When I wake, it is dark and disorienting until the heat at my back reminds me where I am.

Oh my god, I spanked him. And it was so fucking hot I could die right now a happy man.

I roll over to find Ted with his head propped on his arm like he’s been that way for a while.

“Have you been watching me sleep?”

“Yep.”

“Creeper.”

“Yep.”

I wrap my arms around his waist and wiggle closer. His body is so big and strong, it makes me feel safe. I wish I could stay cuddled up to him forever.

“That was a big sigh,” Ted says, one hand rubbing along my back while he buries his face in my hair.

“Are you sniffing me now?”

“Let’s just assume I’m going to be totally perving on you for the next little while and pretend like it isn’t happening. And you’re avoiding the question.”

I huff a breath onto his right pec, which also happens to be a perfect pillow. “It was a statement, not a question. But either way, I was thinking how much I didn’t want this to end.”

His hand moves to cup my cheek, causing me to rise up and look at him. His grey eyes should be cold, but they are so warm, just like the rest of him. God, the feelings this man stirs in me is nothing like I’ve felt with my previous crushes. “It doesn’t have to.”

My eyebrows draw together, not completely understanding what he means. He takes a thumb and rubs it across my forehead to smooth out the confusion.

“We have all weekend, for now. And I would not be averse to being your boyfriend, despite the fact that saying it like that makes me sound like a high-schooler. I would love to be able to do this all the time. Any time you want.”

I’m too touched and too content to do more than hum at his words. They fill me up like hot chocolate on a winter day. Ted tilts his head up so that he can give me a kiss. “But first, I think I need to feed you. We fucked through lunch and napped all the way to dinner. We can get all serious with talking and shit later.”

“I don’t wanna get out of bed.”

“I can bring it to you.”

I hold on tighter and say, “Don’t want you out of bed either.”

Ted laughs and cards his fingers through my hair, trying to tuck the longest ends behind my ear, though my hair won’t reach. “Well, I’m not asking Jonathan to bring us food. I already warned him to stay out all night.”

“You did?” I think back to this morning, when Jonathan left to go study. “But I hadn’t even won yet. How did you know ...” My mouth drops open and I smack my palm against his chest, the soft hair only briefly distracting me from my righteous indignation. “You threw the games?”

Ted at least has the decency to look sheepish. “Yeah. Sorry, but after having your feet massage my dick for a half hour, I obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. Are you mad? After all, I did promise.”

I cluck my tongue in an excellent imitation of my mother. “I’m not mad about that. I’m mad that my Scrabble skills are now in question, knowing that you threw the game. I want a rematch.”

“A naked rematch?” Ted asks. “I’ll cook us some dinner while you set up the game at the kitchen table.”

I’m still mentally debating whether I want to leave the soft sheets and warm bed for food when my stomach growls. “Fine.”

Ted presses a small kiss to my lips, then hops up and finds himself a pair of flannel boxers.

“Don’t think I have anything that will fit you,” he says as he scrubs at his short hair. “Sorry.”

“You don’t look sorry.”

He puts a pot of water on to boil while I retrieve my underwear from the kitchen table, then ask him where the cleaner is. After pouting over my now-covered butt, he points me in the right direction, and I clean off the table, then set it for two. I search for the Scrabble box, thinking I remembered seeing the cabinet where he pulled out his games.

“Wait, what is this?” I pull out a princess game and hold it up where he can see it.

“I have nieces.”

“Uh huh. Wouldn’t they be around Jonathan’s age? A little too old to play Prettiest Princess?”

Ted stops in the middle of chopping a fresh tomato and points the knife in my direction.

“They’re teenagers now. And you are never too old to play Prettiest Princess.”

“Is that right?” I move the box to the kitchen table, Scrabble completely forgotten. “Looks like it’s going to be naked Prettiest Princess for our evening entertainment instead of naked Scrabble, then. Need any help with dinner?”

Sweeping the tomatoes, along with mushrooms and some fresh spices plucked from jars on his kitchen windowsill, into another pot on the stove, Ted waves off my offer of help. Instead, I pull out the game board and set out the playing pieces, miniature crowns in pastel colors, with a treasure chest set to the side.

“Which color do you want to be?” I ask Ted, holding up the crowns.

“I’ve always thought pink goes well with my coloring,” he says, so I place a pink and a baby blue crown on the board and put the others back in the box.

