Swish (8 page)

“Come on in.”

Thomas followed Alex into his apartment, shivers of anticipation already running down his spine. They were finally going to talk about what they were doing, and it was terrifying.

When he quizzed himself on why he was so worried, Thomas didn't like the answer he got. He was worried that Alex might not want the same things he did. Or, worse yet, that Alex
thought
he wanted those same things before he flaked out again.

But so far, they weren't letting go of each other so easily.

“Want a drink?”

“Water would be great, thanks,” Thomas answered, crashing on the couch. He looked around Alex's little living room as he waited. It was plain, with a navy couch and a purple armchair providing a little color to the whitewashed walls. The huge bed in the corner had bright yellow and soft green blankets, like a little forest. That made him smile; nature themes hadn't been Alex's style before, but it looked cozy.

Still, everything else was white or bare. There weren't even any photos up... no art or personal memories. Thomas frowned as he accepted the glass of water, and Alex sank into the couch next to him. “You're not putting down roots here.”

“It's freaky when you do that,” Alex snorted.

“Do what?”

“The uncomfortable truths. Please stop. I don't like evaluating myself and you're already making me do it in other ways.” Alex winked.

Thomas laughed, nudging their knees together as he turned sideways to better face Alex. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, like I said, I'm getting a house here in town. I didn't want to put in too much effort here before I move,” Alex told him. He was jiggling his leg slightly, as if nervous. That was damn rare; his nerves were usually steady and hidden behind some professional expression.

He was nervous about talking to Thomas? Curious.

“So you're putting down roots
now
?” Thomas half-smiled. “You're not running away to the big city again?”

Alex scratched his throat and rubbed a thumb along his chin. He watched Thomas closely before picking up his own glass of water. “Like I said, my priorities are changing. I know I sort of... dumped you and ran, and that was a cowardly thing to do. But I'm not looking for the same things as I was back then.”

“Hot sex and a guy who'd hold your hand in public?”

Alex hesitated before chuckling. He looked sheepish. “Actually, yeah, both of those things. But I want... more than that, too. What are
you
looking for? What have you decided on while I've been away?”

Thomas sipped from his water glass to stall answering. He had a pretty firm idea, as with everything in life, but he wasn't sure if it would send Alex running.

“A relationship. Something steady and long-term. I want to date a guy who's in this city for good, or at least for the next ten years. I don't want to be uprooting my life here to chase after someone just blowing through town.”

Alex nodded slowly.

“And someone I like and trust, not just someone I have chemistry with.”

“Do I meet those requirements?” Alex asked. His fingertips were white around the nails, like he was gripping his water glass hard.

Oh, fuck. He's... interested in my answer. And maybe me?

“You're serious?” Thomas asked, frowning. “This isn't just to try to... I don't know, make up for whatever we didn't do back then?”

Alex shook his head. “No. Since you moved here, I've been trying to decide if this is a good idea and damn it, I still don't know.”

Thomas knew
that
feeling. He laughed and nodded. “Wait, you know when I moved.”

“I... saw you around,” Alex admitted, and this time, he blushed.

Thomas's eyebrows shot up. “You weren't surveilling me?”

“No!” Alex was quick to insist. “No, I honestly bumped into you at the barbecue. I was talking to Chase.”

Oh. For some reason, Thomas had pictured Alex sitting in a van outside watching his every motions. That was a lot more mundane. Still... “Creeper,” Thomas teased.

“Yeah,” Alex chuckled and set aside his water glass. “Guess I never really got over you, eh?”

Thomas's heart squeezed, the air nearly sucked out of his lungs. Alex might well be joking, but this was the moment for him to be serious. “I never got over you, either.”

Alex had stopped smiling, his eyes wide and gorgeous as they flickered between Thomas's. He parted his lips, drew breath, and paused. Then, he asked, “Really?”

“Yeah,” Thomas nodded firmly. “I thought it was just because we never slept together before – but in bed the other night...” he trailed off. He wasn't sure how to explain that connection.

“I felt it, too,” Alex said, his voice quiet. For once, there wasn't a hint of teasing.

“What have you been up to, really? Why are you suddenly so
for
relationships? Especially if you're all... biased against relationships from surveilling people and stuff?” Thomas asked. Alex was a bit of an enigma, and he had to figure him out.

“Ah.” Alex half-smiled. “I slept around a lot for fun. And work, too.”

