Page 62 of Brighter Shades of Light

“Look at that one,” Cody said, as he pointed at the glass ceiling. “Is there a constellation of a turkey?”

“Not to my knowledge.”

“Oh.”

I had pulled spare pillows and a blanket from the hall closet and laid them on the floor in the upstairs bedroom. Cody and I lay on the pallet, staring up at the night sky. We had been up there for maybe an hour.

Time both sped up and slowed down when I was with Cody, a contradiction at its finest.

“Would you like to see them even clearer?” I asked, sitting up and stretching my arms above my head.

“Like, use your telescope?” Cody sat up, too, and eyed the telescope in the corner. “What if I break it?”

“You won’t,” I said with a light laugh.

I brought it over and adjusted the height of the tripod before looking through the scope and focusing it. It was an Orion AstroView Reflector telescope that had cost me around five hundred dollars, but it was worth every dollar spent. The real payoff was watching Cody carefully scoot toward it, still afraid he’d break it, and peek through the scope before his whole face lit up.

“Okay, this is awesome. I never knew it looked like this. Stupid human eyes. Why can’t we be like robots and have super-human vision or something?”

“That’s why we invented telescopes. So we can.” I placed a hand at his lower back. “Do you see the Seven Sisters yet?”

“Nope.” Cody stopped searching the sky and turned to me. “What time is it?”

I checked my watch. “Just after nine.”

“They reach their highest point at midnight.” He returned his attention to the telescope.

“I’m sure we can find a way to pass the time until then.”

My statement wasn’t meant to imply sex, only a general remark. However, Cody lost all interest in the stars and looked at me with a hungry gleam in his eyes.

“Cody, I—” My breath hitched in my throat as he crawled toward me and pushed me to my back. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“Does it look like I don’t want to, Doctor?” He straddled my hips and rubbed against my groin before grabbing my hand and placing it on the big bulge in his jeans. “I’ve wanted to fuck you since I first saw you. Have you wanted to fuck me?”

I sharply exhaled and adjusted my glasses.

I had never participated in that kind of talk. Not with Leon and definitely not with Emily. Sex with Leon had been slow and passionate. Incredible in all ways, but mostly quiet, apart from the moans and whispers of encouragement. I scarcely remembered sex with Emily, which said a lot about the experience itself.

“Sebastian?” Cody stroked my jaw with his thumb. “Am I being too forward?”

“No. You’re not.” My voice sounded gravelly, and I cleared my throat. “I want this. I want you. I just…I’m not…”

Cody seemed to understand what I failed to say. He smiled and leaned down, kissing my neck and running his hands down my sides. His fingers played with the bottom of my shirt before he slid them beneath the material, grazing his nails up my stomach in the same way he dragged his teeth across my collarbone.

“I want to see you,” he whispered against the side of my throat. “All of you.” He pulled my shirt up and over my head, knocking my glasses askew in the process. “Ah, hell. I’m sorry.”

“I can still see without them.” I took them off and placed them behind me on the floor. “You’re only a little blurry.”

His answering chuckle was like a blanket over my heart.

I pulled his shirt off, too, as it was only fair. But I didn’t expect the sudden bout of nerves that followed. Being shirtless beneath his muscled body stirred up a little insecurity. I was thin without much bulk, something that normally didn’t bother me. However, as I stared up at this beautiful man, I wanted to feel like I deserved him.

Did he find me as desirable as I found him?

“Fuck, you’re gorgeous,” Cody said, sitting back on his knees and admiring my bare chest. His hand traveled from my collarbone to my naval.

Well, that answersthatquestion.