Chapter 32 Connor #2
I hop to my feet, pass my camera onto my bag, and stride the remaining distance between us. “Ha ha. What’re you doing here?”
“Holidays are about being with family, right? So, I came to hang out with you. Is that cool?”
Is that cool? One more step closes the gap between us, and I snake my arms around his waist to draw his mouth to mine.
His lips are warm against mine, his tongue even warmer. His hands the warmest of all, as they cup my jaw fresh from his coat pockets.
I’m not sure if it’s because my boyfriend is also my best friend or that he’s Dane, but he has one hell of a knack for popping up when I need him most. Sure, coming to keep me company on the sidelines of a pickup match isn’t the same as saving me from drowning or anaphylaxis, but love is about the little things as much as the big.
I’m not sure I even realized how lonely I felt until I saw him.
Not sure I knew how lonely I was until I met him.
One kiss becomes two, then three, then four. By the time the atmosphere fills with my friends’ hoots and whistles, I stop being able to tell when one kiss ends and another begins.
The warmth Dane fills me with turns into a joyous blaze.
After Tommy’s voice calls for a timeout, I peel away from Dane entirely, blushing through my embarrassment while Dane swipes the spit off my bottom lip.
At least now I won’t have to come out to the rest of the guys.
Smooching on a tall, stunning man right in front of them ought to do the trick.
Tommy jogs across the sideline and extends a hand toward Dane, introducing himself through heaved breaths.
They shake hands while I marvel at how bashful Dane becomes.
The guy who offered to give me head behind a cliff before he even knew my name is blushing as he meets my friend for the first time.
“This is Dane,” I say, slipping a hand up behind Dane’s shoulder, “my boyfriend.”
“You play?” Tommy asks him.
Before bashful-Dane can downplay himself, I interject. “He plays. He just transferred to Sac State.”
Tommy nods toward him. “You wanna join?”
This time, I let Dane answer. “Oh, I don’t have anything with me. No cleats or nothing.”
Tommy only shrugs, gives him a friendly pat on the arm, and says, “Make it work. You two can be on Levi’s team. I’ll switch to Rowan’s.”
“Fucking turncoat!” Levi shouts from the field. “It’s personal now! C’mon, Con-man. Let’s show these losers how to play soccer.”
Genuine humor mixes with residual embarrassment, and I grin while slipping my hand into Dane’s and pulling him toward the field. “What do you say? You wanna play on my side for a change?”
“Like teammates?” he asks. “Hell yeah.” He’s already shedding his coat and tossing it onto my bag.
He peels out of that pullover Mom made him wear, then the button-down from my closet until he’s shivering in only jeans and a plain tee.
Shivering with excitement, too, I hope, as he chases me onto the field.
By the end of the match, Levi’s accusing Rowan of cheating and Zeke’s challenging Brandon to a wrestling match to “settle this like men.” Meanwhile, I don’t give a shit about the score, but there’s something oddly tantalizing about impromptu wrestling.
When Dane bares his torso to the misty night, I nearly tackle him to the ground.
His long back, lean muscles, and constellation of little moles drive me nuts, but it’s the park lights glinting off his nipple rings that make me swoon the hardest.
What can I say? I’d thought I was a boob guy, but it turns out I’m a nipples-in-general guy, and Dane’s nips are top-tier.
Without qualm, I take his face and bring our mouths together to finish what we started before jumping into the field of play.
This time, when I touch his body, I feel his hot, damp skin under my equally hot, damp palms. I glide my hands to the small of his back and pull him against me.
Even limp, Dane’s dick is big enough to bulge, and it’s devilishly comforting pressed against my pelvis as his tongue sneaks between my lips.
Arms draped around my neck, Dane puts enough inches between our mouths to murmur, “You taste so good, puppy.”
No matter where we are, or who we’re around, Dane has a way of making the world feel like it’s just for us. Never mind the weird looks or muttered insults from passersby. It’s like what Tommy said. There’s power in not giving a fuck.
A big mitt snatches my shoulder and yanks me back from my lover, but not far.
“Ah!” I stumble back against Levi’s hard body, reeking of a musk that’s a much less appealing pheromone than Dane’s.
“Alright, alright, enough with the gay shit.” Levi hooks an arm firmly around my shoulders. To Dane, he says, “Now, you listen here. This kid is like a little brother to me, so you better treat him right.”
“I’m older than you,” I retort, shoving my former roomie away before I start smelling like his sweat.
He releases me with a chortle, arguing that he’s “older in spirit.” Whatever. “We’re all hitting Denny’s once Brandon and Zeke decide who really won. You both coming?”
“I’m starving,” Dane answers.
If he’s starving, that means he left Lori’s before he could eat anything. It’s not a good sign, and it strips me of half my joy. As glad as I was to see Dane, I should have thought harder about the why. I should have asked what happened.
“Awesome.” Levi slaps me on the shoulder before snapping his fingers and pointing to Dane’s chest. “Nice nips, bro.”
“Thanks.” Dane’s smile turns wicked as Levi struts off. “Is that dude gay?”
“Ha! Levi? He’s the straightest guy I’ve ever met.”
Dane directs his scrutiny to the two boneheads tussling on the wet grass. “But those two are definitely gay, right?”
“No, they’re just stupid.”
Reclaiming the distance Levi put between us, Dane holds my hips and puts his mouth on my head. I run my hands over his stomach and chest, grazing those hard nipples with my thumbs as my fingertips brush the damp hair under his arms.
“What happened at your mom’s?” I finally ask.
He sucks on his bottom lip and glances away. “Just, ya know, classic Calvo bullshit. I melted down a teeny bit. I’ll tell you about it in the car, but let’s just say, it wasn’t my most angelic moment.”
“That’s okay. You’re still my angel.”
“You’re still my goldendoodle.” He swoops in and pecks my lips. “I’m so excited to spend Christmas with you and your family.”
“Me too. There are a lot of Whitlocks you haven’t met yet, and I’m dying to introduce you. If that’s okay.”
“Hell yeah. As long as they’re more interesting than Martin and his boring kids. Blech.”
“My Grampa was a rodeo clown in his twenties, and he loves talking about it.”
“Now that’s more like it. Will Grampa Whitlock be okay with his grandson’s boyfriend being a homosexual?”
“Yes.” I grin, hugging my arms around Dane when I feel him shiver.
“Don’t worry. My folks have already spread the word far and wide that we’re more than just friends, so no one will ambush you.
Everyone is really excited to meet you. And if you feel uncomfortable at any point, we can sneak off for a bit and do our own thing. ”
“Our own thing, huh?” He pecks me again, wearing an even brighter smile. “I like the sound of that too.”