Page 73 of Epidermis

“You said I could come tomorrow. It is… technically tomorrow.” Konrad didn’t sound any less exhausted now.

Guilt thrashed Jasper’s heart. He must have worried Konrad sick with that ominous invitation, so much that he couldn’t sleep. Okay, they were doing this. Tonight.

Jasper motioned for Konrad to come in rather than linger in the doorway. The dogs had already gone back to sleep, satisfied that the intruder was just their friend.

Jasper wiped his hands on his jeans, more out of nervousness than to clean them; there wasn’t anywhere left on his thighs that didn’t have wet paint there already. Konrad came to stand just shy of the edge of the tarp on the floor. That was probably for the best if he didn’t want paint on his nice shoes.

“I’m not taking the job in New York.”

Konrad’s hand flexed at his side, his head making a jerky motion as swallowed. “Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to be that far away from you,” Jasper said, stepping off the tarp. He took Konrad’s hands—paint washed off hands much easier than clothes. “And because I didn’t want it, not really. I’m happy with what I have here… and who I have.”

He looked up at Konrad, his hands shaking, fingers clutching Konrad’s for stability. “Because I’m in love with you.”

Konrad’s eyes turned crystalline, shining where they stood below the naked bulb that illuminated the shed, and the fraying twine Jasper had tied to its chain to be able to reach. He brought Jasper’s hands to his lips and closed his eyes as he kissed them. “Elskede,” he whispered, a tear cutting a glistening path down his cheek.

“What does that mean?” Jasper asked. He couldn’t believe he’d never thought to before.

Konrad opened his eyes and cradled both of Jasper’s paint-smeared hands against his chest, likely ruining his sweater. “Beloved.”

“Oh.” There was a lump in Jasper’s throat now. “You’ve… you’ve been calling me that since Vegas.”

“Yes.”

Jasper choked, the lump dissolving into something that burned wet in his eyes. “You’ve… since then? All this time?”

“From the moment you first spoke to me.” Konrad leaned down, resting his forehead against Jasper’s. “I love you, and I have loved you. I will love you, Jasper, for as long as you will have me.”

“I love you too,” Jasper managed through the emotion trying to strangle his words into silence. “I’m sorry I made you drive all the way here.”

“All the way here? Run to the ends of the earth, darling. See how I pursue you just as readily.”

Jasper kissed him, up on tiptoe to keep from leaning against him, since at least his slacks had still come out of their meeting unscathed. Konrad immediately rendered his efforts pointless as he wrapped him in his arms and pulled Jasper against him. The clothes were truly a lost cause now, so Jasper curled his hands around Konrad’s face just as he’d done the first time they kissed. He stained Konrad in blue and red and violet and kissed him like a man madly, hopelessly in love.

He didn’t know who reached for the other’s clothes first. It seemed like a mutual decision, a shared need to be as close as possible, their lips parting only so he could pull Konrad’s sweater off. He fumbled with the clasp of Konrad’s slacks in his eagerness and their foreheads met, both of them laughing as they both watched him struggle. Konrad had a much easier time with his jeans, and Jasper’s heart raced as they shoved each other’s pants to the floor, kissing again as they both kicked out of their shoes. Thank god for the space heater he’d turned on in the shed or they would be freezing.

Konrad closed the door, even though it was more likely for them to be seen by a wandering coyote than another person. He turned to find that Jasper was fully naked and he set upon him with such intensity that Jasper stumbled back onto the tarp, crinkling the plastic under his bare feet, gasping when Konrad wrapped one arm around him and took him straight to the floor.

“There’s mineral oil on the toolbox, next to the paints,” Jasper said, flicking his eyes in that direction. He shifted, grimacing at the feeling of the plastic of the tarp against his back. He could feel every wrinkle and stiff spots of dried paint.

Konrad retrieved it and returned to him. He shed his boxer briefs before lying between Jasper’s legs. “Are you uncomfortable on this hard floor?,” he asked, coating his fingers in the clear oil.

“It’s not the floor, it’s the tarp,” Jasper said quietly. He was always uncomfortable with something.

For an instinctive moment he thought how Konrad must get so tired of it, before he remembered that Konrad didn’t. That realization sat somewhere deep in his chest, stitching previous gashes of insecurity.

“Come here,” Konrad murmured, slipping an arm beneath Jasper.

He flipped them so that he was on his back with Jasper on top of him, and only Jasper’s knees touched the tarp beneath them. Konrad guided Jasper to settle atop him, bringing Jasper’s head to his shoulder. “I’m going to do everything, darling. Just let me have you.”

“God, yes,” Jasper groaned as one large hand closed around his hip. The other was caressing his ass before pressing oiled fingers to his entrance.

Their mouths joined again as Konrad opened him up, working his prostate until Jasper was pushing impatiently at the waistband of Konrad’s boxer briefs. Konrad took his cock out and slicked it with more oil, then he was pushing into Jasper, their moans harmonizing as he did. He wrapped his arms around Jasper and held him in place as he rocked up into him. Jasper clung to his shoulders, panting into his neck, pressed as fully against Konrad as he could be.

“You’re gonna… get messy like this…” Jasper gasped between slow thrusts, each of them so deep he could feel Konrad through his entire body.

There were already streaks of color on Konrad’s skin, both of them sweating, and Jasper’s warning earned him a harder thrust that made his nails dig into Konrad’s shoulders. “Good,” Konrad said. “Cover me in you.”