Bryson
I walked into Silas’s place for the first time since our first date. His cat, Morticia, wound around my ankles with a plaintiff meow. The other one hid under the sofa, peeking out with wary eyes.
“Thanks for coming back to my place,” Silas said. “I’ve been so busy the cats probably think I’ve abandoned them.”
“No problem.” I wet my lips. “I guess I should get to know them better, right?”
Silas glanced back at me with a smile. “Yeah. Are you ready to be a cat daddy?”
I laughed. “Um…”
“Let me guess. More of a dog person? That’s it. The relationship is off!”
My heart stuttered, even though I knew he was kidding. Silas’s grin slipped. “Sorry. Bad joke. Too soon.”
I let out an unsteady chuckle. “No. I mean, it’s just new. I’m trying to wrap my head around the idea that you’re my…”
“Boyfriend?” Silas set down bowls of food for the cats, who darted into the kitchen. He returned to me and slipped his arms around my neck. “I kind of thought I’d be the one to struggle with the label.”
“Boyfriend,” I murmured. “I like the sound of that.”
“Yeah?” He brushed my lips with his. “Good. I’m going to say it a lot. Make sure it really sinks in.” He paused. “I’m ready for bed. How about you, boyfriend?”
I smirked. “Yeah, boyfriend. I’m good with that.”
He took hold of my hand and led me into his bedroom. We kissed in the dark, fumbling to remove our clothes, and slid into bed together.
Like always, our chemistry sparked to life. Silas’s kisses were like a drug, and I was addicted. I kissed him again and again, reveling in the press of his naked skin.
But all the while, my head kept returning to the new reality between us. This wasn’t a fling. This wasn’t just sex.
It was so much more.
I broke the kiss, pressing my forehead to his. “At the risk of sounding sappy…”
“Do it. Boyfriends are all sap, right?”
I nuzzled into his throat. “I’ll never hurt you, Silas. I hope you know that.”
He cupped my face, meeting my eyes. “I know. I think I’ve known all along. It’s what made it so hard to just…”
“Hit it and quit it?” I joked.
“Well, that and everywhere I turned, you were there to help with the wedding.”
I smiled sheepishly. “That may have been by design.”
“I’m not oblivious,” Silas said. “I knew why, but…I guess that persistence made me realize how much you cared. You could have just moved on.”
“Nah,” I said, pecking his lips. “You’re impossible to move on from.”
“Obviously, not everyone feels that way.”
“Well, Michael was an idiot,” I said. “I consider myself reasonably intelligent.”
“You do, huh?” He laughed. “That’s fair. Michael was an idiot. I guess Chris was an idiot too, huh?”
I grimaced. “Turning the tables on me?”
“You know my story,” Silas said. “You’ve been patient with me. More patient than I probably deserved. I want to be here for you too, though. This can’t be one-sided, not if we want it to work. I’m all in now, Bryson.”
I flopped to the side, leaning against the headboard. Silas rolled onto his side, propping his head on his elbow, giving me his full attention.
It wasn’t comfortable to talk about Chris, but the fact Silas wanted to share this kind of intimacy—emotional and not just physical—made our relationship feel real.
He was in this for more than sex.
Maybe he always had been.
“Chris said all the right things, but he’s good at that. He knew just how to twist the truth to make you second-guess your doubts. For the longest time, I was convinced I was just paranoid, but then…”
“You weren’t,” Silas said softly.
“No. I walked in on him with his assistant. He tried to gaslight me even then, but I couldn’t stay. All the pieces of the puzzle came together, you know? Every late night, every weekend trip, every doubt that I’d pushed down. He’d been cheating on me the whole time.”
“Fuck, Bry. I’m so sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”
I swallowed hard. “The hell of it is, I don’t think I even loved him. I mean, I said I did. I even moved in with him. But he was never right for me.”
“Your brother said you fall hard and fast. Too fast, maybe?”
I combed my fingers through his hair. “Maybe sometimes.”
He looked nervous. “Do you think it was too fast with me?”
“No.” I slipped down the bed to put us eye to eye. “It was fast. Can’t deny that. But you made me slow down. I think that was a good thing, actually.” I cupped his face and kissed him. “Besides, you’re right for me, and he never was.”
