The Long Game, page 28
“And you came up with Frederick?”
“What’s wrong with Frederick? It’s a perfectly respectable name. And it works with Jackson. Or Jack Frederick sounds good, too.”
“Too bad Jackson isn’t my first name, either. You’re oh-for-two. You’re going to have to practice your French if you’re going to scold me properly.”
“I have every confidence your mother would be happy to help me with this,” Colton announced with a sniff.
Jack cracked up, because Colton was absolutely correct. “She’d love nothing more.”
Grady wrapped an arm around Jack’s waist. “So, it seems I don’t know your real name.”
Jack sighed. “Jacques, of course. My parents were nothing if not predictable.”
“And the middle name?” Sam asked, curious.
“Laurent. I’m Jacques Laurent Chevalier.”
“That’s…” Grady began.
“The most French name you’ve ever heard?”
“Or close to it,” Grady agreed with a laugh.
“Like I said,” Jack muttered, “predictable.”
“I like it,” Sam announced. “It’s pretty.”
Jack ruffled Sam’s hair. “Thanks. I happen to like both Grady Samuel and Samuel Grady.”
“Hey! What about me?”
“Colton Michael sounds like a soap opera character,” Jack said.
Colton gasped. Twice. Then deflated. “Yeah, it totally does.”
Sam bumped shoulders with Colton. “I think your name is beautiful.”
“As do I,” Grady said.
Jack winked at Colton. “And it suits you perfectly.”
“Wait.” Colton cocked his head. “Did you just call me a drama queen?”
Sam spun on his heel and left the room, Jack and Grady close behind.
23
Amazingly, Mike and Alexei said the apartment could be ready in a matter of days, though they suggested waiting a little longer in order to ensure the smell of fresh paint cleared out. When Jack asked about choosing paint colors, Mike and Alexei readily agreed.
Which is how Grady found himself standing before a rainbow display of paint chips and wondering what was wrong with plain old white.
Jack stood at his side. “You really have no thoughts on what colors you want?”
“Whatever you chose is fine,” Grady said.
Jack studied him, bemused, probably wondering why he should get a vote. Grady didn’t have an answer he was brave enough to say out loud. Yet.
Colton ran up, brandishing a paint chip.
Even Grady knew the answer to this one. “We are not painting your room black.”
Colton shot him a dirty look and flounced back to the display of bold colors in the next aisle.
Sam had picked out a sage green chip almost as soon as he’d arrived and was now watching in bemused horror as Colton chose colors.
The next time Colton ran up to them, Grady was braced for hot pink or something, but this time Colton was brandishing his phone rather than a paint chip. “I know we’re supposed to paint test squares in our new rooms tonight, but can Sam and I go to Christian’s instead? He’s invited us over for a Mario Kart Death Match.”
A whole evening alone with Jack?
Yes, please.
“You sure it’s okay with his dads?”
Colton rolled his eyes. “They said it was fine and that Papa Cal is going to make fajitas for dinner.”
“And did you ask Sam what he thinks of this plan?”
Sam poked his head around the corner. “I’m fully committed to kicking their asses.”
Grady grinned. “Big talk. You sure you can back it up?”
Sam winked. “You bet I can.”
“Uh, also, how about this?” Colton shyly handed Jack a pale lemon-yellow paint chip.
“This will be perfect,” Jack said. “I have almost the same color in my bedroom.”
While Colton raced off to look at something Sam wanted to show him, Grady pictured Jack spread out on his snow-white sheets, a vision of bold blue ink and smooth pink skin. He tucked his lips near Jack’s ear. “Tell me what you want to do tonight and I’ll do it.”
Jack shivered. “You’re evil.”
“You have to tell me, though. Otherwise, it’s painting and takeout.”
“God, that sounds awesome, too. Can’t we do both?”
“That can be arranged. Anything can be arranged, if you tell me what you want.”
“I want you.”
“That, you’ve got.”
Jack curled a fist in Grady’s t-shirt, gaze sultry. “Hope you remembered to buy more lube.”
