26. Kess

26

KESS

We put ourselves back together and washed up at the kitchen sink, with Rowdy shyly looking over at me.

“What’s this look?” I asked as I dried my hands.

He dipped his head, then took the towel from me. “That was really, really hot.”

“The texting?”

“All of it. Especially when you came up behind me...”

I flushed. “Wasn’t sure if that was too pushy?—”

“It wasn’t,” he assured me, then looked down again. “I kinda like bossy Kess.”

I chuckled and wrapped him up in my arms. “And I kinda like sex fiend Rowdy.”

He pushed at my chest but didn’t leave the circle of my arms. “Shut up.”

Still clinging to one another, we made our way from the kitchen down into the living room. I aimed toward the deep, high-backed sectional, dropping into the corner before pulling Rowdy down with me. He grumbled about being manhandled, but I didn’t believe him for a second. Especially when, after I’d leaned against the cushions and stretched out my legs, he settled against me and pulled my arm around him while nudging my leg over his.

“Sorry, I just?—”

“I’m super comfortable and I love holding you, Rowd. No apologies necessary.”

“Okay.”

We stayed like that for a while, comfortable in the silence. This was Rowdy I was holding, though, and I had to give him at least a little shit about what we’d just done together.

“So,” I said, cupping his soft cock and balls over his jeans, “are all demisexuals this feral when they find their person, or is that just a Rowdy thing?”

“Shut up.” He smacked my arm, then gripped it tight as he pushed his junk into my hand. “Though...I like thinking of you as my person.”

“I do, too.” I kissed the top of his head. “And I like thinking of you as feral for me.”

“I don’t mean to be needy?—”

“ Eh ,” I said, sharply cutting him off. “That was just dirty talk on my part. Wanting something is not the same as being needy, Rowd. And needing something isn’t bad.”

“Okay.”

After a few more beats of silence, I said, “I also liked that you asked for what you wanted. I hope you’re okay with me wanting to wait before going all the way.”

Rowdy took a moment to answer, and I hoped I hadn’t overstepped. Maybe I should’ve fucked him up against the counter?

“If I’m allowed to tell you what I want and say no, then you are, too. Right?”

“Good point.” I held him closer. “It’s not just that I want your first time to be special, but I also want to take my time with you. I don’t want you to regret doing this with me.”

He turned in my arms, kissing me. “I’ll never regret this.”

We kissed again, slow and sensual.

Finally, after recovering on the couch for a while, I asked Rowdy to play something for me.

“Show me what you’re working on now,” I said.

“It’s not perfect,” he warned, grabbing the guitar and sitting cross-legged on the couch.

“I don’t care about perfect.”

I didn’t recognize what he was playing, but even if it was imperfect, I enjoyed it. After fiddling for a few minutes, starting and stopping, repeating the trickier runs, Rowdy seemed to find the direction of it. He started from the beginning and played the full melody. It was interesting to watch him switch from practicing to performing. He now held the guitar like a lover instead of a friend and he started humming along, as though he heard lyrics I couldn’t.

I was swamped with an emotion I hadn’t yet named and didn’t fully know the depth of. The only thing I knew for sure was that Rowdy was everything I never knew I always needed.

When he played the last few haunting notes, I asked, “Who wrote that song? Who sings it? It’s gorgeous.”

The way he glanced at me, then quickly returned his focus to the guitar, was my answer.

“You wrote that, didn’t you?”

He shifted, the tension he’d so carefully tucked away returning full force.

“Yeah,” he finally admitted, as if under duress. “I’m shit with words, though. I have some ideas, but I’ve been thinking I might ask Woody to help me with the lyrics. Though I doubt he’d have time to help me out with something like this.”

I was instantly irritated. “Nope. Don’t fucking dismiss what you just did.” His eyes widened, so I touched my heart and said, “That piece you just played is hypnotizing, and the notes you were humming harmonized beautifully. I might not know Woody as well as you do, but there’s no way he wouldn’t jump at the chance to put lyrics to that melody.”

“Really? You thought the song—just the instrumental—was good?”

“I want to rip that guitar from your body, strip you naked, and lick you from head to toe. Do with that information what you will.”

I was really starting to love this man’s flush. He took the guitar off, carefully set it on the floor, then walked over to me and cozied into my lap. “You were saying?”

I cracked up. “Okay, okay, young one. I don’t have anything left in the tank, but?—”

“Me either,” he said, kissing me. “I’m just fucking with you. I just want to sleep with you in that gigantic bed of yours.”

“I can arrange for that. What are your thoughts on a quick dip? I’ve been swimming a little before bed and it really helps me sleep.”

“I love swimming, but...I didn’t bring anything to swim in.”

“What makes you think I wear anything in my own goddamn pool?”

He pressed his face against my neck. “I’ve actually never been skinny-dipping before.”

“Then you are in for a treat.”

We held each other for a few minutes more, then untangled and stood up from the couch. He accepted my extended hand, and I led him to my bedroom. We had been in here before—it’s where I first kissed him. This night, however, differed from that night in every way possible. Then, I was looking to see what Rowdy’s reputation was all about. Tonight...tonight, I only wanted him to share his heart.

