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

Zach groaned and turned back to his terminal.

“She’s obviously very proud of you.” Adam’s voice became more serious. “Your dad too.”

“Your parents are proud of you too. Though they are wondering when you’re going to stop sponging off them.”

“Sponging!” Adam bit, reacting to the teasing. “Hey, out of the two of us, which one is working right now?”

The Terraforming Authority had given Adam a temporary job in one of their research labs here in San Francisco and time to work on his doctoral research, while Zach had extended leave both to recover from his injuries and to write up his paper. After that, who knew where they’d go? But they’d go together.

Zach looked back over his shoulder. “Touchy tonight, aren’t we?” Yes, he’d learned a lot about teasing. Adam frowned at him.

“You’ll pay for that, mister.”

“That’s ‘doctor.’”

“Oh, rub it in, why don’t you? Is it my fault a year’s worth of research material vanished into the sea?”

“Maybe you should have stayed. They might have awarded your doctorate posthumously.”

“A lot of good that would do me.” He lay back again with his Link. “Right, I think I’ll jump ahead to the section on potty training.”

That was quite enough. Zach spun out of his chair and tried to jump on Adam. Too slow. Adam leaped off the couch and ran behind it, keeping it between them. He grinned and waved the Link provocatively.

“You want this? Come get it.”

He started backing up, glancing over his shoulder. Zach smirked. Adam was heading toward the bedroom door. He followed slowly, waiting for his chance to make a grab for the Link. Adam backed up to the door and fumbled behind himself for the handle. Seizing his moment, Zach pounced on Adam, grabbing for the Link.

The bedroom door opened, and they almost fell inside, wrestling, laughing like idiots, until their staggering progress dropped them on the bed. Adam first held the Link up out of Zach’s reach, then thought better of this tactic and shoved it underneath himself. This, of course, forced Zach to wrestle him some more to try to get it.

“You really are getting your strength back, aren’t you?” Adam said with a grin suggesting he liked it.

Zach pressed Adam’s arms down by the wrists over his head. Adam stilled, went silent, his struggles and laughter stopped. With serious eyes, he looked up into Zach’s face. Slowly, Zach ran his fingers down Adam’s arms, along the smooth insides of the forearms, the bend of the inside of the elbow, the muscular biceps. Adam. His right-hand man. His strong right arm. He’d be dead without him.

Their relationship might have begun fast, and Zach might have liked that, thinking he was a mayfly, fearing the depth of the past behind him and the height of the future ahead. But seeing Zahara sink had been a shock to a man who thought of a million years as a short time. Things which should happen slowly could happen fast. Things he used to think should happen fast could happen slowly—if he chose to make them happen that way.

He chose.

He bent his head down, and Adam raised his, their mouths meeting each other halfway. Their tongues did the little dance Zach loved so much. The contact sent a wave of heat surging through him, and he began to harden quickly. Adam groaned and shifted until he could wrap his legs around Zach. He broke the kiss and nuzzled Zach’s ear.

“Never let you go,” he murmured. He reached for the buttons of Zach’s shirt. Zach did nothing in return yet, just waited as Adam undid all the buttons and ran his hands over Zach’s chest, teasing the nipples to full hardness. This forced a groan from Zach and made him grind his hips against Adam, feeling Adam’s erection slide against his. Too many clothes between them.

They shuffled about until they were on their sides. Adam tossed the now uncontested Link to the floor, then ran his hand through Zach’s hair, as if hating to take his hands off Zach even for a second. Now both of them could easily unbutton and unzip clothes and expose skin to kisses and stroking.

Getting completely naked together still felt like a luxury after so many cramped and half-dressed encounters in the tent. Zach never wanted to go camping again, or not until a long enough time had passed to make him nostalgic about the good moments of the whole Zahara ordeal. Most of the good moments involved Adam.

Zach wrapped his hand around Adam’s cock, making him moan loudly. Another luxury—decent walls, not tent canvas, allowing them to express enjoyment without telling the entire neighborhood what they were up to. Though the people in the apartment next door had banged on the wall one time they got a little too vocal, making Adam collapse in a fit of giggles.

He wasn’t giggling this time. Zach pushed him onto his back and began to work down his body, kissing ears, neck, throat, lingering for some time in the little hollow between his collarbones. Each well-tanned and freckled shoulder got some attention until Adam was grinding his cock into Zach’s hand and begging him for mercy.

Zach moved on, down Adam’s chest, stimulating his nipples some more until they seemed hard as diamonds. He squeezed the base of Adam’s cock gently to slow him down. For once, Adam was the one in a hurry, and Zach loved to keep him waiting. They had no plans for the evening. Only dinner together, perhaps a walk, to give Zach some fresh air. He didn’t get enough, according to Adam. Though Zach argued he’d had enough fresh air climbing the mountain to last him a lifetime, he’d take a stroll in the twilight on a fine Californian evening anytime Adam liked.

But he wasn’t going out for a while yet. He had something more urgent in hand. He’d reached Adam’s firm, flat stomach. Flicking his tongue into the navel made Adam squirm with delight and pant