One of the best and worst parts of Grady’s propensity for talking about sexy stuff was how badly it could backfire on him. His knees felt like jelly as he took in Jack’s pink cheeks and his glorious, hot blue gaze. “I did,” he said, though it came out as a whisper.
Jack smiled. “Good.” Then he walked away.
Grady had to put a hand on the shelf at his back and take a deep breath before he could follow.
He should have asked Colton if they could head over to the Smythe-Morrison household early, because the two hours that followed may have been the longest of his life.
They did, however, get the paint samples up on the walls in the boys’ rooms, and both were happy with their choices. They’d check again in the morning, and if they were still pleased, they should be able to start painting.
And by they, Grady meant whoever Jack hired to do it—because, of course, he knew someone. Grady had to work and they all had the clinic on Wednesday and Grady was desperately hoping to move in over the weekend. Mike and Alexei, in the course of a single day, had already done a huge portion of the tiling. Alexei informed them, proudly, that Mike was a wizard with the tile saw and layouts.
Grady was suitably impressed. He was also fully prepared to move in with ongoing construction mere feet from his bed, if it meant being able to spread out a little. Mike and Alexei assured him they’d be done and not to worry.
The next challenge was furniture, but Grady was going to worry about that shit another day.
Tonight, he had a gorgeous boyfriend and a fresh bottle of lube to occupy his mind.
The boys dashed out of the apartment ten minutes before they were due on the other side of the city. Sam having his own car meant Jack and Grady didn’t even have to get off the couch. Jack was tucked under Grady’s arm, slowly sipping his beer. Grady had stuck with water.
The moment the door closed behind Colton, Jack put his beer on the coffee table and turned to Grady.
Grady wasn’t sure who kissed whom. All he knew was Jack’s tongue dancing over his, and Jack’s hands carding into his hair, and the long, hot length of Jack’s body climbing into his lap.
Grady’s heart leaped at Jack’s low moan buzzing against his lips, the needy sound pumping blood into his cock. He’d been on edge for hours, and now that Jack was in his arms, kissing him, he felt like a bomb with a very short fuse.
He reached between them to adjust himself.
Jack chuckled against his lips. “Having a problem?”
“Nothing about kissing you will ever be a problem,” Grady told him.
Jack kissed him again, gripping Grady’s hair a little tighter. “You say the damnedest things.”
Grady skimmed his lips over Jack’s cheek and down his neck. “Is that good or bad?”
“Fuck,” Jack groaned.
Was that an answer? Grady didn’t know, but it sounded like Jack approved, so he kept going, nipping at the chord of muscle in Jack’s neck and sucking the skin into his mouth.
Jack trailed a hand down Grady’s chest but then seemed to hesitate.
“You’re welcome to do whatever you want,” Grady said in a low voice, “but I should warn you that I may have to stop you pretty quickly, or this is going to be over well before any of that recently procured lube is required.”
Jack chuckled. “That would be a shame. Also, Colton would never forgive us if we got off on the couch while he’s still using it as a bed.”
Grady buried his forehead against Jack’s shoulder and laughed helplessly while Jack combed his fingers through Grady’s hair.
“Grady?”
“Hmmm…?” Grady hummed, distracted as he dotted kisses along the curve of Jack’s neck and shoulder.
“I want you to fuck me.”
Grady sat back and looked into Jack’s eyes. “I want that, too.”
Jack jumped to his feet, stripping off his shirt and tossing it over his shoulder as he disappeared through the door.
Grady bounded after him, laughing when he stepped into the bedroom and got a face full of Jack’s jeans. He peeled the denim away to find Jack gloriously naked in the middle of the room.
Jack smiled, almost coy, and it hit Grady right in the chest.
God, he loved this man.
Jack eyed Grady. “I’ve learned from my mistakes. You’re wearing entirely too much clothing.”
Grady shucked his clothes, his eyes on Jack’s the whole time. Jack, however, trailed his gaze down Grady’s body as it was revealed.
