by A. D. Ellis
“Who knew Khi Harris was a cuddler?” I teased, my lips brushing against his ear.
“I’ll deny it,” he warned, but he ran a hand up and down my back as our bodies seemed to melt together. “You okay?” His hand brushed over my ass.
“I’m good.” And I was. The delicious ache in my ass was a reminder of what had just happened, proof I hadn’t dreamed it. “Would you seriously want me to top?”
Khi tensed momentarily, but relaxed when I kissed his neck. “Yeah, for sure. Blaine refused to top for me even though he knew I was vers. His cheating hurt for a lot of reasons, but walking in to see him railing a stranger in our bed—knowing he’d give a paying customer something he’d never once given me—was the most painful.” He tipped my chin. “Would you want to?”
I nodded. “I get read as a strict bottom all the time—actually, I guess it’s just more that the guys I’ve slept with are only interested in me as a bottom—but I’m vers and definitely interested.”
We cuddled in a comfortable silence for a while before Khi broke the silence. “Is this going to get weird? Have we totally fucked ourselves over?”
I propped up on my elbow and trailed my hand down his arm. “I think it depends on how we react. Are we going to let it get weird?”
Khi frowned. “I don’t want to. I think my head is just having a really hard time wrapping around the fact that maybe I don’t hate you as much as I thought I did.”
“Understandable. I went through the same a while back when I realized I didn’t hate you as much as I thought I did.”
“So, we’re good? We can work together and maybe not hate each other while having hot sex until we both get tired of it and then we move on?” Khi raised a brow as he waited for my answer.
I fought to ignore the little flutter of disappointment in my chest at the thought of Khi eventually tiring of having me as a fuck buddy, but I just nodded. “Yep. Mutually beneficial setup for as long as it works for both of us.”
And then what, you moron? You already know you’re feeling something for him. Are you seriously thinking you’ll be able to just let him go when he finds someone else?
Whatever. It didn’t matter. Neither Khi nor I had plans to stay at Remington Place permanently. I’d get my designs picked up. He’d move on to something bigger and better.
And you’ll both just happily leave your friends and family and each other?
“Shower?” Khi interrupted my thoughts.
Nodding, I pressed a kiss against his lips.
We crowded into the shower on our floor and thoroughly enjoyed getting clean and getting each other off.
By the time Dalton and Gabby came home an hour later, Khi’s blanket was in the wash and we were settled in the game room talking smack as we played a game on one of the three systems available.
Gabby stuck her head in the room and her brows raised when she saw us together. “Did hell freeze over while I was at work?” she asked.
Khi scoffed. “Just kicking his ass.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever, you wish. I was bored.” I shrugged. “Better him than boredom.”
Gabby narrowed her eyes as if she totally didn’t believe me or her brother. “Mmhm, if you say so.” She walked away but threw an assessing glance over her shoulder.
Khi turned to me with a smirk and a wink.
“If your sister is suspicious, Cooper is going to eat us alive,” I warned.
“It’s not a big deal. We’re grown men, we can fuck whoever the hell we want.” Khi won the game and tossed the controller to the side. “I’m going to head to bed, watch a movie before I fall asleep. Hope tomorrow’s shift is interesting. If not, I’ll probably be able to finish that training course.”
I stood and stretched before following him out of the game room. “You okay with me sketching some designs while you watch your movie? I’ll keep the light low.”
“That’s fine. Once I fall asleep, I won’t even notice so don’t stop on my account,” Khi said as we headed toward our room.
We ran into Spencer in the hallway and he scowled at us. “Are you two having a conversation and being nice to each other?”
Rai stuck his head around the doorway as if highly interested in the answer.
“Whatever, it’s common courtesy for roommates to respect each other’s sleep and not be disruptive,” I said.
“Yeah, common courtesy for most, but you two haven’t ever really played by those rules.” Spencer cocked his head to study us and I wondered if what Khi and I had done would have been less obvious to our housemates if we’d plastered neon signs above our heads.
