TEN

 

A cup of coffee, and maybe a bagel, was usually all that Brad had time for in the mornings. All that he took time for. So it felt weird to be cooking, though he knew how. He’d often cooked for the other kids in Julie’s group home. She had taught him the skill, and now, well, he was glad to have it.

It wasn’t like he wanted to impress Aaron or anything. It was just polite to offer someone breakfast after the incredible night, and morning, that they’d had together. It had been nothing short of glorious, the best sex that Brad had ever had, and he figured that some breakfast was the least that he could do.

So he cooked, and when Aaron came in, he turned to smile at him and push a cup of coffee into his hands. For some reason, though, there was this incredibly beautiful, though small and restrained, of course, smile on the other man’s face.

“Did you know,” Aaron commented, as he cupped the coffee in his hands as though soaking up the heat, “That you hum while you cook?”

Instantly, Brad was on the defensive, looking at Aaron, searching his eyes for any trace of mockery. He saw none. Amusement, yes, and maybe something else, something warm, but definitely no mockery.

“No,” Brad admitted, finally deciding to take the comment at face value. “I didn’t know that. Drink your coffee and sit. Breakfast is in about five minutes.”

Aaron did as he was told, and Brad was glad to turn back to the eggs, to stare down into them and to try to figure out how he had gotten to this place. It was not a place he had ever been willing to go before, so how did Aaron manage to get him thinking about things that should have been impossible?

Especially since they worked together. The media would have a field day if they found out about that, but maybe that wasn’t the biggest concern. Lara was the biggest concern because Brad had to avoid even the slightest hint of impropriety to justify her decision to hire him for this.

Soon enough, they were comfortably and cozily seated together at the table, big plates of food in front of them, and Brad was far too aware of how good it felt. Was this why people hooked up? Maybe even got married? It felt good. It felt like belonging, and his condo had never felt as much like a home to him as it did with Aaron sitting at his table.

“I should go,” Aaron said, perhaps feeling the same things that Brad did, only obviously uncomfortable with it. It was hard to get a fix on this man sometimes. Mostly, he understood Aaron and thought that they actually had a fair bit in common, but every so often it was like he was completely in the dark. And he was usually so good at reading people, too.

“Okay,” Brad agreed because he wasn’t going to try to force someone to stay who didn’t want to. That wasn’t his style at all. Besides, it wasn’t like it mattered to him whether Aaron was there or not, right?

Wrong. So, so very wrong.

“I almost forgot,” Aaron realized, as he rose to his feet and put his dishes into the little single person dishwasher that Brad had. Aaron was tidy, too. Just one more damn thing that they had in common. “The contract. I came here to sign it.”

Shit. The contract. Brad had forgotten all about it, and when was the last time that he had managed to do that? Work was everything to him, and Aaron was, he had to remember, potentially his ticket to being a big deal. He had to stay focused, not something that was usually a problem for him.

If only he could get over this ridiculous puppy love. Obsession. Whatever. It was totally unlike him.

“I haven’t completely given up on getting you to sign the other contract,” Brad told him openly. Honesty seemed to him to be something that Aaron would respect, especially with the stuff that Lester had pulled on the band. “So tell you what. I usually spend the morning boxing. Spar with me, and if you win, I’ll give up completely on the long contract.”

It was absolutely ridiculous, of course. Nothing more than an attempt, and not a particularly subtle one, to get Aaron to stay. Brad would never hold Aaron to any result that did come from this, so it was pretty much just an excuse to keep Aaron with him.

He was so ridiculously pathetic. And what sort of stupid pick-up line was it, anyway, to invite someone to spar with you?

“I don’t box.” Somewhat to Brad’s surprise, Aaron looked to be considering it, and then a slow smile crept over the younger man’s face, a look in his eyes that, on someone else, might even be mischievousness.

“It’s okay. I’ll go easy on you,” Brad assured him, and Aaron’s lips tightened like he was trying to keep them under control.

“I wouldn’t necessarily count on having to do that,” Aaron commented and rose to his feet, something almost predatory in that sleek body. “You’re on.”

 

* * *

 

Warily, they circled each other, and Brad settled into himself, reaching for the calm place at the center of his soul. He had started boxing way back in high school, when he had first been placed with Julie, and that had been a while back now, but he hadn’t ever stopped.

Aaron watched him, looking at his eyes. He had chosen to forego any protective equipment, and Brad knew he would have to be careful with him because of it. It was just a friendly match, after all, but he was in it to win it, just as he was with everything that he did.

Lightly, just testing Aaron’s defenses, Brad jabbed a fist out at him. Aaron ducked, which Brad had expected, but he somehow hadn’t quite expected the ease with which Aaron avoided the attack. For a moment, Brad felt something new, a flicker of doubt, because no one moved that gracefully that hadn’t had some sort of combat training …

Then Aaron was lunging at him, but not with his fist. No, he attacked in a completely different way, arms going around Brad’s waist, slender, but strong, body shifting around behind Brad. Their legs tangled together, and Brad found himself staggering, only his own training keeping him on his feet.

Well now. Things had just gotten interesting.

Aaron broke away again, or more accurately, Brad staggered back, but quickly found his balance again.

“You’re very surprising,” he admitted. With all of his practice, it was rare that anyone could spar with him and even stand a chance, but Aaron was holding his own. Or maybe a little bit more.

“Nearly fifteen years of judo will do that,” Aaron spoke back, his voice tight, his eyes concentrated completely on Brad. It seemed that Aaron also was determined to win, and if he’d really had so much training than it seemed that maybe Brad wasn’t going to have as easy a time as he had thought.

