Biting down another groan due to the twitch in his jeans, Gradyn eased back into his seat and rewound to where they’d lost track of their conversation. Oh, right. “So now that you know you have all the time in the world...” Jesus, what he would give to have a cigarette right now, and to hell with the laws and the fact that he didn’t smoke. “Tell me about your college boyfriend.”
Devlin’s eyes were bright, his mouth was appropriately swollen, his hands shook, and it took him a full minute to find his voice again. All of that only made Gradyn want to touch and know him even more.
“Definitely not a boyfriend,” Devlin shared, his voice almost normal again. “Just a friend. His name was Kevin--is Kevin, I should say. He’s alive and kicking and lives in Redemption. We’re actually still friends.”
“Really?” Gradyn swirled his juice in his glass. “This gets more intriguing by the second.”
“I wish, but not really,” Devlin answered, his smile easy. “Kevin and I sort of knew each other in high school but we didn’t hang out or anything. We ended up at our local community college together, sharing a bunch of the same business classes that neither one of us really wanted to be taking.”
“Gotcha.” Gradyn nodded. “Go on.”
“So we’re in our second year, and by then we’d become pretty good friends. I had a small apartment; he was still at home so he came to my place most of the time to study or hang out. One night we were half-ass studying, listening to music, watching TV,” Devlin raised an eyebrow Gradyn’s way, “and also knocking back a few beers.”
“Ah yes.” With his glass in his hand, Gradyn pointed at Devlin. “The old ‘we were drunk and something happened.’ An oldie but a goodie.”
“Ah yes, indeed, but with a twist.” The smile on Devlin’s face infused his voice with animated passion. “I can’t remember what movie we were watching but it had one hell of a smokin’ love scene. Shit,” Devlin laughed, and it made the shots of silver in his eyes twinkle, “I’m not into chicks, and even I thought it was hot. Anyway, by the end of it I was sweating a little from looking at the actor’s tight ass and insane body, and Kevin was already full-out hard in his shorts. I’m not sure why, because I guess thinking back it might have been kind of weird, but right after that sex scene, we turned and looked at each other.”
Devlin paused again. He put his elbow on the table and dropped his chin into his hand. His smile shifted to something soft, and Gradyn thought the change happened more for Devlin himself than for Gradyn or even anyone else who might happen to glance their way.
“Kevin was suddenly about the sexiest guy I’d ever seen in my life,” Devlin shared, that not-so-secret grin still visible. “And when I glanced down, I could fucking see the shape of his erection against his shorts. When I looked back up from gaping at his crotch, he clearly knew I had checked out his junk. He didn’t yell or hit me or run away though. As soon as I processed that something in him might be interested, I threw myself at him. He met me halfway, and then we were kissing, and it was insane. Right away, I grabbed his cock and told him I’d suck him off.”
Gradyn made himself more comfortable as he stared and just fucking absorbed this man’s personality. Goddamn, he already knew he could listen to Devlin talk for days. “Kevin obviously said yes.”
“Oh yeah. Enthusiastically.” Devlin abruptly sat upright, his face contrite. “In fairness to him, what twenty-year-old guy with a boner is going to say no to someone offering to give him a blowjob?”
Gradyn smiled against the rim of his glass. “Apparently not Kevin.”
“Definitely not Kevin,” Devlin confirmed. “He shoved his shorts down and, holy hell, I got one look at his prick and knew I was right where I was supposed to be.”
His words got Gradyn sitting up straight. “You’d never had a thought about a guy in that way before?”
Devlin made a funny face. He combined it with a half-shrug and a so-so motion of his hand. “Yes, I had done,” he said, and went back to playing with his fork and cake. “But at the same time, I don’t know...” He looked as if he struggled to find his words. “Here’s the thing. I had girlfriends through high school and dated a few women my first year of college. I didn’t hate having a girlfriend; I didn’t even dread kissing or touching a woman, it just wasn’t super exciting or interesting to me sexually. I could take it or leave it, and that made it confusing for me.”
Devlin pushed back in his chair, and Gradyn watched him shift his ankle to his knee and dance his fingers over his glass, plate, and utensils.
“Keep going, Devlin.” Gradyn reached across the table and stilled the younger man’s nervous fiddling. He locked Devlin to him with his stare and didn’t speak again until he felt the battle leave Devlin’s hands. “You don’t have to be nervous,” he said. “Nothing you’re saying so far is freaking me out.”
“Did you always know?” Devlin asked. “Were you ever unsure or felt like you needed to experiment with a woman?”
“I always knew. I’ve never had a girlfriend.” Except as part of my job. “But it’s fine if your experience was different. There’s not a list of criteria you have to check off before you get approval to join the team. You get here how you get here, at least as far as I’m concerned, and that’s cool with me.” He squeezed Devlin’s hand and finally let go. “Tell me the rest.”
“Okay.” A smile that trembled a little bit, that Gradyn had now seen on this man at least half a dozen times since approaching
