Drayton pressed his hand on the panel then entered the passcode on the keypad, impatiently waiting for the green light to appear, granting them access to his private elevator. Finally, the doors slid open and they entered.

“So this elevator opens right into your place?” Vann asked.

He nodded. “To the foyer of the penthouse.”

“So it’s like having a key to your house. Well...” Vann chewed his lip as he switched his weight from foot to foot, appearing as anxious as Drayton was about their weekend together. “I guess they’d need the handprint thing and code. How do you let guests up here?”

“I don’t. No one comes over.”

“Ever?”

Drayton shook his head. “If anyone has any business with me, I’ll meet them at my office or theirs. I have a separate entrance for deliveries and such, but it’s through the main entrance of the building and they can’t come up unless I grant them access from upstairs. I’ll set you up in the system this weekend so you can get in when I’m not here.”

Vann smiled, almost smugly. “So I’m your first guest?”

“You’re my only guest.” He held Vann’s stare, hoping to deliver the message loud and clear: you and only you.

Vann slowly straightened.

Message received.

Drayton’s heart pounded as he reached for his phone and swiped his finger across the screen. He launched the app for his home and immediately set the program to close the blinds and turn off all the lights. Knowing Vann, the moment he set foot inside the penthouse would equate to a bucket of ice water on this fire sparking between them. There was no chance in hell Drayton would risk anything prolonging this torture another day. He needed Vann, his touch, the weight of him against his body, and the feel of him inside him.

“Tell me you’re not working, please? I was hoping I would be a worthy distraction this weekend.”

Drayton glanced over to him. “You’re a very worthy distraction.”

Vann smiled, something between smug and relief. “It’s a good thing this elevator is fast as hell. Sixty-three floors. That’s…disturbing. And really high.”

“Grants one hell of a view. Makes it all worthwhile.” Drayton shoved the phone into his jacket and leaned against the elevator wall.

“View’s just fine from right here.” Vann’s eyes slowly swept Drayton’s body until their gazes locked, the heat and hunger burned in Vann’s stare as his tongue slowly rolled over his bottom lip.

Drayton’s heart hammered against his chest. He’d missed that. Even when they were younger and exploring, Vann’s appetite for their time together was rarely sated. He remembered each desperate and tender caress. Sometimes, their kisses were slow and gentle. Other times, their joinings were rough and demanding with a welcome bite of pain. On those nights, they’d sneak out of Drayton’s bedroom and go to their secret spot by the lake just outside the golf course, knowing damn well neither could silence the moans that would echo from each of them. The moonlight would offer a hint of light and the pine trees offered enough thickness to muffle their moans of pleasure.

Regardless of how they came together, Drayton never questioned the undercurrent of love and need. Vann spoke with his eyes, body, and gestures far more than he did with his words. His unwavering love was tangible and always present. Hard and soft, just like the man who invaded every waking second of his thoughts. He bit his lip to hide a smile, wondering how their night would be.

“I can’t promise I’ll be nice. I’m so fucking horny right now I could split open the elevator doors with my rock-hard dick.”

Drayton chuckled. Guess that answers that question. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Relief poured through Drayton’s body at the darkness inside. He turned around to face Vann, and the breath whooshed out of his lungs when Vann yanked him by the lapels and latched onto his lips, pushing him backward into the penthouse.

A second later, the elevator doors slid shut and Vann stumbled in the darkness, the weight of his body pushing Drayton into the wall. “Shit. Sorry. It’s dark in here. I can’t see shit.”

“Just feel.” Drayton ran his hand down Vann’s chest and pulled his T-shirt up and over his head. “Close your eyes. I’ll guide you to the bedroom.” He stripped out of his suit, leaving a trail of clothing as he led Vann through the darkness. They finally arrived to the bedroom, and he immediately turned, feeling his way to undo the button of Vann’s jeans.

“Dray, this is kinky shit. Last time I checked, you weren’t a bat.”

“I’m not a bat. I’m horny. Stop talking and start fucking.” He hurriedly undid the button of his suit pants and stripped away the last of his clothing. He grabbed Vann by the open waistband of his jeans and guided them to the foot of the bed, stopping when the mattress bumped the back of his legs.

Vann laughed and slapped a few packets into Drayton’s palm. “Keeper of darkness, you’re responsible for the rest of these lube packs ’cause I sure as hell won’t find them.”

Drayton smiled as the jingle of Vann’s belt hit the floor and the thump of his boots hit against a wall. “I’ve got a supply of lube in the nightstand drawer and in every fricken corner around the house.” He sat back onto the mattress, pulling Vann with him. A large hand slid up his bare torso quickly followed by a rain of wet kisses.

“You always were a planner,” Vann said in a raspy voice, touching and kissing every inch of Drayton’s body.

Drayton arched off the bed, seeking Vann’s teasing fingertips as they traced each dip and rise of his torso. He shifted from side to side, longing for Vann’s touch, to his left then his right, on his thigh then his abs. Vann was everywhere, all at once, and yet, it wasn’t enough.

“Maybe I want to go slow tonight,” Vann whispered before a gentle kiss pressed against his chest.

He moaned when Vann licked his skin and trailed his tongue up Drayton’s body to the base of his neck. His toes curled, and he threw his head back, craving each caress. He’d missed this—the warmth of wet lips pressing against him and the scrape of stubble rubbing his skin. He wrapped his arms around Vann’s shoulders when soft lips pressed against his.