Thomas nodded slowly. He could see that. Alex had always been an easy flirt, quick to reciprocate attention and perhaps a little too needy for it. And he was drop-dead gorgeous. All he had to do was turn on that charming smile.

It made Thomas want to irrationally dislike Alex more – perhaps out of jealousy – but he resisted the urge.

“I slept with a few people, I dated a few people,” Thomas shook his head. “But nobody who... stuck on me like you.”

“Yeah,” Alex breathed out. “I know what you mean.” He looked so relieved now that it made Thomas smile.

Alex's hand pressed against the back of his own. Thomas turned his hand over to let Alex trail his fingers against his palm. The touch sent electric crackles of desire through Thomas's whole body.

Thomas laced his fingers with Alex's. He wanted to be more like Alex – a little more brash and brave, spontaneously daring...

He wasn't even sure if he was the first to lean in. They were suddenly kissing in a rush of breath and sliding lips, their hands rising to cup each other's cheeks.

The kiss was warm and sensual and familiar. He knew Alex's lips almost as well as his own. He knew that Alex loved having his lower lip sucked, and that sucking on his collarbone was the way to his dick. Alex got hard in just seconds of necking – inconvenient sometimes, but hot others.

Christ, perhaps more than moving back to this town, kissing Alex felt like coming home.

If it was a bad idea to sleep with your ex, why did this feel so damn
right
?

Thomas was kissing him hard. Alex felt the desperation radiating through his body in waves of desire.

Holy shit, Thomas wanted him
bad
. Thomas was shifting to straddle him now, and Alex leaned back to let Thomas rest his weight on his lap. Not that there was much of it – he was a cute, scrawny thing, nothing like his brothers or Alex himself.

Alex kind of liked being able to lift him around, though. Thomas fit just right in his arms and under his chin these days. Besides, if he took up skiing, he'd get an even better ass. Though Thomas's was hard to improve upon.

“Mmm,” Thomas groaned, snapping Alex back into the moment. Alex squeezed and rubbed that sexy little ass, then slapped it gently. Thomas tilted his head back to moan and catch his breath.

Alex leaned in to lick from the hollow at the base of his throat all the way up the vulnerable throat under his chin. Then, he kissed back to Thomas's mouth.

Thomas tilted his head, kissing him in return again. His tongue plunged between Alex's lips, caressing the tip of Alex's tongue. He was barely breathing, his chest grinding against Alex's as his thighs slotted around Alex's hip.

Perhaps best of all, Thomas was grinding slowly against his thigh, his hard cock more and more obvious.

Alex was already
burning
to plunge inside that hot, tight body. He wanted to make Thomas moan and squirm and cry out with pleasure just like he had the other night. He wanted Thomas to come so hard he could barely manage Alex's name.

“Oh, fuck, yes,” Thomas moaned, turning his head away again and kissing down Alex's neck. Alex let those soft lips kiss their way up to his earlobe, then shuddered.

He remembered
everything
about him. Including that little spot by his ear that made him quiver and pulse with pleasure... And the collarbone.

He pulled down the neck of his t-shirt with one finger to properly kiss and lick along the thin skin over the collarbone. Then, he nipped his shoulder and kissed along his chest through the t-shirt.

When Thomas reached under his t-shirt, Alex gladly stripped it off and tossed it aside. He worked at Thomas's t-shirt when Thomas reached up to let him. Once he was shirtless, Alex ran his hand down that bare chest to Thomas's stomach and over to his bulge.

Thomas bucked into his touch as Alex rubbed him through his jeans with the palm of his heel.

“I want you,” Alex whispered, licking the side of Thomas's neck. He sucked for a moment, until Thomas quivered and his thighs clenched, then kissed over that spot. “I
really
want you.”

“Me, too,” Thomas moaned. His voice was a pitch higher, his body half-melting against Alex as he looped his arms around his neck. He tried to sidle back as if to go off the couch on his knees.

Alex grabbed his shoulders. “Come to the bed first.”

“Okay.” They kissed as they stood up and they kissed as they walked over to the bed. Their hands never left each other for a moment, even when they fell onto the king-sized mattress. That was about the only thing in the apartment Alex cared about.

Oddly enough, he hadn't shared it with anyone since getting back. Even though he'd slept with a couple guys here – never satisfied with them, always yearning for more – he'd never invited a man back here.

That said it all.

He swallowed hard and rolled them over to kiss Thomas's chest.