Meanwhile, Ted sets two plates of spaghetti with homemade sauce onto the table. It smells delicious, and my stomach growls once again.

Ted grabs two beers from the fridge and takes his place on the opposite side of the table. I’m too entranced with the food to realize that he has picked up the die, which has colored blocks instead of dots, and started to play. It isn’t until he places a pink plastic necklace around his neck that I catch up.

“It does. Match your skin tone, that is. And the spaghetti is delicious.”

Ted nods. “Fresh herbs make all the difference.”

I roll the die, and travel to a square that instructs me to put on a bracelet. I dig through the treasure chest until I find the blue bracelet and slip it around my wrist.

“Earlier you said that you were in a decade-long relationship?” I do want to know, yet I don’t want to ruin the mood. But anything to explain why a gorgeous and sweet man like Ted is still single would be helpful. It’s the final piece of the puzzle that I’ve been missing.

Ted takes another bite of dinner and rolls the die before speaking. “Dylan and I were together in high school. We started out as best friends in junior high. We did everything together. We worked at the skating rink together. We played at the arcade. And over time, it just progressed to more.”

“Hold up. You worked at a skating rink?” I hate to interrupt, but this is vital information.

Ted laughs. “I’ve got pro skills. I’m hoping this bumps up your opinion of me. I know every guy wants a boyfriend who can really, truly roller-skate.” His face sobers, though, when he continues his story. “We got caught by his parents senior year, and both sets kicked us out. My nana took us in. This is her house.”

He pauses to search the treasure chest for a pink clip-on earring, then continues.

“My parents were assholes, but my nana was amazing. Dylan and I eventually got jobs and moved out on our own, but we stayed close by. She made sure that we never felt like we lacked for family, whether it was celebrating birthdays and holidays, or just needing some home cooking every once in a while.”

He hands the die to me, and I realize I’ve been staring. The sting over hearing how his parents treated him is soothed by the kind words about his grandmother. I’m so glad he had someone be there for him, but Ted deserves so much more than that. I take my turn and put on a blue necklace while he continues his story.

“When she died, she left me everything. I wanted to use the money to go back to school and start my own business. Dylan got pissed because I wouldn’t buy a sports car or spend the money on some fancy vacation. I realized we wanted very different things out of life, and I wanted to make my nana proud. We were together for twelve years, and it ended, wow, I guess about ten years ago. I’ve been so focused on the store that I really haven’t had the time or the energy to try again. Until now.”

Ted rolls the die and comes to a square that makes him remove a piece of jewelry. He takes off his earring with a curse. I realize my spaghetti is getting cold and take a big bite, making sauce splatter across my face. After I wipe it with a napkin, I take my turn and put on a blue earring. I had thought this game would be funny, but with the serious conversation, I’m not even paying attention.

Ted reaches across the table and I follow his finger to my chest, below my plastic necklace, where he swipes up a splatter of sauce that I missed. He licks the sauce off his finger, and I think I stop breathing.

After what feels like hours, but is probably mere seconds, Ted scoops up the die and tosses it to the table. “New deal,” he says. “I win, then I get to have my way with my boyfriend. You win …”

He pauses to let me fill in the blank, his eyes filled with nerves that I’m going to counter his boyfriend offer with something less perfect. “You have to model your chaps for your boyfriend,” I say.

We play Prettiest Princess like the fate of the world rests on the outcome. I knew Ted was competitive, but I never knew dressing up like a princess could be so cutthroat. Ted has his necklace, bracelet, and both earrings on. He’s just missing the final crown to win. I’m lacking one earring, but I have the crown unless he manages to take it from me. Plates of spaghetti have been pushed aside, forgotten as we roll the die in quick succession, hoping for the squares we each need to win the game.

When Ted’s game piece finally hits the crown square, Ted lets out a whoop, sets the plastic jeweled crown onto his head, and kicks back from the table.

“If your leather friends could see you now–oh!” My teasing is interrupted when I’m lifted off my chair by my thighs and thrown over his shoulder. My ass points to the sky, and he smacks it once in response to my startled yelp.

“My reward,” he says without any change in his breathing, as if carrying me is the easiest thing he’s done all day, “Is that you don’t get to come until I say so. No touching either.”

“Why is your reward my punishment?” I whine.

