It was another to have our first time fucking to be so...intense. Wonderful. And fully overwhelming.
“Are you okay?” he asked. The raw quality of his tone made him sound worried and vulnerable. My arms snuck up around his neck, clinging to him.
“More than okay,” I managed to reply. “I’ve just...that was a new experience for me. Having you so in charge, I mean. I loved it, but—”
“Fuck,” he sighed. “I know. If it helps, that was new for me, too. That level of topping.”
It did help. Tremendously. One of the things Reagan would always have on me was experience. At twenty-one, I simply couldn’t compete with twenty-four more years of experience than I had. So hearing that this was new for him, too, something just the two of us shared, helped me feel like this was as special and sacred for him as it was for me. I couldn’t have asked for more. “I will say that you know how to take a fantasy and run with it, Boss.”
His chuckle rumbled through him, tickling the cheek I had pressed against his neck. “With you, I can’t help myself. You’re a lapful of trouble, Channing.”
“Just trying to keep you on your toes.” I sighed and twisted so I could embrace him more. I felt fingers trailing up and down my spine, as if he were trying to guide the soothing impulses my brain was sending to the limbs that were still in shock.
“I want two things right now,” Reagan murmured. “I want bacon and eggs and coffee, and I want you to be my boyfriend. Officially.”
Relief and ecstasy thrilled through me at this. “I’d wanted to ask you before, like, what we were, but was afraid it would sound immature.”
“Hell, no,” he rumbled. “Don’t be afraid to ask me those things, Channing. I never want you to feel like you’re guessing with me, or like I’m not going to take you seriously.”
Giddy, I burrowed into him. I was his boyfriend. And he was mine. It felt so right, all of these things I’d wanted so much it had hurt all falling into place.
“I’ll remember that.” I pressed a thankful kiss on his cheek before wiggling on his lap. “Now feed me, because I am more wrung out more than a washcloth.”
15
Reagan
Hank pulled me into a tight hug as soon as I found him at the bar. “Holy shit, Reagan! I’m so glad you called!”
I squeezed him back before patting his shoulder and stepping back. “Me too, man, me too.”
“I got us a pitcher at the table,” Hank explained as he led me through the crowded bar. There were a couple of other guys at the table, old friends I’d known through Hank throughout the years. Many carried tattoos I’d done on them. But they were already heavily invested in some political discussion I wasn’t interested in, so I sat so I could talk to Hank.
He was looking great for his age. Hank was one of the lucky bastards who went a beautiful salt-and-pepper silver early. His skin was bronzed from working in construction and covered in tattoos from the brief time he spent going tat-crazy with me early in my apprenticeship. Hank was model beautiful and as he poured me a beer, I glanced around and saw he had several admirers already.
None of that mattered to me. What mattered was Hank’s heart. We’d been in school together—he was my first roommate, and we’d bonded instantly over having shitty childhoods and a love affair with art. He’d been with me through most of it: my first love, my first heartache, meeting my mentor, becoming a tattoo artist despite the pressure to stay in the art community.
He was one of my closest friends. We could go (and we often did) months without talking to each other because of our ridiculously busy lives, but it didn’t matter. As soon as we were together, everything was just...easy. And right now, I needed a bit of that grounding influence in my life from someone who knew me so well.
“I used to have to ask how the shop was doing but now I just watch the show,” Hank said as he leaned back and sipped his beer. “I expected a lot out of you, but being a TV star was definitely not a thing I saw coming.”
“You and me both. It feels surreal each time they come into the shop to film. I just signed on for another season, but I’d like to check with the guys