Ginger shuddered against him, groaning in reply. He thrust hard once more, then slowed almost to a

stop. Ryan opened his eyes to watch the gorgeous man between his legs coming inside him. Hazel eyes

locked on his, and Ryan fell in love all over again as he watched Ginger’s face through his release.

Ryan wanted to see that look many more times, for the rest of his life if he could.

Panting, he dropped his legs, reaching out to drag Ginger against him. Ginger collapsed into him,

breathless. He shifted his hips as he settled against Ryan, his cock sliding out of his body as he did so.

Ryan regretted the loss, but he needed full body contact right now, needed to be close. He wrapped

himself around Ginger, arms and legs. He pushed red hair from the man’s face, and brushed his lips

over Ginger’s mouth.

Smiling, Ginger pressed a kiss to his lips, then shifted them on the bed, so they could lie side by

side. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Ryan said, breathless. “Definitely.” He leaned in for a kiss, head still swimming from lustfilled

pleasure. Ginger kissed him languidly, tongue melting against Ryan’s. Closing his eyes, Ryan

hummed into the kiss. He could have kissed until he fell asleep, but Ginger pulled away.

“Just a sec.” He shifted on the bed, reaching down to take off the condom.

“There’s a bin just there.” Ryan gestured to Ginger’s side of the bed. Ginger nodded, and once he

tied off the condom, he pitched it at the bin with perfect aim. Ryan wanted to say, good shot, but bit

his lip. He didn’t want to ruin the moment by making some lame joke.

Ginger lay back on the bed, facing Ryan. When he held out his arm on the pillow, wriggling his

fingers, Ryan gratefully took it as invitation to snuggle into his chest. He buried his face in soft, sweet

smelling skin. Ginger’s arm curled around his back, holding him close. Ryan realised they were both a

little sticky, and wet. His own come was drying on his stomach.

Oh well. Everything else was too good to care about that. Ginger’s other hand came to rest on

Ryan’s hip, thumb brushing over the stickiness on his skin. Ryan shivered, the embers of his orgasm

still licking through him.

“Daniel? I- I’d really like to do that again.”

“Yeah?” Ginger dragged his fingers over Ryan’s skin, nails lightly scratching.

“Mmm. Like, soon.” In turn, Ryan traced his fingers over the tattoo on Ginger’s chest, the one of

intertwining white skulls and red roses.

“Soon?”

“Yeah.” Ryan’s fingers trailed lower, brushing against one silver ring through a dusky pink nipple.

The touch stirred a reaction; Ginger’s skin flinched, at the same time a small whimper escaped. Ryan

lifted his head, watching Ginger’s face. “You like that?” His thumb pressed into Ginger’s nipple, then

circled the nub gently. Ryan could feel the metal moving through soft flesh. A rush of sordid thoughts

filled Ryan’s mind, but Ginger’s hand gently closed around his, stilling his fingers.

“Mm.” His eyes fluttered closed. “I do like it, but maybe not right now. It’s usually better before

I...er, you know...come.” A slight blush coloured his cheeks.

Ryan shifted up to lean on his elbow, looking down at Ginger. He spread his palm on Ginger’s

chest, feeling his heart thumping away. It struck Ryan how shy Ginger seemed, which only made Ryan

want him more.

“Hey,” he said softly.

Ginger’s eyes darted up to him, then away. “Hey.”

Ryan slid his hand to Ginger’s shoulder, his index finger making tiny circles on tattooed skin. He

wanted to touch Ginger’s face, too, and stroke his fingers through his long red hair, but he made a

conscious effort not to cling too hard. One step at a time, he told himself.

“We can...do things later,” he said, then quickly added, “I mean, if you want to.” Ryan felt his own

cheeks heating.

“Later?” Ginger looked up at him now, eyes locking with his.

“Uh, yeah.”

“I thought you said you wanted to do this again soon?”

“Um, yeah...I did.” Ryan’s face felt like it was turning crimson pink. Smooth move, Ry.

“Aren’t we both working later?” Ginger asked.

“Er, yes. We are.”

A hint of a smile was on Ginger’s lips. “Then wouldn’t sooner be better?”

“Oh.” Relief washed over Ryan, and he grinned. “Yes. Sooner would be great.”

“Just great?”

“I mean, amazing, of course.” Ryan leaned down, pressing a kiss to Ginger’s lips. “Better than

amazing. All the amazing words, and then some.”

“Oh, really?” Ginger smiled at him. “Sounds pretty good.”

“Sure is.”

Chapter Twenty-four

“Matt?” Pete opened the kitchen door. “Y’alright?”

Looking up from peeling his potatoes, Matt nodded. “Yeah, all right. How you feeling?”

Pete stepped into the room, nodding absently. “Yeah, fine, I suppose. Slept like a log.”

All right for some, Matt thought. “Er, that’s good.” He kept peeling the spuds.

“Yeah.” Pete watched him peeling for a few moments. “So...guess this means you’re ready to run

the kitchen today?”

“Yep. All set. Just doing some extra ‘tats now.”

“Okay.” Pete wandered over to the window, glancing down to the beer garden below. “Ginger must

have gone out. You seen him?”

Matt stopped peeling. “I thought he’d slept in the living room?”

Pete shrugged. “Not there now. Maybe he popped out. Ryan must still be asleep, too, as I can’t find

him. Fizz is about though, and said he’ll help out if we need him.”

A shudder wanted to run over Matt’s skin, but he tried to suppress it. “Hm. Right. So, who’s

supposed to be on shift today?”

“Ryan and Ginger.”

“Oh.”

“It’s all right though, I’m sure Ginger will be back...wherever he’s gone. I might work today as

well. Doesn’t really matter if we’re late opening, Dom said to take it easy today. Hah.”

“Well, yeah, you probably should.”

Pete waved his concerns away. “Honestly, I feel fine. If everyone didn’t keep telling me about what

happened, I wouldn’t have known any different. Apart from I can’t remember Saturday at all.”

“Yeah...well.” Matt wasn’t sure what to say. He resumed peeling the potatoes.

“Okay, well, I’m gonna head downstairs.” Pete headed for the door. “See what shape the bar’s in.”

Matt frowned to himself. He was about to say, he’d seen Ryan earlier, making coffee in the kitchen.

But he paused. Maybe Ryan had gone back to bed. Oh well.

“I’m picking Sammy up from the hospital about four,” Pete added, as he left.

“Right,” Matt called back. He peeled the potatoes extra fast.

* * *

Sammy felt sore. He had a new cast on his left arm, reaching from his hand to half way up his

bicep. They’d had to take off the old one, re-set his dislocated shoulder, then re-set his arm, all while

he was awake, for God’s sake. After that, he’d had the joy of having a new cast put on. Whatever pain

killers they dished out weren’t nearly strong enough, and Sammy had made sure to inform the doctor

as such. Not that he seemed to care.

“Everything’s pretty much back to normal,” Pete said, as he manoeuvred the car out of the hospital

car park. “Obviously you can’t work for a while...but we’ll sort something out.”

Rolling his eyes to himself, Sammy tried not to huff. Obviously he couldn’t work. How would he

pull pints with only one working arm? Not only that, his whole body was sore. There was a huge

purple bruise all over his shoulder and back, which really wasn’t attractive. The worst thing about all

this was that no one could tell him how it’d happened.

Apparently he’d fallen over in Fizz’s room and hit the wall. Sammy didn’t even recall going into

Fizz’s room. Why would he want to go in there? None of it made sense. Well, from now on, he was