Hot & Sweet

by Sean Ashcroft

  They both ate handfuls of popcorn at a time, and sipped a sweet dessert wine that Kai had brought with him, even though he really didn’t need to. He’d raised a judgmental eyebrow at Wyatt and told him that he was brought up to be a good house guest.

  It was weird to think of Kai as a house guest, considering Wyatt was mostly thinking about how beautiful he was naked, and all the things he wanted to do to him tonight.

  But they weren’t quite… boyfriends or anything either, were they? They were just… colleagues who fucked.

  Wyatt didn’t plan on thinking too hard about that. All relationships had this weird phase where no one was sure exactly what they were.

  What he was sure of was that he was happy right now.

  He was even happier when Kai turned and kissed him, red wine and the sweet-and-sour taste of the popcorn on his tongue. Wyatt hummed into Kai’s mouth, heat flaring in his gut, his hand reaching out to hold Kai in place.

  The kiss broke for a moment, and Kai looked at Wyatt with wide eyes, licked his lips, and then surged forward again. A soft grunt escaped him as he shuffled closer, demanding more, and Wyatt’s heartbeat was starting to speed up, his lungs burning for breath as Kai occupied his mouth.

  Kai made a soft, happy sound when he backed off the next time, and then looked at Wyatt for a few more seconds before letting a contented sigh escape him.

  He settled against Wyatt’s side, sipping his wine again and resting his head against Wyatt’s shoulder.

  Wyatt was surprised—he thought they’d been about to skip straight to the sex—but this was nice. He moved his arm to wrap it around Kai’s shoulders, pulling him just a little closer to his body and smiling to himself.

  “We’ll get to the sex later,” Kai said after a few moments of silence.

  “We really don’t have to, if you’re not in the mood,” Wyatt said, and honestly… he was okay with it if they just snuggled on the couch for a couple of hours and then went their separate ways.

  Not that he was opposed to some good mutual orgasms, but it was okay if Kai wasn’t interested. It was okay if this was just… a date, or something.

  Wyatt liked Kai’s company enough that he didn’t need to know he was going to get laid to enjoy himself.

  “Oh, no, I’m definitely in the mood,” Kai said. “The sex is great. I’m just… happy sitting here for a while. If that’s okay.”

  “Works for me,” Wyatt said, taking another handful of popcorn. Kai hummed again, and settled just a little more of his weight against Wyatt’s side.

  They fell back into a comfortable silence, Wyatt stroking Kai’s shoulder with his thumb, enjoying the contact while he could get it. Kai didn’t really strike him as much of a cuddler, although Wyatt was just beginning to revise that assessment.

  It was starting to seem more like Kai rarely got the opportunity to cuddle, which wasn’t the same thing as not wanting to.

  After another few minutes, the urge to pull Kai’s hair out of his ponytail got the better of Wyatt. He worked his fingers in gently, removing the black hair tie Kai always used with his heart pounding in his chest, worried that Kai might object this time.

  When Kai did nothing except lean into Wyatt’s touch, Wyatt grinned and let himself indulge in stroking his hair, digging his fingers deep into the long strands and scratching lightly at Kai’s scalp from time to time.

  Kai made soft, happy sounds as he did so, which Wyatt filed away in his mind as potentially useful information for later.

  “I’m starting to think you have a hair thing,” Kai said, tilting his head forward just a little to give Wyatt space to get at his neck.

  Wyatt ran his fingers down Kai’s scalp and brushed them over the nape of Kai’s neck, smiling at the tiny shiver he got in response. He could feel Kai’s breathing speeding up, and that was his first clue that Kai was really into this.

  Which was just as well. “I do,” Wyatt responded. “And yours is really soft.”

  Kai hummed again.

  “And I’m not gonna apologize, but if you behave, I might braid it before bed,” he said.

  Kai chuckled softly. “If you can still manage to braid hair when I’m done with you, I might let you.”

  Another spike of lust jolted Wyatt’s belly. Kai had a way of saying things in his completely flat, dry tone, and making them the sexiest thing Wyatt had ever heard.

