Doug nodded. “That’s what they say.”
Stewart shook his head. “But I didn’t feel that. I cared about Corey, but going from such heights back down to...indifference, almost. I hated it. I’d liked being in love with Corey. That rush. The excitement of it. I wanted to feel that way again. I’d never felt anything like it.”
Doug remained silent. It was hard hearing these things, with his budding feelings for Stewart. But he was curious to see where it was going.
“When Corey confessed to cheating on me...” He paused, taking a breath. “When I knew that he’d been with another man, and I was forced to...imagine that, suddenly I
felt
something again. Anger. Jealousy. Possessiveness. It took me back to when we’d first met. When I felt so lucky that everyone wanted Corey. But that I was the one who got to wake up with him in the morning.”
Doug let out a breath. “Wow.”
Stewart laughed. “Yeah. At first, when I suggested opening things up, Corey thought I was trying to punish him. He rejected the idea. But hot guys are always throwing themselves at Corey. It didn’t take long for him to realize it wasn’t such a bad deal. And I got my excitement back. Corey thinks I get off on him being with other guys. But I don’t. Not sexually. It just...it keeps the spark there.”
Moments passed in silence.
“Does that make any sense to you?” Stewart asked.
“Yeah,” Doug said. “It makes sense.”
“You think I’m completely dysfunctional.” Stewart let out one of his belly laughs. As always, it was contagious and Doug laughed with him.
“No, I just don’t understand how you can subject yourself to that kind of pain.”
“There is no pain,” Stewart said.
“Stewart. I saw your face in my room the other night. When you heard Corey and Jairo through the radiator. You looked sad. It bothers you.”
Unexpectedly, Stewart grabbed Doug’s hand. “I was sad. But not because of Corey being with Jairo. Not because I heard them fooling around.”
Doug shrugged, pulse speeding a bit with the contact of Stewart’s fingers wrapped around his. “Then why?”
“I was sad because I realized I didn’t care. I was sad because it
didn’t
bother me.”
Doug looked into his eyes, gripping his hand, the moment thick and pregnant with awkward anticipation. “Stewart,” Doug said. “Are you trying to say you want to leave Corey?”
Stewart shook his head. “I don’t know.”
“But you’re confused.”
He nodded. “Especially since meeting you.”
When they eventually left the bar and made the slow trek back toward home, they were quiet. Doug didn’t know how to feel about Stewart’s confession. Sure, Stewart was obviously having relationship problems before Doug ever came along, but he didn’t want to be the one to push those problems over the cliff, didn’t want to be the nail in the coffin. He didn’t want to be that guy. How could he be that guy? He hated that guy.
The silence grew more awkward as they walked, so Doug decided to break the tension, and bring things back into the comfortable
friend
zone. “So do you still talk to your parents?”
“Oh, they came to visit a couple times when I lived in Nebraska, but we’re not exactly close.”
“Are you out to them?”
Stewart’s belly laugh echoed into the night. “Hell, no. My folks aren’t quite the share your feelings type. They don’t ask much about my life, and I have no compulsion to tell them. I bear them no ill will. Just don’t have much in common with them.”
“I see.”
He glanced at Doug. “What about your parents?”
“They live in Connecticut, but we’re close, I guess. No real issues.”
Despite the small talk, the awkwardness returned as the two of them crossed their front yard and climbed up onto the porch. They simultaneously pulled out their keys and went to unlock the door, then looked at each other and laughed.
“My key or yours?” Stewart said.
Doug stepped back, chuckling. “Go ahead.”
Stewart unlocked the door and they stepped into the foyer.
Doug closed the front door, then lingered outside his own apartment. Stewart glanced up the stairs, then turned to Doug. “You have to work early?”
He shrugged. “Around eight. But I usually get up at five to run.”
Stewart laughed. “And you say Corey’s crazy.”
Doug laughed, his mouth still open when Stewart captured it with a kiss, pressing his back against the apartment door.
Thought deserted. The taste of Stewart’s tongue, the press of his body, wiped Doug’s brain of all logic. He could only feel, his body reacting to Stewart instantaneously, opening his mouth to accept his tongue, gripping his shoulders to pull him tighter against his chest.
Stewart broke the kiss but kept his face close. His hand came up, gripping Doug’s jaw. “Invite me in,” he whispered.
