CHAPTER NINE
Graham felt a little shaky as he hit Play on the movie. It was an action movie Thad had mentioned he wanted to see.
Tonight was going well so far. Thad was here and he was flirting with Graham, and he knew this was a date and seemed to be into it and …
And shit, what did Graham do now? He’d been so worried about getting to this point and what could happen after the movie, he hadn’t thought about what was going to happen during it.
He nervously crunched a tortilla chip.
He was hungry. His stomach had been in knots during dinner, so he hadn’t eaten as much as he needed. This wasn’t the lean protein of a slice of raw salmon or anything … but there had to be some protein in nacho cheese. Was there even real cheese in nacho cheese? He wasn’t sure.
For a little while, they ate in silence, watching the movie.
The room was dim and cozy with the flickering of the faux candles and the mound of pillows behind them. The surround sound setup was pretty sweet too and Graham was glad he’d had the speakers delivered to the hotel. They were small enough he might start carrying them on every road trip.
He glanced over to see Thad’s gaze glued to the screen, the small red and white container of popcorn and Reese’s Pieces resting in his lap.
He must have felt Graham’s gaze on him because he glanced over and smiled before looking back at the screen.
Graham felt a little shaky. Damn, that smile was kinda lethal. He’d seen Thad deploy it, but not usually straight at him.
Graham was so in over his head here.
He looked back at the screen. Yep, things were still being blown up. And who was the guy running from the explosions again?
After he’d finished the nachos, candy, and taken a few swigs of orange soda, he cleaned his fingers on a napkin and tossed it in the trash. When it was gone, he regretted it. He had nothing to do with his hands.
Except …
Graham glanced over again to see Thad laughing at something on the screen. What had Tom said about holding hands? That was something people did at the movies when they were on a first date, wasn’t it?
Why couldn’t Graham remember what dating was like? It shouldn’t be different from anything he’d done before but somehow he couldn’t stop getting all up in his head about it.
Wait. What if his palm was sweaty?
Graham swiped his hand across his thigh, then settled it on the bed between their bodies. Thad glanced down, then looked back at the screen. Ahh fuck, maybe Graham had misread …
A moment later, Thad’s hand landed on his, warm and heavy. He threaded their fingers together and squeezed once, still watching the movie.
Oh! Graham felt an odd, buzzy sensation start up in his skin when he didn’t pull away. Oh, it had worked! They were holding hands!
Graham smiled to himself at the thought of big, bad Thad Racine, the guy most people in the organization were wary of, holding hands and watching a movie all cozied up in bed with a throw blanket in his lap.
For a little while, Graham sat there, reveling in the simple touch as he tried to focus on the movie again.
“So, what’s with the candy in the popcorn?” Graham asked a while later, when it was clear this movie was mostly explosions and car chases, and he wouldn’t be missing much if he stopped paying attention to it and started paying attention to his date.
And the upside of watching this in a hotel room instead of a movie theater was there was no one around to shush them for talking.
“What? You’ve never tried it? Oh, you’ve been missing out,” Thad said with a soft laugh. He held out a little bit of the mix, offering it to Graham to take from his fingers.
Graham swallowed hard.
“Or, uh, here,” Thad said with a frown as he pulled away and held out the container. “You can get your own. Probably more sanitary, anyway.”
“No,” Graham said. “I want it.”
He leaned in, opening his mouth so Thad could feed the snack to him. Thad quirked an eyebrow but he lifted the food to Graham’s lips again.
Graham took it, not sure how to avoid using his teeth and tongue, then wondering if maybe he should—would that be sexy or no?—and then it was suddenly awkward and fuck, he was bad at this.
He’d had game with women in the past, really. But Thad reduced him to an awkward mess for some reason.
“Hey, c’mere,” Thad said huskily, then his mouth was on Graham’s.
Graham let his eyes close as Thad swept his tongue over Graham’s bottom lip and teased into his mouth. Fuck that was good. Graham’s skin felt hot and even more buzzy with electricity as he tasted the salty peanut butter and chocolate on Thad’s tongue.
Shakily, Graham grabbed the container of popcorn and chocolate and blindly shoved it in the direction of the nightstand and hoped for the best. He scooted closer to Thad, threading a hand through his hair.
Thad made a sound, a low moan in the back of his throat, and Graham felt heat wash over him. God, it was like the last time. Like the time they’d made out on Thad’s couch, only better because Graham was finally single and Thad wanted to be with him and …
Graham let out a little whimper when Thad pulled away.