  “Got something special in mind?” Wyatt asked.

  “I was imagining grabbing hold of your headboard and locking my ankles behind your neck. To start.”

  Wyatt bit his lip in an attempt to stop a whimper escaping, but he wasn’t sure it was entirely successful based on the way Kai laughed in response.

  There was no way in hell he was about to be able to concentrate on the mating habits of sea turtles now, but at least the documentary seemed to be almost over.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kai blinked at himself in Wyatt’s bathroom mirror, playing with the end of the neat braid Wyatt had put his hair in before they fell asleep, his fingers soft, gentle, and caring.

  He’d had Kai sit in front of him, well-fucked and sleepy, and despite going two athletic rounds, he still wanted to braid Kai’s hair. Kai was still working on processing that.

  No other… lover? Casual fling? Had ever braided his hair. No man ever had, full stop, and it wasn’t as though it was a secret kink he’d never had the courage to ask for or anything—he was quick to ask for exactly what he wanted, because what was the point in pursuing a relationship with someone who wouldn’t do it for him?

  It was just that Wyatt clearly cared, and cared about him and his thoughts and feelings before and after sex, and up until now Kai’s type had been best described as complete assholes.

  Which made Wyatt strange, and strangely wonderful at the same time.

  That was the thing. It was five in the morning, and he was delightfully, perfectly sore all over, and he was smiling a ridiculous little smile at himself over the thought of Wyatt braiding his hair, because it had been a completely unnecessary but incredibly, deeply caring gesture.

  The way his heart fluttered when he thought about it was new, too.

  Kai wondered, briefly, if he should stay the morning and spend it with Wyatt, but that felt like too much. This had gone from rivalry to lust to… something just a little more than that. And it was too fast, but Kai wasn’t inclined to stop it.

  Breakfast, though, would have been a step too far.

  Even if Wyatt had wrecked him overnight and probably could make him amazing pancakes this morning, like that woman on Twitter had said about him.

  They had no idea. Kai was going to feel it all day, and he wouldn’t regret it, either. He’d felt it all day last time, too, and then spent most of the next week jerking himself off to the thought.

  The really surprising thing, though, was that he would have liked to stay for breakfast. Not just for the potential promise of pancakes, but because he liked spending time with Wyatt.

  Wyatt had turned out to be just as sweet off the TV as he was on it, but with a filthier mouth when he wanted to have one and a more wicked sense of humor. Kai could still remember the way Wyatt’s breath had ghosted over his ear as he bent him in two and whispered about how hot and tight he was, and how he could have done this for days without ever getting tired of it.

  Aside from that being physically impossible, Kai felt approximately the same way. There was no question that Wyatt was good in bed.

  And really good, satisfying sex was in short enough supply, but a man who’d braid his hair after because he still wanted to touch, because he wanted to make his partner feel cared for and valued after he’d gotten off? That was the proverbial diamond in the rough.

  Or in Wyatt’s case, the really nice bar of dark, rich chocolate that never failed to make Kai moan happily.

  Wyatt was really good at that.

  He sighed, flicking off the light in the bathroom and heading back to the bedroom.

  Wyatt was still fas
t asleep, so Kai dressed silently in the faint glow of the bedside lamp they hadn’t bothered to turn off before curling up together and falling asleep, trying not to wake him.

  He looked peaceful in his sleep, and he was still smiling. Kai wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Wyatt not smiling, except when he was mad.

  He hadn’t been mad for long, even. He’d been quick to forgive Kai’s initial missteps, because that was just the kind of person he was. A lot of people got tired of Kai’s crap early on, but now that they were getting to know each other, they just seemed to fit together.

  And not just in the sense that Wyatt’s cock felt like it had been molded perfectly for Kai’s ass, either.

  Once he was dressed, Kai padded over to the bed and paused for a moment, smiling at Wyatt’s sleeping face. He reached out to touch, just barely running his fingers through Wyatt’s hair, wondering if he liked having this done for him as much as he seemed to like doing it.

  The soft, happy sound he made implied that he did, and made Kai’s heart flutter all over again. Kai swallowed, realizing with dawning wonder that he was starting to feel things for Wyatt.

