“I don’t want to fuck this up,” Reese breathed against my mouth.

Was Reese nervous? About kissing me? Or was he talking about our fight? Yeah, he’d said some pretty shitty things to me, but I understood why. There’d be a time when we probably needed to talk about it in more detail, but all I wanted in this moment was to get us back to where we should have been if our date had ended the way I’d wanted it to.

But before I could say anything, Reese whispered, “Ben, I think… I think… um, can I take you up on your offer?”

I struggled to calm my sudden raging libido. “What offer?” Reese’s big hands were sliding up and down my back, but I really wanted to tell him to move them lower.

“Um, to be my um, practice… so I can do this better?” He punctuated his question with a kiss which still held a little bit of awkwardness to it… like he wasn’t sure what to do next.

Reese kissed like a dream, and I actually loved that he wasn’t an expert at it because it was a reminder that I was the first person able to have this level of intimacy with him. But I didn’t want it to be something that fed into his insecurity. I needed to figure out how to get him laughing again, to get us both laughing.

“What if we play a game?”

He pulled back so he could look me in the eye. “What kind of game?”

“A kissing game.”

The edges of Reese’s lips turned up. “Go on. I like the sound of this so far.”

I carefully maneuvered him until it was his back against the door. I began rubbing my body teasingly against his. “We’re going to think of all the different ways two people can kiss each other. Then we’re gonna try it out. The first person who can’t think of another kind of kiss to try, loses.”

“What does the winner get?” Reese’s eyes twinkled with the challenge.

I swallowed. “Um… bragging rights?”

“Maybe the loser has to take off an article of clothing,” Reese suggested with an eyebrow waggle. I could hear the uncertainty in his voice at that part, but I didn’t dwell on it. I’d just have to keep showing him how perfect I thought his body was, despite the things he saw only as flaws and not proof of what an incredible man he was.

“Deal,” I said. “Rock, paper, scissors to see who starts.”

I pulled a scissors that got crushed by his rock, and before I knew it, he was murmuring the word French before leaning in and kissing me until I was dizzy. His tongue hesitantly swept into my mouth and danced with my own. When he finally pulled away, I’d forgotten what we were doing.

“Huh?” I asked.

“Kisses,” he said with a wink. “Your turn.”

“Huh?” The blood throbbed in my dick.

“I picked French kiss. Now you pick.”

Blowjob. I want to kiss your cock.

I cleared my throat. “Peck.” I leaned in and gave him a quick, chaste buss before pulling back and looking down at the way my dick was pressing against the fly of my pants. When I looked back up, I noticed Reese looking at the same thing. “Your turn,” I croaked.

“Right. How about a butterfly kiss?”

Reese leaned in and fluttered his eyelashes against my cheek. I inhaled the scent of him so close to me and turned my head to rub my cheek against his before he could pull away. His skin was warm and the puffs of his breath were even warmer.

“Um,” I said, trying to get brain power back. Somehow the less experienced of the two of us had gotten all the control. “Spider-Man kiss.” I turned around and leaned my head back against his chest, pulling his lips down to kiss me while my head was upside down.

Reese laughed his way through the kiss until I was facing him again. I grinned. Laughing. My plan was working.

“Eskimo kiss,” Reese said softly, leaning in to brush our noses together. Our eyes stayed locked until we were too close to focus anymore. When he leaned back, I chased him and latched onto his neck with my teeth.

“Vampire kiss,” I said after pretending to suck his blood.

We went back and forth like that for a while, relaxing, becoming more comfortable with each other’s bodies, until it got hard to think of any more kinds of kisses.

Reese’s hands were on my waist, under my shirt, and the feel of his warm touch was driving me crazy. I couldn’t stop thinking about sucking him off. The very idea of it made me harder than I could ever remember being.

“Your turn,” Reese whispered against my ear after sucking on my earlobe. His chest heaved with his labored breathing against my own, and his fingers tightened on my skin. I shuddered and tried to focus on not coming in my pants.

“I want you so much,” I breathed. “Please, Reese.”

“What do you want?” He pulled back just enough to lean his forehead against mine. His eyes were even more intense than they’d been before. “Anything. Just tell me.”

I hesitated, unsure of his reaction to my suggestion.

Reese’s eyes searched mine, waiting.

“Can we get on the bed?”

I knew my question had the potential to put the brakes on what we were doing, but I refused to let his first time be on the hardwood floor of the bedroom on a pile of discarded blankets. It was high time he associated being in bed with something other than a hospital and the discomfort that had come with his long recovery.

Reese’s face softened. “Only if you’re there to distract me with naked body parts.”

My hands went straight to the hem of my shirt and ripped it over my head. I shot him a teasing glance as I reached behind me to grasp the bathroom doorknob.

“Last one naked is a rotten egg,” I said, before spinning around and racing out of the bathroom. My goal was to distract him from what was happening, to make it fun and light so he didn’t have to worry about what he was revealing.

Before I got to the big bed in our room, Reese caught me. His strong arm hooked around my front and pulled me back against him, causing me to yelp in surprise.

What surprised me more, though, was the feel of his warm, naked skin against my shoulder blades. I sank back into him without thinking, leaning my head on his shoulder and turning to nibble kisses into his neck. My heart wanted to whisper thanks to him for trusting me enough to take his shirt off with me, but I didn’t dare say anything like that out loud.

Reese’s big strong hands roamed confidently over my chest and down my stomach. The only telltale signs of his nerves were the rapid exhalations against my ear and the staccato rhythm of his heartbeat against my back.

I moved his hand farther down until he cupped my fly. My hips arched into his touch, which caused a low rumbling moan to escape his lips.

“Cheater,” he grumbled.

“How’s that cheating?” My words came out breathy and desperate.

“You’re going to make me rip off your clothes and then I’ll be the rotten egg.”

I snorted and turned around in his embrace, moving my hands down to his own fly while keeping my eyes locked on his. Reese needed to know my eyes weren’t interested in anything other than his reactions and his pleasure.

“Here,” I breathed. “I’ll make it even.”

We both scrambled for each other’s buttons and zippers, our mouths finding each other again without conscious thought. Hands slid inside boxer-briefs, and pants slid to the floor.

“Bed,” I groaned as one of his long fingers explored my crease. I stepped out of his grasp but kept my eyes on his while I stripped off the remaining scrap of fabric on my body.

Reese’s eyes darkened as they lowered to take in my naked body.

And that’s when his hands began to shake.