“I was gonna suck you off,” Thomas moaned. “But you're welcome to... get me started.”

“I know. I saw you looking down there,” Alex teased. He cupped Thomas's cheek until Thomas looked at him. Then, Alex kissed his lips a few times in little pecks until Thomas smiled. “I want to do it first. I... owe you a lot of apologies.”

“Blowjobs as apologies?” Thomas laughed, but his eyes were sparkling. He looked playful again, not that painful mix of wary and half-hopeful emotions. Even those had been rare glimpses behind Thomas's brutally polite mask.

Alex murmured, “They never tasted so good...”

Thomas's thighs clenched and unclenched. His chest rose and fell rapidly for a few seconds as the words sank in.

“I've been
dying
for a taste of you,” Alex whispered, pressing his lips firmly to the center of Thomas's chest. He kissed along to one of Thomas's nipples and sucked it gently, then dragged his tongue in a slow circle.

“Y-Yes...” Thomas moaned, his fingertips digging into Alex's shoulder. Thomas tried to wrap one leg around Alex's. “Please...!”

Alex chuckled deeply. “In time,” he teased in a breathy whisper along the damp flesh.

Thomas's lips were open as he rolled his head back in a soundless reaction to that. Soundless? That wouldn't do.

Alex licked the other nipple, glowing with pride that Thomas already looked about ready to come on the spot. He had to wonder if Thomas burned with the same desire to touch and be touched every time they saw each other.

Alex kissed down to Thomas's stomach and around it, then near the waistband.

“Christ,” Thomas whispered. “You're patient now.”

Alex grinned. He liked taking his time to make his partner feel good, and when it was Thomas... Well, Thomas deserved the fucking
world
. He could at least give him a great blowjob.

“So worth it,” he whispered. “Especially when you come and your face gets all scrunchy. You look like you've seen God. It's the hottest
and
cutest fuckin' thing...”

Thomas stared at him, his cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and arousal. “I... Okay.” For once, he was speechless.

Alex laughed and unzipped Thomas's jeans, then slowly wiggled them down his hips and off his legs before tossing them aside. Socks came off easily, too.

That left him in his underwear – sexy, tight boxer briefs that were bulging
hard
in the front.

Alex grinned and scooted back up the bed between Thomas's legs, kissing his way along one almost hairless inner thigh. Thomas's body was so damn hot, and Alex had a feeling Thomas didn't even know it.

“Ah...” Thomas choked back a quiet sound when Alex reached his inner thigh without kissing his aching cock or balls. Just to make it even harder, Alex switched to the other thigh and pressed a slow series of kisses there...

“I'm gonna fuckin' kick you if you don't get to work,” Thomas mumbled. Alex couldn't tell if it was a warning or a threat, but it made him laugh. He didn't remember the last time he'd laughed in bed and it had felt joyful and smooth, not awkward.

“Noted,” Alex teased. He loved watching Thomas both helpless and on top of the world. There was something so damn visceral about sucking a man off, but it was ten times more intense with Thomas. He kissed over the bulge. It lay up and to the side now and lifted the underwear away from his body a little with how hard he was.

“W-We should've showered,” Thomas muttered but Alex snorted. He didn't care about the extra bit of saltiness from his sweat on the trails; it was actually kind of fucking hot.

“Shut up and let me please you.”

“Yes,
sir
,” Thomas murmured sarcastically. He was gazing down his body and watching Alex like he'd never seen anything so hot.

Alex grinned. He hooked his thumbs in the waistband to drag his underwear down, admiring the pink, flushed length that popped free. “Oh, tasty.” Thomas choked back a sound, but not in time. He
liked
Alex's dirty mouth. “I wanna see if it tastes as good as I remember,” Alex whispered, kissing along the base. “It's so damn hot and hard already.”

“Y-You've been fuckin' teasing me for five minutes now,” Thomas almost snapped. His hips arched sharply off the bed at the first warm, wet contact. “Christ, if it weren't I'd be worried.”

Alex smirked and licked from the base all the way up to the tip, watching Thomas's body go through a multitude of tiny shivers and shudders in response. Every muscle was clearly lighting up and quivering involuntarily as his whole body tautened with arousal.

Alex wanted to remember everything that pleased Thomas and show him that being with him could be great. He was memorizing every goddamn second of this encounter. He wanted to remember it for the next month in the shower at least.

And maybe longer. Maybe... much longer.

