y. “Jesus.”
Hayes slid out carefully, tossed the condom in a trashcan by the bed, and then collapsed onto his back next to Ren. He stared up at the ceiling, his chest still rising and falling with rapid breaths. “Holy shit.”
Ren tucked his arm under his head and used what little energy he had left to roll onto his side. His body protested the movement but that used-up ache was its own reward. “I know, right? I’m a fantastic lay.”
Hayes turned his head to look at him and then broke out into a loud, belly-deep laugh. One that shook the bed. “You’re such a shit.”
Ren couldn’t keep the grin off his face. How long had it been since he’d heard that laugh? God, he’d forgotten what it sounded like.
Without thinking too hard about it, he leaned forward and kissed Hayes. Part of him was worried the guy would backtrack now that the immediate lust had been satisfied, but Hayes didn’t flinch or pull away.
He kissed Ren back and then smiled. “Hold that thought. I’ll be right back.”
Hayes climbed out of bed and walked away in all his naked glory. Muscles flexing, body still glistening with exertion. Ren watched him disappear into the bathroom and groaned. Damn. He’d better not wake up and this all be some wet dream. Because this felt too good to be real.
The shower came on and soon steam billowed out the crack in the door. More time passed than should’ve. He sighed, wondering if Hayes was in there having a silent freak-out.
But after another minute, Hayes poked his head into the bedroom. “Water’s warm. Shower’s big.”
Something tight in Ren’s chest eased. He rolled out of bed. “Awesome. We’re going to have to crash in your room tonight, by the way. The sheets are trashed.”
“I can’t help it if you have no self-control.”
Ren snorted. “Uh-huh. Let me shove my dick up your ass, fuck you just right, and see how long you last.”
Hayes’s mouth tilted into an enigmatic smirk. “You never know. Maybe one day that can be arranged.”
Ren’s eyebrows shot up. He’d never known Hayes to bottom for anyone, but the possibility made Ren’s mouth water. Ren stepped into the steamy bathroom and pulled open the shower door. “Don’t tease me, Fox. I have a long memory.”
Hayes stepped in behind him and wrapped his arm around him from behind, the hot spray of water dousing them. “And a long something else.”
They didn’t get out the shower until the water had gone cold.
—
Right before dawn they collapsed into Hayes’s bed, exhausted and spent. Hayes closed his eyes and yawned. “So we could’ve been doing this all along, huh?”
“Yep.”
“And the Complete Dumbass Award goes to . . .”
Ren pulled the blanket to his waist and tried to adjust to the unfamiliar pillows. “You’re not a dumbass. You just overthink things. Always have.”
“And you leap and hope for a net.”
“That hasn’t always been the best thing either.” Ren dropped back onto the pillow, giving up on finding the right position, and lay on his back. “I wish we could’ve figured this out a long time ago, though. Would’ve saved us a lot of grief. Plus, just think how much more fun all those threesomes would’ve been if you hadn’t been so afraid we’d bump ugly parts.”
Hayes frowned in his periphery.
Ren didn’t miss it. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Ren turned onto his side to face Hayes. “No way. That look has no place here tonight. What’s up?”
Hayes opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling. “I don’t know. I just got this image of you at The Ranch having that kind of threesome with other people. It wasn’t . . . a pleasant thought.”
Ren studied Hayes’s face. Was that jealousy? He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen that on Hayes. The sight both warmed and worried him. “If it makes you feel better, I haven’t done a threesome without you.”