Page 153 of In at the Deep End

Matt stroked Owen’s chest as he sucked and licked, his own dick like steel.

“My turn to taste you,” Owen ground out.

Matt knelt at his head, and Owen settled into a rhythm, one hand wrapped around Matt’s cock as he took it deep, the other working his own shaft, squeezing it, pulling back the foreskin, pre-cum already glistening there.

Matt rocked, filling Owen’s mouth, his hand rubbing over Owen’s chest, teasing his nipples, tugging gently on Owen’s chest hair.

Then Owen stilled. “Wait.”

Matt pulled free of him, and Owen flipped over onto his stomach again. He turned his head to look Matt in the eye, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“I… I want you inside me.”

For a heartbeat, Matt stared at him, certain he’d misheard.

The only sounds in the room came from below them in the pub, mingled music and conversation.

Owen was still looking at him. Offering himself.

Matt’s throat tightened. “Are… are you sure about this?”

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t.” He paused. “Or if I didn’t trust you.” Then he smiled, warm and so certain. “Please, Matt. I want this. With you.”

Matt took a deep breath. “Okay. Let me be what you need.”

Owen closed his eyes for a second.

Let me be what you need.

A wave of heat stole over him, and he felt a little light-headed.

Matt’s reaction was everything.

From the moment the idea had first occurred to him, he’d wondered whether it would be a mistake, whether asking had been selfish. Whether he’d taken something that had belonged to Ben and laid it at Matt’s feet far too soon.

Yet Matt had acted as though the thing Owen had entrusted to him mattered every bit as much to him as it did to Owen.

The knot in Owen’s belly unravelled a little.

A memory surfaced unbidden. Ben, years earlier, taking his hand.

We’ll stop if you want to stop.

Never once had Owen felt hurried. It had never been about proving anything.

It had been about feeling completely safe with another human being.

He looked at Matt now, waiting, quiet.

He’s looking after me.

His chest constricted.

I’ve spent the last few weeks introducing Matt to new experiences—guiding him, reassuring him, making sure he never felt out of his depth.

But somewhere along the way, the balance had shifted.

Matt isn’t the one needing reassurance anymore.