Page 101 of Too Close To Home

It was really fucking nice.

Then it was gone.

Harrison pulled abruptly and hit the tree behind him. “Jesus.” He closed his eyes. “Sorry.”

Jake was still catching up. “S’alright.”

“No.” Harrison shook his head. “No, I really shouldn’t have done that. Forget it happened.”

Jake stared at him.

Yeah. That was gonna be difficult.

Especially when Harrison’s chest rose and fell as if he’d run all the way up here. When every breath came out uneven and white in the cold. And definitely not when he finally opened his eyes and looked straight at Jake again. Because for a man telling him to forget it, Harrison wasn’t leaving. He could have stepped around him. Walked away. Put some distance between them.

He didn’t.

He stayed against the tree, watching him.

Waiting.

So Jake took a step closer.

Harrison followed the movement with his eyes. And when Jake came within reach, he lifted his hand and curled his fingers around Jake’s arm. Not pushing him away. Not pulling him closer either.

Holding on.

Fuck.

Jake moved the last little bit himself.

Then he slid his hand along Harrison’s neck, brushing his thumb along the rough skin of his jaw, giving him every chance to turn his head. To tell him no. To step away.

Harrison did none of them.

So Jake kissed him.

Slowly at first. A press of his mouth against Harrison’s, testing whether that first kiss had been a moment of madness Harrison genuinely wanted to take back. Then a breath slipped out of Harrison. Soft. Barely there. Jake felt it against his mouth.

And fuck, that sound.

That tiny loss of control from a man who seemed to hold every part of himself so tightly made something kick hard inside Jake. He wanted to hear it again. So he tightened his grip on Harrison’s neck and pulled him closer.

Harrison came willingly.

No resistance.

And when Jake kissed him again, the spark of it went straight through him. Sharp. Immediate. Nothing like the easy, familiar rush he knew how to deal with.

Too much.

Not enough.

All at fucking once.

Dazed by it, Jake deepened the kiss and eased Harrison back into the tree. Harrison’s mouth moved with his, still careful, but then his fingers tightened around Jake’s arm, and he kissed him back harder.

There.