Put a Ring on It (6 page)

No way was Kieran ever finding out about this. Strictly need to know. And no one needed to know.

“Maybe later, baby. I’m kind of busy right now.” He went down all the way to the base, and Kieran made a sound like his brain was melting, leaving Theo reassured that Kieran’s attention was solely focused on his own cock.

Theo ran an octave in thirds, the echo rumbling around the bones of his jaw, reverberating on the dick in his mouth, and Kieran’s gasps went higher, louder. Theo would have smiled if he could have.

“Fuck, Theo. Oh, fuck.” Kieran’s hips bucked, and Theo let him move, let him drive the motion, even when he slammed deep enough to hurt.

Theo hollowed his cheeks, increasing the pressure, riding the tipping point with Kieran. A stuttered now-now-now warning and Kieran flooded his mouth. Theo gulped and Kieran shook, another bitter jet salting Theo’s tongue. Theo moved more slowly, tongue soft through the last spasms, spilling just a little overflow to slide down and shine in Kieran’s pubes.

God, Theo wanted to cover every inch of Kieran’s skin in shiny come, rear up and pull a solid load all over him, except Theo’s dick had somehow lost access to what his nuts were holding. There was the frustrated ache now. But unless his dick rebounded, it wasn’t going anywhere.

God, if Jax—if any of them—found out about this, he’d never hear the end of it.

Worse, if Kieran thought—

While Kieran was still coming down, Theo jumped up and grabbed a towel from the bathroom, making a show of wiping over his crotch and the sheets before patting it around Kieran’s sweetly retreating cock.

“Hey.” Kieran’s hand covered Theo’s on the towel, the one with the ring heavy on Theo’s knuckle.

“Hey.” Theo smiled at him, trying not to flinch as Kieran’s gaze drifted down, skating over Theo’s defective equipment.

“Couldn’t wait for me, huh?”

Theo shrugged. “Sucking you gets me off. You know that.”

“Yeah, but you could share a little, you know.” Kieran’s voice was husky, as if he was falling asleep, though it was barely eight o’clock. Theo picked up the towel Kieran had dropped on the floor.

Kieran rolled onto his side, propping his head on his hand with a cocked elbow. “So.” His gaze flicked away and then fixed on Theo’s face. “If we do get married, is the sex still going to be that good?”

At the moment Theo would settle for functional, but he leaned in to brush a quick kiss across Kieran’s lips. “Even better. I promise.”

KIERAN JOLTED
from sleep and squinted at the clock. Why the hell was he wide-awake at 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday? Right. Theo had blown Kieran right into a mellow glow and then fed him bacon so that he crawled into bed to drool into his pillow by nine like a geriatric.

His life was kind of awesome.

Right now most guys his age were probably shoving whatever desperate hookup they’d made at closing time out the door. Kieran was tucked under a fluffy duvet that had cost more than two months’ rent at his old place, next to the guy who’d bought it, not to show off, but because Theo had shown Kieran a couple that matched the color scheme, and Kieran had said, “I like that one,” without looking at the price.

It wasn’t that Kieran didn’t know how fucking lucky he was. Theo’s condo was a Manhattan palace, and while Theo might get a little obsessed about balancing color in the throw pillows, it was comfortable and didn’t feel like living in a modern art museum. And if roles were reversed and Theo had had no place to go and had moved in with Kieran last August, he knew Theo would have made even that shitty little hole look good and feel comfortable. That was who Theo was.

So Theo and the condo were all perfectly awesome, and Kieran knew he didn’t deserve it. Theo did all this stuff for Kieran—whether he asked him to or not—but there was that one important thing Theo wanted that Kieran couldn’t make himself say.

Not that he didn’t love Theo. But saying it the way Theo meant it created all kinds of expectations Kieran knew he couldn’t handle. His thumb rubbed across the unfamiliar band on his right ring finger.

And sometimes, like today, Kieran had to wonder if it was him Theo wanted to hear it from. Like Kieran was assigned to play a role in Theo’s latest show, the boyfriend who doesn’t care how late Theo works. And if the script called for a fiancé now, that’s what Kieran would be.

It was hard to know what was really in Theo’s head when he always seemed to be producing something.

Kieran rolled toward Theo and hit empty space. Where—but Theo wasn’t gone, just far away, huddled in a ball on the edge of the mattress.

