Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) - Amy Aislin Page 0,58

best friend—his boyfriend—ravage him. The sensation of Ethan’s lips on his was both new and familiar all at once, as though they’d done this before. In another life, in another time and place. Something clicked in Casey’s brain, permanent and solid, something he could build a foundation on.

Ethan gasped, arm tightening around Casey and bringing them chest to chest. Electricity filled Casey’s every pore and butterflies flew in his stomach, making him dizzy and lightheaded.

This was Ethan. He was kissing Ethan. His fingers were in Ethan’s hair, his leg was wedged between both of Ethan’s strong ones, his tongue was in Ethan’s mouth. It was all so unbelievable at the same time that it was right and real and them. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He ended up making a kind of choked laugh into Ethan’s mouth.

“What?” Ethan asked. His lips were puffy, his cheeks flushed, his eyes at half-mast. No sign of the exhaustion or pain from earlier, and fuck, Casey wanted to eat him up.

“It’s you,” Casey muttered, tracing Ethan’s lips with his thumb.

“It’s me.”

They kissed again, and again, and a third time, short and fast, the sounds of their panting breaths and wet kisses the only ones in the room.

Then Ethan pulled back slightly to check his watch.

Casey pouted. “Okay, now I am insulted. You shouldn’t be thinking about where you need to be when you’re kissing me.”

Ethan merely smiled and kissed him again.

The day had eked out of Friday and into the wee hours of Saturday morning. Dressed in sweatpants, a hoodie, thick socks, and his trusty fingerless gloves to battle the chill in the bedroom, Ethan sat at his desk hours after Casey had fallen asleep midway through their second movie.

Squinting against the light of his laptop, he typed his calculus homework into his class’s online portal for grading, ignoring his stiff fingers and the soreness in his left hand. The only light came from his computer and the dim desk lamp. Neither was doing much to help keep him awake, and he was debating putting in an hour of studying for next week’s biology quiz or crawling into bed behind Casey once he was done.

Why he was surprised at the amount of work that went into a science degree, he couldn’t say. It wasn’t like April hadn’t warned him. Still, he hadn’t expected the steady stream of work: quizzes in various classes every week, assignments due all the time, weekly labs for every class. He envied Casey his lighter schedule.

In his darkest moments, Ethan considered switching majors, but that felt too much like giving up. And besides, he did like his classes, though definitely not as much as Casey loved his.

In hindsight, Ethan should’ve taken an online refresher course this past summer. No doubt it would’ve helped with this morning’s quiz he wasn’t sure he’d passed.

There was always the option of becoming a part-time student, but there were rules around how many credit hours an NCAA Division I student-athlete needed to earn per term, and it might make him ineligible to play if he dropped a course. He wasn’t sure what that number was, though, so maybe he’d look into it for next year.

Squeezing his eyes closed, he gave his head a shake, forcing himself awake.

It was silent in the room other than the clacking of the laptop keys and the occasional snuffle from Theo’s bed. Casey hadn’t made a single sound since falling asleep, but then, he’d always been that way—he slept like the dead, conking out and never moving until morning. It was such a contrast to how he was when awake, a contradicting facet to his personality Ethan had always found charming.

Also charming was the way Casey’s hair curled at the base of his neck. Ethan wanted to run his fingers through it and kiss the top of his spine. He wanted to nuzzle his nose against Casey’s. Wanted to sleep next to him, always, and make promises for the future he knew life might not let him keep.

And he wanted to have sex with Casey. That was a new feeling. He’d always been able to acknowledge another person’s attractiveness but he’d never actually been physically attracted to someone. Except Casey.

He’d known for a long time that Casey was his person. Had been in love with him for longer than he could remember. He’d known he wanted to snuggle with him while watching a movie. Known he wanted to kiss him at every opportunity. Known Casey was the person