Portals and Puppy Dogs - Amy Lane Page 0,36

of the lips. “We call it the weekend, and it provides time for people to do things that could, possibly, further a relationship.”

“Ah.” Simon smiled, his brain still scrambled. “I’ve been wondering what they’re for. Now I know.”

Alex bit his lip, showing that unexpected bit of vulnerability that pretty much hooked Simon and dragged him in to shore. “So far my weekends have been for bike riding, bug hunting, and adventures with my friends,” he said honestly. “I’d like very much to see if I could expand my repertoire.”

Simon was going to say yes, was going to jump right on that, but then, unbidden, came an automatic replay of Chris’s misery from Simon’s office that morning.

“Maybe we could go on a bike ride,” he murmured. “Or take the dog somewhere. Or—”

Alex’s eyes widened, and Simon wondered if he’d said something wrong. “Uhm, sure, but… uh….” He gave a little awkward head tilt. “Uhm, I was getting the feeling there that we’d, uh….”

The blush that followed was so savage, Simon felt the heat of it washing off Alex’s cheeks.

“Jump into bed and have all the sex and then go back on Monday and pretend nothing happened?” Simon asked, hoping he was wrong about that.

“No!” Alex protested, and before Simon could argue that he didn’t sound sincere about that, he winced. “Okay, maybe. I just… you kiss really good and you smell excellent. I-I don’t know how to do the relationship thing, but the kissing, that I could follow up on!”

Simon had to laugh. “You do the relationship thing by taking your time with the kissing,” he said, because that’s what the rulebooks all said and that was the playbook by which he’d run every relationship he’d ever had. That they hadn’t lasted very long after the sex had started was not his fault—he was doing things by the book, dammit!

Alex scowled at him suspiciously. “That isn’t how Bartholomew and Lachlan did it,” he said. “That’s not even how Kate and Josh did it. There was sex relatively early. I mean, there was yearning, there was some banter that worked as foreplay, and there was sex, and it was spectacular, and it turned into an amazing relationship in which both participants are bound for life.”

Simon knew his eyes were huge. “Life?”

Alex grimaced. “Well, not that this will be us, I’m just saying: passion. There is passion here, and I haven’t really seen where passion takes us, and I would like to.”

Simon cocked his head. “You haven’t seen where passion takes you?”

Alex’s blush, which had faded, suddenly amped up.

“So, uhm, does that mean you’re, uhm. A—”

“Don’t say it,” Alex commanded, and sure enough, Simon’s lips were sealed shut. “We’re not going to talk about that. Fine. Fine. If we have to do things together and be a couple before we can do the other thing, so be it. I’m in. You choose the activity, and I will be there, balls out.” He blew out a disgruntled breath and scrubbed at his short ginger hair with one hand. “Bad expression,” he said, but not contritely. “I’m just saying, I will throw myself wholeheartedly into whatever you want to do tomorrow.”

His smile this time was grim, like that of a soldier going into battle the next day and promising not to run.

“As flattering as that is,” Simon said dryly, “I’m ever so relieved that you’d rather be having sex.”

And Alex snorted.

Not just laughed but gave a laugh that obviously surprised him, forced air through that spot between the tongue and sinuses, and made an extremely unflattering sound come out his nose.

He covered his mouth with both hands, eyes wide in horror.

“That didn’t happen,” he said, the words muffled.

“Not at all,” Simon agreed, squeezing his eyes shut briefly to keep in another hyuck.

Alex’s sheepish gaze met his, and Simon suddenly had to kiss him again. He took both Alex’s hands in his and pulled them gently down, then kissed him tenderly, not looking for passion this time but for humor, for kindness, for shared laughter.

He found it and more, their suddenly sparked interest flooding into his soul, stirring his sex drive, and waking up his cock like no kiss ever had before—even their previous one, which he’d thought had been pretty damned good.

This time Glinda had to bark quite a few times to get them to separate, and Alex’s panting body, held tight against Simon’s chest while they recovered, was an amazing, tender gift.

“Must. Go,” Alex breathed. He pulled away and glared at Simon, adding a