They were making out before Bryant even saw the finished product. When Vaughn wiped him down, washing away the ink and blood with green soap, Vaughn’s dick made him painfully aware of how long he’d been hard.

Hours.

Hell, months.

When Bryant had been gone, no one else would do. He wasn’t like other guys, and that’s exactly why Vaughn loved him so damn much. He was quiet. Nerdy and reserved. An all-around good person who would go out of his way to help anyone in need…even a stranger.

Sure, he liked to fuck, but he never once had made Vaughn feel as if that was the only reason they were together. He’d waited forever, and chosen Vaughn—only Vaughn—to share that intimacy with.

How could he not want to keep it that way?

Vaughn had tried to hook up again after Bryant. A few weeks after that disaster in Sterling’s cottage, he’d picked up his old dating app and browsed through the flood of private messages he’d accumulated. Funny enough, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone on there before then.

Not one of the many lascivious offers had appealed to him, though.

He’d deleted the thing off his phone entirely.

Bryant had changed him, just as permanently as Vaughn had just marked the other man. Hook-ups weren’t good enough anymore, not when he knew what it was like to make love to someone he cared about. Someone he admired, and vowed to protect.

Someone he loved.

There. He’d admitted it, to himself at least.

Vaughn tore his mouth from Bryant’s long enough to pocket a bottle of the coconut oil some of his clients preferred for aftercare, then grab Bryant’s hand. He dragged the guy toward his office. “We can’t fuck in the shop, but I’m not going to make it upstairs. My office. Now.”

“On your desk?” Bryant asked, sounding more turned on than scandalized.

“No better way to make paying bills more fun. Now every time I’m working, I’ll think of you. Of this night.” Vaughn pressed Bryant against the wall, wincing slightly when his boyfriend’s shoulders hit the surface harder than he’d intended. It was going to be nearly impossible to control himself. But he had to. The last thing he wanted was to frighten Bryant.

He was shocked when, instead of cringing, Bryant moaned.

“You like that?”

“Yeah.” He nodded.

“You’re not afraid?” He leaned in closer, careful to avoid putting too much pressure on Bryant’s abraded skin.

“Never with you.” He smiled that shy, lopsided smile Vaughn adored and said, “In fact, I kind of liked it. I want to be…more adventurous. Is that okay?”

It was the best compliment Vaughn had ever been given. One he swore he would always make sure he deserved. “Hell yes. Explore away.”

“In that case…” Bryant eyed him as if he were one of those world-renowned Compass Ranch steaks and he hadn’t eaten in months. “I was wondering—”

“What?” Vaughn ran his hands down Bryant’s abdomen, toward his cock, which had nearly poked a hole in his jeans by then.

“Can I try fucking you?” Bryant’s cheeks grew red, but he didn’t look away.

Vaughn blinked up at Bryant. It wasn’t very often that he was stunned like that.

“Never mind. I certainly would never force someone to do something they aren’t into. What we’ve shared already was so much more than I hoped for. I can be happy with that. Ecstatic, really. If it’s not your thing…”

Vaughn shifted, spinning so that his back was to the wall and Bryant loomed over him. “It hasn’t been my thing before, but with you…who knows? Yeah, of course you can. Just…take it easy on me. It’s probably been seven or eight years since I let someone do me.”

Bryant growled low in his throat as he dipped his head and recaptured Vaughn’s mouth. This time he took control, plunging his tongue into Vaughn’s mouth as he pressed one thigh between Vaughn’s. He was a natural. An even partner for Vaughn, just like he’d always known Bryant would be.

Fuck yes. This was what he’d been waiting for.

Vaughn gave himself over to the moment, letting Bryant undress himself before getting rid of Vaughn’s clothes. He tried to stand still when Bryant rained kisses all over his body and toyed with his cock, bringing him nearly to the edge of coming before licking his lips and backing off.

“Should I make you come before I fuck you?” he asked.

“Nah, I’d rather be horny when you do,” Vaughn said. “You and that big cock of yours are going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it.”

Bryant nodded. “I’ll take care of you. I swear.”

Vaughn smiled and kissed Bryant lightly. “I know you will.”

Then everything changed. Bryant’s eyes turned stormy. He put his hand on Vaughn’s lower back and ushered him to his desk. With a solid shove between his shoulder blades, Bryant bent Vaughn in half over his own desk and cupped the cheeks of his ass in his palm.

He squeezed them, massaged them, then finally spread them.

Vaughn’s forehead pressed to the pile of paperwork he hadn’t felt like finishing yesterday, wondering how he’d gotten here and how his entire life had changed in a matter of hours. Then he groaned as Bryant’s fingers reached down to cup his balls.

Vaughn disclosed the bottle of oil in his pocket to Bryant, and begged him to be generous with it. Which he was. He coated his hands and Vaughn’s ass. Then both of their cocks and balls, too.

Soon they were slipping and sliding against each other, their bodies primed for what was about to happen. Vaughn’s heart was ready, too.