  This was only simple affection now, the soft joy of having met someone he felt connected with, but it could have been so much more. It would have been so easy to fall in love with a man like Wyatt, and Kai would have to be careful about that.

  Which was why he couldn’t stay for breakfast. Love was the kind of thing that happened to Kai all of a sudden, when he was least expecting it, and he wasn’t ready for that.

  Not now. Not yet.

  But he wasn’t ready to completely discard the possibility, either.

  “Gotta go,” Kai murmured, bending down to press a soft kiss to Wyatt’s lips.

  Wyatt made a soft, half-awake sound of protest as Kai backed off, which didn’t help with the whole heart-fluttering situation. Wyatt wanted him to stay.

  Hell, Kai wanted to stay, but he also wanted to not fall in love with his co-worker while they still had a show to make. That seemed like a terrible idea.

  So he was leaving now, but he’d be back. He knew himself well enough to know that this wouldn’t be the last time he stayed the night here.

  And maybe, someday soon, he’d stay the morning, too.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “So it’s come to my attention over the last couple of weeks that Kai is a huge fan of chocolate,” Wyatt explained as he started adding ingredients to his bowl. “And this week I’m gonna make him something my mom was famous for back home: red velvet cheesecake brownies.”

  At the other end of the bench, Kai let a soft, needy sound escape him. Wyatt grinned, glad he’d picked something that Kai would enjoy.

  “I’ve actually never had a red velvet cake,” Kai said, dicing an onion with such precision that Wyatt wondered, not for the first time, how the hell he managed not to cut his fingers off doing it.

  “Oh, honey.” Wyatt grinned. “I’m about to rock your entire world.”

  The fact that they were screwing now didn’t seem like a good reason to stop playing up their relationship on camera. If anything, it made it more comfortable to do. Which, honestly, was a surprise.

  Wyatt had been wrong about fucking his co-worker being a bad idea. It was a great idea. This way, he got laid regularly, he was more natural with Kai, and he knew how to get a genuine reaction out of him.

  They were going to have the best ratings on the entire channel.

  “I actually didn’t even know it was chocolate,” Kai responded, a faint blush peeking through the makeup caked on his cheeks.

  “Oh man, it’s this amazing buttery, complex chocolate with enough vanilla to really bring out all the flavors, and then the cheesecake swirl cuts the richness and… you will eat the whole tray of these. They’ll have to drag you out of here to get you away from them, trust me.”

  “I’m already sold,” Kai said. “So if you’re making things for me now, does that mean I can make requests?”

  Wyatt chuckled. “Depends on what you’ve got in mind.”

  “Well, you could start with a glass of wine and a neck massage,” Kai said, smirking.

  Someone in the audience wolf-whistled, which Wyatt figured was about the response Kai was looking for.

  “In your dreams,” Wyatt responded, but was already planning on remembering that for later. Kai was pretty good at asking for what he wanted, but he had a bad habit of making it sound like a joke, sometimes.

  Wyatt was getting used to that now, so he could tell when Kai was serious about something. And who wouldn’t be serious about wanting a glass of wine and a neck massage?

  Besides, Wyatt was hoping that their budding routine of going home together after the show was going to continue today, and he wanted it to continue next week, too, and well into the future if he had his way.

  He liked Kai. He wanted the opportunity to get to know him better.

  He also, if he was being honest, wanted the opportunity to have sex with him more often. Which was fine. It was obviously an important part of a relationship for both of them, and it was incredible. Wyatt drifted back to it all the time while Kai wasn’t around.

  It was too weird to call what they were doing dating, but Wyatt was hoping that once this show was over, they could maybe start doing that. He would have liked to date Kai.

  He would have liked to wake up next to Kai, and he planned on doing his best to make that happen tomorrow morning.

  “Oh, you have no idea,” Kai said, smirking.

  Wyatt cleared his throat. They still had a show to get through, so he couldn’t let himself drift off into fantasy land just yet.

