Page 58 of Gym Bros (Bay Area Bros #2)

SAMUEL

H e is so goddamned beautiful when he cries, and I shouldn’t love it so much.

But maybe these are the good kind of tears.

Like the kind you cry when you’re so fucking relieved the hard part’s over, and you did it.

You made it. I kiss one just as it’s about to fall over his cheekbone.

My mouth meeting his skin brings me back to life.

I feel my heart pumping again. My lungs expanding. Muscles activating.

Nothing has changed. Not the way I feel about him.

Not how totally in love with him I am. The secret he kept feels less like a lie and more of a way to keep us just like this.

That I was able to win his love is a tremendous accomplishment, because I don’t think any part of him ever meant for this to happen.

I don’t think he saw me that first day at the gym and thought—yes. Him. That’s the guy for me. I think I broke him down and won him over and maybe even put him into a kind of love arm bar where he had to submit because I wasn’t going to stop until he was mine.

But honestly, I didn’t expect this either.

I wasn’t any better at the beginning than any man who’s been stunned by his beauty and determined to wrap myself up in it.

The rest, though—the fake horse rides, the goats, the Avengers, the oysters, the two person planks, the grappling…

all the small surprises along the way—that was all him.

The undiscovered, laughing heart of him—not to mention the sexy, ever-accommodating side of him.

That’s what makes him my favorite person—my favorite everything.

“I don’t think I deserve you,” Calyx whispers.

“You break it, you buy it,” I tell him.

“No…tell me I didn’t break you.”

“Oh, you did,” I assure him. “You destroyed me. Ruined me for anyone else. Now you have to rescue me.”

“I love you,” he says softly.

“Prove it,” I tell him.

He doesn’t technically roll his eyes, but the vibe is definitely there.

Still, he does kiss me, pressing his plush lips to mine.

I don’t know how many times Calyx and I have had sex, but my body reacts to this one gentle kiss like it’s reliving our entire sexual history.

My dick was already half hard from holding his hand, but it’s rigid now.

Un-fucking-believably erect. The surge of desire that courses through me causes a groan to escape.

I haven’t even felt his tongue yet, and already I’m desperate to get out of these pants—get him out of his.

I put my hand on his chest and hold him off. “Whoa, holy shit.”

“What?”

“Would it ruin the moment if I accidentally came in my pants?”

He smiles. “Maybe. But maybe not.”

“I’m not sure I wanna risk it.”

“So…no kissing?”

“Maybe let me just take care of these dishes first.”

“I’ll help,” he says .

I’m breathing heavy, and when I remove the blanket, my situation becomes painfully obvious.

I try to ignore it as I stand and pick up both our plates.

Calyx gets up, too, and grabs a container of noodles and another of crab Rangoon.

I make it to the kitchen first, but he’s right behind me, bending to open drawers and find leftover containers for all the food.

When he goes back to the drawer a third time, his ass is too much to resist. I take it in my hands, and he rises halfway to brace his hands on the counter.

He looks over his shoulder at me. I haven’t really done anything.

I’m rubbing his ass cheeks, digging my thumbs into the muscle while trying to keep myself from grinding my very stiff cock against it. “You about done?” I ask.

“I don’t think it’s some kind of food storage emergency if that’s what you’re asking. I thought you were trying to settle down, though.”

“I was,” I say. “I was trying. But I’m kinda turned on.”

“Kinda? You’re like the textbook definition of a top. You realize that, right?”

“No, I hadn’t looked it up.”

“It fits.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“It is,” he says. “Although…now that I think about it…you do like sucking dick a lot.”

“Is that a disqualifier?”

“I guess I think of it more as a bonus.”

“What about how much I want to eat this ass right now?”

“Top,” he says.

“I don’t get it.”

“You don’t have to. Just keep doing you.”

“I feel like I should understand if we’re gonna be in this together.”

“I like all of it,” he says like he’s running out of air. “ Everything you do to me—anything you ever want to do—just give it to me.”

My cock gives a strong jerk at those words. “Right now I think I just need you closer to the bed. Maybe some lube.”

“We’re just gonna go for it?”

“I need to.”

Calyx nods, then arches his back until his ass is grazing my erection.

“I want you, Samuel,” he says, voice so sexy I’m afraid I’m gonna bust again.

This is hopeless. I slide his pants down to reveal his pair of full-bottomed white satin panties and drop to my knees.

