Chapter Six #3
They got out of the truck and trudged up the short path to the brick church they’d renovated and made their home.
It normally gave Knox a deep sense of pride and contentment to walk through those doors, to see all the love and sweat and skill they’d poured into it, but there was no room for it now.
Habit had them stopping to peel off coats and boots, and Knox stopped in the kitchen at one end of the open living space to drop off the food.
Then he was following Jesse up the stairs that led to the second floor.
Originally used for storage, they’d added insulation and reinforced the floor to make the attic their bedroom.
The ceilings were low and the only windows were at either end of the long space, but they’d added skylights and recessed lighting, and the result was a cozy, welcoming space that was both restful and inviting.
Coming up the stairs, they passed through a cozy reading nook with a small electrical fireplace that was more for mood than for heat, then their king-sized bed in the middle of the room. They’d built the bathroom at the far end, including the giant shower Jesse had insisted on.
Knox had fought him on it, arguing that a six foot by eight foot shower with multiple jets and steam function was ridiculously indulgent and entirely unnecessary.
But Jesse had put his foot down, as he so rarely did, and Knox had caved.
And he had to admit that on hard, sweaty days when his body felt every one of its forty-six years, that shower was worth every penny they’d spent on it.
Jesse didn’t pause, just continued straight on to the bath.
By the time Knox caught up to him he was already down to his socks and boxer briefs, his work clothes in a pile on the floor.
Knox reached into the glassed-in shower to turn on the water, then bent to pick up Jesse’s clothes.
He tossed them in the hamper, scooped up underwear and socks when they hit the floor, then paused to take in the view as Jesse stepped into the shower.
Firm, taut muscles, smooth, silky skin. Jesse tipped his face to the water, eyes closed, and Knox watched with increasing arousal as the water rippled down his body. Love, always present, tangled with lust and need to grab him by the throat, by the balls.
“Are you just going to stand there staring,” Jesse asked, his eyes still closed, “or are you going to come in here and fuck me?”
Lips pursed, Knox tried to gauge his husband’s mood. Less playful than usual, more urgent. A little rough. He could handle that, he decided, and tossed the clothes he held at the hamper before stripping off his own.
He stepped into the shower behind Jesse, eyes darting to the high shelf worked into the tile.
Since shower time often turned to sexy time, they kept a bottle of lube there, and a couple of condoms should they decide to use them.
Satisfied that the supplies were in place, he turned his attention to the man in front of him.
Smooth and wet, warm and willing, Jesse sighed with pleasure when Knox pressed against him, front to back, and wrapped both arms around him. “That’s nice.”
“Yeah?” Face buried in Jesse’s neck, Knox breathed him in. The lotion Jesse favored, some goat’s milk stuff he bought at the farmer’s market every year in bulk, carried a hint of basil. It made Knox’s mouth water.
“Yeah.” Jesse leaned back into Knox’s embrace. “More.”
“More like this?” Knox asked, using his teeth to scrape at the muscled column of his lover’s neck. A shiver ran through Jesse, thrilling Knox, and he stroked down the smooth, taut belly under his hands to the erection rising below. “Or more like this?”
“More like that,” Jesse grunted, hips surging, thrusting his dick into Knox’s grip. “Tighter.”
“You’re in a mood,” Knox observed, squeezing carefully.
“I need it hard,” Jesse panted. He let his head fall back to Knox’s shoulder, his chest heaving with his breathing. “Please, babe.”
“How?” One arm wrapped around Jesse’s chest, the other hand gripping his dick, Knox turned his head to look into his lover’s eyes. “How to do you want it?”
Jesse blinked away the water that had beaded on his lashes. “Fuck me, and jack me off.”
“Hard?” Knox asked. “Fast?”
Jesse nodded.
Knox tightened his fist around Jesse’s dick, slowly, carefully. “Mean?”
The light in Jesse’s eyes gave the answer before he spoke. “A little.” His throat bobbed when he swallowed. “Not too much.”
“All right.” Planting a soft kiss on Jesse’s cheek, Knox eased his hands away. “Put your hands on the wall.”
Jesse complied, and Knox reached for the lube. “Do you want a condom?”
Hands braced, head hanging between his shoulders, Jesse shook his head, sending water flying. “Uh-uh. I want to feel you.”
“Spread your legs,” Knox ordered and uncapped the lube. Standing back out of the spray, he poured some into his hand. “Wider.”
Jesse obeyed, leaning forward slightly so his ass jutted out, his balls swinging between his thighs.
