Page 77 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2

JULIAN

I remembered telling a stranger once about the crush I had on my straight best friend. It was a guy I’d shared a few drinks with in an airport bar after he’d lamented a recent breakup of his own. We’d talked about how the reality of a thing is often not nearly as tantalizing as the fantasy.

What idiots we’d been.

The reality of sex with Parker Ellis was even better than the fantasy. In the fantasy, I’d never seen Parker’s eyes widen in discovery. I’d never heard the vulnerability in his pleas for more. And I’d never felt the reverent trace of his fingers across the ink on my chest.

Without removing myself from his body, I leaned in to brush his hair back from his face and press a kiss to his lips. He looked dazed or drunk, and it made me smile. “You good?”

A familiar goofy grin appeared as he reached out to tweak a piece of hair over my ear. “So fucking good.”

“We just had sex,” I said stupidly. “You and me.”

He nodded. “Don’t freak out. You promised.”

“I didn’t promise not to freak out. I only promised not to leave.”

He wrapped his legs around me, so I quickly reached to grab the condom and pull out.

“Give me a minute,” I said, moving off the bed and to the bathroom.

After disposing of the condom and wetting a towel, I returned to help him clean up.

This part of sex always seemed more intimate than anything else, and I enjoyed the chance to take care of him this way.

Thankfully, he didn’t fight me on it and let me wipe him down while he stayed a little dazed on the bed.

When I climbed back in, I shoved him around until he was properly under the covers where I could join him.

I propped my head on my hand and studied him.

In so many ways, he was the same old Parker—same warm smile, watchful eyes, and incredibly handsome face.

But he was also buck naked, with the truth of my attraction to him completely out in the open between us and the smell of sex hanging in the air around us, and all of that was so different that I wasn’t quite sure what to say to him or how to act.

I ran a hand over the light hair on his chest, but he grabbed it and pulled it to his mouth, pressing a light kiss on my palm while keeping his eyes on mine.

“I’m exactly where I want to be right now,” he said, sounding like he truly meant it.

It was almost a challenge. He was daring me to say this was wrong.

He would be disappointed.

“Same.”

He smiled and kissed my palm again. “Thank fuck.”

The word but was on the tip of my tongue, but I bit it back. There would be time for buts later. Right now was the time to enjoy this. Enjoy him. Enjoy us .

“I’ve never seen your orgasm face,” I teased. “It’s pretty epic.”

His laugh lines crinkled. “I’m sure no one’s seen that orgasm face before. The sex was epic.”

“Keep flattering me,” I urged, sliding one of my legs over his until my limp cock brushed his outer thigh. “I don’t mind.”

Parker reached out to trace the ink on my shoulder, something he’d always done, ever since I’d begun getting the tattoos. My skin craved his touch.

His voice was easy and light. “I remember one time a few years ago when you brought a guy up to Vail for the weekend. He looked at you like you were some kind of god. After two drinks at the bar with me and my work friends, the guy begged you to go back to the hotel room. I could tell he wanted to get you into bed, so I kept finding ways to keep you there in the bar longer.”

I huffed out a laugh. “I remember. His name was Thom with an H , and he introduced himself that way to everyone he met that night.”

Parker’s chest vibrated with his laughter.

“Yeah. That’s right. I remember now. But I also remember wondering how he could possibly be that eager to get you into bed.

We were having a good time, throwing darts and listening to good music, and all this guy wanted was to get into your pants.

” His eyes met mine with a twinkle. “Now I know why.”

Before I could say anything, he laughed again and moved his fingers across my skin. “You’re getting blotchy. You can’t get blotchy with me. It’s not allowed.”

My skin felt hot and itchy like I was under a spotlight. “I can’t believe we just had sex together. It was good? I mean… it was okay? You’re okay?”

I’d gone from dominant to unsure in the time it took for a simple wipe-down. But this was Parker, and everything in my world was riding on his answer.

He pulled the hand he was holding until I was sprawled across his naked chest. “I’m okay. I already told you that, but you’re obviously still worried. Do you want to talk about it right now?”

I had a million questions. What did this mean for us?

What did this mean for Erin? How would it change things between us?

