Melting - Sean Ashcroft Page 0,36

heaven.”

I didn’t have anywhere to put it, I’d never get it home even if I did, and there was almost zero chance it still worked.

“I can carry it out.”

“I’m not letting you take Hayden out again,” Dad said as Wes and I carried the ice cream maker between us into the entryway. Now that I was thinking about it, the shed might’ve been a better option.

Wes had already helped me dust it off in the bed of his truck, but it still had the marks of age on it.

Almost no rust, though. On closer inspection, I was starting to think it actually might work.

“This was Mark’s fault,” Wes defended. “I’m not taking any of the blame for this, I’m just helping him carry it.”

“What is it?” Dad asked.

“It’s a nineteen-sixteen ice cream churn,” I said. “Might even work.”

“How does it… do that?”

I shrugged. “No idea. Well. Some idea. I’m actually thinking of using it with liquid nitrogen.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Wes said.

“It’s… I won’t pretend there’s no risk, but with safety goggles and comically huge gloves and an apron, it’s safe enough. The instant ice cream is totally worth the risk.”

Both my dad and Wes looked at me like they weren’t convinced.

“I don’t have any right now, anyway,” I said. “So you’ll both have to make do with whatever I can get Mom’s old bench top ice cream machine to do.”

“You’re making ice cream?” Wes asked, hopeful.

I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

I hadn’t felt like it in a long time, but today I wanted to. All the creative energy I’d been worried was lost had surged back at full force, and I was brimming with ideas. I had a pot of the rose jam that’d been in the croissant Wes insisted I’d like, and a dozen other things I’d picked up while we’d been in town, and I was ready to experiment.

“I’m not gonna say no,” Dad said.

“Me neither.” Wes grinned at me. “Let’s get this inside.”

17

Wes

I couldn’t get over how soft Hayden looked in the mornings. Hair ruffled, eyelids heavy, smile warm and shy and easy as he blinked awake, looking at me like he could barely believe I was there.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been. The ladder was still leaning against the side of the house, waiting for me to make a discreet exit before we got caught, but I didn’t care.

This was actually kind of exciting.

“Morning,” I said as Hayden yawned, shifting under the light blanket he’d thrown over both of us last night.

I hadn’t meant to stay until the morning, but once we’d both cleaned up and settled down together, I hadn’t wanted to move.

Besides, staying had its benefits. Like being woken up by Hayden’s cock poking me in the night and sleepily fumbling our way to good mutual orgasms before passing out again, snuggled up together.

This whole having sex with the same person on multiple days thing was nice. I could’ve gotten used to it.

“Morning,” he murmured, eyes still heavy. The dark circles were gone, though. I was proud of that, even if it wasn’t entirely my doing.

“Still haven’t bitten my head off,” I teased.

“I looked it up,” Hayden said. “It’s definitely only the girl praying mantises who do that. I’m a boy praying mantis.”

“Yeah?” I asked, smiling hopelessly.

He was fucking adorable. I doubted many people got to see that, and I was honored to have the chance.

“Mmhmm,” Hayden said. “You can tell by the number of abdominal segments I have.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“It’s true!” Hayden insisted. “Girl praying mantises have six, boys have eight.”

“Are you trying to tell me you have… eight abs?” I asked. “Because don’t get me wrong, you’re incredibly sexy, but I don’t think that’s how abdominal muscles work.”

“You can look if you don’t believe me,” Hayden said, stretching out onto his back.

I laughed, diving under the blanket and climbing on top of him.

Morning breath discouraged me from kissing him, but it didn’t stop me rubbing our noses together. “Your nose is huge and I love it,” I said, giddy with the cozy playfulness still trapped under the blanket with us this morning.

“You know what they say about men with big noses,” Hayden said solemnly.

“I’m gonna assume it’s that they have big dicks,” I said. “Because you do have a big dick.”

Hayden snorted, rocking his hips and reminding me just how big it was.

“Stop that,” I ordered. “I’m supposed to be checking your abdominal segments. This is important scientific research.”

Hayden laughed as I crawled down his body, trailing kisses along the center of