Page 59

Six Months Later

"Your stance is all wrong." Dennis circles Chris on their home gym's mat, bare feet silent against the padding. "You're leaving your right side completely open."

"Maybe I want you to attack my right side." Chris grins, following Dennis's movement. His tank top clings with sweat from their earlier rounds.

"You're impossible to teach." But Dennis is smiling as he demonstrates the proper form again. "Hips squared, weight centered—"

Chris lunges, trying to catch him off guard. Dennis sidesteps smoothly, hooks Chris's ankle, and sends him sprawling. Before Chris can recover, Dennis is on him, pinning his wrists above his head.

"See?" Dennis says sweetly. "Proper form matters."

"Does it?" Chris rocks his hips up, making Dennis's breath catch. "Because this feels like exactly where I wanted to be."

"You—" Dennis starts, but Chris is already moving. He twists, using his greater strength to flip their positions. His thigh slides between Dennis's legs as he captures both wrists in one hand.

"Now who's distracted?" Chris's dimples appear as he leans down. "What happened to all that proper form, princess?"

"Still better than you." Dennis arches up, catching Chris's mouth in a kiss that starts playful but quickly turns heated.

Chris releases his wrists to slide one hand under Dennis's shirt. "Rematch?" He breathes against Dennis's neck. "Winner takes all?"

"We both know—" Dennis gasps as Chris's teeth find that spot behind his ear. "—how that always ends."

"Yeah?" Chris's hand moves lower, teasing. "How's that?"

Instead of answering, Dennis hooks his leg around Chris's waist and flips them again. Chris lands with a grunt that turns into laughter as Dennis straddles him properly.

"Like this," Dennis says, grinding down. "With you underneath me."

"Can't argue with that." Chris's hands find his hips, steadying him. His eyes drift to the wall where three identical frames hang—each containing Dennis’s top three favorite photos of Chris—a very specific part of Chris. "Jesus, still can't believe you framed those."

"They're art." Dennis rolls his hips again, savoring Chris's quick inhale. "Very aesthe dick art."

"You're ridiculous." But Chris is pulling him down for another kiss, hands already working Dennis's shorts lower. "And I love you."

"Prove it," Dennis whispers against his mouth.

Chris does—right there on the mat, with afternoon sun streaming through the windows and their laughter echoing off the walls. Tomorrow they'll return to their new joint venture—Rhodes Construction's Sustainable Division partnered with Kim Industries' Architectural Innovation—to meetings and blueprints and changing the industry their own way.

But for now, it's just them.

Just this.

Just perfect.