Bryant rubbed Vaughn’s hole, then pressed a single digit into his body to start. That alone was enough to make his cock tick. Precome dribbled from the head of his dick down the side of his desk. It didn’t get any less intense when Bryant worked a second and third finger into him, pumping slowly as he stretched Vaughn’s ass.

Vaughn closed his eyes and clung to his desk. The sensations coursing through him were overwhelming, making him lost to rapture. Bryant’s fingers disappeared, but only for a moment. And then there was something else in their place. Something blunt, hot, and thick.

Bryant’s cock.

“Fuck me!” he yelled, needing to be joined once more with this man. It had been far too long that they’d been apart.

The strangled groan Bryant made as he sank into Vaughn’s ass for the first time was all the reward Vaughn needed. Until he realized the pain he’d anticipated never materialized. And neither did the tension in his body that kept him from enjoying the act. With Bryant in charge of their love making, he learned just how good it could feel to have a man spreading him, invading the most private parts of him, sliding inside. “Ah, fuck. Bryant.”

“Am I hurting you?” Bryant panted as he paused.

“No. Son of a bitch, don’t quit now.” Vaughn reached behind him, hooking his palm around the back of Bryant’s thigh and using his grip to draw the other man closer.

Bryant started slow and careful before working up to a steady pace. He alternated long, deep strokes with short jabs that unerringly found Vaughn’s prostate. Figured Bryant would be a natural. He’d probably studied Vaughn’s technique subconsciously every time they’d fucked.

Vaughn’s wonder grew as rapture built inside him, making him realize just how much he’d been missing out on by forsaking this pleasure. Then again, maybe it was only this fantastic because of who he was doing it with.

When Bryant had asked to fuck him, he’d been prepared to take it. To enjoy bringing Bryant pleasure and then to find his own after. Never had he thought it could be like this. That he could get off on being ridden when he never had before.

Another few strokes and—

“Bryant!” Vaughn cursed, wondering what the fuck had stopped the man right then. He lifted his head and saw their reflection in the mirrored window. Apparently just as Bryant himself had, too.

“Is that really us? I mean…me?” Bryant tipped his head, staring at the fierce, tattooed man who had his boyfriend pinned to his desk and was fucking the shit out of him in his workplace.

“Hell yes, it is.” Vaughn rocked backward, encouraging Bryant to start moving again. He did, but with more control this time, a fluid grace neither of them had known he possessed. Damn, it felt good. Incredible, really. “Look at you. See what I see. Have always seen.”

“I’m him.” Bryant roared, then clasped his hands around Vaughn’s waist. He anchored Vaughn as he began to fuck harder, deeper. Vaughn groaned when his balls swung below him, tapping the side of his desk. His cock was pointed downward against the cool metal. That didn’t keep him from being every bit as hard as steel, though.

He shuffled backward just enough to jam his hand between the desk and his thighs, then fisted his cock. “Shit, yes. Fuck me. Bryant.”

“Jerk your cock for me, Vaughn,” Bryant snarled in his ear. “Show me how much you like this side of me. A side that’s only for you. Always for you.”

Son of a bitch. The guy was going to give him a heart attack. Vaughn rubbed himself faster, squeezing harder, and still it wasn’t enough. The pressure of Bryant’s growing cock inside him, caressing him from within, and the storm of passion raging around them couldn’t last forever.

And still, Bryant fucked.

Vaughn tried his best to keep up, but after a while all he could do was cling to the desk with one hand and try to grant himself some relief with the other. When Bryant finally stiffened behind him, rammed deep, then held still, Vaughn knew this was it. Bryant was about to flood his ass with hot, silky come.

He was about to unleash himself inside a man for the first time, and he’d chosen Vaughn to give it to. The thought alone was enough to push him over the edge.

He fucked into his fist as his balls pulled up tight to his core. While Bryant tipped over the line from anticipation to detonation, Vaughn shot his own load onto the floor between their feet in time to his boyfriend’s orgasmic spasms.

They climaxed simultaneously.

Shouted their euphoria to each other as they did it.

Vaughn’s ass clenched around Bryant, drawing out his lover’s pleasure. And knowing the other man was loving every moment of his release only enhanced Vaughn’s ecstasy. He came until he was sure he’d die of dehydration.

Bryant sagged, resting on Vaughn’s back as he kissed Vaughn’s neck and ran his fingers over Vaughn’s scalp. They were sweaty, exhausted, and so damn relieved to have found each other again that Vaughn almost didn’t want to move.

Until he remembered that Bryant’s tattoo wasn’t even bandaged yet.

Bryant’s dick slipped from his ass as Vaughn pushed straight once more. His legs trembled as he cleaned first Bryant, making sure to sanitize and cover his skin properly, and then himself before locking up the shop. They were quiet—content to share a hushed intimacy—until they climbed into bed, legs scissored and arms wrapped around each other.

“I’m so glad you’re back.” Vaughn whispered into the darkness, glad Bryant couldn’t see the extra shine in his eyes.

“I’m so glad you’ll have me.” Bryant hugged him tight.

They fell asleep entwined with each other, and Vaughn was committed to making sure they never spent another night apart.