“I know.” Thad’s voice was rough, and he cupped Graham’s cheek, resting their foreheads together. “Fuck, I know.”
And then they were kissing again, and it was almost too much for Graham to handle. How was this so good? How were they so good together?
Thad shifted, throwing a pillow onto the floor, then dragging Graham closer until Graham was twisted to the side, half on Thad’s lap.
Even through the fabric, Thad’s hands felt huge and warm as he ran them up Graham’s back and Graham pressed closer, sifting his fingers through Thad’s short hair as they kissed.
Thad was a great kisser and Graham let out another of those low, rough noises and kissed him harder. Deeper.
“Fuck, you are too,” Thad said a few moments later because apparently Graham had said the first part aloud. Oops.
They pulled apart long enough to pant for air. Well, Thad was panting a little, Graham was okay.
The smoking probably didn’t help with that.
Graham bit back the urge to comment on it. It always made Thad prickly when he did and the last thing he wanted was to ruin the mood. Instead, he pressed a hand to Thad’s chest, feeling the hard muscles below.
Okay, that was different.
But it was good too and he leaned in, capturing Thad’s lips again. They kissed as Graham mapped out the width of Thad’s shoulders, the feel of his biceps, the hardness of his pecs.
Thad seemed to take it as a cue to touch Graham too and when Thad’s hands roamed his back in sweeping touches, it lit up his nerves, leaving his skin prickly with sensation.
Graham shivered when Thad tugged at his shirt where it was tucked into the waistband of his jeans but when Graham tried to sit back to take it off, Thad held him close, cupping one big hand around the back of Graham’s neck and deepening the kiss.
Graham melted against Thad, lost in the sweep of his tongue and the feel of his hands roaming Graham’s back, under the shirt this time.
The skin-to-skin contact was electric, and Graham ached for more of it, but Thad seemed perfectly content to lie here, half-propped up by the pillows as they lazily made out.
But the more they kissed and touched, the more turned on Graham got. He shifted, his cock pinching uncomfortably in his jeans.
He let out a noise that made Thad pull back, frowning. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Graham said. “Just … awkward position.”
“Here.” Thad sat up, pushing him back and arranging their bodies until they were stretched out side by side. “Better?”
“Yeah,” Graham said hoarsely. He had his back to the TV now, and that meant Thad’s face was illuminated by the TV screen.
He was … wow. He was fucking gorgeous.
Momentarily stunned, he stared at Thad, drinking in his heavy stubble and the straight line of his mouth.
“What?” Thad said and Graham glanced up to see him frowning, his brows drawn down, a worried look in his eyes.
“You’re fucking gorgeous,” Graham repeated, this time aloud. He’d get that right one of these times but making out with Thad seemed to have scrambled his brain.
Thad scoffed, and it was weird because Graham had never seen him be anything but confident in himself.
“Uh, you are,” Graham countered.
“I’m a decade and a half older than you,” Thad shot back.
Graham shrugged. “And I’m fine with that.”
He leaned in and kissed Thad, because he didn’t know how to tell him he liked that he’d experienced life. He wished life had been a little easier, because no one deserved the shit Thad had been through, but it had made him who he was, and Graham liked that.
He liked Thad.
There was a depth to him most people Graham’s age didn’t have. He was layered and complicated and he’d experienced things Graham had never dreamed of.
Unless … did he think Graham was too inexperienced? He pulled away to ask him and Thad scoffed and rolled his eyes.
“No. You’re perfect the way you are. I just feel like I’m corrupting something a little too young and pure for me. You look so fucking wholesome.”
Graham smiled, “You’re a little bit into that though, aren’t you?”
Thad groaned and pulled him closer. “Fuck. I kind of am.”
Graham laughed against his mouth. As long as Thad was into the idea, he could work with that. But he drew back when he remembered there was one important thing they needed to talk about.
“Hey, you’re good with keeping the fact we’re, um, dating, quiet, right?”
Thad nodded. “Yeah, I mean the code of conduct doesn’t really apply to us and the team doesn’t have a no-fraternization policy between players and employees or anything, but my brother …” He shuddered. “Yeah, let’s keep this quiet.”
“I was thinking about the fact that this could almost be hot if no one else knows.”
Thad raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, you know. You were right. I would hate the idea of cheating on someone but …” Graham’s face felt a little warm. “Like, sneaking around like this … I don’t know. Isn’t it kinda thrilling?”