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“It wasn’t, though. I wasn’t, Josh. I was just too stupid to notice. My family was broke, and as long as I could play football, I had a shot.”

“But you came back. After all these years, you got hurt and came home. We spent all this time and then I got to know you, and now… I think I’m an asshole. For treating you like that for so long. I was an asshole to you all this time.”

“Why? No. Hey… look at me. Because you had feelings?”

Josh lifted his damp face to look directly into Tyler’s eyes. He frowned and shook his head “You’re better. You’re so much better than I knew. And funnier, sexier, smarter, kinder. I feel like a complete jerk.”

Tyler ran a hand up his neck and into his soft hair. “Not even a little.” He tenderly cupped the back of Josh’s head.

“I don’t want to freak you out or scare you away, but I had to tell you, and I did not have the nerve until you kissed me like that, like you meant it.”

“Then I better kiss you again, sweet boy. A whole bunch of times.”

Josh smiled at that, and Tyler bent down and kissed his chuckle—slow, sliding kisses until Josh stopped crying against his cheeks and Tyler cradled him like something fragile.

“Shhh. Now listen. You are….” Tyler pressed his lips to Josh’s forehead. “The most wonderful person I’ve ever met in my life, Joshua Ayres. A blessing. And if you want to stalk me, harass me, or molest me in any way, you have my absolute permission to use me as much as you’re able. Anything. I want every filthy bit of it. Your absolute worst. You hear me?” He kissed Josh’s lips and squeezed him hard. “I want it bad.”

“Ugh. Awful.” Josh hiccupped and laugh-cried at that, wiping his smiling face. “Jeez.”

He kissed the side of Josh’s head. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s too much. I don’t know where to put everything you’re doing to me.”

“Right here, man. You give it all to me. I can take it.” Tyler flexed his arms and made a dumb face. “I wish you’d said something. All that time.”

“I couldn’t back then. And now, I was terrified of wrecking this… whatever has happened between us since you came back, if I screwed up,” Josh confessed, voice shaking. “Impossible. I thought you’d hate me.”

“Good luck with that.”

Josh looked him in the eye. “Thanks for understanding.”

“We’re a pair, huh?” Limbs still tangled, he touched Josh’s mouth, his damp lips swollen with kisses.

Josh tipped his head back. “You think?”

“And plenty possible. Your heart’s beating so fast.” Tyler pressed a hand there and peered at Josh a moment. “You realize that we’re both so afraid of messing this up… that we almost messed this up.”

Josh frowned. “This is what we get for tiptoeing around each other second-guessing everything. Pretty dumb.”

“Maybe. I would say pretty.” He kissed Josh. “And smart. Seems like we got where we needed to when it was time.”

Josh smiled at that. “If you say so. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been quietly going out of my gourd.”

“The past couple weeks have got me rethinking everything I do, all I am.” Tyler pressed a hand against Josh’s heart, feeling the hungry thump of it. “Truth is, I want you more than anything, Joshua Ayres. And I’m going to work like hell to deserve anything you’re willing to let me have.”

Tyler kissed him again and then licked down the line of his throat, gnawing on the muscle while Josh whimpered and squirmed against him.

“Hang on, Ty. Hold up.”

But Tyler sucked harder at the salty flesh, stealing the sweet sounds from Josh like a robber. He pinched Josh’s stiff nipples through the shirt, and delicious sweat ran down his face and chest. Tyler groaned in pleasure as Josh started to quake, twitch, and pant.

“Whoa. Easy. Eeeasy, fella.” Josh pushed back again and laughed. “You’re going to make me embarrass myself more. Jesus.” He reached down and adjusted the stiff ridge behind his zipper. “Gimme a sec or I’m going to lose it.”

“We could take this inside.”

Josh glanced at the house. “We could.”

Tyler leaned back against the tree now, bracing himself against it, dying to take his dick out right here. “I mean, we’d have to keep quiet, but I’m willing if you are. Nothing crazy. We’re consenting adults.”