It just shocked him because Theo always slept on his back, arms neatly folded, as regal as a pharaoh painted on a mummy case.

Kieran inched his way over and cuddled against Theo’s back. Warmth drifted into Kieran’s body, chasing away the last of the strange fear that had hit when he’d thought Theo wasn’t there. Kieran buried his nose in Theo’s neck, breathing in his familiar smell. His hair, his skin, his sweat.

A sweet pressure built in Kieran’s balls.

“That’s a cold and pointy thing to stick into the back of a guy in the middle of the night,” Theo said without moving.

“I think I’m insulted on behalf of my dick. You don’t usually complain about being stuck from behind.” Kieran ran his hand along Theo’s hip. “Besides, it’s morning.”

“Is this going to be one of those times I regret having a much younger man in my bed?”

Kieran snaked his hand along the groove of Theo’s thigh and found his soft dick. He humped his own against Theo’s ass. “I don’t know, is it?”

He cupped Theo’s balls, hips nudging closer, cock sliding along Theo’s crack. When Kieran shifted to grip Theo’s dick again, Theo’s hand covered Kieran’s.

Not stopping him but not encouraging him either.

Theo’s finger tapped the ring.

“Did I scrape you with it?” Kieran lifted his head.

“No.”

That wasn’t much help. Theo was always so good at orchestrating things, Kieran had gotten used to playing along. Did the hand and the limp response mean try harder or leave me alone?

Kieran brushed a kiss behind Theo’s ear. “I really like it. I’m kind of turned on at the idea of jerking you off while wearing it. Want to watch?” He pressed up to reach for the light, but right then Theo flopped over and Kieran got an elbow to the rib cage that knocked him onto his back.

“Seriously?” Theo loomed over him.

Off guard, words rushed out as soon as Kieran caught his breath. “Yes, seriously. You freaked me out yesterday, but I—I love the ring.” Fuck it. “I love you.”

Theo studied Kieran’s face, as if waiting for him to take it back. “Did you just figure that out?”

“No.”

Theo’s mouth dropped open in exaggerated shock, and then he kissed Kieran, hard. “Ha. You are a total pushover for a big romantic gesture.”

Kieran squeezed his eyes shut. “Tell no one.”

“Hmm. There will be a price.”

Kieran opened one eye to a tiny slit.

“A stiff price,” Theo continued.

Kieran groaned and rolled Theo under him. “I’ll give you all you can handle.”

“I thought you wanted to handle it.”

Kieran dropped his forehead onto Theo’s shoulder, helpless against a wave of laughter. It wasn’t that funny, but after all that tension, damn, it felt good.

Theo’s hands cupped Kieran’s ass and rocked them together, and that felt good too.

Kieran held Theo’s face and kissed him while they ground together, dicks filling, thickening. Heat and sensation and the smell of them together. Kieran flexed his ass and moved them faster. Kissing along the hard, raspy edge of Theo’s jaw, Kieran scraped his teeth along Theo’s ear and said it again.

Theo squeezed him tighter, hands hard and hot and pressing Kieran close. He didn’t realize until then that he’d been waiting for something to happen because he’d said it. That he might lose something by giving this away.

But it was just them in the dark. Alone. Safe. Kieran could get out of his head and simply feel.

Hard friction, Theo’s ragged breaths in his ear.

Theo’s body stuttered, jerked, mouth open in a long groan, buzzing wet against Kieran’s shoulder.

“God, yes.” Theo jerked again, and a warm, slick spurt coated their dry hump. “Oh, thank—fuck.” Theo bucked in quick shudders as he came, so slippery hot on Kieran’s dick.

A rumble of satisfaction filled his ear as Theo’s hands reached again for Kieran’s ass, fingers grazing his taint, then rubbing hard.

All the pressure exploded in a magnesium flare of want and need. His hands grabbed, body reached, and he went over the edge, shooting between them, thick, hard shocks to empty his balls and leave him spineless.

If they just didn’t move, could stay here where it was all warm and dark, Kieran didn’t care if come glued their pubes together permanently.

Theo stroked his hand down Kieran’s back. “I’ll go get us something to clean up with.”

Normally it didn’t bother Kieran that Theo’s instant reaction to the by-product of sex was to wipe them off as soon as possible. It was nice, Theo’s way of taking care of things.

