Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

asked. “I know it was hard to see people leave without us. Do you want to talk about it?”

Apparently not. Zach pushed Adam onto his back, and his mouth crashed down onto Adam’s so hard their teeth clashed briefly. Adam groaned but soon forgot the pain of the clumsy move, lost in the hunger and passion of the kiss. He pulled Zach farther onto him, wanting to feel the weight of him. Zach was so demanding tonight. So full of need and not taking the time he would usually. After a couple of minutes of kissing, he rolled onto his back, grabbed the lube, and spread it on his fingers.

He hadn’t asked if he could, Adam thought suddenly. He normally asked. Nicely brought up boys always asked for permission. For a second, this made him want to resist. He liked to be wooed into giving someone his ass, even someone he loved. But when Zach slipped lubed fingers inside him, the sensation allowed for no resistance. No silly games. Zach seemed a bit strange tonight—the day’s events must have unsettled him—but Adam couldn’t deny he wanted Zach, strange or not.

He raised a knee, shifting the angle, and moaned when Zach began to massage his prostate. “Oh yes! Do it, Zach, do it!” That counted as permission sure enough. Zach needed no more urging. Adam tried to roll onto his front—the position easier in the confines of the sleeping bag—but Zach put a hand on his belly, stopping him.

“No. I want you to see my face.”

Odd thing to say. Usually guys said “I want to see your face.” Did Zach think Adam would forget who was fucking him if he did it from behind? But he didn’t object to taking it from the front, even though his legs were tired and aching from the climbing.

“Unzip the bag,” he said. “Give us some room.”

Zach did, too fast. The zip stuck, and he cursed in a bloodcurdling way.

“Wow, so you actually can swear.”

Zach looked at him, baffled. “What?”

Adam smiled. “Never mind. Let me.” He freed the zip and opened the bag right to the bottom. At once, Zach pounced on him.

“Zach! You are so horny tonight.” Seeking comfort again, like the night before? Still mourning? Or something else? When they’d made love in the open air last night, there’d been a desperation in Zach. Not tonight. This felt like something else.

Zach thrust into Adam in a swift movement, hard, deep.

Something else. Anger.

What the hell? Angry at who? Why? Couldn’t ask. Couldn’t talk. Couldn’t think. Could only writhe mindlessly under Zach, Zach’s cock thrusting into him at the same time as his hand pumped Adam’s cock. Adam wrapped his legs around Zach’s body, kicking away the sleeping bag as he did. Cool air on his burning skin felt like a caress.

He almost had to bite his tongue to keep from crying out as the pleasure intensified beyond the point of no return. Zach made no sound, though, stared down at Adam with a fierce and fiery look in his eyes. Not only keeping quiet for the sake of not telling the whole camp what they were doing, but as if he couldn’t spare the energy. All his strength concentrated in the powerful thrusts of his hips and legs, and Adam welcomed that strength, fed on it, his tiredness receded, replaced with intense energy.

He pulled Zach closer with his legs until his hand had little room. Zach’s knuckles grazed Adam’s belly as he pulled on Adam’s cock, faster and faster.

“Say it again,” Zach said, through gritted teeth. “Say it again.”

“Say what?”

“You love me. Say you love me.”

“Zach!” Adam bit his tongue at shouting a bit too loudly. “Don’t play games. You know what I feel.”

“I love you, Adam. I love you. Please say it back.”

Not a game. He sounded so needy. Did he need that kind of reassurance? How could Adam know, when he’d met Zach such a short time ago? And the first few days of a relationship, a person was on their best behavior. Trying not to reveal weaknesses or their more crazy sides. In the current emergency, Zach might be excused for not being able to sustain his best-behavior act any longer.

“I love you, Zach.” It couldn’t do any harm to give him reassurance, with all the pressure he had to deal with. If a reminder he had Adam’s love would help him retain his confidence, then by all means, Adam would reassure him. Why not say something true anyway? “I love you.”

Zach climaxed, his body going rigid as he spent himself inside Adam, and he stopped his rhythmic tugging of Adam’s cock. It didn’t matter; Adam came too, spurting onto Zach’s chest and then feeling the warm stickiness of it against his skin when Zach collapsed on top of him. They lay like that for a moment, panting, before Zach recovered enough to withdraw from Adam but stayed lying on top of him, looking down into Adam’s eyes.

“Aren’t you cold?” Adam asked. For himself, his blanket of Zach kept him pretty toasty.

“I’m okay,” Zach said.

Adam ran his fingers down Zach’s back, feeling goose bumps. His hands rested on Zach’s ass and stayed there for a while, cupping the firm cheeks, thumbs stroking gently, until he felt a draft on the backs of his hands and his forearms.

“It is cold. Zip up the bag.”

Zach sighed and sat up with apparent reluctance. He passed Adam a towel and zipped the bag. Adam threw the towel away into the shadows after he wiped the stickiness from them both, then snuggled against Zach’s side.

Zach’s arms circled Adam’s waist, pulled him close. He kissed Adam, who closed his eyes and welcomed the deep, slow kiss, taking a moment before opening his mouth, making Zach wait.

“You’re tense tonight,” he said when they came up for air. “I feel it. You’re all wound up.” Adam himself felt boneless and close to sleep after his orgasm, but it seemed to have had little effect on Zach’s tension, which thrummed