“I knew it. You’re using me for sex.” Coop tossed back at him. There was nothing except playfulness in either of their voices. And Cooper didn’t pull away either. He looked down, studying their latched hands as they walked.

“This doesn’t feel weird either.” Coop squeezed. “Though it should, and not because you’re a guy, but because I don’t think I’ve walked down the sidewalk holding someone’s hand since I was in high school.”

“Is this your way of telling me I’m being clingy? Childish?” But he didn’t let go. He didn’t think that was what Cooper was saying, anyway. He only wanted to give him a hard time.

“No. I’m saying when I was a kid I did it because it was expected, and as an adult I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to give the person I dated the idea that what we had was more than what it was.”

Noah nodded, Cooper’s words landing right in his chest where they belonged. Trying to find out how in the fuck they got here, yet glad they were, he said, “Who would have thought, all those years ago, that the boy who made me steal magazines with naked women in them and wanted to sneak out and meet girls all the time, would be here with me?”

Coop laughed. “Not me. Hey…I wanted to ask you that for a while, now. That night of the football game when we were kids. When we were camping and supposed to meet those girls but you didn’t want to go…. did you know? I mean, I know you didn’t really know you were gay then, but was there something?”

“Are you asking me if I knew I wanted you when I was thirteen?”

“You’re always accusing me of being cocky. What do you think of me, man?”

Noah smiled. “I think I know you and you do want to know that. But I also think I don’t care. It’s who you are, Coop. But….” Noah tried to think of how to reply. “Yes and no, I guess. I didn’t know I was gay, but I knew I didn’t feel the same way about those girls as you did. I never had. I knew then, that I’d much rather be alone with you than with them. That I would have rather been with you than anyone.”

They reached Cooper’s truck as soon as Noah finished talking. It was in the back of a parking lot they’d walked to, no one else around them.

Noah sucked in a deep breath when Cooper backed him against the truck, one of his hands on the hood, on either side of Noah.

“I might not have known then what it meant, but I would have rather been with you than anyone else too, Noah. Always. You’ve always been what’s most important to me. It’s as if, I’ve just been biding my time until we were together again. In some way or another.”

He stepped closer. Lined his body against Cooper’s, all male and musk and so Cooper; he got dizzy from his presence.

Coop leaned forward, until his mouth was right next to Noah’s ear. “I wanna be with you. Want to feel you…inside me. I’m telling you right now, I plan to put out.”

Coop’s honesty, the way he just put himself out there, stole Noah’s breath. Noah grabbed Cooper’s hips, pulling Coop to him. “I’ll make it good for you, baby. I’ll love you so good.”

He’d love him. Always.

***

Cooper’s fingers shook slightly, as he went for the button on his jeans. The second they got back to the cabin, they’d gone straight to the bedroom. Excitement and hunger enflamed him, but those nerves were there, too. This wasn’t a finger or a tongue. This would be Noah’s dick, inside him.

But he wanted it. Wanted it so fucking much, he could hardly stand it.

“No.” Noah touched his hands and Coop looked up at him, afraid he would stop them. But then Noah added, “Let me. I wanna take care of you tonight.”

Cooper nodded as Noah pulled the hem of Coop’s shirt up and over his head. Then removed his own, showing Coop those piercings that drove him fucking wild.

With slow fingers, he unbuttoned and unzipped Cooper’s pants before dropping to his knees in front of him. He slid his hand in the back of Cooper’s jeans, and cupped his ass before pushing his jeans and underwear down.

Coop thread his hands through Noah’s hair, letting his head drop back, when Noah leaned forward, burying his face in Cooper’s pubic hair. “You smell so fucking good.” He sucked one of Cooper’s balls into his mouth, then the other. He felt that one touch everywhere, making him weak. Cooper tightened his fist in Noah’s hair, pulling slightly.

“You’re gonna make me come before you even get inside me.”

“Don’t,” Noah ordered. “Hold off. I wanna play a little. I’m gonna savor every part of you, baby.”