Chapter Two #3
“You are the most important person in my life, Ty.”
“You’re mine too,” he replied breathlessly. “You saved me.”
Owen shook his head. “We saved each other.”
Tyler’s brow furrowed, and he pursed his lips together. “Are you saying you don’t want this?”
Owen tightened his hold on Tyler’s ass so he couldn’t move away. “I’m saying I need to know what this means to you because I can’t lose you.”
The air wheezed from Tyler’s body like Owen had kneed him in the balls.
He rubbed his sternum like he did whenever something stressed him out.
Owen hated to be the one causing the pain, but it would hurt a lot more if they screwed up their friendship.
Maybe Owen should have given Tyler a few minutes to pull himself together, but he pressed on.
“I’m in love with you, Ty.”
Brown eyes widened, lips parted on a soft gasp, and a pretty pink flush spread across Tyler’s cheeks. “For how long?”
Owen smiled and trailed a finger along Tyler’s smooth jawline. “Since the moment I looked into your eyes. I just knew you were sent to me. And for the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged.”
Tyler scrunched up his nose. “In jail?”
“No,” Owen replied. “I belonged to you.”
That made Tyler smile, and he hooked a finger through Tyler’s belt loop. “Tell me more.”
The confession seemed like a one-way street to Owen, but he wasn’t walking it alone. He took Tyler’s hand and led him to the sofa. He sat on the same cushion instead of the one beside it and didn’t pull his hand free.
“You’re everything good in my life, but I’ve always wanted more with you,” Owen said. “I’d resigned myself to never having it. I was, and still am, willing to accept whatever you’re willing to give me.”
Tyler swallowed hard but maintained eye contact. “What if I’m not capable of giving you more?”
Owen knew that was a distinct possibility.
Tyler could be confusing jealousy with attraction.
No one would call Owen the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he’d recognized the shift in Tyler’s personality since Keegan arrived on the ranch.
And then there was his strict, traditionalist upbringing to overcome.
So, there were several obstacles in their way if Tyler decided to expand on his curiosity, but first things first. “Did you enjoy kissing me?”
Tyler swallowed hard and nodded.
“Did you like touching me?”
Tyler groaned and rested his hand on Owen’s thigh. “Yes.”
Owen cupped Tyler’s face so he couldn’t dodge his gaze. “Do you want to do more of both?”
No matter the answer, Owen would find a way to be okay with it.
The seconds stretched on forever as they stared into each other’s eyes.
Then, Tyler pushed off the couch and swung himself around to straddle Owen’s lap.
Holy shit. He slid his hands around Owen’s neck and lowered his mouth.
Tyler’s kiss wasn’t a tentative probe; it was a possessive claim that exceeded Owen’s most vivid fantasies.
He shoved curious fingers under Owen’s shirt and caressed his chest. Up and down they trailed, from sternum to belly button.
Owen’s abdominal muscles clenched and released with each pass as he hoped Ty would go higher or lower.
Owen got hard again in no time, and he longed to pull Ty closer so he could feel the power he wielded.
And maybe Owen wanted to see if Tyler got hard again too.
When curious fingers brushed over his hard nipple, Owen gripped Tyler’s ass with both hands and pulled him until their groins pressed tightly together.
Tyler broke their kiss and leaned his forehead against Owen’s as he struggled to catch his breath. “Does that answer your questions?”
“Yes, but does it answer any of yours?” Owen asked.
Tyler smiled shyly as he considered. “It’s answered some and sparked several others?”
“Oh yeah?” Owen waggled his brows. “Anything I can help you with?”
Tyler pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Definitely.”
Owen rested his hands on Tyler’s thigh. “We’ll take this as slow as you need. You set the pace and the boundaries.”
Tyler pursed his lips as if that were a bad thing. “Why am I in charge?”
“This is new territory for you, so you get to decide.” And because Tyler fiercely guarded his freedom to make decisions after a lifetime of having someone else make them for him. Owen didn’t want to be another person who presumed to know what was best for him.
“And if you were taking the lead?” Tyler asked.
Owen brushed his thumb over Tyler’s lips once more. “I’d stretch you out on your bed and kiss you for the rest of the night.”
Tyler moaned and swayed forward. “Yes. I want to do that. What about touching?”
“You can do whatever you want to me, and I’ll reciprocate,” Owen promised him.
Tyler’s dark eyes shimmered with curiosity and desire. “Kiss for kiss and touch for touch?”
“Exactly.”
Tyler glanced over his shoulder, then dragged his bottom lip through his teeth. “The bed isn’t very big.”
Owen cupped the back of Ty’s neck and pulled him down for a quick kiss. “Even better.”