“I missed you, Dray,” Vann whispered, brushing their lips together. “So much.”

Drayton held Vann close, thanking the heavens he finally had Vann with him again. “I love you so much,” he responded, barely able to utter the words through the knot in his throat as he stroked his fingers in Vann’s hair and peppered kisses along his neck. He held on to Vann as they rolled to their sides on the bed, pressing slow kisses to Vann’s face as a rip tore through the silence. His lips parted on an inhale when slick fingers entered him and began to explore. The feeling, almost foreign after so many years, yet familiar because of the accompanying warmth of the man in his arms. He groaned when a hard, silky heat teasingly pressed against his thigh, mirroring the heat flushing every inch of his body with each stretch of the digit inside him.

Hard, firm lips captured his in a searing kiss.

Vann drew Drayton’s tongue into his mouth, sucking and pulling as he continued to push and explore with his fingers, stretching and preparing him. Drayton was losing his mind, giving his all into the kiss while arching his backside, anxious for the homecoming he’d been denied for over a decade. He dug his fingers into Vann’s biceps to ground himself as he broke away, trying to catch his breath as the need for more rippled through his limbs. “Stop. Fucking. Teasing. Me.”

He hissed a breath when Vann bit along his jaw. “I like all the sounds you make. Every sharp breath, every moan, every grunt and yell. I missed it all.” He stopped for a moment, their heavy breathing the only sound between them. “Dray?”

The hesitation in Vann’s voice gripped his heart. “Yeah?”

“Is this real?”

Drayton pressed a kiss to Vann’s cheek and stroked his hair, silently cursing himself for having thrown the entire room into darkness and denying himself the chance to see Vann’s face. “It’s real. And we have all weekend.”

“Good.”

Vann rolled their bodies on the bed, laying Drayton on his back and pushing his legs up against his chest.

Drayton inhaled a hissed breath when Vann breached his body. He screwed his eyes shut and willed himself to adjust to the fullness as soft, tender kisses pressed against his shoulder. One, then another, then another.

“I missed you,” Vann whispered between peppered kisses.

A strangled whimper escaped him, hearing the always silent I love you in that tender shift in Vann’s voice.

“I missed that sound,” Vann said with a possessive groan.

Strong, confident fingers gripped the side of his head, firm yet unmistakably loving, holding him in place as soft, full lips covered his mouth. Vann slid in and out of his body, setting a slow, deep rhythm with each measured grind of his hips.

Drayton ripped his lips from the kiss, unable to breathe with the welcome invasion and palpable need and desire humming between them. He gasped a breath when a large hand traveled up his thigh in the darkness and strong fingers gripped him, pulling him closer with each strong thrust.

A primal desire to mark Vann bubbled in his soul. He fisted his hand in Vann’s hair and yanked his head back, running his teeth along the corded muscles of Vann’s neck, smiling when a growl vibrated against his lips. He wanted to cement their bond and prove it was still as strong now as it had been back then.

Or stronger.

Vann wrapped his forearms around Drayton’s legs and effortlessly pulled him closer, deepening their connection with each plunge into his body.

Drayton chanted Vann’s name with a gasp, yearning, pushing, pulling for release yet never wanting their union to end. He reached behind himself, feeling for the edge of the headboard or wall for resistance, seeking purchase to stop the slide on the silky sheets with each pounding thrust. The scent of their lovemaking filled his nose and the sounds of their grunts and groans battled with the quickening slap of flesh.

His body was on fire, ignited by the one man who had claimed his soul ages ago and now attempted to brand him all over again with each strong, forceful push into his body, proving the desperate need and desire was mutual, and the closeness and love had been equally craved and denied for a decade.

He greeted each plunge into his body with an equal push, begging for friction and forcing the slightest space to disappear between them. “Fuck!” he yelled, as a surge of desire bolted through his core, rippling throughout his limbs. Sparks ignited behind his eyelids as the current sizzled at the base of his spine.

A possessive growl echoed in the room as Vann’s hips jackhammered with untamed force into his body.

Each breath came in rapid gasps, in time with each thrust. With one final deep push into his body and his nickname whispered with reverence, Drayton’s body bowed off the bed as they simultaneously lost the fight for control and spilled their releases with a stereo roar.

Drayton swallowed deep gulps of precious oxygen, trying to level his breathing. The always-present passion between them seemed to have magnified over the years.

“You okay?” Vann asked in a shaky whisper, pushing his nose into Drayton’s sweat-slicked hair. He tentatively brushed his lips against the corner of Drayton’s mouth as his body remained flush against him, still bound by their physical connection.

Drayton wrapped his arms around Vann and held him close. “More than okay.” He took a few more deep breaths as a peacefulness slowly settled within, as if his heart had waited all these years to finally beat fully and whole again with each thump. “I love you. You’re mine and I’m not letting you go. Are you okay with that?”

A soft whisper of a chuckle breezed across his cheek. “Definitely,” Vann said with a smile in his voice.

He held Vann close, not caring about the mess they’d find in the morning or the stickiness that slowly bound their bodies together. Nothing mattered but the joyous song his soul sang because of the man in his arms. Vann was finally home, with him, and he was never letting anyone or anything rip them apart again.