“We’ve been getting along better,” Khi offered.
“Besides, I’m only making sure he’s okay with me drawing while he’s awake. I plan to be asleep well before him because there’s no way I can fall asleep with his snoring.” I shrugged and continued toward our room.
Khi snorted. “Whatever. I don’t snore.”
“You do,” I quipped over my shoulder as I entered our room.
I found myself spun around and slammed against the door, Khi pressed against me. “I don’t.” A wicked hot grin teased his lips just moments before he crushed his mouth against mine.
Turned out, no movie was watched and no sketches were drawn before bed that night. And I was so spent and relaxed after our mutual orgasms that I had zero difficulty falling asleep despite the fact that Khi most definitely had a snoring issue.
Ten
Khi
Shit.
Shit.
Shit.
No, for real.
Fucking shit.
What had I gotten myself into?
Sex with Dre was amazing, no complaints there.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the unexpected connection.
What the fuck was up with the cuddling? Why did I wake up excited to spend a shift with him? Just sex wasn’t supposed to feel like this, was it?
My head was a jumbled mess when I walked into the kitchen.
“Coffee?” Dre asked with a hopeful smile.
“No,” I bit out and rushed from the house. But not before I saw the wounded look cross over Dre’s face.
Fucking hell.
I was an asshole of epic proportions. I had no clue how to do this. How did I go from hating the guy for a decade to fucking him and not despising the time spent with him? I’d stupidly thought I could fuck him and still keep him at a distance, but I’d been wrong.
So very wrong.
My feelings toward Dre had changed, but I didn’t know how to handle this alternate universe. Could I just move from hating him to liking him that easily? Was that even allowed?
Seems like you’ve done it, dumbass. Why make such a big deal out of it?
But I’d sworn I’d avoid entanglements after the catastrophe with Blaine and it wasn’t fair to put Dre in the middle of my fucked-up life.
Get over yourself. Your life isn’t that fucked-up. You were cheated on by a lying, drunk asshole. You’re better off and you know it. You’ve got a good job that you love, family and friends, and a home. Don’t use that as an excuse to push Dre away.
But the opposite of pushing Dre away was the part I wasn’t sure about—the part that scared the fuck out of me. There was still way too much of our past between us. Maybe we didn’t hate each other anymore, but it wasn’t like we had anything in common. Not like we had a future.
Right?
Sure, you only share the same friends, work together, and live together.
I huffed as I tossed my bag onto my bed in the bunkroom. Whatever.
When the door opened behind me, I tensed.
“We need to talk,” Dre announced as the click of the door locking filled the room.
“Look, I…”
“No, you look.” Dre stepped close, crowding me against the wall. “We said we weren’t going to let this get weird. But the moment we see each other in the light of day, you retreat back to the aloof asshole.”
I tried
to interrupt, but Dre kept on. “I get it, it was just a damn cup of coffee, but you had your dick buried in my ass last night and I kinda thought things had changed just a bit. I’m not asking for a proposal, I don’t expect a promise of forever,” Dre’s voice caught. “But I like you—as weird as it is to wrap my head around after all these years—and I don’t think it’s a damn sin to do something nice for people you like.”
“I’m sorry. I’m not sure how to handle all of this. Blaine fucked me up and I can’t go through that again.”
Dre scowled and poked a finger into my chest. “Is there anything about me or what we’re doing that makes you feel like you’re back with Blaine?”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “No, you’re nothing like him. But I swore I wouldn’t put myself back in a vulnerable position. Last night, I was hit with feelings I hadn’t experienced in a very long time and this morning, I didn’t handle them well.” Feelings that, if I was being completely honest, I hadn’t experienced with anyone else. Ever.
“We’re fucking, that’s all, remember? I’m not a drunk, I’m not a gambler, I’m not a cheater. I’d like to think we can enjoy our time together and maybe grow our friendship.”