Rowdy stopped in front of the foot of my bed and looked out over the pool, the watery reflection giving his face an otherworldly appeal. “This is gorgeous.”

“It’s got nothing on you.” When he looked at me, uncertainty stressing his expression, I cupped his face with both hands. “I mean what I say, sweet man. I love this home that I’ve built, but it’s basic and uninspired without you in it.”

I kissed him before he could protest my words; I couldn’t listen to him deny what I knew to be true. I could kiss him until the earth changed poles, but for tonight I wanted to swim naked with him.

We disrobed, and I slid open the glass wall leading out onto the back patio. The blue reflection on Rowdy’s trim frame made me surprisingly emotional.

Rowdy looked down at himself. “What’re you looking at?”

“I was just thinking about how beautiful you are.”

He turned to me, grinning as he knotted his hair back in a bun. “I suppose you know what you’re talking about.”

I hugged him, enjoying his body against mine for a moment. He was so warm in my arms. Then, because I could be a shit, too, I grabbed him up and threw us into the pool together.

He broke the surface, sputtering. “You are such an asshole,” he said, smacking my chest.

“Yes, but I’m your asshole.”

We stood there, making out, then Rowdy pushed off, floating on his back. I followed suit, gliding up next to him on the surface of the water. I twined my arm with his, and we floated there like a pair of otters, staring at the starry Texas sky as the wind rustled through the oaks and junipers. I’d never felt more comfortable next to another human, and tonight, this time between us, felt so natural.

After a while, he turned on his belly, crossing his arms on my shoulder as his pale ass bobbed in and out of the water, droplets beading down his hips.

“Are you really using me like a floaty?”

He reached down and took hold of my soft cock. “Are you really complaining?”

I let my hand drift down to his ass, cupping it. “Not for a second.”

I hadn’t been lying, I didn’t have another one in me, but it still felt nice to be fondled, and to fondle in return.

“So, you’re cuddly and handsy. Good to know,” I said, squeezing his ass again.

Rowdy kissed my chest. “I guess that’s where I get my fear of being too needy. I’ve never been with someone who let me touch and hold them as much as you let me.”

I kissed his forehead, tucking a stray strand of hair back into the knot at the back of his head. “It’s not about me letting you, it’s about me enjoying doing this with you. Every part of my body wants every part of your body as close as it can be, pretty much always.”

“Nah, you’ll get bored with me soon enough.”

“I can promise you, I will not.”

He blinked owlishly, beads of water on the tips of his thick eyelashes, uncertainty and hope and the emotion we hadn’t yet talked about shining from his eyes. His hand was still on my cock, squeezing rhythmically, softly.

I chuckled. “You seem very into my dick, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“Don’t get a big head about it. It’s just the perfect handful when it’s soft. Like a stress toy.”

I rolled over, pulling him down with me. We broke the surface and stood, facing each other as water sluiced down our chests. I brushed the wet hair out of his eyes.

“I am not your stress toy,” I said with a very serious face.

He grinned, and his hand went back to my cock. “Is that a complaint?”

“No. Never.” I nosed him, laying soft kisses on his pretty face as he abandoned my cock to feel up my ass.

Cuddling with someone on dry land was one kind of pleasure, but pressing up against each other in the water was another thing entirely. We kissed and touched, smiling like teenagers. His smaller stature and youthful grin made me feel like a dirty old man.

I liked it.

Finally, when I yawned into a kiss, he laughed and pushed back from me. “We should go to bed.”

I yawned again, then pointed out the outside shower. “It has great water pressure and gets really warm. Let’s rinse off before we go inside.”

He followed me out of the pool, pinching my ass as I walked up the steps to the wooden deck.

“Your ass is so gorgeous, I might have to rim it one of these days,” he teased.

“I love being rimmed, and I’m sure you would be fantastic at it,” I said, tugging him under the shower.

He squealed at the initial icy blast, then melted against me as the water heated.

“Oh my God, this has the best water pressure ever .”

We made out under the shower—because apparently, we hadn’t made out enough—then rinsed off. I grabbed the fluffy towels I had set aside for drying off from the pool and we stood there toweling off, comfortable enough to take awkward positions, getting to all our crevices and creases. After that, I slid open the glass wall, letting us into the chilly house. Rowdy shivered, then raced to the bed, diving under the covers as quickly as he could. I laughed and joined him, bringing him in close, rubbing his back and ass to warm him up.

“I could get used to this,” he said, reaching up to kiss my chin.

“Me too, sweetheart.”

Me too, my love.

I woke up the next morning as the sun filled the room. Rowdy had gone, and on his pillow was a note written on the back of an old envelope.

I had to get up early for the animals, but I’m pretty sure you changed my life last night. I’ll be out on the land all day, but I hope to see you soon. XOXO, R.

I pressed my lips to the words. His wasn’t the only life that was changed last night.