What would happen if it didn’t turn into the lifelong relationship I so desperately wanted it to be?

And if it did—if by some miracle he was all in this with me—what would that look like?

Would he want me to move to Vail? What kind of law would I practice?

Parker put his big hand over my face, a move he’d made many times before to annoy me. “Baby,” he said. And the word was said with such tenderness, such overwhelming understanding and affection, I got a lump in my throat.

“Maybe not the talking right now,” I admitted, shoving his hand aside and leaning my head down on his shoulder. “Not sure I’m ready.”

I could tell by his sigh that my words weren’t what he wanted to hear, but his hands moved up and down my back soothingly anyway. Being with him like this was incredible. I wanted to savor it.

“I have an idea,” he said after a little while.

“Let’s pretend for tonight that we’re boyfriends.

We’ve been together for a long time, and we tell each other everything.

We are also two young, fit dudes with voracious sexual appetites, FYI, so the spark is still there in spades even though we’ve been together a long time. ”

“Natch,” I said with a grin he couldn’t see.

“Right, so we hang out, cook dinner, watch movies, and snuggle on the sofa. And when the feeling strikes us, we bone. Little sucking here, little dick fondling there… all the things I’ve been missing out on.

Maybe we stay away from my ass because it was recently rammed with a giant grain silo, but all the rest is good.

Your ass is fair game, obviously. And we sleep together in the same bed, naked, as long-term boyfriends do. Sound good?”

His fake casual tone made me laugh. I loved him so fucking much. He was my favorite human, and he never failed to put me at ease and help me stop taking things so seriously.

“And tomorrow?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Tomorrow, we’re going skiing because I promised Tiller and Mikey I’d help out a friend of theirs on the slopes.”

I lifted my head up in surprise. I hadn’t known he’d made any plans while he was here. “What friend?”

Parker shrugged. “Don’t know the guy’s name, but he creates content for one of those fitness apps.

He’s doing a series of downhill runs and needs someone to help capture some of the footage.

Tiller’s not supposed to be skiing because of the injury risk, and Mikey isn’t good enough to help this guy on the steeper runs.

They agreed to give him access to the slopes if he’d promote Aster Valley skiing in the videos. ”

He moved his hand up to trace my eyebrows with a fingertip.

“I was hoping you’d want to join us, but you don’t have to.

Or you could come hang at the mid-mountain restaurant and have lunch with us.

Mikey said they’re serving lunch now because they’re hosting various athletes and media personnel to help create buzz about Aster Valley opening back up to skiers. ”

“I’ll bring my skis, but while you’re doing your lessons, I’ll get some work done in the restaurant. After you’re done with your student, I’ll join you for some runs.”

After seeing Parker’s smile of approval, I laid my head back down on his shoulder and tried not to think about petty things.

Like how he would introduce me to his ski student.

Whether or not we’d hold hands on the lift.

How long I would play it cool after returning to the cabin tomorrow before begging him for just one more night of playing pretend boyfriends.

Meanwhile, I went shopping on the fantasy aisle of my memories, tossing every hot idea I’d ever had of him into my cart and wondering how we’d fit all these sex acts into the short sixteen-hour period I had left with him as my boyfriend.

“Your dick is getting hard,” he said, moving his hands down to cup my ass and squeeze it. When he pulled my cheeks slightly apart, my dick got even harder. “What’s going on in that big brain of yours?”

“So many fucking things,” I admitted, shifting into a more comfortable position. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

Parker suddenly rolled us until I was under him, and he loomed above me. “Have you ever fantasized about taking a shower with me?”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s like me asking you if you ever fantasized about taking a shower with Natalie Freeman.”

Natalie had been one of Hazel’s friends growing up, and she’d also been, hands down, the hottest girl in school.

I continued. “And if I feel your dick even thinking about twitching right now…”

As soon as I said the word “dick,” I felt the movement on my leg and laughed. “You’re a teenager.”

He smirked. “A teenager with a crush on the hottest dude in school. A dude I want to bang in the shower.”

I steered my mental shopping cart to the bath products aisle and grabbed a sudsy hand job off the shelf.

Parker had a lot to learn about the joys of sex with another man, and I was happy to take one for the team to help him along on his journey.