“How do you know?”
“Because of your heart.” I pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the thump-thump beneath his breastbone. “You were so kind and generous with your time. You went the extra mile for Caitlyn and then some.”
“That’s just work.”
“It’s not just work for you.”
His eyes warmed. “You see me better than anyone I’ve ever met.”
I brushed my thumb along his jaw. “Then you know why I love you. Because anyone who really sees you—your wit, your humor, your generosity, your very cute ass—would fall in love with you, Sy. You’re so bright, so bold, how could I not see you?”
“I see you too. From the first night. No one has ever made me feel like that with a single date, but you’re so genuine, Bry. So sincere. Even when I had trouble trusting myself, I always trusted you.”
“Except when you thought I was my brother.”
He laughed. “Okay, well, forgive me for being suspicious of the idea that hot twins were running around Granville.”
“You think my brother’s hot? I don’t know if I can do this—”
He slapped my arm, laughing. “Shut up.”
“Where’s the love?”
“Right here.” He kissed me long and sweet until the mood shifted.
I pulled him over me, wrapping my arms around his body. He latched onto a nipple, sucking, and I arched up with a quiet hiss.
He traced a line of kisses between my pecs and down my abdomen, shifting his body lower as he went.
I widened my legs, making space for him, and as I did, a new craving hit me. Or rather, a very old one. It had been years since I’d asked a man to fuck me, but right then, I wanted it more than ever.
Wanted Silas inside me, claiming me in every way possible.
“Sy,” I murmured.
He licked a stripe up my cock, sending a wash of pleasure through me. “What, sweetheart?”
He’d never called me sweetheart before. My heart thudded. “Will you fuck me?”
“Kinda doing that already.”
“No, I mean—”
“I know.” He patted my thigh. “I’m teasing you. Of course, I’ll fuck you. God. It’ll be so good.”
I bit my lower lip, watching him sink down to bathe my cock with his tongue. He sucked me while he slid a finger behind my balls.
A cool, wet fingertip circled my rim, making me jerk. “Lube? How?”
He chuckled. “I have my ways.”
Silas must have been planning this. He must have remembered my comment about being vers and down to bottom. He’d been tipsy and focused on other things, yet he’d paid attention.
He sucked and fingered me until I loosened up. Then he sat back to roll on a condom. “Can’t wait until my test results come back and we can do this bare.”
I shivered. “You got tested?”
“Yeah. Of course. I’m on PreP, and I haven’t been with anyone but you since we met, but I want to be safe.”
“You really were gone for me, huh?” I teased. “No one else.”
He rolled his eyes. “Are you telling me there was someone else for you?”
“Well, there was this one guy…”
He pinched my inner thigh, making me yelp.
“No, of course not!” I said. “I was totally hung up on you, Sy. No one else would do.”
“Same.”
Our eyes met, an arc of understanding passing between us. This was never one-sided. We both were in this from the beginning.
Silas had to confront his fears, had to figure out how to trust his heart again, but his heart wanted me as much as I wanted him.
He pushed inside me, going slow, but it was still a stretch. I sucked in a sharp breath at the burn of entry. He slowed and kissed me through it, reaching down to stroke my flagging erection.
I adjusted to the intrusion. My body remembered the pleasure just out of reach. “I’m good. You can move.”
Silas let out a gusty breath of relief and rocked his hips. He retreated, only to push in deeper and fill me even more completely.
His strokes were slow but steady, angled to rub against my prostate.
“Faster, Sy. Harder.”
He picked up the pace, slamming into me. Thrust after thrust tore moans and groans from me. I reached for my cock, but he beat me to it, wrapping his slender fingers around my shaft and stroking me to the tempo of his dick.
I came apart, shuddering under him, gasping as I came, his cock still buried deep inside of me. He rocked into my body, grinding deep, and then cried out as his climax hit too.
He collapsed on top of me, breathing ragged, and I wrapped my arms around him. His dick was still in me, softening, but I was in no hurry for him to move.
He kissed my collar bone. “Love you so much.”
I stroked his back, thinking I could handle fifty-plus more years of this. Silas in my arms, giving me the words I’d never thought I’d get to hear.
“I love you too.”