Alex hastily pushed back those thoughts. One thing at a time, and one thing demanded his attention. He closed his lips around the smooth tip, sucking his way down to the base of Thomas's cock in a smooth, steady motion. When he reached it, he pulled his head back up and sucked it down again.

It only took him a minute to get into a great rhythm – suck, lick, bob; suck, lick, bob...

Thomas's breathing was loud and harsh. The moans and whimpers that fell from his lips were music to Alex's ears.

“Yes...” Thomas whispered, then pushed on Alex's shoulder. “No, wait. You better stop.”

Alex slowly pulled his head up off Thomas and grinned. “You want something else?”

Thomas nodded before he even finished the sentence. “Do I ever.” He pulled Alex up, yanking him by his biceps in a surprisingly strong grip. When Alex was settled over his chest, Thomas kissed his lips, then swatted his hip. “You feel like you're about ready. Come on, you get naked too. No fair.”

Alex was about ready to burst out of his jeans. The tight fabric was so damn painful, and he welcomed the chance to kick them off. He squirmed to get everything off, almost getting caught by his ankles before he was left naked.

“You want me to finger myself, or do you wanna do it?” Thomas grinned. “Either way, we're lubing up.”

“Of course,” Alex teased. “I'm doing it. Wouldn't miss the chance to tease you even more for the world...”

Now, Thomas groaned. “Oh, of course.”

As Alex pressed his slick fingers to the opening, Thomas pushed into them and Alex leaned in to kiss him again. He loved sliding his fingers in to give Thomas a tease of what to expect next. Better yet, his fingers were flexible enough to get at all the
really
sensitive spots inside him.

He crooked his fingers until he felt the nut-like lump inside, then gently stroked his fingers across it. As his eyes flickered up to Thomas's face, Thomas's mouth fell open for another gasp.

“Oh,
fuck
, that's good.”

Alex grinned. “Isn't it?” He rubbed a little harder, stroking his fingers along it. It was a treat to watch Thomas's body shiver and tense again, his stomach going taut as his cock twitched.

After another minute of breathy panting and wordlessly thrusting into Alex's fingers, Thomas's face cleared up. He braced his feet on the bed and swatted Alex's thigh. “You are
not
making me come already,” Thomas informed him.

“Oh. All right,” Alex nodded, his lower lip jutting out thoughtfully. “That's how it is.”

“That's how it is.”

It only took him a minute or two to finish getting ready, but Thomas already moaned to get him to hurry up. By the time he was pressing against and into Thomas, Alex was nearly losing control himself with his desire – no,
need
– for Thomas.

This time, he was going to do it right.

Alex slid in slowly, taking his time despite Thomas pushing into him forcefully. The enveloping, tight ring around his shaft never failed to feel good. It squeezed him to the brink of ecstasy all the way from top to bottom.

“Yes...!” Thomas moaned throatily. “Oh, yes...”

Alex grunted in agreement and leaned down, bracing himself on his forearm. The moment he could, he kissed Thomas hard. Their bodies thrust as if they were meant to be locked together in rough, raw pleasure. The chemistry was... well, incomparable.

Thomas kept mumbling and moaning encouragement through their kisses. His breathless words and begging were the hottest thing Alex could imagine. Even Alex groaned and grunted more than he usually would, his mind spinning with pleasure.

“You're so sensitive,” Alex whispered, brushing his fingers along Thomas's nipple.

Thomas arced like he'd been zapped with electricity. He clenched around Alex's cock hard, interrupting his rhythm for a moment. “Alex!”

Alex drove in harder and faster. He whispered, “You're the hottest man I've ever known. You feel
perfect
.”

“You're so fuckin' big, but I suppose you do, too,” Thomas mumbled, smiling half-giddily as he said it.

Alex's eyes widened in shock before he kissed Thomas hard in punishment. “Asshole.”

“Fuck me harder then.”

“'Til you can't think up smart remarks?” Alex went deeper, guessing that was what Thomas wanted. Thomas's breathless sounds of approval confirmed it. Alex's whole body tingled, his fingers digging into the bed as his thighs clenched and his stomach drew tight. “Th-That'll never happen.”

“You love it,” Thomas smirked. Seeing that touch of an ego from the calm man was delightful.

Alex grinned. “I do.” He reached down to run his palm along Thomas's cock. When Thomas grabbed his back, scratching up along his spine, he figured he was on the right track. He wanted Thomas to remember this forever, and he refused to think about why he might be so desperate for his approval.