Once more, they walked in tight circles around each other, in the space that they’d cleared by pushing Brad’s coffee table out of the way. Their eyes locked, and there was something in that gaze that Brad wasn’t used to, a sort of tension that he’d never felt with anyone that he’d fought before.

It was sex, damn it. Even now, he couldn’t stop thinking about it and watching as Aaron started to sweat, a shimmer on his pale skin, seeing the look in those unique eyes of his, it was definitely pulling his attention away. Not something that he was used to, but he also couldn’t deny that it was true.

Brad punched again, and this time, he didn’t pull it. Anyone who had been in a martial art as long as Aaron had been would know how to take a punch, and he was right not to worry about it, because Aaron rolled with it, his body flowing like a river to absorb the strength of it.

But Brad was off balance for maybe a second, if that, and Aaron reacted. He threw himself at Brad again, a leg slipping behind Brad, and gripped his shoulder. This time, the world spun around him, and Brad hit the ground, his back smacking into the hardwood floor.

Oddly, there was no pain to it. Aaron was good, damn good, taking him down but not hurting him, easing Brad into it, despite Brad’s greater size and strength.

“Okay, so I’m impressed,” Brad admitted, and Aaron shot him a grin, a real, sincere, wide grin that lit up his whole face, then struck again, as quick as a snake.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Aaron promised, and then, just like the snake that Brad had been reminded of a split second ago, Aaron wrapped around him again, muscles flexing, trying to push Brad over onto his stomach.

Brad hadn’t taken years of judo, but he had been in more than a few fights before Julie had straightened him out. He certainly knew not to let himself be pinned, and there was more brute strength than skill to the way he rolled them both, trying to free himself, turning so that he was facing Aaron.

The younger man froze, and at first, Brad just thought that he wasn’t used to having someone fight back. But then he felt it, an insistent jabbing against his hip, hard and demanding. And Aaron’s cheeks were flushed with more than just their wrestling match, Brad was sure of it.

So Brad did the only thing that he could think of to do, something that he was pretty sure wasn’t a legal move in any judo dojo. He shoved a strong leg between Aaron’s and wrapped his arms around the sweaty young man, and then he pressed a hard, eager kiss on him, his leg rocking up against Aaron’s cock.

The match was really over then, and Brad didn’t think there was a winner, not exactly. Or they had both won, more accurately, as their bodies tangled together. They had both stripped down to just their pants, and the bare skin of their chests rubbed together as their hips pressed closer.

“So who won?” Aaron gasped, his hands plunging down into the elastic waistband of the sweats that Brad had changed into for this. Strong fingers grasped at his ass, and Brad almost forgot, for a moment, that he’d even been asked a question.

“We both did,” Brad finally murmured, and then he kissed Aaron again as they rolled. It was odd how similar wrestling was to really rough, dirty sex. Brad had never noticed before, but with Aaron, it was like it was impossible not to.

As they struggled together, strained together, Aaron tugged off Brad’s pants, which made Brad smirk. It was a relief, actually, to know that Aaron wanted this to go the same way that Brad did. It seemed like some sort of miracle that they shared this desire, too, that Aaron could really want him like this.

Brad made short work of Aaron’s pants, too, and then he was pushed onto his back, and he didn’t even try to fight it. Despite all of his best efforts, it seemed he did have at least some trust for this young man.

Aaron settled down on top of him and damned if it didn’t feel like the gorgeous young man belonged there. Their hips pressed close once more, even closer this time because of the way that gravity pulled Aaron down against Brad. Aaron’s cock, fully hard, covered in slickness already, rubbed against Brad’s, and it just really wasn’t fair how such a small thing could drive him insane.

Brad had never had a lot of patience for foreplay. It was something to be done as much as needed to be done in order to get the other person into it enough to go. But with Aaron, he didn’t mind. At all.

Maybe it was because foreplay with Aaron was more intense than full out sex was with most people. With anyone that Brad had ever been with. It was just as satisfying to writhe up against Aaron, to groan and to hear Aaron’s noises in return, as it would be to be in bed and inside anyone else.

They kissed, and this little thought came into Brad’s head for the first time ever. Well, no, that wasn’t quite true. It was a thought that he’d had exactly one time before when Aaron had asked him before if he would ever bottom.

Where he was now, underneath Aaron, it seemed far more possible to him than it ever had been before. Not only possible but something that he felt a niggling little curiosity about, which he could honestly say hadn’t been normal for him at all.

What would it be like, if he just spread his legs and let Aaron slip down between them? If he took that gorgeous cock in his hand and put it against himself, if he breathed deeply and let Aaron enter him?

Unthinkable. Or it always had been before, so why was he thinking about it now? More than that, why were his balls tightening, his whole body tensing, why was he actually crying out wordlessly as he shot his come all over both of them?

Maybe Aaron felt it, too, because he was groaning, their lips crushing against each other, almost hard enough to bruise the tender skin as Aaron came, too. The hot gush of come coated Brad, mixing with his own, and it was into the kiss that Brad could finally let himself moan the young man’s name.

“I think we both need another shower,” Aaron finally managed, when they’d both come down a little from that amazing, shared high. Brad laughed softly, utterly amazed that this was happening, that after so long, someone was finally getting to him.

“We’ve already used a lot of water,” Brad improvised, though from the slight smile on Aaron’s full lips he wasn’t all that fooled by it. “Why don’t we shower together this time?”

In the end, that’s exactly what they did, though. And they probably didn’t end up saving much water, because they ended up spending a lot more time in the shower than either of them would have individually. But somehow, Brad couldn’t mind.