met each of Alexander’s quickening plunges.
Their connection was fraught with electricity and Alexander hated that he wanted it to last forever while needing it to end.
They’d begun this to fuck out their frustration.
They were doing just that, in the end.
He jerked Logan’s cock, feeling his thick shaft pulsing. Logan was close. Excellent.
He let go, then pulled himself out and penetrated Logan to the hilt. Again and again, surging all the way in, trying to slam out every lie via Logan’s prostate.
Logan moaned. Or maybe that was Alexander. His vision grew spotty. He was all gritted emotion and carnal sensation. The bed squeaked, the headboard rutted against the wall, skin slapped.
All the lies, kindness, fake accents, and comforting holds over the last two weeks ripped through him, and he fucked Logan good, biting back the pleas for more. For longer. For real.
Logan whimpered.
Alexander fell on top of him, kissing his neck as he pounded into him, so close to release.
“How are you feeling now?” he murmured into Logan’s ear.
“Like I’m gonna come apart.”
“Me too.” Alexander took Logan’s cock back in his hand.
“Together?” Logan pleaded.
Together.
Alexander’s rhythm quickened to short climactic thrusts.
Logan looked back over his shoulder, seeking connection. Alexander’s chest seized, and—
He buried himself inside Logan, crying out as he came. He poured into Logan, orgasm tearing through him, and Logan milked Alexander’s cock as he hit his climax too.
He sagged against Logan’s strong back as they caught their breath.
His arms shook as he slipped out and crawled off Logan. He disposed of the condom, wondering what he should say. Feeling too drained to start.
Logan shuffled off the wet bed and barely looked at him as he tugged Alexander with him to the bathroom. They shared a shower but said little. Logan’s fingers soaped Alexander with great care and Alexander returned the favor, yet neither of them brought up that moment.
Or the one that followed.
They changed the sheets and slid into bed.
Logan’s breath crackled like he was about to say something and stopped. He fished under the sheets for Alexander’s hand.
Alexander’s throat tightened. He was too tired. He just wanted what felt good.
He locked their fingers.
Chapter Eighteen
LOGAN
* * *
Logan woke to cool sheets either side of him, no Alexander in sight. Even after searching the house.
He found Alexander’s phone though. Had he left it behind on purpose? This was about last night. That gut-wrenchingly intimate moment that had taken Logan by surprise. And freaked him out. The moment that should have transpired after they’d talked.
He scrubbed his face. Today things with Alexander would come to a head.
But Logan needed to find him first.
He drove to Essence and entered the gallery with a riotous belly but only Alexander’s student-hire was there, chatting with the UPS guy. Apparently he’d been called in to work while Alexander went to some last-minute auctions.
Last-minute auctions, Logan’s ass.
Fine, they’d talk later then. There was no escaping dinner with Nico and Luci.
Speaking of the devil . . .
Logan answered his ringing phone. “Nico?”
“Logan. I have a request for tonight’s dinner . . .”
Cradling a cardboard box and breathing like his lungs were on fire, Logan awkwardly knocked on Nico’s door.
Luci opened it dressed in a cute summer dress with pinched sleeves and smiled. She arched her brow at his ragged “Hey.”
Logan pointed vaguely to the stairwell behind him. “Those are a lot of steps. Is this the top floor?”
“The tenth.”
Logan gave her an exhausted chuckle. “That’ll be all the explanation you need.”
She shook her head like he was crazy. “Why didn’t you take the elevator?”
That thing? Was she kidding? “After it wobbled at the third floor, I got out.”
Alexander approached behind Luci, looking swoon-worthy in khaki shorts, a soft cream shirt, and loafers.
He didn’t quite meet Logan’s eye. “Thought I was the one afraid of enclosed spaces.”
“I join that club when said spaces are suspended on dodgy wires twenty-odd floors up.” Logan readjusted his hold on the box, eyes riveted to Alexander’s. “Nice to see you today.”
Alexander fidgeted with his watch. “Nice to, uh, see you too.”
Luci’s gaze pinged between them. “Yeah, okay. Logan, why don’t you come inside?”
She took the box from him and gestured him into the warm, heavily textured apartment.
Logan paused at Alexander’s side, handing him the phone. “You forgot this.”
Alexander inclined his head and curled a hand around his phone.
Logan didn’t immediately let go. “Coming too?”
“Just a minute.”
Logan rounded toward Nico in the open kitchen area. Oriental rugs met rich cream walls, gold drapes, and dark wood. Cozy.
Logan greeted Nico with a hug and tried