Page 19 of Fear of Flying

Drew wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline and anxiety the call had brought on. Or the kissing and the arousal and the attraction. Or the tug of sympathy he’d felt for Zach’s embarrassment. Or the way he’d just laughed harder than he ever had in his whole life. Or the rhythm of his heart beating in his chest—a rhythm that seemed like it was just for Zach.

But Drew thought he might fucking be in love.

Chapter Eight

Zach

God, could this man be any more amazing, any more perfect?

Their laughter had fully quashed any anxiousness and embarrassment Zach had been feeling from Jen’s inquisition. And now? Damn, Drew was gazing over at him with this look in his eyes that just... just... God, he could hardly breathe from the intensity of Drew’s gaze, all steely blue and sparkling as though Drew was magic or something.

“Are you real?” Zach blurted out.

Drew laughed. “What?”

Zach shifted to more fully face Drew, and he risked putting his hand back on Drew’s leg—because it had felt good and sexy and because a very small part of him wanted to check if Drew was indeed real, or at least felt real. Zach’s fingers twitched with the urge to move higher up on Drew’s thigh, as he’d been doing before they’d been interrupted. His heart thudded in his chest as he remembered how heated things had gotten, and his dick started to get hard again at the thought.

He hadn’t realized he’d been staring at his own hand until Drew’s hand came into view, his fingers tracing lightly against Zach’s skin. “Get lost again there?” Drew said, a slight huskiness to his voice. The pads of Drew’s fingers seemed to leave fire in their wake, burning Zach’s skin, and he let out a shuddering breath.

“Y-yeah...” Zach stared for a moment longer, entranced by the notion that such a light touch could cause his heart to race, his skin to heat, and his erection to twitch back to life. But he finally pulled his gaze away and looked up at Drew. “Are you feeling that too? The—god, I’m not even sure how—how to... I feel alive and on fire and excited all at once. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

Drew seemed to search his face, his eyes flitting down to Zach’s lips and back up as his fingers scorched a path up Zach’s forearm. “Me neither. And god yes, I’m feeling everything. I’ve never... It’s...”

“Words are super hard right now,” Zach managed to say.

Drew grinned and nodded. “So...” he started, his fingers continuing their path upward, teasing at the hem of Zach’s sleeve, his thumb rubbing a slow arc across Zach’s bicep. “That means we should avoid talking, then? Maybe get back to kissing practice instead?”

“Oh, definitely. I agree,” Zach said, smiling yet trembling as he leaned back in to cover the short distance between Drew’s mouth and his. Oh, god. Was kissing always this incredible? Or was it just kissing Drew that was this incredible? He was pretty sure he was addicted to it already.

As Drew’s lips caressed his, Zach’s hand squeezed Drew’s thigh and then crept higher. At the same time, Drew slipped his hand under the sleeve of Zach’s T-shirt, his fingers first caressing lightly and then pressing more firmly into Zach’s muscles. Zach whimpered against Drew’s lips, and Drew moaned softly in response, barely pausing as he continued kissing Zach. Drew seemed to have an urgent need to discover all the secret spots that made him whimper. Hell, Zach didn’t even know what those spots were. All he could think was how incredibly fucking hot this was—they still had all their clothes on and... shit, Zach was more aroused than he’d ever been. Ever.

Drew pulled away, his breath coming in short pants. “Breathing, breathing is super hard too.”

Zach nodded. Fuck, there were a lot of things that were super hard right now, and he was incredibly tempted to move his hand just... Oh god, that would be too soon, wouldn’t it? His fingers twitched with want and molten curiosity against Drew’s inner thigh, which seemed to make Drew react too, his grasp firmer for just a moment, like he wanted to test the shape and firmness of the muscles in Zach’s arm.

Zach swallowed, his throat suddenly dry, and he lost himself again in Drew’s eyes, his gaze somehow both new to him and familiar at the same time. Then Drew was leaning in to capture Zach’s lips again. Zach met him eagerly, marveling that the magic feeling was there for him every time their mouths met. It wasn’t long, though, until Drew’s lips strayed away from his. Zach gasped, a strong pulse of desire shooting straight down to his toes, as Drew started trailing open-mouthed kisses across Zach’s jaw, pausing to nip lightly at his ear, and then... Drew backed up with a small grunt of frustration.

Busy trying to remember how to breathe, Zach didn’t realize what was wrong at first. Then Drew uttered “Here, c’mere, I can’t reach” in a low rasp before moving his hands to Zach’s hips, urging him to... to—fuck, he wanted Zach to straddle him.

His whole body trembling with anticipation and a healthy dose of anxiousness, Zach shifted so that his knees were on the couch, and Drew’s hands found his hips again, tugging gently but with clear eagerness. Putting one hand on the back of the couch to brace himself, Zach paused for just a moment and let out a nervous laugh. “I, uh... I’ve never done this before either. I assume I should just...” Zach lifted one knee and pivoted his hips slightly and set his knee back down on the other side of Drew’s legs. “Like this?”

Drew smiled up at him. “Close,” he murmured, then gave another gentle tug at Zach’s waist. “But you, um, gotta sit all the way down so I can reach...”

“Yeah?” Zach said on a shaky breath. “What are you trying to reach? Oh god, my sexy talk could use some work...” He just knew his cheeks were pinking up if they weren’t already fully flushed from all their kissing.

Drew chuckled lightly. “Practice. We just need practice with all the things. I don’t know what I’m doing either, I just know”—Drew pulled gently at Zach’s hips—“I don’t want to stop. And for what it’s worth, I think you’re very sexy.”

Zach sucked in a breath, then moaned somewhere in the back of his throat as his weight settled more fully across Drew’s hips. God, he could... he could feel Drew’s erection pressing against him, making his dick throb with want.

“Is this—is this okay?” Drew asked, his voice sounding strained, which was somehow even sexier.

“Oh yeah. Definitely. I... This is really, really okay.”

Drew’s hands, trembling slightly, came up to frame either side of Zach’s face as he gazed at Zach. They were both silent for a moment but for the sounds of their erratic breathing, and the now-insistent pulsing of arousal seemed to be everywhere, especially where his body met Drew’s.

“Your eyes...” Drew said softly. “They’re just so perfectly blue... and kind and—and I can’t stop staring.” Drew ran his thumbs across Zach’s cheeks.

Drew’s words and his touch were so full of desire and sincerity and this tenuous self-assuredness, and even though his pulse was still racing in his ears, Zach could feel his heart swell with some unfamiliar emotion.