“Stewart—”
Stewart kissed him again, turning his face to get deeper into Doug’s mouth, fingers gripping his jaw. He pushed his body harder against Doug’s, sliding a leg between his thighs, grinding their hips together.
Doug groaned, aching need flooding through him.
Stewart pulled back, both hands on Doug’s face now. “Invite me in.”
Doug let out a quivering breath. Stewart’s expression was intense, almost desperate, those blue eyes commanding. Turning, Doug unlocked the door, fingers trembling.
As soon as they were inside, Stewart took his arm and all but dragged him through the darkened house, toward the bedroom. A bit buzzed from the beer, Doug stumbled, and laughed as Stewart caught him in the hallway. “Slow down,” he said. “It’s dark.”
“I know the way,” Stewart said, and guided him along.
They made it just inside the bedroom door when Stewart pushed Doug against the wall, kissing him deeply. Doug melted into it with a sigh of resignation. His cock stiffened with each stroke of Stewart’s tongue against his. Stewart devoured his mouth, and Doug responded to his fervor, the possessive press of his body.
Stewart pulled back suddenly, uttering a laugh. “Damn, I have to take a piss. Must be the beer.”
Doug laughed through his shortness of breath. “How romantic.”
Arms astride Doug’s shoulders, palms pressed against the wall, Stewart leaned in and kissed him again, slow and soft. His breath brushed Doug’s lips as he pulled back. “Have fewer clothes on when I get back,” he said, and left the room.
Doug chuckled at that. Judging from last time they were together, Stewart wasn’t one to waste much time with the undressing portion of seduction. Memories of their last encounter surfaced, making Doug’s dick even harder.
“I want you naked, so drop ’em.”
But once they had gotten naked, their lovemaking hadn’t been rushed. He wasn’t sure how long they’d rolled around that night before finally stroking each other to climax, but it was a while, leaving Doug satisfied, the skin around his mouth deliciously raw the next day from all the kissing. And now they were going to do it again.
As he kicked his shoes off, doubt tried to creep back in, reminding him of his conscience, a niggling sense of self-preservation telling him to stop this, before he got in too deep. There were far too many variables that could end up with him getting hurt.
But
he’d
been the one to send that text to Stewart tonight. Try as he might to lie to himself, he knew even then that this was what he wanted, what he’d hoped would happen.
He took off his shirt, stripped down to his boxers, then retrieved some candles from his meditation room. Corey tried to worm his way into Doug’s thoughts, but he shoved him back out, and set the candles up around his bedroom.
Doug was lighting the final candle when Stewart stepped back into the room. He paused, and then sighed before moving over to Doug. “This is nice,” he said. Smokey gaze on Doug, Stewart stripped out of his clothes. The firelight made his midnight blue eyes look almost black.
When he’d removed everything but his boxers, he approached Doug and grabbed him around the waist. They stood by the bed kissing, erections straining against their underpants. A shuddering breath left Doug as Stewart’s mouth moved down to his neck, suckling.
“Stewart...are you...sure you want to do this?”
Stewart dropped to his knees and tugged Doug’s boxers down. Doug hissed when Stewart’s hot tongue licked up his shaft. He looked up at Doug, eyes glimmering. “Does it feel like I’m sure?” he asked, then took Doug’s cock fully into his mouth, sucking him deep.
“Oh, fuck.” Doug’s knees threatened to buckle. His fingers gripped Stewart’s silky dark hair, his stomach quivering as that hot mouth glided up and down his cock.
Stewart slid Doug out of his mouth and worked his way up his body, nibbling his hipbone, then trailing his tongue up and over his ribs, to his chest, sucking Doug’s left nipple.
Doug gripped his shoulders, panting. “Bed,” he said. “Now.”
Stewart straightened up, cheeks flushed. He slid off his boxers, exposing his swollen cock, then stepped backward until he reached the bed, easing down onto it. He slid over to the center and stretched back. “Get over here.”
Doug’s boxers were still around his ankles, and he stepped out of them. He climbed onto the bed and lowered himself onto Stewart’s warm body. Stewart arched up into him as Doug’s tongue invaded his mouth. Doug kissed him everywhere, gliding his body up and down Stewart’s silken flesh. He used his knees to spread Stewart’s legs, then pushed up onto his arms and looked down at him as he glided their erections together. He wanted to be inside him suddenly, to feel Stewart’s hot channel gripping his throbbing cock.
