8. Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Zach
God, could this man be any more amazing, any more perfect?
Their laughter had fully quashed any anxiousness and embarrassment Zach had been feeling from Jen’s inquisition. And now? Damn, Drew was gazing over at him with this look in his eyes that just... just... God, he could hardly breathe from the intensity of Drew’s gaze, all steely blue and sparkling as though Drew was magic or something.
“Are you real?” Zach blurted out.
Drew laughed. “What?”
Zach shifted to more fully face Drew, and he risked putting his hand back on Drew’s leg—because it had felt good and sexy and because a very small part of him wanted to check if Drew was indeed real, or at least felt real. Zach’s fingers twitched with the urge to move higher up on Drew’s thigh, as he’d been doing before they’d been interrupted. His heart thudded in his chest as he remembered how heated things had gotten, and his dick started to get hard again at the thought.
He hadn’t realized he’d been staring at his own hand until Drew’s hand came into view, his fingers tracing lightly against Zach’s skin. “Get lost again there?” Drew said, a slight huskiness to his voice. The pads of Drew’s fingers seemed to leave fire in their wake, burning Zach’s skin, and he let out a shuddering breath.
“Y-yeah...” Zach stared for a moment longer, entranced by the notion that such a light touch could cause his heart to race, his skin to heat, and his erection to twitch back to life. But he finally pulled his gaze away and looked up at Drew. “Are you feeling that too? The—god, I’m not even sure how—how to... I feel alive and on fire and excited all at once. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”
Drew seemed to search his face, his eyes flitting down to Zach’s lips and back up as his fingers scorched a path up Zach’s forearm. “Me neither. And god yes, I’m feeling everything. I’ve never... It’s...”
“Words are super hard right now,” Zach managed to say.
Drew grinned and nodded. “So...” he started, his fingers continuing their path upward, teasing at the hem of Zach’s sleeve, his thumb rubbing a slow arc across Zach’s bicep. “That means we should avoid talking, then? Maybe get back to kissing practice instead?”
“Oh, definitely. I agree,” Zach said, smiling yet trembling as he leaned back in to cover the short distance between Drew’s mouth and his. Oh, god. Was kissing always this incredible? Or was it just kissing Drew that was this incredible? He was pretty sure he was addicted to it already.
As Drew’s lips caressed his, Zach’s hand squeezed Drew’s thigh and then crept higher. At the same time, Drew slipped his hand under the sleeve of Zach’s T-shirt, his fingers first caressing lightly and then pressing more firmly into Zach’s muscles. Zach whimpered against Drew’s lips, and Drew moaned softly in response, barely pausing as he continued kissing Zach. Drew seemed to have an urgent need to discover all the secret spots that made him whimper. Hell, Zach didn’t even know what those spots were. All he could think was how incredibly fucking hot this was—they still had all their clothes on and... shit, Zach was more aroused than he’d ever been. Ever .
Drew pulled away, his breath coming in short pants. “Breathing, breathing is super hard too.”
Zach nodded. Fuck, there were a lot of things that were super hard right now, and he was incredibly tempted to move his hand just... Oh god, that would be too soon, wouldn’t it? His fingers twitched with want and molten curiosity against Drew’s inner thigh, which seemed to make Drew react too, his grasp firmer for just a moment, like he wanted to test the shape and firmness of the muscles in Zach’s arm.
Zach swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, and he lost himself again in Drew’s eyes, his gaze somehow both new to him and familiar at the same time. Then Drew was leaning in to capture Zach’s lips again. Zach met him eagerly, marveling that the magic feeling was there for him every time their mouths met. It wasn’t long, though, until Drew’s lips strayed away from his. Zach gasped, a strong pulse of desire shooting straight down to his toes, as Drew started trailing open-mouthed kisses across Zach’s jaw, pausing to nip lightly at his ear, and then... Drew backed up with a small grunt of frustration.
Busy trying to remember how to breathe, Zach didn’t realize what was wrong at first. Then Drew uttered “Here, c’mere, I can’t reach” in a low rasp before moving his hands to Zach’s hips, urging him to... to—fuck, he wanted Zach to straddle him.
His whole body trembling with anticipation and a healthy dose of anxiousness, Zach shifted so that his knees were on the couch, and Drew’s hands found his hips again, tugging gently but with clear eagerness. Putting one hand on the back of the couch to brace himself, Zach paused for just a moment and let out a nervous laugh. “I, uh... I’ve never done this before either. I assume I should just...” Zach lifted one knee and pivoted his hips slightly and set his knee back down on the other side of Drew’s legs. “Like this?”
Drew smiled up at him. “Close,” he murmured, then gave another gentle tug at Zach’s waist. “But you, um, gotta sit all the way down so I can reach...”
“Yeah?” Zach said on a shaky breath. “What are you trying to reach? Oh god, my sexy talk could use some work...” He just knew his cheeks were pinking up if they weren’t already fully flushed from all their kissing.
Drew chuckled lightly. “Practice. We just need practice with all the things. I don’t know what I’m doing either, I just know”—Drew pulled gently at Zach’s hips—“I don’t want to stop. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re very sexy.”
Zach sucked in a breath, then moaned somewhere in the back of his throat as his weight settled more fully across Drew’s hips. God, he could... he could feel Drew’s erection pressing against him, making his dick throb with want.
“Is this—is this okay?” Drew asked, his voice sounding strained, which was somehow even sexier.
“Oh yeah. Definitely. I... This is really, really okay.”
Drew’s hands, trembling slightly, came up to frame either side of Zach’s face as he gazed at Zach. They were both silent for a moment but for the sounds of their erratic breathing, and the now-insistent pulsing of arousal seemed to be everywhere, especially where his body met Drew’s.
