Chapter 25 #2
Jesse’s favorite part was the balcony through a second set of French doors just off the bedroom.
While it wasn’t quite what they’d experienced at the observatory, the view still offered city lights and mountains in the distance.
Jesse was busy admiring it when Cal finally broke their comfortable silence.
“Was Mr. Campbell’s home everything you hoped it would be?”
Jesse drummed his fingers on the top rail as he tried to come up with a clever reply. Flirting through the house tour charade had been fun, but he wanted Cal to know his feelings were far from pretense. He reached out and laced their fingers together, squeezing lightly.
“It’s wonderful, Cal. I can see why you like being here over anywhere else.”
“Almost anywhere else,” Cal revised.
Jesse blinked up at him, searching his eyes in the low light coming from the bedroom behind them.
Cal used their connected hands to pull Jesse close, the other coming to rest on his waist in a loose dance hold that Mr. Price would’ve scolded him for immediately.
Jesse didn’t mind. He fell into place, free hand finding Cal’s shoulder with the ease of countless rehearsal hours.
As they started to sway on the small balcony, Jesse let his head rest against Cal’s shoulder, face turned so he could see the view again. His magic responded to the motion, already swirling up toward his ankles, but he pushed back. This wasn’t the time for fancy footwork.
“When I’m in your arms,” Cal began, the lyrics coming out as little more than a broken hum, “it’s only me and you. The noise around me, fades completely,” he went on, his voice growing quieter, the space between each word lengthening. “It’s world…population two.”
In the same moment that Jesse slid his hand from Cal’s broad shoulder to the side of his neck, Cal’s hand moved from Jesse’s hip to the middle of his back, and their lips met for a slow, scorching kiss that elicited a desperate peep of a whimper from Jesse.
“May I take you inside?” Cal breathed.
Jesse nodded his agreement, entirely unprepared for what happened next. Cal swooped him up into his arms, the same as he did during their song on set, and carried him over the threshold newlywed style. Jesse tucked his face against Cal’s neck in an attempt to hide just how much it pleased him.
Cal set him down on top of the pillowy comforter spread across the bed, only letting go of Jesse to brace his weight on either side of him as he leaned into their next kiss. When they finally broke apart, Jesse was pressed flat onto his back with Cal between his legs.
He’d never been in such a position before, but Jesse knew what was coming.
Most everyone he knew spoke about it like it was inevitable; from music to movies and everything in between, sex was a compulsory part of intimate relationships.
Jesse could see that Cal was of the same opinion as he began undressing himself with a single-minded determination.
Jesse swallowed hard and sat up, working his arms out of his jacket as fast as he could in an attempt to keep pace.
After he’d successfully removed his shoes, Jesse wasn’t sure what to do next.
Cal was already down to his pinstripe trousers, and seconds later, those also disappeared down his legs.
A quiet part of Jesse’s brain told him that this moment was important—something he’d daydreamed about, but never imagined would actually happen, so he paused to watch Cal adjust himself through the fabric of his undershorts as he stepped out of his discarded pants.
Jesse flushed when he realized Cal was already hard.
Before Jesse could make it fully out of his shirt, Cal was kissing him again. He helped Jesse the rest of the way, tossing it aside as he sat down beside him on the bed.
“I’ve never done this before,” Jesse admitted, not because he was unsure about moving forward, but because he didn’t want to disappoint Cal.
“That’s all right,” Cal said, pausing to make eye contact. “Am I going too fast?”
Jesse wasn’t entirely sure what too fast meant, but he shook his head anyway.
More kisses took them both down to the plush mattress.
As Jesse worked the fly of his trousers open, Cal’s hand found his chest, then a nipple through his undershirt, and Jesse wondered if Cal liked being touched that way.
For Jesse, it was the same as if someone was rubbing circles on his forearm—he could feel it, of course, but it didn’t bring forth any sort of gratification like he supposed it ought to.
He tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his undone trousers and lifted his hips, working them down his thighs as far as he could reach.
Cal groaned his apparent approval at the sight and brought his hand down from Jesse’s chest, sliding his fingertips featherlight over his navel and lower.
Jesse’s muscles clenched under the touch.
“Are you ticklish?” Cal murmured against his ear.
“A little,” Jesse confessed, though that didn’t seem to be the right word for it. The feeling continued as Cal flattened his hand against his lower abdomen, muscles tight and uncertain as Cal’s fingers brushed beneath the band of his shorts.
“It’s okay to be nervous. Just tell me if there’s anything you don’t like and we’ll try something else.”