“What do you want?” Doug asked. The question left his lips with a bit more emotion than he’d planned. He was referring to Stewart’s sexual pleasure, but the question was loaded with inquiries unresolved.
“I want you to take me,” Stewart answered without hesitation.
Doug looked down at him, cock pulsing with each beat of his heart. He gave a slight nod, then climbed out of bed and went to the bedside drawer for condoms and lube. There was a moment of panic when he thought he’d neglected to unpack the items, but found them stuffed in the back of the drawer.
As he tore open a condom, he looked over at Stewart on the bed, seeking affirmation. Stewart gazed back at him, his hand drifting to his cock, rubbing himself. Doug swallowed hard, the sight making him dizzy. Stewart’s pale skin looked golden in the firelight, his dark hair spread over the pillow, one muscular arm stretched back beside his head.
Doug rolled the condom onto his stiff erection, then filled his palm with lube. He climbed onto the bed, kneeling between Stewart’s parted thighs. After slickening the condom with his palm, he reached down and took Stewart’s cock in his hand.
Stewart hissed and closed his eyes as Doug worked him with his lubed hand. Stewart thickened under his touch, his hips lifting to meet each stroke. His eyes opened, half-lidded as he gazed up at Doug. “Take me.”
Doug sucked in a breath and trailed his fingers down to Stewart’s balls, drifting over and under until he found his opening. Stewart spread his legs and lifted as Doug penetrated him with one finger, gasping again when he felt his tight heat. He dragged his finger over Stewart’s prostate, then glided it in again, watching the emotions play on his face.
Stewart propped himself up and gently took Doug’s hand, gliding the finger out of him. He looked in his eyes as he grabbed Doug’s cock, letting him know what he wanted, that he was ready. Then he released it and eased himself back onto the pillows.
Doug huffed and followed him down, falling onto his elbows, lips a breath away from Stewart’s. Stewart’s hand reached down again and guided the head of Doug’s cock, rubbing it against his opening.
With a sigh, Doug pressed himself in.
“Take me,” Stewart whispered so softly Doug almost didn’t hear it.
Fingers tangled in Stewart’s hair, Doug pulled out and eased back in. Stewart’s channel was tight but yielding, so he didn’t hold back the next time, pulling out then filling him to the base.
Stewart elicited a low groan and he grabbed Doug’s ass with both hands, pulling him flush against him. Doug’s control left him then, his hips finding a motion. He pumped hard and fast into Stewart, urged on by the grip of the other man’s hands on his ass. With open mouths their lips grazed, tongue tips gently connecting.
Stewart’s hands left Doug’s ass and drifted over his back and shoulders, then came to light on his face, cupping his chin, stroking his beard stubble. “Love your face,” Stewart said, the sound of his voice sending a current straight through Doug’s belly and down to his groin.
Teeth clenched, Doug withdrew a little then thrust in hard, making Stewart cry out. “Love your ass,” he responded, repeating the action, the clenching friction on his cock threatening to push him over the edge.
Stewart’s muscle squeezed around Doug’s shaft, taking some of his control and making him lightheaded. “Fuck. Stewart, Jesus.”
“Keep going,” Stewart huffed, thrusting his pelvis up. “Do it hard, Doug, make me come.”
Pushing himself up a bit he gripped Stewart’s shoulders, then finding his angle, gave it everything he could, fucking him with a deep, hard rhythm. Fear of leaving Stewart unsatisfied outweighed his fear of coming too fast, so he let go, losing himself in the motion, using his leg muscles to add thrust and weight to the rhythm.
It seemed to do the trick, as Stewart’s breaths came hard from his open mouth. Palm on the mattress, Doug pushed himself up, then reached down and fisted Stewart’s cock. He stroked him hard and fast, praying he could get him off before his own release, which hovered just beyond the edge, tightening his balls.
A deep cry pealed from Stewart and his body jerked, back arching, forcing Doug deeper. Doug’s control left him and he gave a firm thrust, shooting his load into condom. He continued to fist Stewart’s cock as he rode the wave of bliss, rewarded with a blast of hot, slick juices coating his hand.
“Oh fuck,” Stewart said. “Oh God.”
Doug milked him until he began to soften and his body relaxed back down into the mattress, then released his hold. His heart still pounded violently in his chest as his own orgasm ebbed. Reaching down, he pinched the end of the condom, drawing himself out, then fell over onto his back beside Stewart, struggling to catch his breath.