“Your eyes...” Drew said softly. “They’re just so perfectly blue... and kind and—and I can’t stop staring.” Drew ran his thumbs across Zach’s cheeks.
Drew’s words and his touch were so full of desire and sincerity and this tenuous self-assuredness, and even though his pulse was still racing in his ears, Zach could feel his heart swell with some unfamiliar emotion .
“Y-you were... trying to reach somewhere?” Zach prompted, though he was half-tempted to let himself get lost in Drew’s eyes again.
But then Drew let out a huff of laughter and gave Zach a slow smile. “Yeah...” he answered softly, letting his hands slide down from Zach’s cheeks, over his neck, and down to his chest.
“Where?” Zach’s heart was thudding with anticipation, so hard that surely Drew had to feel it against his palms. He watched as Drew’s eyes flicked down to Zach’s neck and up again.
Slowly, and while trying to keep his breaths measured, Zach tilted his head so Drew had more room. Everything in the moment seemed taut with the most delicious tension. He closed his eyes as Drew drifted closer, his breath warm against Zach’s neck, then warmer still.
“This spot right here,” Drew murmured, his lips hovering close to Zach’s skin just where his neck dipped and curved into his shoulder. “Can I taste it?”
“Yeah,” Zach rasped as he nodded.
Drew’s lips were warm and wet on his skin, and Zach sucked in a breath as his every nerve ending ignited, the heat of desire shooting through his body. Drew ventured further, exploring what seemed like every inch of Zach’s neck.
“Oh god...” Zach moaned, turning his head as Drew kissed more and more of him.
Drew smiled, humming against his neck, and then paused, not quite bothering to lift his lips away from Zach’s skin before he spoke. “So... no practice, then? I got this one right... on the first try?” he asked between kisses.
“Yeah... so good.” Zach moaned with pleasure. “No wait! Practice. Mm-hmm. You need, ahhhh—so much practice. Godddd. ”
Drew’s grin against his skin made Zach smile and laugh breathily. Drew fluttered a few more kisses before he pulled back, the grin still wide on his face, though Zach had to blink a few times to see clearly through the haze of desire.
“Breathing got hard again,” Drew said with a smile, leaning back and pressing himself into the cushions behind him.
The movement shifted Zach slightly against Drew’s erection, and Zach bit his lower lip in an effort not to groan, though he was only mildly successful. His eyes dipped briefly to Drew’s neck, and he wondered how Drew’s skin might taste, how Drew’s facial hair might feel against his lips. Before he even realized what he was saying, he blurted out, “I-I should probably... practice that too, yeah? All things being equal?”
Drew’s eyes seemed to darken more as he nodded slowly, his hands making their way down to Zach’s thighs.
Leaning forward, Zach put one hand on the back of the couch to brace himself, and he brought the other up to cup Drew’s cheek. Then he moved in to capture Drew’s lips in a deep, slow kiss. He pulled back briefly to look in Drew’s eyes, and he wondered again how Drew’s gaze could feel so familiar, so comforting, even though he and Drew hardly knew anything about each other.
He couldn’t help being drawn back to Drew’s lips, taken by an urgent need to kiss him, and there it was again—the magic, the fire, the heat, the comfort, and... god, the desire. Sweeping his tongue through Drew’s mouth and then capturing his lips again and again, it felt like he’d never be able to get enough, like he’d fade away into nothing if he never got to kiss Drew again.
Eventually, he sat back, trying to catch his breath, though the slight friction of Drew’s hard dick between them as Zach shifted wasn’t helping him much. Neither was the fact that Drew’s fingers still pressed into Zach’s hips, holding him firmly in place as Drew lifted his hips. The motion increased the pressure of Drew’s erection against Zach’s thigh, and they both groaned at the sensation.
As Drew sank back into the cushions, he groaned again, but it sounded more like a groan of regret. “Shit, that was a mistake.”
“No, no... god, it was good. It’s okay—”
Drew shook his head as he ran his hands up and down Zach’s thighs. “Not that. It’s... I was just thinking about changing into something—”
“—more comfortable?” Zach teased gently.
Drew chuckled. “Exactly, but then I realized that I don’t have my luggage.”
“Oh, crap! That’s right, you weren’t carrying a bag when we got off the plane.”
“Nope.” Drew grimaced.
Zach looked down to refresh his memory. “And you’re wearing jeans, and... Ahh, sorry, I’ll get up.”
He made a motion to start moving off Drew’s lap, but Drew’s hands on his waist and a husky “stay” stopped him. “At least for another minute or two. I... I really like this.”
Zach smiled. “Me too.”
“I really...” Drew hesitated and seemed to take a few seconds to gather his thoughts. Then his cheeks turned pink, and he ducked his head. “I really like you .”
“I really like you too,” Zach breathed as something in his chest squeezed pleasantly. “Where did you come from?”
“Me? New York—same as you.” Drew grinned.
Zach groaned and rolled his eyes even as he laughed lightly. “You know what I mean.”
Drew’s expression sobered again, and like he’d been doing all day, he seemed to search Zach’s face, studying it as though it was something wonderful and precious to behold. His hand came up to touch Zach’s cheek, and he drew him down for a kiss. And just like it’d been all night so far, it was magical and breathtaking and made Zach feel so many powerful emotions he thought his heart might burst with joy.
When Drew pulled away, Zach followed, chasing after Drew’s lips for one more kiss, and then rested his forehead against Drew’s. There in that small space between them seemed to be this almost tangible thing, and Zach wasn’t entirely sure what it was other than something that made his heart flutter wildly.