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“It wasn’t supposed to.” Cross ground his stomach up against Rusty’s now-hard erection. “You want to play a little when we get out?”

Rusty laughed hoarsely. “Whaddya think?”

“I think I ordered a gift for you, and this might be the ideal time to try it out.” Probably this was a dreadful idea.

Rusty had been through trauma and Cross should be offering tea and sympathy.

But the heat of Rusty’s body and the gleam in his eyes when Cross drew back to look spurred him on. “Get clean, mon chou, and we’ll see.”

Rusty eased Cross down onto the bench and they soaped and rinsed hurriedly. When Rusty’s erection flagged, Cross told him, “Stroke yourself. I want to watch.”

Rusty took a sharp breath and pumped his dick back to hardness with a few rushed strokes.

Cross grinned at him. “Yeah, like that.”

They made it to the bedroom, hair still wet, skin damp and a little chilly in the loss of the steamy enclosure.

Cross grabbed a couple of big towels to bring along, and he tossed one at a gloriously naked Rusty.

“Lay that out on the bed.” Cross wrapped himself up in the other and sat in the armchair.

“Hang on.” Rusty hurried over to tug the hassock into position and raised Cross’s re-booted foot onto it. “High enough?” He looked up from where he knelt, his hands careful on Cross’s leg.

Cross met those summer-sky blue eyes and tenderness washed through him. “Perfect. Now go get the bag out of the second drawer in the dresser. Let me make you feel good.”

“Second drawer?” Rusty padded over barefoot, his muscular ass on display. “This?”

Cross had a moment of self-doubt but he squashed it down.

“Yeah, bring it here.” When Rusty handed him the anonymous bag, Cross reached in and pulled out the two items. “Remote control for me. Vibrating butt plug for you.” He held out the plug.

It wasn’t too big but had a bulge that was supposed to hit a guy’s prostate just right.

He’d spent more time on sex sites than he’d ever envisioned, picking it out.

“Really?” A smile grew on Rusty’s face. “You want to try that?”

“The plug’s for you, mon chou.”

“Well, duh.” Rusty nodded. “I’m game. Tell me what you want me to do.”

“Go to the bed and stretch out on your back. Grab the lube out of the drawer before you get too comfy.”

Rusty obeyed orders, propping his shoulders up on a pillow for a better view of Cross in his chair. “Now what?” His cock bobbed against his stomach, nicely hard.

“Jack yourself for a bit, nice and slow. Use the lube. Make yourself all slick and shiny.”

Rusty’s grunt wasn’t a word. He popped the lid of the lube, slopped a bunch in his palm, and began stroking himself. Cross watched him, appreciating the long, strong lines of his arms and legs and the way he started tightening his ass with each stroke.

“Is this okay?” Rusty asked.

“Perfect. Just a bit more. I want that whine you do—”

Rusty gave the little gasp that meant he was getting close.

Cross nodded. “Stop.” He wasn’t sure about the next bit, but he wasn’t going to let Rusty know that. “Have you used a plug before?”

“Nope. A dildo though.”

“Okay. The plug is supposed to go in the same way and then stay there without being held. Give it a try.”

“Supposed to?” Rusty set his heels on the bed, spread his legs, and reached lower behind his balls with lubed fingers. “Don’t you know?”

“I’ve watched a bunch of videos.”

Rusty grinned at him, his eyes bright. “Me too, though maybe not for the same reason.”

“Ass, plug.” Cross waved at him. “Get going.”

At first, Cross watched what Rusty was doing, slipping a lubed finger inside himself.

But truthfully, Cross was much more interested in what that action meant to Rusty.

He watched his boyfriend’s face instead, seeing the scarlet color rise and recede as Rusty went from one finger to two, noting the way his lips parted on a sharp breath at three.

The hard planes of Rusty’s muscled chest rose and fell, light glinting off his sweat-damp skin, and he sucked air in time to the motion of his fingers.

“’Kay, ready.” Rusty slicked up the toy.

Cross had a moment of doubt, looking at the bulging middle part, but Rusty worked it into his body without much hesitation.

Rusty’s cock lay against his stomach, flushed and hard.

A strand of glistening precum dripped from the tip to Rusty’s ridged abs.

Sometime, Cross might suck him while he put in that plug.

He could only imagine Rusty’s gasp and arch and moan if he put his mouth there right now. Damn the foot. But someday he’d try it.

“It’s in,” Rusty said, lowering his legs halfway. “Feels good.”

“Stroke your dick again.” If Cross couldn’t reach him, then watching Rusty handle himself was next best.

Rusty fisted over his length and shivered. “Won’t take much.”

On his next stroke, Cross pulsed the remote control.

“Fuck!” Rusty arched like a bow, then pushed up on one elbow and glared at Cross. “What the fuck, babe? Some warning?”

Cross glanced down. “Oh, damn. Sorry. I left it on max. I was trying it out in my hand, to make sure it wasn’t too rough.”

Rusty laughed, high and a bit wild. “Thanks, no thanks. Maybe take it down a notch?”

“Right.” He fumbled the dial down from five to one. “You want to try it again?”

“I’m game.” Rusty lay back and took himself in hand. Despite Cross’s fumble, it didn’t look like Rusty had softened at all. He jerked himself slow and easy. “Go for it.”

Cross pressed the button briefly and Rusty moaned.

“Nice. A bit more, though.”

On level two, rhythmic button presses in time to Rusty’s hand made him hum and clench his ass, his nostrils flaring as he breathed deeper. “Fuck, that’s nice. That’s good. More?”

