Sometime between the awkward tour of his apartment and the dance floor at a wedding in Tahiti, his fake relationship with Cole had brewed a very real attraction. He wasn’t supposed to want Cole the way he needed him. The architecture of his face shouldn’t have been captivating. Cole’s scent shouldn’t have been addicting. Somehow it was. Somehow every part of Rhett wanted to know every part of Cole.

The lie he’d been telling himself had slowly unraveled and the kiss before the wedding had crushed it completely. Cole’s words tugged at Rhett’s cock.

“Then don’t.”

A green light. Permission to want. Permission to stop lying to himself, to both of them. Rhett crashed their mouths together again, tasting Cole, breathing him in, listening to the broken moan that stuttered out of himself as he dragged their mouths apart.

Rhett laced their fingers together and prayed that Cole wouldn’t change his mind before they got back to their room. He feared that this moment, this perfect moment, was a bubble, and that any time wasted would pop it. He might only have a finite number of minutes, and if he did, he wanted to spend them in Cole’s arms—tasting his skin, drowning in his heady gaze.

He tugged Cole toward the exit and past the crew who had come to clean up. Rhett slowed down a little when they hit the beach. It wasn’t far to their room and the sun had set hours ago. The moon was bright and full and Rhett could still hear “Unforgettable” playing on loop in his mind.

The moment between them swelled when they walked into their room. They hadn’t spoken since the dance floor and Rhett wasn’t sure how much was left to say. He let Cole pull him close. He shuddered when Cole kissed him below his ear, instinctively finding the spot that made Rhett weak in the knees.

He shoved his fingers in Cole’s hair, loving that it was as soft as he imagined it to be, and pulled Cole’s mouth to his. Kissing Cole had become his new favorite thing. His mouth was hot and sweet and currently tasted like champagne, but better. He let his hands slide down Cole’s chest. First tugging the loose tie off him and tossing it aside, then finding the buttons and continuing to undo them, one by one, as Cole moaned in his mouth and did his own explorations of Rhett’s body with his hands.

Cole tugged Rhett’s shirt free of his pants while Rhett shoved Cole’s shirt off his shoulders.

“Naked,” Rhett groaned, breaking the kiss and reaching for the button on Cole’s pants. “We need to be way more naked.”

Cole stole a kiss, his eyes fluttering closed, the moment tender on Rhett’s lips and warm in his heart. Then Cole pulled away and let Rhett undo his pants while he toed out of his shoes. They undressed in a flurry of activity. Cole shoving his pants down and pulling them off while Rhett hurried to unbutton his shirt as he kicked his shoes off.

Rhett paused when they were fully naked to take in the sight of Cole bathed in moonlight, his cock hard, standing proud against his stomach. His swollen lips were parted, and he breathed Rhett’s name in a reverent sort of way that made Rhett need to kiss him again.

He pulled Cole close to him, their cocks bumping together between their bodies. He wrapped his arms around Cole and kissed him, kissed him with every ounce of passion he felt for him. He turned Cole so his back was to the bed.

Their descent to the mattress was slow, a dance of limbs and balance. Their landing was soft and Rhett lay on top, Cole’s hands kneading the meat of his ass. Rhett broke away from Cole’s mouth and kissed his jaw, his neck, his clavicle, peppering soft kisses up the slope.

“Rhett. Fuck,” Cole said when Rhett flicked a nipple with his tongue.

“Mmhm,” Rhett agreed as he moved down the bed, down Cole, doing his best to kiss every inch of skin between his mouth and his cock. He smoothed his hands down Cole’s body and gazed up at him. Cole had propped himself up on his elbows to watch Rhett.

He leaned forward. Cole’s cock twitched and Rhett smiled, then stuck his tongue out and licked a long, wet line from root to tip, drawing a broken curse out of Cole’s mouth as he flopped back onto the bed. He threw his arm over his face, then seemingly thought better of it because he pulled it away and stared down at Rhett again.

He hadn’t let himself imagine having Cole like this, but now that the moment was here, Rhett wouldn’t waste it. He took the head of Cole’s cock in his mouth, swirled his tongue around it, then took more into his mouth. Cole’s hand sank into Rhett’s hair, holding firmly, but not tight. A reminder that he was there, that he needed this as much as Rhett did. That he wanted it with the same sort of single-minded intensity.

Cole tasted like skin, like skin and salt and Cole. Like something he could taste every day and never get tired of. Rhett took him deeper, deeper again, until his nose was pressed into his thatch of dark pubic hair and Cole was swearing, arching off the bed.

Rhett pulled off; needing air, he wrapped his hand around Cole’s cock and laved his balls with his tongue. Taking one gently into his mouth, he rolled his tongue around it.

