“Don’t want to keep you out past your bedtime,” he said, blowing smoke as he squinted up at the moon.

“Despite all appearances, I am actually an adult,” Lindsay shot back. He pushed away from the wall and led Noah toward home. The sidewalks were less crowded now; everyone who’d been shopping earlier had returned to the bars and casinos.

“I wasn’t assuming you’d be sleeping.” Noah’s grin was as wicked as it was unexpected, and his eyes flashed with hot amusement. “I can’t see Dane denying himself too much longer, Cyrus’s orders or not.”

That caught Lindsay off-guard, and he was torn between laughter and wanting to see more of that wickedness. He gave in to the laughter.

“We’ll see.”

Noah was right, though Lindsay didn’t say it—Dane wouldn’t stay away. That sense of certainty was a new luxury.

Once he’d dropped Noah off at the back porch to commence the evening’s drunk, Lindsay went upstairs to the room he shared with Dane. His body was still humming with his reaction to Noah’s magic—

to Noah, if he were being totally honest with himself—and he needed to shake that off, to find his balance again.

Much to Lindsay’s surprise, the light was on in their room. In the moment that he was still taking in the fact that Dane was back, the door swung open and light squeezed out in the narrow spaces left between his body and the doorframe.

“Making me wait?” The rumble was softened by a grin.

“Not anymore.” Lindsay stepped up to offer Dane a kiss.

It had only been a few days, but he’d missed that smile. Maybe that was— No, no excuses. Being attracted to Noah had nothing to do with Dane being gone and everything to do with Noah himself. It didn’t matter, though. Lindsay wasn’t going to touch him.

Dane made a happy noise and pulled him in with an arm around his waist, taking him off his feet enough to get him into the room. The door thumped shut while Dane was making sure Lindsay was thoroughly kissed.

“You seem healthy,” he said, nipping at Lindsay’s lower lip. He groped Lindsay’s ass with both hands, pulling back and looking at him with a mock frown. “You can tell me everything I missed while I’m making sure.”

“Me, I hope.” Lindsay stood on his toes to lick under Dane’s chin. Dropping back to his feet, he admitted, “I took Noah out to see him work his magic.”

“Mm, I thought as much.” Dane nuzzled Lindsay’s nose with his own. “How’d that go? Is he behaving for you?”

“Better than I did for you, I think.” Lindsay caught Dane’s hand and drew him toward the bed. “He knows how all this is supposed to work. I didn’t. I still don’t.”

“You know what you need to know.” Dane snuck his fingers into Lindsay’s pocket and snagged the barre. “You mind keeping this thing farther away from your important bits?” He threw it toward his desk without looking and it landed in a half-open drawer. “Like all of you?”

“I’d have thrown it in the dumpster, but...” Lindsay had personal experience with that kind of thing falling into the wrong hands, and he didn’t want to be the cause of it happening again.

“Might come in handy for someone.” Dane nudged Lindsay into bed and followed him, crawling up over him to nuzzle in his hair and nibble his neck. “Can think of at least one. You gonna be able to keep your boy from roasting us all in our sleep?”

“As long as I’ve got my magic, he can’t touch his.” Lindsay liked that solution a hell of a lot better than the barre. That damn thing could be melted down to its component parts, and he still wouldn’t want anything to do with it. He wasn’t going to say that out loud, though. He didn’t need to admit how much the thing had bothered him. “Besides, I don’t think his magic is the problem.”

“Got that, did you?” Dane tugged at Lindsay’s pants and grumped in his ear. “You’re not acting like a man who wants to wear these clothes again.”

“Stop kissing me long enough that I can think and I’ll take them off.” Jeans and an oxford, but Lindsay would rather not have to replace them.

“Damn.” Dane flopped over on the bed with a long-suffering groan. “You know, you could make everyone else think you have clothes.” He actually gave Lindsay a hopeful look.

Lindsay laughed, shedding his clothes and tossing them toward the chair in the corner. Unlike Dane, he had to look to aim, but he managed to keep almost everything off the floor. “If I did that, we’d never make it out of the bedroom.”

“That would be a bad thing?” Dane’s jeans followed Lindsay’s clothes and landed on the back of the chair. He caught Lindsay around the waist again and pulled him back, curling up around him and purring

shamelessly. “Never hurts to get out and fuck in an alley or on a pool table once in a while, I guess.” His cock slid against the curve of Lindsay’s ass as he got Lindsay tucked up against him. “Could do a little saving the world out there too, to keep Cyrus from whining.”

It wasn’t easy to focus on Dane’s words when Lindsay could feel Dane’s naked body pressed against him. “Or you could fuck me right now.” It felt like he’d been turned on for hours already.

“It’s an emergency, is it?” Dane teased. He moved, propping himself up on one elbow so Lindsay was cradled in the crook of his arm and Dane could lean down to give him kisses. “Good thing I’m home to rescue you.” He slid his free hand down to cup Lindsay’s cock and balls, purring with pleasure as he petted.

Lindsay shifted onto his back and parted his legs, getting his fingers tangled in Dane’s long hair and pulling him close for more kisses.

“Yes,” Lindsay muttered against Dane’s lips. “A crisis of epic proportions.”

Dane’s soft laughter was muffled by their kisses and he obediently reached for the lube. As light as his mood had been, it didn’t take more than moments for it to turn possessive. He pinned Lindsay to the bed with his weight, pushing Lindsay’s legs farther apart as he slid between them.

Pulling away from kissing Lindsay to bite at his throat instead, Dane slid two slick fingers into him.

Lindsay arched with it, moaning and demanding Dane move faster, give him more. He needed this like breathing.

“Could watch that all day,” Dane whispered, but he pushed in all at once.

The rush of being filled up left Lindsay gasping for breath. He dragged Dane back down to kiss him again, licking and nipping at his lips until Dane opened up for him. This was exactly what he’d been craving.

Purring, Dane submitted to the demands of Lindsay’s kisses as he wrapped Lindsay up in his arms and held him close. He’d always known what Lindsay needed—he had been infuriating about making him say it—and that hadn’t changed.

There was nothing lazy or gentle about the way he fucked, long, hard thrusts that shuddered through Lindsay’s body, filling him up again and again. Every push sent sparks of heat and need through Lindsay, until he was writhing and coming all over his belly.

Dane rumbled in his ear, sounding sated, except that he hadn’t come yet. He rolled them over so that he was on his back with Lindsay cuddled against his chest.

Lindsay rose up enough that he could kiss Dane on the mouth. “What do you want?”

“You. Want to look at you.” Dane pushed Lindsay’s hair back with both hands, tucking it behind his ears. “Want to watch you make me come.”

That made Lindsay smile. Knowing he could give what Dane needed was one of the highlights of Lindsay’s life. He kissed Dane once more, then sat up and started to move. Dane’s low purrs turned into

shameless gasps and moans. He grabbed Lindsay’s hips, but didn’t use his grip to move him, just held on as he rocked under Lindsay and shuddered every time Lindsay took him in.

Making Dane come was almost as good as coming himself. Lindsay clenched around him and bent to bite under Dane’s chin. Dane let his head fall back, baring his throat, and his hands fell to his sides. When he came, Dane was all his, crying out his name shamelessly. Lindsay rode him until he stilled and kissed him on the mouth.