Not now. Right now Kieran wanted to keep them wrapped in this bubble as long as he could. His hands still gripped Theo’s shoulders. With a squeeze, Kieran mumbled into Theo’s neck, “I don’t—can we just—”

Theo hugged him. “Yeah. We can.”

Kieran relaxed his hold, shifting his face to find a little breathing room.

“I’m sorry about yesterday. I just don’t know how to do stuff halfway.”

It was exactly what Kieran didn’t want to think about right now, but he couldn’t help a tiny smile at Theo’s admission.

“I’ve noticed.”

Theo’s breath of a laugh tingled into Kieran’s bones.

“Just, if you feel the need to do something like that again, could you talk to me first?”

Theo kissed the top of Kieran’s head. “Yeah. I can do that.”

KIERAN MUST
have gone out hard the second time because when his phone woke him up, it was light out. He was alone and decidedly not sticky or crusty.

He dragged his phone to his face. The text that had woken him had been from Shanara. Work? It was Saturday, right? Twelve texts from Brett.
Missed call: Mom.
Two missed calls. Apprehension made his breath come faster. His grandmother had looked fine the last time he saw her.
Missed call: Finn.
Oh, shit. If his brother was calling too, it must be some serious shit.

It felt like he’d stuck his hand into a nest of snakes instead of just reaching for his phone. Now he had to decide which one bit first.

More awake now, he heard Theo outside the bedroom, pacing around, probably multitasking as he talked. Excited tones but his business voice. Whatever crisis had Kieran’s boss, friend, and family all trying to get in touch with him before nine on a Saturday morning, it couldn’t be world-ending big.

He tapped his mom’s message. The first voice mail was from 11:49 p.m. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you call?”

He hadn’t missed a high holy day, which for his family had more to do with tradition and scrutiny about what you were doing with your life than religion. He hadn’t failed to return a call.

The second missed call was at 7:31 a.m. Like she had slapped off the alarm and waited exactly one minute. “Will you call your mother? Please?”

So not his grandmother. He’d been hearing that level of exasperation from his mother most of his life. He was about to return the call when the phone vibrated with a stay of execution.

Brett, who could only be awake this early if he was at work.

“Hey.” Kieran answered. “What did you break this time?”

“Well, I don’t know about me, but you and your fiancé might have broken the Internet by now.”

Kieran was on his feet before he knew he was moving. “What?”

“You’re viral, baby. Three hundred thousand hits on YouTube. Just Google proposals. I’m sure you’re the whole damn first page.”

The phone slid out of Kieran’s numb hand. He knew he still had hands and all his other parts, but he couldn’t feel any of them as the wave crashed over him again.

Of course someone had videoed the whole thing. Of course it was online. And of course everyone from his mother to his ninth-grade science teacher had seen it. And he couldn’t erase it. Couldn’t make it go away. It was too late to get back in bed and try to sleep for the next hundred years. He went into the bathroom and shut himself in the toilet cubicle. He slammed down the lid and sat, crouched over his knees, a hand towel jammed between his jaws to muffle frustrated screams.

Over the static in his head, he heard Theo outside. “Yeah. I have to go now. Call you later.”

Theo’s steps came toward the door. “Kieran.”

Fabric softener on plush terry loops wasn’t that bad a taste.

“Baby?” A light knock.

Another blast of breath and rage into the chewed-up towel.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

Kieran rocketed off his seat and yanked open the door, making Theo take a few steps back.

“Did you do it? Tape it? Release it?”

The shock and horror on Theo’s face drained the heat from Kieran’s head. His boyfriend—
fiancé
—might have spent his life around the theater, but he wasn’t that good an actor. No one was.

“Okay.” Anger had been moving him forward. Without it, Kieran felt like he might just sink right down onto the hardwood floor.

Theo put a hand on his shoulder, and Kieran stepped back, stumbling over a chair.

“Don’t.” Christ, he couldn’t deal with those puppy eyes on top of everything. “Not right now.”

“All right.”

Kieran dropped into the chair, staring out the window. How many of the people behind all those other windows had clicked on the link this morning?
Gay Marriage, Broadway Style.
How long before there were GIF sets of his silent shock? People weighing in on his hair. Critiquing the kiss. Setting up a Facebook poll.
Who’s the top?

“I only planned the proposal. Only worked with the crew and cast. That’s all.”