“Harder or longer?”

“Same rhythm.” Rusty eyed Cross under hooded lids. “More juice.”

“I’ll give you more juice, mon chou.” Cross dialed up to three and kept going, holding the button a bit longer too.

Rusty groaned and writhed, speeding up his strokes. “Yeah, fuck, yeah, like that, like that.” He caught his lower lip between his teeth, neck arched. Then his lips parted, wet and reddened, mouth opening as his head fell back.

Someday I’m going to kiss him while doing this. Cross matched Rusty’s speed. “Come on, mon chou, come on, I want to see you come. Want that look on your face when it’s too good to bear—”

“Jesusfuck!” Spunk shot out of Rusty’s cock up his stomach and chest. He shouted again, a wordless cry, and shuddered head to toe as he spurted. Cross tried one more long press and Rusty half-screamed, “Jesus!” and shot again.

Cross turned the remote off and set it on the arm of the chair, then hobbled his way back to sit on the side of the bed by Rusty’s hips.

Rusty panted, looking up at him through glazed eyes. “Holy shit. Holy shit .”

“In a good way?”

“I came my fucking brains out. Yeah. Fuck. That was amazing. Thank you.” Rusty slumped deeper into the pillows. “Wow.”

Cross bent over, bracing with one arm, and kissed him. Rusty’s mouth was hot and damp and pliant under his. “You’re welcome.”

Rusty wiped one hand on the towel, then guided Cross into another kiss. “You enjoyed it too?”

“I did.” He grinned. “I love making you all hot and bothered.”

“And then sticky and mushy?” Rusty wiggled lubed fingers.

“Part of the game. I like melting you down.”

Rusty sighed. “This could work, y’know. Us. We could really work.”

“We will. Planning on it.” Cross leaned in for one more kiss, then set his hand against Rusty’s cheek and just looked at him. So gorgeous and strong, so mine.

Rusty’s eyelids drooped, but then he rallied. “Gotta go clean up. Deal with the plug. You stretch out. Back soon.” He scooted off the far side of the bed, tugged away the towel, and walked awkwardly to the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Cross did as he was told, swinging his legs up and nestling into the warm space that had held Rusty.

Horizontal was great, as the level of throb in his ankle decreased to tolerable.

He rolled to his stomach. The smell of Rusty on the pillow was comforting, and a faint hint of acrid spunk wasn’t unpleasant.

Cross wallowed in the soft bed, letting himself just be, just breathe.

A minute later, the mattress sagged as Rusty got in beside him. Rusty nuzzled the back of Cross’s neck. “Hey there. Doing okay?”

“Better than okay. I should be freaked out, I guess, after today, but I’m all… not. I’m good.”

“Me too.” Rusty’s big hands pressed on Cross’s shoulders. “And now we’ll see if I learned anything in session two of Massage 101.”

“You don’t have to.”

“And you didn’t have to give me the very best orgasm ever. But you did.”

“Really?” Warmth pooled in Cross’s belly.

“Really. Like, every nerve turned up to eleven. That plug is dope, we’ll have to use it again. If you liked it?”

“Can’t wait,” Cross mumbled sleepily but truthfully into the pillow.

“Your turn.” Rusty began kneading Cross’s shoulders, then his biceps, where the muscles ached from his frantic chin-up against the ceiling.

“Mm, that’s good.” He had a thought, something he’d forgotten, needed to track down… Oh. “You should eat. Your stomach was rumbling.”

“Later. Let me rub you, and we’ll catch a nap, and then eat later.”

“Okay, just… if you wake up, don’t go anywhere without waking me, okay?” Leftover panic from the kidnapping was well-submerged in a pool of feeling good, but he could imagine how he’d react to waking alone.

“Promise. I’ll be right here. I’ll make you go get me a sandwich.”

Cross smothered a laugh into the pillow. Rusty barely let him make his own coffee half the time, jumping up with “I could use a cup too,” whenever he reached for his crutches. But he appreciated the normalcy of the thought. “I’ll put mustard on it.”

“What do you have against mayo?” Rusty’s thumbs dug into a tight knot in Cross’s neck and Cross groaned almost as loud as Rusty had with the vibrator.

For several minutes, the strong if still untrained motions of Rusty’s hands soothed every muscle in Cross’s body. When Rusty swung over to straddle his thighs, and his dick slid against Cross’s ass, Cross tensed for a second, but said nothing. Don’t make it weird.

Somehow Rusty noticed, though. He got off the bed, despite Cross’s mumble of protest, slipped into clean underwear, and returned to what he was doing as if that was natural. As if Cross’s tension was no problem, easily solved, just the way they were.

And Cross realized, for Rusty, against all the odds, that was true. “How did I get so lucky with you?” he mumbled.

“I dunno.” Rusty bent and kissed the back of his neck. “You’ve got sharp looks, brains, wicked hockey skills, money, kindness, sexy arms. One of those, probably.”

Cross broke into helpless laughter, his eyes closed, his body heading toward noodle-limp. “My arms, for sure. Must be it.”

Rusty stopped massaging him and stretched out half on top of him, just enough weight off that Cross could breathe. “I got luckier. Gonna sleep now?”

“Yeah.” Cross loved feeling pinned down, surrounded, a wall of hockey player between him and the world. “Stay just like that. Love you.”

They lay together in silence as Cross drifted deeper, cocooned in Rusty’s hold. He was almost asleep when he heard, “Love you too,” breathed in his ear.

We’re going to make this work.

That certainty followed him into sleep.