  “Anyway,” he said, “this recipe actually uses Dutch-processed cocoa, which is my mom’s big secret. Sorry, mom,” he added, smiling wryly. “But I don’t think she’ll mind.”

  “You wanna explain to the folks at home what that means?” Kai asked.

  Wyatt got the impression he was asking because he didn’t know, which was… weirdly endearing. He’d gotten used to the idea that Kai knew everything, that his knowledge of food surpassed Wyatt’s by miles and miles and Wyatt was always struggling to keep up.

  It was nice to have the opportunity to tell him something new, for once.

  “This is a little bit more science-y than I usually like to be,” Wyatt began. “But Dutch-processed cocoa has a higher pH than regular cocoa, which makes it less acidic, so it’s kind of… mellower. Creamier. You can taste more of the chocolate flavor, I think. I guess we’ll leave that one up to Kai, he’s the one with the good taste buds.”

  “So how soon are these gonna be ready?” Kai asked, not even bothering to hide how excited he sounded.

  Wyatt liked that he could make food Kai enjoyed. Cooking for people was his favorite way of showing affection.

  “Soon enough,” he promised. “These are actually pretty quick and easy, and they’re a huge hit at Christmas. And the Fourth of July. And every single birthday party and potluck.” Wyatt smiled again, remembering his mom making a batch of these at least once a week when he’d been a kid.

  It had been her way of sharing out her love with everyone. Family, friends, and neighbors. He’d grown up knowing that baking was caring, that it was something that had to be done with love.

  He wanted Kai to feel like he cared about him. There was something so… needy, and fragile about the guy, under all his knowledge and competence and sarcasm. Wyatt had been allowed to see it a few times, and he wanted to work his way past Kai’s outer armor and snuggle up next to him. The real him, the one underneath that not a lot of people got to see.

  It always felt like an honor when Kai let his guard down, and Wyatt wanted him to be comfortable doing that more often.

  “How much food dye are you putting in those?” Kai asked as Wyatt got to that part, looking over at him warily.

  Wyatt looked at what he had left and the color of his batter, and considered.

  “Probably not the whole bottle,” he said. “Like half, maybe.”r />
  Kai stared at him. “I’m going to die,” he said.

  “You’ll be fine. Cochineal is an all-natural food dye,” Wyatt said.

  Kai raised a disbelieving eyebrow, which meant Wyatt got to teach him two things today.

  “It’s made of ground up beetles,” he said, grinning.

  Kai wrinkled his nose, which was unreasonably adorable. “I don’t know if I believe you.”

  Wyatt shrugged. “You can look it up later. But I promise you, it’s true.”

  “And you want me to eat these brownies?” Kai asked.

  “Hey, if you don’t eat them, I will.” Wyatt shrugged. “For the record, you can also use regular red food dye for this. I’m just following my mom’s recipe in case she watches this and then calls me to tell me I did it wrong.”

  Kai chuckled at that. “Your mom would have gotten along with my grandma,” he said, and Wyatt didn’t miss the note of sadness in his voice. He’d remember to ask about her later, see if Kai wanted to talk about it.

  They exchanged a few more good-natured barbs as Wyatt poured both of his batters into the tray and got his brownies into the oven, beautifully swirled, and Kai took the time to explain what he was doing.

  Wyatt always had trouble making comments when Kai was explaining his stuff, because he was just so damned competent that all Wyatt could do was stare and wish he’d had the benefit of the formal education Kai obviously did.

  It wasn’t jealousy, exactly, just a general feeling that he would have liked to know what Kai knew. Even if he had managed to know two things Kai didn’t today.

  Maybe if they spent enough time together, Kai could teach him a few things. Wyatt liked the idea of that.

  The sound Kai made when he tried the brownies was incredible, and Wyatt’s heart soared to hear it. This was the purest expression of affection he could think of, and Kai was responding well to it.

  He had no intention of explaining what this meant to him just yet, because Kai still struck him as skittish, but maybe with a little more gentle coaxing…

  Well, Wyatt wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted from Kai, but he definitely wanted him to be comfortable. Wyatt wanted to be someone Kai felt he could drop his guard around.