Without hesitation, I lick the fabric over his hole, and his legs shake.

I open my pants while I keep eating him through his underwear.

Freeing my cock finally takes some pressure off, but I’m too far gone already to leave it alone.

“Show me where you want me,” I tell him.

He peels the panties down to reveal his smooth, gorgeous ass.

I take hold of my dick and plant my mouth on his hole.

Goddamn, he’s the sweetest, softest thing I’ve ever had in my mouth.

I kiss him like I’m starving. After a few tugs on my cock, I overload in every possible way, and cum is gushing.

I groan through the orgasm as I tease his entrance with my tongue, but once I’m shuddering through aftershocks, I’ve got both hands on him again and my tongue is delivering the rest of my barely sated lust.

“ Unh…God…Sam… your mouth is so wet. ”

My angel, I think. Mine.

His rim is taut against my lips. My tongue traces it before nudging inside again. I bury my face between his cheeks, delving deep and forcing him onto his toes.

It won’t be long until I’m hard again, and hopefully I’ll last a little longer next time because I am not nearly done with this beautiful man yet.

“So good. I love you. That’s so good,” he says between shaky breaths. I wrap an arm around his hips to see if he’s hard. He is, and he cries out when I touch his dick.

I close my hand around it, and he thrusts. I chase him with my mouth, and this goes on for long, perfect minutes with neither of us in any rush. I love how quivery he is. I love the sound he makes when I curl my tongue inside him. I love the illicit shivers and the scent of his skin.

“Baby, I missed you,” I pull back and say, before wiping my mouth and nose with my sleeve. I’m making a mess, drooling all over him and coming on his kitchen floor.

“Do you, um…do you want to go to the bed still?”

“Yes,” I say. “If you’ll have me.”

“Uh-huh.”

I stand and pull his panties and pants up so he can walk, then wrap an arm around his waist, drawing him close and planting a kiss on the base of his neck. “First time having make-up sex?” I ask.

“Yeah.”

“Me, too.”

He laughs suddenly. “I’m so nervous.”

“I promise you can’t fuck this up.”

“I fucked up once already.”

I shake my head. “You’re forgiven. You want me to show you how much?”

“Is there a scale?”

“Let’s go see.”

He turns around and throws his arms around my shoulders and neck, pressing his face to my throat. “I need you,” he whispers. “Do you get that?”

“I need you, too. ”

“No. Listen to me, Samuel. I could barely stand myself before I met you. I definitely couldn’t stand myself without you. And it’s not just that I can’t keep my hands off you, it’s like there’s a you-size hole in my chest, and no one else in the world is big enough or bright enough to fill it.”

I want to tell him to say less. I know all this on a gut level.

There’s no other excuse for us to fit together the perfect way we do.

Hearing it—especially the way he puts it—makes me feel expansive.

As if I have infinite capacity to handle anything thrown my way.

Like nothing else matters more than this one person’s respect and affection and love.

“That’s very good to hear,” I tell him. “I wanna say you’re pretty great, too, but maybe I should put more thought into it. ”

He slides his hands down my arms. “I’ll take it. Okay, come on. I’m done talking if you are.”

Taking my hand, he leads me upstairs. I follow with a newly stiffening dick.

I haven’t even jerked off since the last time he and I had sex, which was before the fight.

It seems like ages ago, and it’s a long time to go without touching myself, but I knew if I did, I’d be thinking of him, and until tonight, that hurt too much.

It took a few days for the conversation I had with Rachel to fully come together in my head.

Once it did, keeping my distance from Calyx felt cruel to both of us.

I could see how much he regretted not only not telling me about what happened with my dad, but the fact that it ever happened at all.

I got the sense that sleeping with his manager wasn’t something he was proud of.

Still, other than the fact that my father is married, I don’t think he should feel ashamed about it.

Like he said, he was lonely. I understand lonely, but I think Calyx’s loneliness was worse than the six weeks I spent away from my training gym. I’ve always had people I could turn to. He’s got friends, and Rachel and Priya are great, but they’re not always the most serious people.

Rachel surprised me a lot the other day, and her fierce capacity for dealing with the shit hand Calyx and I got dealt proved to me that Calyx probably keeps her at arm’s distance, too. But she’s been there for him. Listening. Paying attention. And she’s here for us, too.

Us .

Calyx stops at the foot of the bed and looks up at me. He slides his hands up my shirt, his fingers climbing my abs like they’re a ladder. “Take this off?”