Page 54 of Caught Running
“Don’t worry about it, baby,” Jake murmured with another kiss. “It’s enough to do this every night.”
Brandon pressed his face closer, deliberately inhaling Jake’s scent with a low, slow breath. He was so sleepy, but he didn’t want to give up enjoying this time close to Jake. “I gotta cut back,” he murmured to himself. “This is more important.”
Jake turned his head and brushed his chin against Brandon’s hair, frowning at the words.Cut back?“Cut back on what?” he prodded.
“Mmm. Work. Running myself ragged,” Brandon answered drowsily. “Rather be with you.”
“Are you saying you want to quit coaching?” Jake asked evenly, though he wasn’t sure why the thought upset him so much.
Brandon stiffened. “No,” he said, waking up a little. “I was thinking more along the lines of shelving the doctorate and quitting the tutoring.” He fell quiet for a few moments. “Do you think I should quit coaching?”
Jake hesitated, frowning thoughtfully. “Which do you enjoy more?” he finally asked in response.
Rousing himself to give it some serious thought, Brandon tried to separate the fact that coaching meant more time withJake. He’d been doing the tutoring for five years now, and while he did enjoy it, it wasn’t at all challenging. The doctorate just didn’t seem to be coming together. And with the baseball team, for the first time, he was accepted. Included. Welcomed. He sighed. “The coaching,” he murmured.
“Then that’s what I think you should do,” Jake answered, his voice betraying that he hadn’t expected that answer.
Brandon shifted back so he could look at Jake. “You sound surprised,” he said. Honestly, he was, too. But then a lot of things in his life had changed the past couple of months.
Jake shrugged a little guiltily and smiled. “A lot of things about you have surprised me,” he admitted as he rested his head back down on the pillow.
“Like what?” Brandon asked, smile pulling into a grin.
Jake just shrugged again, blushing slightly and pulling Brandon closer to hide his face against his neck. Brandon laughed and poked Jake’s ribs. “C’mon now,” he wheedled. Jake swatted at him and rolled until he was on top, burrowing his face into Brandon’s neck and growling playfully.
“Man, pulling information out of you is like pulling teeth,” Brandon said, still laughing. “Fine. I’ll just go with my current assumption that you’re rather fond of me,” he said as he slid his arms around Jake’s neck.
Jake pulled back then and kissed him, smiling as he did so. “Iamrather fond of you,” he murmured cheekily between kisses.
“Well, I sure hope so. You up to seeing me more in the mornings and evenings? Wouldn’t want to wear out my welcome. I’ve been spending a lot of time at your house already,” Brandon’s voice teased, and for the most part he felt that way. But buried underneath it was uncertainty.
“It’s easier, right?” Jake asked with a frown as he propped himself up on Brandon’s chest and looked down at him. “Staying with me?”
Brandon looked up at him evenly, the teasing gone. “I don’t stay with you because it’s easy.”
Jake returned the serious look for a long moment before breaking into a teasing grin. “You stay with me ‘cause it’s hard?” he asked innocently.
Lips clamping on a smile, Brandon thumped Jake’s chest with the back of one hand, shaking his head. “Yeah,” he said wryly. “That’s it exactly.” He was slowly figuring out that he wasn’t going to get words from Jake. But the actions were pretty damn incredible, and he told himself to be content with that.
“Is it?” Jake asked in a more serious voice as he leaned back down to brush his lips over Brandon’s again. “Exactly?”
Sliding his hand into Jake’s hair, Brandon contradicted himself. “Not exactly,” he whispered against his mouth.
Jake grunted and kissed him again. “Tell me,” he urged, the words gusting over Brandon’s lips.
Brandon shivered and closed his eyes. “Tell you what?” he asked. “Why I stay?” His fingers clenched into Jake’s skin, holding on tight. He was afraid he’d ruin it. Jake merely nodded, his nose brushing against Brandon’s cheek.
Jesus. Brandon was so tempted to keep turning it around, each of them asking question after question as they banged the issue around like a crazed ping-pong ball, but he didn’t think he could take it. Brandon was already so tired and out of emotional fortitude that he’d let the conversation stray to this. His heart pounded. “Because I want to. I want you. And I hope—” his voice faltered, and he had to swallow before he could continue, “hope someday you might want more.”
Jake closed his eyes and smiled against Brandon’s lips. “I do,” he responded simply.
Three heartbeats. “Christ,” Brandon choked out. “Why the hell did you make me go through that?” he asked, if possible clutching Jake closer.
“Go through what?” Jake asked, innocent and wide-eyed as he raised his head again.
Growling, Brandon shifted his hands and went for Jake’s ribs and ticklish spots. “Bastard,” he swore.
Jake squawked and flopped to his side, curling up like a cat to protect his belly. “What’d I do?” he cried as he fended off the jabbing fingers. Brandon kept at him, sliding one hand down to catch the sensitive skin behind one of his knees, muttering all the while as he tried to get Jake on his back. Jake flopped again and wrapped his arms around Brandon to hold him closer, close enough that he couldn’t reach him anywhere. “Bad!” he scolded.