“You’re gorgeous,” Jack said.
Which was pretty rich coming from Jack. “I’m kind of skinny.”
“Lean,” Jack corrected, stepping closer. “But strong.” He trailed his hands down Grady’s chest, running the pads of his fingers over Grady’s nipples, then cupping his pecs. Before Grady could do anything stupid like make a boob joke or, even more embarrassing, flex, Jack’s fingers continued their slow slide down Grady’s abs.
Grady’s workouts had been a lot shorter of late, but he still had definition. Jack seemed to like it, given how his fingers moved over the ridges and planes like he was reading braille.
Jack smiled up at Grady. “Thank you.”
Grady trailed his fingers down Jack’s cheek. “For what?”
“For making it easy.”
* * *
Jack could see Grady wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“I’ve never dated anyone before,” Jack reminded him, hesitating at the surprise on Grady’s face. “I thought you knew that?”
“I figured it was just recently. Or not as an adult, and that you’d dated people when you were younger, maybe.”
“Before I went to prison, you mean?”
Grady nodded.
“I didn’t, actually. I had a girlfriend in high school for about a minute, and we kissed a bunch, but it was pretty clear I was not experiencing the thrill most of my friends couldn’t stop talking about,” he said with a laugh.
“You were figuring yourself out.”
“I was. And then I was nervous about what I discovered. It took me until I was twenty, and then once I started kissing boys, well…I wasn’t exactly looking for love and commitment, let’s just say that.”
Grady grinned. “I bet you were a sight to behold.”
“I was something, all right. Sex was easy, and later it was…simple, I guess, with René—the protector I told you about,” he corrected quickly. “It was a mutually beneficial arrangement that worked for a while, but after about six months we decided to leave it as friends.”
“Friends?” Grady asked curiously.
“Yes. A good one, in the end,” Jack admitted, watching Grady’s face for his reaction. “We grew close over time. But it wasn’t romantic at all. People don’t really understand that, but he was smart and charming, and we actually had a lot to talk about.” Jack shrugged, because the few people he’d spoken to about this had found it, at best, weird. At worst, abhorrent.
Grady just nodded. No judgment.
“See, there you go, making it easy again,” Jack said with mock exasperation.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you accept what I say at face value. You don’t make assumptions about me or my past and how that’s impacting us here and now. You expect me to be honest and answer your questions and say no when I don’t want something. You want that, even. It makes all this…” Jack stroked his hands down over Grady’s waist, his thumbs hooking over his hip bones, “…simple.”
Grady flexed his abdominal muscles, making his erection bob between them. “It is simple.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I do. But I have to be honest, it’s kind of my way.”
“I know. That’s the best part.” Jack slid his hands over Grady’s tight ass. “Easy.”
“I’m extra easy when you’re touching my butt, just FYI,” Grady said, clenching those muscles tight.
“Yeah?” Jack gave them a good squeeze and laughed at Grady’s shiver.
This wasn’t just easy, it was fun.
Jack slid the fingers of one hand along the crease of Grady’s ass. “Someday, I want in here…”
Grady nodded, face flushed and eyes dark.
“But not tonight,” Jack clarified. “Tonight, I want to be the Mountie.”
Grady’s breath stuttered. “Shit, now I have an image of you in my dress uniform…” His words trailed off like he’d lost control of his brain’s speech function.
Jack glanced toward Grady’s closet, where the red serge in question was stored. “Well, we could…”
“Not tonight,” Grady gasped, walking Jack backward toward the bed. “We are so going to do that someday, but I swear to god I’d embarrass myself the second you put it on.”
Jack cracked up while making a mental note. Red serge sex was going on the To-Do List.
When the back of Jack’s knees hit the mattress, Grady cupped his cheek and drew him into a kiss. He opened for Grady’s tongue and groaned when the kiss went from warm and sweet to hot and dirty in the blink of an eye. Grady’s hands were everywhere, running over Jack’s back and ass and back up again.
