his life before he considered himself.
And he had a sexy smile, a gorgeous beard, and a body that was making Skylar weak.
He pushed Adam onto his back slowly until he was on top, a leg between Adam’s thighs as he pressed their hips together. He felt Adam’s erection and moaned into their kiss, letting him know a little of what he was thinking.
“I want to suck you off,” Skylar said between kisses. He felt desperate. Desperate to have his mouth on Adam, desperate to make him feel good. Desperate to do this for as long as they could. The only other thing he’d ever felt so life or death about was hockey.
“I’m not done kissing you,” Adam said with a firm hand on the back of Skylar’s neck. He made Skylar’s mouth his own, and Skylar’s erection throbbed. Fuck, that was hot.
“You like that,” Adam observed, nipping at Skylar’s lip as his thoughts tried to load in his head. All Skylar could do was nod and grind his hips down against Adam’s.
“I like a lot of things,” Skylar said, struggling to convey his feelings. Adam kissed him again, long and deep.
“Do you like to bottom?” Adam asked.
“Yeah.” Skylar nodded, feeling eager. Adam’s hand wrapped around his erection, giving it a firm tug.
“Same. Do you like to top?”
“Yeah,” he said, just as eager.
“Same,” Adam said, his gaze molten lava. He took a moment to look between them, where his hand was still wrapped around Skylar, stroking him.
“I want that blowjob,” Adam said, but held Skylar in place when he tried to move down Adam’s body. “But I don’t want to stop kissing you yet.”
He reached for the lube on the side table, pouring some into his hand. He tossed the tube to the side and wrapped his hand around both of them this time. Adam hissed as he squeezed their cocks together, the lube easing the slide.
He’d wanted Adam like this for so long. He had months of pent-up sexual frustration coursing through him, and now he had Adam’s hands on him.
Adam kissed him like it was their last night on earth, and Skylar’s mind wandered to all of the possibilities before them.
Obviously Skylar wanted to suck his dick, but he also wanted to ride that dick and then fuck Adam into the mattress.
“I’m close,” Skylar whined.
“You’re easy for me,” Adam said, the first little hint of cockiness Skylar had seen from him. After months of Skylar showing up at his bar basically panting, he couldn’t pretend to have the higher ground. Adam earned the right to gloat.
“Easier than you could even imagine.”
Adam pulled him back in for another kiss and adjusted the hand on their cocks to focus just on Skylar’s.
He was making embarrassing noises, but his orgasm crested and crashed through him, warmth spilling between them.
Adam licked a couple fingers before wiping his hand on the sheet, and Skylar took his opportunity to accomplish his initial goal.
Lube wasn’t his favorite flavor, and he was excited to taste Adam on his own soon, but for now, he was desperate enough to soldier through. The sharpness of precome cut through.
Adam had a nice, thick cock that felt like heaven in Skylar’s mouth. He wanted nothing more than to park himself between Adam’s legs for a while.
“Oh God,” Adam groaned, hand in Skylar’s hair as he bobbed on Adam’s dick.
They had both been on edge, and Skylar didn’t need to worry about coming too quickly because he only got a few minutes on Adam’s cock before he was coming. Skylar swallowed the best he could without pulling off, continuing to lick and suck him until Adam groaned and gently nudged him away.
“If a refractory period didn’t exist, I’d never let you pull off,” Adam said, tugging Skylar up to him to kiss him as desperately as he had before they both came.
“I feel like I should be able to clear my schedule so we can hole up in this hotel room and fuck for a few weeks. Get this out of our systems, and then we can be functional members of society again,” Skylar complained.
“Like having sex leave from work for a new relationship.”
“Exactly. I guess that’s what summer is for. Summer feels far away right now.” It was nice to think of him and Adam together in the future. Even if this future was only a few months away.
Skylar had pillowed his head on Adam’s shoulder, and the way Adam was playing with his hair was making him sleepy.
“You know this is a big deal for me, right? My feelings for you are…big,” Adam said. The bravado he had in his voice minutes ago was gone, replaced with nerves.
“You know I feel the same way about you. Big.”
“What do I need to do to make this official? Exclusive?”
“Nothing. We just…are now, I guess.”
“Together. Us.”
“That sounds so nice,” Skylar said. Adam pulled the covers up over them, and Skylar imagined being in this exact scenario—post-coital, cuddled in bed together, whispering their feelings to each other—ten years in the future. Twenty. Fifty. A million.