I tipped up his chin. “I’m sorry for being an ass.” I wasn’t sure how the hell I was going to adjust to this new situation, but the draw I felt toward Dre was strong enough I wasn’t willing to let it go just yet.
“I know we said it wouldn’t be weird, but I think it’s inevitable. How about we agree to talk about it when things are feeling weird and make the best of whatever time we’ve got?” Something crossed Dre’s face—sadness? I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to take the feeling away from him.
Dipping my head, I brushed my lips over his and sighed when Dre’s arms wrapped around my waist. “We’ve got like twenty minutes before our shift starts,” I suggested, knowing he was referring to time in the greater sense of the word, but not ready to think that far ahead.
Dre took the distraction and slid his hands under my sweatpants. “Ten minutes to get off, ten to clean up and get in uniform.”
We ended up naked on Dre’s bed, his legs spread open for me, and our cocks rubbing together. I devoured his mouth, savoring the flavor of Dre and coffee on my tongue, as I took both shafts in my fist. “Give me your hand.”
Dre wrapped his hand around mine and we stroked together.
Voices in the hallway urged us along, both Dre and I laughing into the kiss as we jerked ourselves off and attempted to stay quiet. “Come for me,” I murmured against his mouth.
When Dre’s groans got louder, I captured his lips again and slid my tongue deep, absorbing his grunts and moans as our fists stroked faster and faster.
Dre tensed in my arms as his cock throbbed and shot hot, thick ropes over our fingers. With his dick pulsing in my hand, my own release washed over me. Pulling back to watch our cum mix together on his stomach, I shuddered before collapsing on top of Dre and kissing him deeply.
“Two minutes to spare,” Dre said with a laugh.
By the time we wiped ourselves off and pulled on our uniforms, the awkwardness of the morning had eased.
“Well, I got here early to run on the treadmill, but that cardio was a lot more fun,” I said with one last kiss.
“I only got here early to bitch at you about not wanting my coffee,” Dre said with a smirk. “But I’ll take getting off with you every damn morning.”
As we left our room and began our day, I pushed aside my concerns about how to deal with the changes taking place between Dre and me. The sex was amazing, we were taking baby steps toward being friends, and we could enjoy what we had for as long as it worked for both of us.
“Shit, man, what is up with these calls this week?” Dre muttered as we wrapped up a drop-off at the emergency room. “Did someone piss off the medical emergency gods? Is Mercury in retrograde? Full moon? I don’t know if I can take another one with a damn baby in danger.”
Four days earlier, we’d been called out for a baby who had stopped breathing. Doing CPR on an infant while his shell-shocked mother rode in the rig, clad in only the t-shirt, sweats, and slippers she’d had on when we arrived, watching in hopeful horror was a situation I’d always dreaded being in. It was just as bad in real life as it had been in my nightmares. I’d gotten the baby breathing again and the oxygen flowing, but carrying that baby into the emergency room, watching him struggle to breathe, and wondering if he’d be okay was something I never wanted to do again. The fear and pain on that bedraggled mom’s face would haunt me.
Two days ago, Dre and I had taken an extra shift and ended up called out multiple times for random, easy shit. But the final call of the shift had been a twenty-eight weeks pregnant woman who had been a backseat passenger t-boned on her side of the car. The driver had lacerations and pain from the airbag, the other two passengers were shaken, but the mom-to-be had started having contractions after the accident. Another bus took the driver while Dre and I got the pregnant patient loaded up and delivered to the emergency room.
“At least we know the baby is doing better and the pregnant lady’s contractions stopped,” I offered. The baby had aspiration pneumonia along with RSV, but he’d been sedated and put on the vent and was making progress already. The mom-to-be had spent a night hooked up to monitors and fluids, but she and the baby were both doing fine and she was released to go home and hopefully stay pregnant for at least ten to twelve more weeks.
“Yeah, it’s good to have connections at the hospital,” Dre said. He narrowed his eyes and assessed me as he headed the rig back to the station. “Who’d you get your information from? Was it that PICU resident who always gives you the flirty eyes?”
