He flopped the iPad into his lap and sighed.
“Nothing, huh?” Nick asked, sounding amused. Kelly shook his head. Nick reached for the iPad and clicked it off. “I tend to like the amateur ones myself.”
Kelly glanced at him, his c**k showing interest at the mere thought of Nick getting off to amateur p**n .
“They’re more real, less acrobatics,” Nick explained, meeting Kelly’s eyes without flinching. Kelly found it harder to breathe when Nick smiled mischievously. “Real people who are really attracted to each other. It’s sexier. Sometimes just the roll of the hips is all it takes for me.”
Kelly swallowed hard. “You realize what you just said got me harder than five minutes of watching two people f**k.”
Nick smiled slowly.
“You are a devious ass**le, you know that?”
“I do.”
Kelly barked a laugh. “Is it possible to just be attracted to one guy, instead of all guys?”
“I don’t know, Kels, anything’s possible. You’re not attracted to all women, are you?”
“Not really.”
“There you go.”
“I’m so confused,” Kelly said with a sigh.
They sat side by side in the bed, looking at each other speculatively. Nick finally shrugged and smiled. He shifted and wrapped his arm around Kelly’s shoulders, pulling gently until they were both reclining against the headboard.
“You know what I think?” Nick rumbled in Kelly’s ear.
Kelly closed his eyes and leaned into Nick, smirking.
“I think you’re thinking too hard. And I know why you’re doing it.”
“You do?”
“The same reason I am. You don’t want to hurt me because you’re my friend.”
Kelly closed his eyes. Nick had the damnedest way of making things seem simple sometimes.
“Take your time figuring it out, Kels. I’ll be here.”
Kelly wasn’t sure if it was the Percocet hitting him or Nick’s simple promise that caused the warmth spreading through his chest. “You’d do that? You’d wait for me to figure things out?”
Nick began to grin. “I got no one better to do.”
Kelly laughed despite trying not to. “What about that guy? What was his name? The fireman?”
Nick cleared his throat and loosened his hold on Kelly’s shoulders. “Aidan. Like I said, that’s been pretty casual. And . . . if there’s something here with you?” He looked up and into Kelly’s eyes. “How could I pass that up?”
Kelly caught his breath, staring into Nick’s eyes and trying to decipher the heavy feeling in his chest. Nick drifted his knuckles over Kelly’s cheekbone, and soon enough their lips met.
Something about the combination of gruff no-nonsense and tender attention was hitting buttons Kelly had never known he possessed. He could hear hints of the staff sergeant giving orders in Nick’s words, but they were blunted by caresses full of adoration and mischief. It was a heady mixture, and it was signature Nick O’Flaherty. It was everything Kelly had always loved about Nick. His brusque leadership under fire—“Get your fat Navy ass down before I blow it off!”—and the warmth of his friendship in times of peace, all boiled down in this moment to a word and a gesture.
Kelly grabbed the front of Nick’s shirt. Nick looked down at his hand, smiling when he met Kelly’s eyes again.
“I don’t care why or how,” Kelly grunted. “I like this. I like seeing you like this. I like . . . I like thinking of you like this. I want more.”
Nick opened his mouth to speak, but he seemed to struggle to say anything as his cheeks flushed.
“I’m serious, O.”
“I know you are,” Nick managed to say. He licked his lips and began to grin. Kelly’s heart skipped a beat as he recognized the look in Nick’s eyes. He had just decided to throw caution to the wind and follow Kelly into the fire, just like he’d done many times before. Damn the odds of getting hurt.
Kelly leaned and kissed him, wincing as his wound pulled with the movement. Nick pushed him back so he was against his nest of pillows again, still kissing him, his hands beginning to roam down Kelly’s body.
But soon Nick grunted in annoyance and shoved away from him. “I just really can’t do this properly until you’re better.”
Kelly grabbed for him and caught him by the collar. “Are you serious? How about improperly, then, because now I need it.”
Nick fumbled behind him and grabbed the iPad, plopping it in Kelly’s lap. “Watch more g*y p**n ,” he said as he tried to disengage his collar. “It’ll calm you down.”
Kelly released him and slapped him on the side of the head, but Nick took the punishment and then rolled away, out of Kelly’s reach.
“Seriously?” Kelly cried.
“I don’t want to get carried away and hurt you again, okay?” Nick said as he straightened his T-shirt. He looked and sounded sincere. “Because I will. Last night was bad enough. I mean Jesus, you look like you got strangled, and I f**king bled, man.”
Kelly reached to the bedside table and grabbed a handful of bacon, chucking it at Nick with a laugh and a curse.
“Hey! I have to clean that up!”
“So get cleaning,” Kelly said as he grabbed a handful of cold, soggy eggs.
“Don’t,” Nick warned with a point.
Kelly quirked an eyebrow.
“Don’t you do it.”
“Come give me a cuddle with a happy ending.”
Nick was still pointing at him. “I will not be leveraged.”
“Cuddle,” Kelly said, waving his hand.
“I don’t negotiate with terrorists!”
“Come on, Nicko, come give me a manly cuddle.”
“Put down the eggs.”
“Promise I’ll get a cuddle?” Kelly asked.
Nick rolled his eyes. “Yes, just put down the eggs.”
Kelly grinned triumphantly and plopped the eggs back onto the plate.
“Now you’re disgusting, there’s no way I’m touching you.”
“I needed a shower today anyway,” Kelly said with a shrug. Nick rounded the end of the bed, watching him warily. Kelly gave him a sly smile. “Will you help me?”
Nick pulled the covers back and bent over him, pressing a kiss to his lips before growling, “I end up with egg on me and you’re on your own.”
“Deal,” Kelly managed. Nick hefted him out of bed, still kissing him, wrapping around him, growing more heated and pulling him closer. Before Kelly realized what he was doing, his hands were in Nick’s hair, grabbing on so he could kiss him harder.