Jack dragged Grady closer, bringing them into contact from chest to knees and shuddering at the brush of Grady’s thigh against his cock. Grady grabbed his ass in both hands, kneading the muscles and pulling the globes apart.
Jack felt needy, and empty, and dizzyingly aroused.
He had no doubt Grady would take his time if given half a chance, and while that could be amazing, it wasn’t what Jack wanted—hell, needed—tonight.
Their lips parted, both gasping for air while Grady nipped at his lips like he couldn’t make himself stop kissing Jack.
Determined, Jack fell back on the bed, towing Grady with him as he scooted back toward the pillows. The moment he settled, Grady was kissing him again. Jack groaned and wrapped his legs around Grady’s hips, pulling him in tighter, relishing all that warm skin and the heavy weight pressing him into the mattress.
Jack had never realized being pinned to the bed would make him feel so free.
“I love this,” Jack confessed.
That seemed to punch the air right out of Grady’s lungs. He looked down at Jack, his hair standing on end from Jack’s fingers, and something warm and sweet and possibly scary was there in his gaze, clear for Jack to see.
Jack’s heart gave a hard jerk, an almost painful constriction in his chest.
It was the perfect moment to say something romantic.
“Get the lube.”
So Jack wasn’t going to win any awards for poetry. Grady didn’t seem to mind. The bottle appeared almost instantly, with the plastic wrap already removed.
Before Jack could tease Grady for being a very prepared Boy Scout, Grady started to kiss and lick his way down Jack’s body and Jack’s higher reasoning closed up shop. He would have sworn he didn’t have sensitive nipples, but Grady latching on and the tug of his sucking lips was more than enough to rob him of speech.
He arched into the glide of Grady’s hands over his torso, whimpering when his cock rubbed Grady’s arm or chest. He reached for it, intent on giving himself a few good strokes to ease the ache, but Grady’s hand caught his wrist.
“Mine,” he grumbled, sliding further down the bed.
Jack nodded. “Yes. Yours. Please.”
Grady’s eyes laughed at him, even as he lowered his mouth to lick over the bright red head of Jack’s cock. Grady tucked the tip of his tongue beneath the foreskin and Jack shuddered from his toes to the top of his head. Fucking hell, he loved that. Squirming against the bed, he watched Grady nuzzle and lick his way down the shaft, every touch sending a bolt of pleasure up Jack’s spine, his toes curling so hard it was a wonder his feet didn’t cramp.
He spread his legs, inviting Grady to do as he pleased. When Grady only continued to tease and kiss his way back up Jack’s shaft, he growled.
“Suck me, please.”
Grady responded as if all he’d needed was permission—which, of course, was probably true. Jack should have known splaying himself out on the mattress and whimpering with desire wasn’t enough. Hell, he didn’t even disagree.
He imagined the possibilities—how he could tease himself with Grady’s help, knowing Grady would wait forever before doing anything else—and felt himself grow even harder against Grady’s tongue.
Fuck, they were going to have so much fun together.
Jack cried out as Grady’s lips sucked around the gathered foreskin and edge of his crown. He thought, somewhat hysterically, that they should have made sure Travis and Barnaby were also out for the night. At this rate, even the neighbors down the street might hear him.
Grady seemed to delight in making Jack shout, sliding his mouth over the sensitive head and enveloping him fully. Jack buried his hands in Grady’s hair as Grady’s lips slowly drew up the length of his shaft, the tight suction pulling more blood into Jack’s already aching cock and making his balls draw up tighter.
He was about to demand Grady give him a moment when a cool, slick finger rubbed over his hole.
Jack gasped, tugging Grady’s hair in surprise. When the fuck did this overachiever have time to open and apply the lube, and how the fuck could he do anything so coordinated while blowing Jack to within an inch of his life?
Grady released his cock with a gasp, a line of spit connecting his bottom lip to the glistening head. Jack had never seen anything as sexy in his entire life. He tilted Grady’s head using the grip he still had on his hair, and made the most direct and charged eye contact ever.