I laughed. “Maybe. But what’s it matter? Better to know both calls ended well, right?”
“We did agree to be monogamous during whatever this is, right?” Dre gestured between us as he drove.
“We did. Plus, I don’t offer sexual favors for updates on patients. I’ve never slept with Dr. Rosen.” My cheeks heated.
“Let me guess, though, he was happy to buy you a few drinks and let you blow him in a bathroom stall late one night at an upscale gay bar a couple towns over?” Dre asked drily.
It was my turn to narrow my eyes. “How’d you know?”
Dre shot a duh look my way. “Looks like Dr. Rosen has a type.”
I scoffed, ignoring the way my gut twisted at the thought of Dre on his knees for anyone but me. “Hot, Black, and beneath him?” What the fuck? We’d agreed to monogamy for this little tryst, but where in the hell was the jealousy coming from?
Dre laughed. “He probably got off extra hard knowing he had a lowly EMT sucking him off.”
“You do suck dick like a champ,” I teased, hoping to clear my chest of the strange feelings I had about Dre with Dr. Rosen.
“I’m not picky.” Dre smiled and shrugged. “EMTs, paramedics, nurses, doctors. Have dick, will suck.”
I laughed. “I’ll hold you to that later.”
“I definitely need some decompression time, this last call was rough, man.” Dre parked the bus and we climbed out, ready to do our checks and restocks.
“Yeah, it was,” I answered quietly. We’d been called out for a toddler found unresponsive in a family pool. Despite our best efforts, we’d not been able to get the baby breathing again before we got to the hospital. Handing off our patient to the hospital staff, watching them take over resuscitation protocol as the sobbing father fell to his knees and watched helplessly as his baby was whisked away, was definitely a top haunting moment of my career. “I try to stay positive, but I have to say I don’t know that I want a follow-up on that one because I don’t think the outcome is going to be good.”
Dre winced. “Yeah, I hear ya. So damn hard to watch.”
Just as we finished restocking and cleaning the rig and filling our plates with some sort of unidentified casserole that at least smelled delicious, we got another call.
“Damn, see what I’m saying?
Someone pissed off the gods of emergency calls and we’re getting shit on,” Dre grumbled as he shoved a couple bites in his mouth and grabbed two rolls.
I followed suit, sticking a roll in my mouth and holding one as we rushed to the bus.
Dispatch filled us in that a fifty-two-year-old female was acting strange. The husband had called 911 fearing she was having a stroke or similar.
When we arrived, the scene was definitely a nice break from the seriousness of our last few calls, but the unknown of the situation always put me on edge. A female was stretched out on the couch, laughing hysterically, while trying to eat what looked to be some sort of cake with icing. The husband was frowning and asking his wife if anything hurt or if something was wrong. A sullen teen boy sat on the couch rolling his eyes each time his mother cackled and tried to get the cake into her mouth. She had more icing on her face than in her stomach if I had to guess. She was a mess, but our initial assessment didn’t set off any warning bells of a stroke.
As I tended to the patient’s vitals and did my best not to laugh at her antics—like pretending to whisper about how hungry she was and how she just wanted to sleep but her giggle monster was awake—Dre hid his smile and asked a battery of questions of the husband and son.
The son was as sullen and noncommunicative with Dre as he appeared to be with his parents. His dad, however, did his best to answer the questions.
“She was super hyper when I got home and that isn’t like her at all at this time of day. She’s a teacher and usually she’s conked on the couch with wine and papers to grade, not bustling around the kitchen talking a mile a minute.” The man frowned at his wife splayed out on the couch. “Can you tell what’s wrong with her? You’re sure it’s not a stroke?”
“Nothing indicates a stroke at this time, but it is concerning if this behavior is unlike her. You say she drinks wine, could she have possibly had more than normal?” Dre asked.
The man shook his head. “I didn’t see a bottle or glass anywhere. And she usually gets sleepy with wine, not laughing like a maniac.”