Another time, Knox might have gotten on his knees and played with them a little—sucking, nibbling, batting at them like a kitten with a string, just to hear Jesse laugh and curse and laugh again.
But Jesse was shifting his weight restlessly from foot to foot, his urgency clear.
So Knox slathered lube on the hard length of his dick and stepped forward.
Jesse rose on his toes and stuck his ass out further, firmly muscled cheeks spreading so the pucker of his asshole came into view. With the ease of their years together, Knox guided himself into place, Jesse exhaled, and with a long, slow push, Knox was buried to the balls.
“Fuck,” Jesse groaned, his hands fisting on the tile. His ass fluttered and spasmed around Knox’s dick, the process of adjustment familiar. Knox gave him a moment, then with a hand still slick with lube, reached around to grasp Jesse’s dick.
Jesse had said he wanted it fast and hard with a little mean, and that’s what he was going to get.
“Brace yourself,” was all the warning Knox gave.
He fucked without mercy, stroked without compassion.
The lube was made to hold up in water, but the force of the spray would eventually wash it away, so Knox considered it a race—to get both of them off before the shower forced him to reapply.
The sounds of good, hard sex filled the small space, Jesse’s cries and Knox’s grunts mingling with the slap of flesh on flesh.
Knox felt Jesse’s cock tighten in his fist, those first pulses of release throb through. Bending his knees for leverage, he fucked harder, faster and, desperate to gain that last little bit to shove them both over the edge, sank his teeth into Jesse’s shoulder.
Jesse’s shout bounced off the tile, his ass spasming and his dick jerking in Knox’s hand.
He shook, trembling almost violently, and Knox slapped a hand on his belly to hold him still.
Once, twice, three times more he plunged deep, then the blazing heat and blistering pleasure was his, too, and he emptied himself into Jesse’s willing body.
After, when they could stand upright, they washed each other in silence that felt like a warm blanket, quiet and comforting. They exchanged soft kisses, gentle touches, as after the frenzy of their lovemaking they both wanted the soft and gentle again.
They took their time until finally, dressed in what Jesse called their comfy, at-home clothes, they went downstairs to heat up dinner.
“The good thing about fried food,” Jesse decided after sampling a warmed-up chicken strip, “is that you can reheat it in the air fryer and it’s just as good.”
“I’m forced to agree,” Knox said, biting into an onion ring. “But I feel guilty that there are no vegetables on this table.”
“Coleslaw is a vegetable,” Jesse pointed out. “It’s several vegetables.”
“I suppose technically that’s true,” Knox conceded. “But I think the presence of that much mayo negates any benefit.”
“A veg is a veg,” Jesse insisted and forked up a mouthful.
Knox smiled. “And does the lemon meringue pie you got for dessert count as a fruit?”
“Absolutely.”
“You’re feeling better,” Knox observed.
Jesse poked at a chicken strip. “I wasn’t feeling bad.”
“No, but you were…” Knox paused, searching for the right word.
“Edgy,” Jesse supplied, his dark eyes meeting Knox’s.
Knox picked up his patty melt and took a bite. It, too, warmed up well in the air fryer. “Yeah. Me, too.”
“I noticed. Scared me a little.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not.” Knox reached for the beer he’d decided to have with his dinner. “I crossed a line.”
“You didn’t. Came close,” Jesse admitted. “But you didn’t cross it. And I understand.”
Knox washed down his sandwich with a swig of beer. “I’m glad you do, because I don’t.”
“You like her.”
His beer empty, Knox went to the fridge for another. “That’s not news.”
“No, I mean you like her. You like her like I like her. Like you like me.”
“I love you,” Knox reminded him.
“Yeah.” Jesse nodded, dark eyes watchful. “I know.”
Knox sighed and put the second beer back. There was a knot under his heart that was making it hard to breathe. “I know what you want, Jess.”
“You want it, too.”
He did. God, he did. But… “Complicated, remember?”
Jesse nodded. “I remember. I also remember what Lou said tonight.”
“Life is complicated,” Knox murmured and sat back down. “She’s not wrong.”
“She also said to figure out what’s important, then go for it.”
“It’s not that simple,” Knox protested.
“I know.” Putting down his chicken strip, Jesse grasped Knox’s hand with greasy fingers. “I know it’s not. But is it important?”
Knox stared at down their hands, thought of the longing he felt whenever he saw Chloe, whenever he thought of her. “Yeah.”
Jesse’s mouth, so pretty, so expressive, curved upward. “Then I guess we gotta find our balls, and go for it.”