aside from laundry, he’d cleaned and dusted almost everything. The peaceful expression on his face, the way he smiled at Ryan’s praise, meant so much more than the convenience of having a few less chores to do.
He’d tried, several times, to make plans to enjoy Braxton’s presence here more often, but news of one of his bigger cases being botched by the prosecutor and the perp walking free was like a bucket of ice water over them all. The reality was, it just wasn’t fucking safe.
But he’d go to Braxton. Make sure there was no way to connect them until the worst threats were gone. Then...hell, if they were still together by then, he’d consider a more permanent arrangement.
“Your breakfast is served, sir.” Braxton laid the plate in front of him with a bit of flourish, his graceful movements making it obvious why he’d drawn so much attention on that stage. After filling Ryan’s cup with coffee in a French Press Ryan hadn’t even known he owned, the man wiggled his hips and went to his own seat, the perfect image of a sub tempting their Dom in a way that would either earn them a spanking or a hard fuck.
Ryan arched a brow at him. “If I have to put you in your place and my food gets cold, I might not be able to keep my promise about what I do to you not impacting your play.”
Braxton cocked his head, mischief in his eyes. “Might be worth it.”
“I’d make certain it wasn’t.” Ryan cut into his French toast and took a bite, moaning at the perfect balance of flavor on his tongue. He’d had some doubts about YouTube being useful for cooking, but not anymore. “This is delicious.”
Digging into his own food, Braxton nodded. “I like cooking, but I was always worried I wouldn’t be any good at it. Using videos helped me make some really good stuff, so I have a few cooking channels I follow to learn from.”
“Clever.” Ryan added some cream and sugar to his coffee, studying Braxton over the rim. “Do you cook for yourself a lot?”
That gave Braxton pause. He wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Not really. Now and then if I want to try something, but it’s not the same eating by yourself. When I hang out with other players, someone’s usually ordering pizza.”
“You don’t have friends who aren’t on the team?”
“I…” Braxton took a deep breath and sat back. “No, I guess I don’t. I mean, I had some on my junior team. And back home, but we drifted apart. Hopefully I can stay on this team long enough to really get to know people in the area. Over the summer or something.”
“There’s a very active local kink community that could be good for that as well.” Ryan hadn’t become involved much himself, not wanting to risk the guys at the station knowing more about his life than he cared to share, but he wouldn’t mind showing Braxton off a bit. The idea had him caring less about what anyone else would think. “Maybe when we both have time, we can go to some of the events.”
Wide eyes met his. “Really? I’d love that!”
“Good, I’ll look into it while you’re on your road trip.” He gave Braxton’s shoulder a nudge when his smile faded. “This will be our first test of how we’ll manage with weeks apart. I’m not worried, so you shouldn’t be.”
With a slow nod, Braxton squared his shoulders. “Okay. And phone sex could be hot as fuck.”
Ryan chuckled. “I wouldn’t know.”
The mischief was back in Braxton’s eyes, he took another bite of French toast, leaning forward once his mouth was clear and licking a droplet of syrup from his bottom lip. “Think about it. I get back to the hotel after a game and lock myself in the bathroom since rookies have to share with a vet. Gotta be quiet so no one knows what I’m doing. I turn the camera on so you can see me...and make me do whatever you want.”
All right, that did sound hot. Ryan’s lips slanted. “I could torture you and bring you to the edge for days. Refuse to let you come until you return to me.”
Face flushed, pupils dilated, Braxton swallowed hard. “Yeah, you totally could.”
“Finish your food, boy.” Ryan smiled as Braxton stared at him like he’d spoken a foriegn language. “It won’t be quite as fun if you anticipate all the terrible ways I could twist remote