Chapter 49
“Nnng,” Andy managed, dropping his head forward. “That’s nice.” It was more than nice, really, and the way Scooter’s breath tickled the hair on Andy’s neck sent shivers down his spine, but…it’d been almost a week, and Andy was beginning to wonder if he’d imagined that kiss, or if Scooter had changed his mind. The fire had been a huge stress, but…Scooter could’ve at least saidsomething, right?
“Sorry,” Scooter said, not stopping what he was doing with his hands, running down Andy’s arms and then back up to rub tension out of his neck. “I don’t compartmentalize very well. I should have made sure we talked, about…about what happened. I didn’t because I was afraid I’d do it wrong, being so pissed about the fire. If you were, you know, worried about that.”
Of course I wasn’t worriedleapt to his tongue, but he bit it back. It was the kind of thing he would have said to keep Nick pacified, and he didn’t want to do that anymore. Even if it was hard to push the truth past his teeth. “A little. I mean. I know you were…distracted, I don’t blame you for that.” He grimaced at himself for being so fucking wishy-washy. Yeah, well done, way to draw a line in the sand. Dummy
“I shouldn’t have allowed my distraction to get in the way,” Scooter said. “You deserve better than that. I should be a better man than that. You’re important to me, too. I won’t let it happen again. Forgive me?”
Andy hesitated, waiting for it. Let me make it up to youGive me another chance and I’ll make it worth your whileHere, I got you a little something to say sorry. A concession, a gift of some sort, something that Andy would be expected to be grateful for.
It didn’t come. Scooter kept rubbing Andy’s shoulders, lighter now, just waiting. Andy turned, and Scooter dropped his hands but studied Andy’s face. Andy wasn’t sure how to read the expression. Worried, perhaps? Hopeful? Scooter wasn’t asking Andy to absolve Scooter’s guilt, to erase the mistake as if it had never happened. Scooter was asking Andy for permission to try again, to prove to Andy that he had learned better.
His forgiveness wasn’t being bought or coerced. It was Andy’s choice, and his alone. Andy’s heart climbed up into his throat at the realization, lifted on a flood of relief and happiness and affection, and he had to swallow it back down before he could say, “Yes. I—yes, of course I do.”
Scooter grinned. “Great. Are you too tired? I thought we might have the talk that we should have had last week.”
Well, he certainly wasn’t tired now. “Yeah? And what, exactly, do you want to talk about then?”
“Well, we can talk down here, and be nice and civilized and adult about how that was a nice kiss, but we don’t want to do that again, and I’ll be unhappy for a while and then eventually get over it.” Scooter gave him a wicked smirk. “Or you can come up to my place, we can try the whole kissing thing over again, and then I’ll ask if you might want to try…dating.”
Oh, God, yes. Andy’s heart was going to pound right out of his chest, and his brain was already shutting down higher function in order to divert extra blood flow elsewhere. “I would, uh. That one. The second one. The one with more kissing.” Andy grinned. “Definitely more kissing.”
Scooter pressed up against Andy rather deliberately, reaching past to pull the plug from the sink. “Good answer.” He kissed Andy’s neck before straightening up again, nipped at Andy’s earlobe. “I think we’re all done down here, yeah?” Andy shivered at the tickle of Scooter’s breath, and nodded, unable to form words.
Scooter twined his fingers with Andy’s and tugged Andy after him, through the kitchen and out the back door. He locked it one-handed, which was a little awkward, but he didn’t seem to mind, if it meant he didn’t have to let go of Andy’s hand.
And then it was up the stairs, which had never seemed quite so shallow or easy to climb. They were through Scooter’s door, and then Scooter apparently ran out of patience. He turned, pushing Andy up against the door, and claimed Andy’s mouth with a hungry groan.
And oh Godwas that fine with Andy, because Jesus Christcould Scooter kiss. Their first kiss on Andy’s birthday had made Andy warm and fluttery, and the kiss before the fire had made Andy’s knees go wobbly. This one would have knocked him flat if Scooter hadn’t been holding him up.
As many times as Andy had watched Scooter’s mouth, that tongue, those teeth…he’d never quite imagined it like this, hungry and needy and so, so sweet. Andy wrapped his arms around Scooter’s shoulders, pushed his fingers into Scooter’s hair, holding on tight.