“Holy fuck, Rhett.” Cole’s voice raised in pitch slightly. “Oh, my God,” he proclaimed when Rhett shoved his legs apart, giving him better access to all of Cole.

Rhett smiled and kissed the crease of Cole’s thigh. Once. Twice. He looked up at Cole when he kissed him a third time, mapping the contours of Cole’s face. Memorizing the angles of his body, the feel of his skin, everything he never wanted to forget.

“Kiss me.” Cole licked his lips. “Please.”

Rhett climbed up the bed, straddling him. He grabbed his face and ghosted his lips across Cole’s. “Anything,” Rhett promised before kissing him. “I could lie here all night and do nothing but kiss you,” he admitted. He wanted to, but he wouldn’t and they both knew it.

He kissed Cole again, moaning into his mouth, writhing his hips, pushing their erections together, grinding, sliding, needing friction and heat. Needing Cole.

“I want you,” he breathed against Cole’s neck, enjoying the way Cole kissed at his neck, half tender, half ferocious with nips and bites mixed in with the softest of caresses.

“You have me.” Cole slammed their mouths together. Their teeth clacked, making the moment theirs in an imperfect sort of way.

Rhett scrambled off the bed and dug in his suitcase, getting the condoms and the lube he’d brought. Just in case. Maybe he’d always known this would happen. Maybe he’d hoped it right from the beginning. He returned to Cole, who looked at the supplies, but stayed silent despite his obvious amusement.

“Can I?” Rhett asked, dropping the condoms on the bed, but keeping the lube.

“Please,” Cole whispered.

Rhett squeezed lube on a couple of his fingers and Cole spread his legs, allowing Rhett to reach between them and press his slick fingers against his ass. He circled the rim, his breath trembling, his body vibrating with need and fear. With desire and terror. He needed Cole so bad every bone in his body ached with it, and when this was over, how would anyone else compare?

Rhett didn’t care. He made himself not care. He wanted to know what it was like. To touch him, to hold him. To kiss him and want him without restraint. Without anything hanging over their head. No grandparents looming, no family to put on a show for. This moment was theirs. No matter what happened down the road, Rhett wanted this moment.

He eased his fingers inside Cole slowly, one at first, then two, moving in and out, loosening him up. Cole pressed his eyes shut, held fistfuls of blanket and panted, moving to fuck himself on Rhett’s fingers.

“More.”

Rhett pulled his fingers out of Cole and grabbed a condom. He unrolled it down his cock, coated it with lube, then moved into position. With Cole’s legs around his waist, Rhett pressed into him, moving slowly, savoring the way Cole’s body opened to accommodate him.

Rhett’s entire body shook and he kissed Cole, burying himself as deep into him as he could, his hips gliding and snapping, thrusting himself into Cole as his hands dug into Rhett’s back. Fingers biting his skin, legs constricting around him, heels digging into Rhett’s ass.

He pulled back and looked at Cole, held his gaze and slowed his pace, his own orgasm nearing too soon. He slowed until the heat left his spine, until the tug in his balls became less insistent.

“Cole,” Rhett started speaking before he was entirely sure of what he was going to say. He gripped Cole’s shoulders and plunged deeper, slamming into him as hard as he could. He dropped his head and squeezed his eyes shut and did it again. Cole clung to him, called out for him.

“Rhett, fuck. Rhett. Holy shit.”

“God, you feel so good,” Rhett admitted. “Fuck, you feel amazing, babe. Oh, my God.”

“Rhett. Let me fuck you. Please, Rhett.” Cole arched his back, his fingers digging into Rhett’s sides. “Want to feel you, too.”

Rhett stilled, then draped himself over Cole, pressing their chests together, he grabbed Cole’s face and kissed him, long and deep, taking his time, luxuriating in the moment, drawing every kiss out as long as he could to make up for all the times he’d wanted to kiss Cole and didn’t. Couldn’t. All the times since the afternoon at the vineyard when he’d been too drunk to stop himself and just drunk enough to see what an amazing person Cole was.

Rhett slid out of Cole, but kept kissing him. Cole’s arms wrapped around Rhett and in a blur of movement, Rhett was suddenly on the bottom, staring up at Cole with his heart in his chest, feeling naked beyond having no clothes.

“Rhett,” Cole said.

“Anything,” Rhett answered. Tonight, and maybe for longer, the answer to whatever Cole wanted from him would be anything.

He moaned when Cole reached down and rolled the condom off of his cock and tossed it aside. He wrapped a hand around Rhett’s dick and the look he gave him made him melt.

“Anything is a dangerous word.”

Rhett wanted to respond, but couldn’t because no matter the danger, no matter the potential outcome, he wanted this. And he wanted this more than he feared it.

“Anything,” he repeated, imploring Cole to believe him.