“I think you answered my question,” Damon said as he pulled away.
Lucky had no idea what he meant. “What question?”
“About tonight. I think it’s safe to say that it’s a date.”
A smile exploded across Lucky’s face. “Yeah. It’s a date.”
His smile melted away as Damon’s cock slipped from his ass. Damon turned Lucky in his arms and claimed a proper kiss. Lucky clung to Damon’s chest and savored every stroke of Damon’s tongue. This had been earth-shattering. Lucky wouldn’t forget this. Even when Damon stood him up later, Lucky would cling to the memory of the way Damon kissed him now. Damon’s kiss felt like the closest to love Lucky had ever been. It would have to be enough.
Four
If Damon knew nothing else, he knew he had to have more of Lucky. Damon’s body hummed the entire day. He had sex. Damon wasn’t a monk. He had a fuck buddy who worked out of town. They got together whenever Frost was home. It was just a way to scratch a mutual itch or whatever. This was different. Terrifyingly different. Damon’s hands shook like he had spent the morning doing coke and couldn’t wait for his next high. There were so many issues with the way he felt. Damon didn’t know where to start.
He had purposely never touched Lucky before now. Damon had known there would be no going back if he did. He didn’t know what happened today. His hand had landed on Lucky’s knee. That was it. That was the exact moment Damon had gone too far. When Lucky had covered his hand, Damon had been incapable of pulling away. Then Lucky had begun the slow guide toward his cock. Fuck. Damon went hard again just thinking about it.
Lucky had so much confidence in his ability to seduce that he was impossible to resist. Damon would like to think he was old enough to know better and control himself. Nope. He was a lost cause when it came to Lucky. Damon had been secretly wanting him for too long. That was the gist of things. For almost two years, Damon had been helping Lucky through one horrible decision right after the other. He told himself he had to help save who he could. That wasn’t the truth, though. The truth was that Damon had been taking the trash out one night and the most beautiful man he had ever set eyes upon literally landed at his feet. He looked like a fallen angel. Instead, he had been pushed from a moving car by one in a long stream of abusive boyfriends. It hadn’t mattered how Lucky had ended up there. Damon felt like Lucky had been literally gifted to him. They were so different in every way—age and character—that Damon fought against himself. The truth had always been unavoidable. Damon wanted to be Lucky’s man.
After a long afternoon of overthinking his entire life’s choices, Damon ended up being ten minutes late to Lucky’s. He knew immediately that had been a serious misstep. The brittle edge that had disappeared from Lucky’s features in the last two months was back. Damon’s stomach dropped the second Lucky answered the door. Lucky’s smile was fake as hell, making Damon twice as bright—something he was definitely not.
“I don’t smell anything cooking.”
Lucky’s expression turned guilty. “I didn’t think you’d show.”
That was all it took to kill Damon’s discomfort. His brow furrowed. Damon’s features hardened with zero input from his brain. “Why in the hell wouldn’t I show?”
Lucky shifted from foot to foot, looking like a squirming child. Damon found himself eyeing Lucky from head to toe. He wore baggy jeans and no shoes. His bottom lip was swollen—like he had almost chewed it raw, worrying at it.
Damon’s ire disappeared. Lucky didn’t know how to be with anyone who didn’t mistreat him. Damon couldn’t stand the idea of Lucky being scared of him. He closed the distance between them and claimed Lucky’s lips. Damon felt the tension drain from Lucky as he kissed Damon back. He stroked Lucky’s jaw, still trying to soothe him. Damon poured his heart into their kiss, trying to will Lucky into understanding how much he cared. Maybe Damon had a lot going on in his head. Not only was he a lot older than Lucky, Lucky worked for him and was Damon’s tenant. On top of all that, Lucky had a lot of issues and Damon couldn’t fix him. This was a huge mistake. Damon didn’t want to stop making it now. They both deserved some happiness.
Damon lightly brushed his lips across Lucky’s and stroked Lucky’s cheek with his knuckles. “I’m sorry I’m late. Would you like me to take you to dinner?”
Lucky’s eyes were glazed over, as if still lost in their kiss. “The guys downstairs will see us leave together.”
Damon shrugged. “They saw me come up here. Plus, everyone already knows we’re friends.”
“Am I ruining your life?” Lucky worked on looking panicked again. “Before today, I had a lot of thoughts about how I was risking everything by wanting you. But I didn’t think about how you might look to everyone else, and I don’t want to embarrass you.”
Something about knowing that Lucky had been worrying about wanting him brought out Damon’s possessive side. “I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. There’s not a goddamn thing wrong with me recognizing a good man when I see one and taking my shot. Now, I’m on my Harley, so if we’re going, I have to grab the extra helmet from the office. Are we going?”
With his bottom lip between his teeth, Lucky visibly fought a grin. He nodded.
Damon kissed Lucky again, because—in the face of Lucky’s surety that he would be let down again—Damon would be goddamned if he failed him. He really liked Lucky. Maybe things weren’t ideal, and he had concerns, but he genuinely liked Lucky. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. No one would be hurting Lucky again, especially Damon. They were about to do this thing. Fallout be damned.
Lucky didn’t know what to expect from a date with Damon. They had known each other a couple of years, but this was different. Lucky still hadn’t gotten past Damon showing up. Damon always treated Lucky like he genuinely cared and that was a mind fuck, for real. He had spent the day swinging wildly between being blown away by what happened in Damon’s office and terrified at the idea he had ruined their friendship. It honestly hadn’t crossed his mind he should bother cooking. Lucky had been one thousand percent certain Damon wouldn’t show. He hadn’t been mentally prepared for this date.
As the night unfolded, Lucky slowly came to the realization there was no way he could have readied himself for a proper night out with Damon. First, Damon took them for a ride along the coast before stopping at an outdoor bar and grill. The place had smokers going and grills crackling. The scent of cooking meats floated from every direction. Round patio tables with bright umbrellas and flickering candles littered the area around the wooden shack. Lucky’s stomach growled as he climbed from the back of Damon’s Harley. This place was nothing like his usual dates. Men always took Lucky to five-star restaurants where they lectured him on healthy eating and berated every item he ordered. After all, as Javier had pointed out the day that he dumped Lucky, Lucky was only a pretty face. Arm candy didn’t get fat.
“I’m guessing this place doesn’t serve salad.”
The look of horror Damon shot him was almost comical. “Do you want me to take you to a place that serves salad?”