Chapter 13 #3
After finishing his nightly routine, he realized he’d rushed off without grabbing any clothes.
Wrapping a towel around his hips, he left the bathroom—only to step into a fairy tale.
Tall candles lined the kitchen counter, coffee table, and nightstand, their flames casting languid, swaying shadows across the walls.
The warm glow wrapped the room in a soft, flickering light.
“Miles, this is amazing,” Zach whispered, glancing around with awe.
“Come here,” Miles beckoned from the edge of the bed.
“Let me put on some clothes first.”
“You can do that later. Come, let me make you feel good.”
The way Miles said it, dark and smooth, made the words sound obscene.
Zach hoped his body would behave as he stretched out on top of the comforter, bracing himself for Miles’s touch.
They’d given each other countless back rubs over the years, but never a real massage.
Certainly not one that involved candles and the most romantic atmosphere Zach had ever experienced.
This summer was full of firsts.
He breathed in and out slowly as Miles straddled him and walked forward on his knees until his warm, lotion-slick hands landed on Zach’s back and started traveling up and down his torso.
Strong fingers dug into tight muscles, working out the knots and melting away the earlier stiffness.
Zach hummed in relief as tension fled his body, growing more at ease with every pass.
If this were a massage parlor, he would have been relaxed enough to doze off. Instead, he was acutely aware of Miles’s weight across his thighs and the reverence of his touch. His imagination wandered until he could almost feel the pull of desire emanating from Miles.
“Turn over.” Hot breath danced over his ear as Miles murmured the instruction. Zach immediately sobered up. There was no way in hell he could turn over without revealing the effect Miles had on his body.
“Uhh. That’s okay. This was really nice.” He stumbled over the words. “Thank you for the… Well, thank you. I feel much more relaxed. I think I’ll just go to sleep like this.”
“Turn. Over.” This time, the steel edge to Miles’s voice was impossible to ignore. A zing of excitement rushed through Zach at the command, and any hope of his erection subsiding was gone. All he wanted in that moment was for Miles to keep caressing him, keep touching him, keep barking out orders.
The weight disappeared from his legs, and before Zach could move, Miles easily flipped him onto his back.
Zach couldn’t look away from the sharpness in his gaze, a wild, feral glint that had to be a trick of the light.
Miles lowered himself slowly, brushing their groins together before settling on top of Zach’s straining erection, and Zach barely managed to hold in the wild moan that threatened to rip out of his chest.
This massage was quickly becoming an exercise in restraint.
And Zach wasn’t a fan of exercising.
He groaned as soon as Miles started kneading his shoulders, reveling in the delicious pressure. Miles responded with a soft grunt as he rubbed powerful circles with his thumbs, and the low, guttural noise drove Zach wild with lust. Would Miles make the same sound as he thrust deep inside Zach?
His cock twitched against Miles’s ass, and he did his best to stop, to keep breathing, to think of something unsexy, but it was a losing battle.
When Miles’s hands drifted down to his pecs and rubbed across his nipples, Zach gasped and bucked his hips on instinct.
Immediately, he tensed, waiting for Miles’s reaction, hoping they’d be able to laugh it off, but Miles didn’t seem upset or freaked out.
If anything, he moved with more purpose, brushing his palms against the sensitive peaks over and over.
The familiar fog of lust blurred the edges of Zach’s consciousness, threatening to overcome him.
Miles’s weight pinned him in place, and he couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t stop his body from reacting.
He stared up in a silent entreaty, helpless, wondering if their friendship would be destroyed by a back massage.
Miles met the unspoken plea with a satisfied smirk, as if aware of exactly what he was doing.
A swell of pleasure rushed through Zach as Miles rolled his hips, rubbing their erections together, and it took a few moments for the realization to sink in.
Miles was hard.
Both of them were. They moved slowly against each other, lost in the rhythm of the forgotten massage.
Miles ghosted his fingers down Zach’s cheek, and Zach blinked his eyes open, not realizing they’d clamped shut.
“Zee, do you want this?”
What was Miles asking? Thoughts moved sluggishly, hampered by the barrage of sensations pinging across his nerve endings. There was no way Miles was talking about the same thing Zach had been dreaming of for years.
Was there?
Miles softly caressed his jaw, and Zach remembered that he needed to respond to the question. “I don’t… What are you asking?”
A wicked smile lit up Miles’s face as he slid his hands down Zach’s chest, pausing at the edge of the towel. “I think you know exactly what I’m asking.”
Zach gasped and lurched back, desperately holding on to the last shred of his sanity.
He’d dreamed of this before, hopelessly wishing for Miles to touch him in a way that had nothing to do with their friendship, but he’d always known it was something that could only happen in his dreams. The real Miles would never loom over him with hunger in his eyes, would never graze his fingertips against his erection and lick his lips in anticipation.
Except he was.
Nothing made sense anymore.
“What are you doing?” His strangled question was far too quiet, and Miles ignored it, the intensity of his gaze piercing through Zach’s defenses.
Half of his face was illuminated by flickering candlelight, the other hidden in shadow, giving him an aura of danger.
Like a predator about to pounce on his prey.
And Zach was the prey.
“Do you want this?” Miles repeated. His light caresses teased the sensitive skin of Zach’s stomach, back and forth, over and over, until a fingertip dipped beneath the towel.
Probably by accident, and barely by an inch, but it was enough for Zach’s resolve to crumble into tiny pieces.
Whatever this was—a fever dream or an alternate reality—didn’t matter. He couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
He’d wanted this for too long.
The dam broke. Zach arched his back, chasing Miles’s touch, and let his answer float on an exhale.
“Yes.”