Didn’t matter. He only cared about getting to Garrick.
Garrick ripped open the door the second Devlin hit the small landing. He stood before Devlin so beautiful, clad only in the cargo shorts Devlin had left him in earlier that day, and everything about this newer, leaner, dark-haired man made Devlin’s mouth go dry.
Devlin cleared his throat; he tried to smile but it felt tight. “Hi.”
Garrick reached out and put his hand on Devlin’s chest, as if feeling him out. “You’re here.” His unfamiliar blue eyes glistened with brightness for a split second, and then he grabbed a fistful of Devlin’s shirt and tugged him over the threshold. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I stare out the window when I can’t sleep, and when I saw your car my stomach started to flutter. When you opened your door I didn’t know if I was seeing you just because I wanted it so badly.” Garrick’s fingers shook as he shut the door, and the trembling didn’t let up when he took Devlin’s hand in his. “But here you are.”
Devlin wasn’t entirely steady either. He wanted to remain strong and get Garrick’s secrets out in the open right away, but that became less and less important with every second Garrick’s vulnerability hit at him in drenching waves.
Garrick pawed at Devlin’s shirt, as if afraid to stop touching him. “Devlin...”
“Promise me we’ll get this sorted out and be okay together,” Devlin said, his voice as shaky as Garrick was all over. He wanted to throw himself into Garrick’s arms and learn him all over again. At the same time, the man’s reemergence in Devlin’s life had dredged up a heavy ache whose weight had almost crushed Devlin once before. “I can’t survive having my heart ripped out by you a second time.”
Garrick’s face crumbled, and his voice cracked. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.” He tugged Devlin to him with their linked hands, pulled him into his wonderful warmth, and held him tight. “I ran to Redemption because of you, beautiful.” He slid his hands down Devlin’s back and knotted them into fists against the slope of Devlin’s ass. Choppy breathing warmed Devlin’s neck. Garrick kissed his way up Devlin’s skin, stopping with his mouth at Devlin’s ear. “I love you.” Garrick’s chest heaved unevenly as he said it. “I promise.”
Oh, sweet Jesus God. Devlin’s knees went wobbly, his chest burned, and his throat clogged as he stifled down a stupid, hopeful sob. He said he loves me.
“Stay with me,” Garrick added quickly. He clung to Devlin, half holding him up, and his voice slipped to something well past raw exposure. “Please don’t go out with that other guy again.”
Garrick’s plea sank into Devlin’s flesh, hurting him physically. He pulled out of hiding, looked, and saw clear torment mapping Garrick’s face into harsh lines of need. Easing his pain slipped Devlin the rest of the way home.
“I wasn’t with him, baby.” Devlin caressed Garrick’s cheek, almost tearing up when the man nuzzled into his hand. “It wasn’t what you thought either. I was home when you called, not out with Darren.” Heat burned up Devlin’s chest and neck. He could feel it suffusing his cheeks too, but Garrick stood before him, naked longing shining in his too-blue eyes, and Devlin could not leave him hanging, wondering about the rest. “I have this toy, and I tried to make it feel like you. But then you called, and I couldn’t trick my body when it knew you were so close by.” Devlin pushed his sweats down in the back and guided one of Garrick’s hands to his hole. “I’m still slick inside from what I was doing while thinking of you.”
“Really?” Garrick asked.
Looking into each other’s eyes, Devlin nodded, and Garrick pushed his middle finger into Devlin’s ass. Devlin sucked in a deep breath at the breaching of his bud.
“Jesus,” Garrick whispered gutturally, and kept delving until his finger slipped into Devlin past the second knuckle. He went right for Devlin’s sweet spot, and Devlin bumped his ass back into the taking, requesting more. Garrick forced a second digit in right alongside the first and worked them in a shallow thrust to Devlin’s low moans of delight.
Garrick probed Devlin’s chute with one hand and with the other rubbed at his own bulge pushing full and visible against the light tan color of his shorts. “You’re fucking primed already,” Garrick said, “and I feel like I’ve been hard since you walked into the garage two days ago.” Garrick held his two fingers just inside Devlin’s entrance. He teased the sensitive ring, stretching Devlin just enough to pleasantly sting. Never once, as Garrick did it, did he look over Devlin’s shoulder or break their gaze. “You swear you really weren’t with Darren after the restaurant?” Clear fear continued to live in his eyes.
“I wasn’t. I promise.” Devlin ran his hand down Garrick’s arm, trying to soothe, and ended by threading his fingers through the backs of Garrick’s, over the heat of Garrick’s fully erect cock. “What you saw was friendly acquaintances who’d made plans for dinner and were hungry. I talked to Darren at my apartment before we went out. After the day I spent with you...”
Devlin took an unsteady breath as the swell of elation and then the debilitating crush of a possible second rejection worked its way through him where he stood. “It didn’t matter if you ended up feeling like you needed to create something with Grace for those kids; it didn’t change what I knew I felt, how I’ve always felt, about you. It wouldn’t have been right to let Darren think I could ever develop the kinds of feeling for him that I already feel with you.”
Devlin let go and stripped off his shirt. As the shock