He tosses me onto the bed, and I embarrassingly enough bounce like a skipping stone. He pushes my hands up under my head. “Leave these here,” he says, the tilting of the princess crown the only evidence that he has had any exertion at all.

He nips at one earlobe, pulling off the clip-on earring with his teeth, and spitting it out to the side of the bed. His earrings still dangle from his ears, and they tickle my neck as he kisses and nips his way down my throat.

“I love your freckles,” he says as he plays connect-the-dots with his tongue. “I think I found a bunny below your collarbone. I should get a marker and show you.” He makes a show of getting up to leave, so I wrap my legs around his waist to keep him here. The collision of our lower halves together sends sparks radiating from my cock and I have to fight to keep from rubbing against him even more.

He reaches over to his nightstand and returns with a bottle of lube, which he sets aside as if he didn’t just set every single cell in my brain on high alert. I can practically hear the voice in my head saying, “Warning. Warning. This is not a drill. Kieran, you are about to get fucked. I repeat, you are about to get fucked.”

Ted’s mouth returns to mine, as if he instinctively realizes that panic has set in and I need to be kissed senseless, and quickly.

His gentle hands caress my body in time with the strokes of tongue and soon I’m lost in the sensations. He pulls my leg up and around his waist, and his kissing has worked its magic. I don’t even flinch when his slick fingers circle my tight pucker. In fact, he must have been warming the lube or something, because the gentle motion actually relaxes me even further into bliss.

He kisses his way down my torso, the necklace lightly brushing my skin along the way, until he gets within cock range. My dick jumps up to greet him, which he rudely ignores. As he presses the tip of his finger into my hole, he bites down on my jutting hip bone, the dueling sensations causing me to cry out in shock and pleasure. He flattens his tongue against the bite but keeps pressing his finger farther inside. His tongue licks the path between hip and groin, but bypasses my dick, again, and travels to the other hip.

“Ted,” I growl, hoping maybe if I speak his language he’ll understand.

“I’m sorry, who’s the prettiest princess? That’s right, me. Which means punishments for you.”

His finger leaves my hole but returns seconds later with more slick and a friend. Both fingers burn a little when they enter, but as he stretches them out, it starts to feel amazing. And when they brush against that spot inside, a strangled cry breaks free.

“Fuck, Ted!”

“Mmm, I think you might be the prettiest princess after all. Damn, Kieran, just look at you.”

I can’t because I’m helpless to do anything but writhe on the fingers thrusting deep inside me. I can hear the crinkle of a wrapper, and the click of the lube bottle again, but my eyes are shut tight. Not because I don’t want to look, but because the feelings are so overwhelming. But of course, Ted fights me even on that.

“Open your eyes, Kieran,” he says as he removes his fingers and his tip presses against my entrance. “I need to make sure you’re okay.”

His face is inches from mine, and the concern in his lovely eyes is my undoing. Tears leak out of the corners, ratcheting up his concern another level. “Good. Don’t stop. Please.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Ted starts to pull back and I break the rules and remove my hands to grab him and keep him in place. The thought that he might back out now is scarier than anything else.

“It’s good. So good. Good tears. Don’t stop.”

Ted leans down to kiss away the tears at the corners of each eye, pushing at my hole just a little more each time. When he finally breaches the outer ring of muscle, his slick hand moves to my cock, which surprisingly hasn’t flagged at all. Having him inside doesn’t feel bad. Just so intense. Every tiny movement feels overwhelming. I didn’t know I could feel this much. My hands claw into his back, and I’m certain there will be marks left behind.

His slow movements begin to pick up, matching the speed of his hand, and soon I can feel his balls smacking my ass in an even rhythm.

“Are you in?”

“I’m all the way in you, Kieran, and it looks beautiful.”

“Oh god! I’m going to–”

“Come,” he says.

It’s too much and I’m so full, and then his words are so perfect. His hand doesn’t stop, and soon my seed is dripping from his fingers and painting my stomach.

He groans at the sight, and his thrusts get faster and harder and almost too much to take before his rhythm falters and he presses hard against me with an inhuman rumble. I’ve recovered enough to watch him as he comes deep inside me. The crown is gone, but he’s still decked in pink plastic jewelry as he shivers and grunts out the last remaining moments of his orgasm.

His eyes, that were squeezed tight during his release, slowly open and lock with mine. I’ve never been in a relationship before. I’ve never been in love before, so I don’t know what it looks like. But I can’t imagine anything looking better than this.