-Devin-

An hour after taking breakfast to Avery's cabin, he met Avery by the truck. He thought he noticed a faint blush on Avery's cheeks when Avery smiled at him. It didn't surprise him at all that Avery probably had a crush on him.

"We're not going far today," Avery told him. "Mitch wants us to clean up the camp after last night's storm, so we're going to be picking up branches and removing a couple trees that came down."

He nodded and got to work. He was in a better mood today since he'd been able to sleep with Avery last night. The couple weeks he'd been here without sex had seemed like some of the longest of his life. Being at this camp hadn't helped either, and the whole experience was really testing him. Without Avery here to take the edge off, he'd probably have lost his mind by now.

He looked over at Avery, watching him while he collected branches and put them in the back of the truck. Avery bit his lip as he concentrated on getting a branch free from underneath a tree trunk, and Devin thought it was adorable. Then he shook his head. He'd never thought of a guy as adorable before. He'd never even used that word to describe anything. However, it did fit Avery. He was a cute guy, but just not Devin's type.

He thought back to last night. Avery hadn't been a bad lay, although he would have liked some more participation from him rather than just fussing about how things were too rough. Still, he'd gotten off and had been able to throw a guy around, so he knew he should be grateful to Avery for that. He resolved to treat Avery better going forward and to not make things so difficult for him.

His good mood lasted throughout the day and was apparently obvious to others, because Sam commented on it at dinner when he helped Amanda set out the food she had cooked.

"Wow, Devil, a nice gesture and no snarky comments from you. Did hell freeze over last night?"

He smirked in response. It amused him every time Sam called him 'Devil', although it earned her disapproving looks from Peter.

"I heard yesterday was your birthday," Amanda said. "Avery was making a cake for you when we came in to cook last night."

"Yeah," he responded. "I got steak for dinner too. It was nice."

"That would certainly put me in a good mood."

He noticed Avery looking at him, a tense expression on his face. He guessed that Avery was nervous he'd make an inappropriate comment about what else they did last night. Instead, he shrugged. "Avery's a nice guy," he said nonchalantly.

"I think that's something we can all agree on," Amanda said.

-

After dinner, he was walking back to his cabin when Avery caught up with him. "Thanks for not saying anything. You know, about us."

"No problem."

He watched as Avery went up the stairs to his cabin, and a thought came to him. It was Friday night, and he didn't want to be bored again all weekend. He figured he could at least spice things up tonight. He turned and took the steps up to Avery's cabin, causing Avery to turn around in the doorway.

"Can I come in?" he asked.

Avery stepped inside and let him through, closing the door after him. "What's up?"

"Wanna fuck again?"

Avery's expression became guarded. "Devin, that was a one time thing. We can't do that again."

"You said that about blowing each other, and look how that's turned out."

"I know. But we shouldn't have. This is my job, and I can't do these things with you."

"Do you really think anyone would care? If there's not some rule against it, it's fair game. Besides, Mitch would never fire his model employee."

Avery's eyes shifted away, and Devin knew he'd made a good point. There probably was no rule against it; it was just Saint Avery fighting with himself about what he should and shouldn't do.

"Come on," he said. "I was better today, wasn't I? Blowing off some steam helps."

Avery looked up, his gaze intense in a way that Devin hadn't seen before. "If we're going to do this, we're going to do it my way."

He crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk making its way onto his face. "What's your way?"

"Last night was too rough. I don't like that, and I've got bruises all over. I want to be able to see you the whole time. No pushing my face into the bed. No biting. And I'm going to set the pace."

Amused by Avery suddenly finding a backbone, he decided to indulge him. He had promised himself that he'd be nicer to Avery anyway, so this would be a good start.

"Okay," he replied.

Avery's brows furrowed, as though he didn't really believe that Devin had given in so easily.

"Condoms and lube are in the top drawer in your nightstand," Devin said. "I left them here after last night."

"I noticed."

They stared at each other, him with a smirk and one eyebrow raised, and Avery looking like he was a cornered animal.

He held his hands out to his sides. "Well? You're in charge tonight."

After another moment of hesitation, Avery walked over to him. He reached out and put one hand on Devin's abs, as if he wanted to feel the muscle below the thin fabric of his shirt. Avery subtly moved his thumb, stroking a spot on Devin's abs. Even though it felt good, he wondered what Avery was doing. Most men would be groping him or would have removed half his clothes by now. He didn't understand this cautious approach.

He stood there and let Avery do whatever he wanted, and over the next few minutes Avery slowly undressed him, his eyes glued to Devin's body. He knew he was hot and lots of men agreed, but the way Avery was looking at him was different somehow. Avery seemed to be admiring his body, taking his time in looking at every detail as though he were a statue of a Greek God. Avery ran a few fingers over his side, curving over his obliques and tracing the V shape between his hips.

By this point, he was ready to get to the main event, but he tried to be patient. Avery only made that more difficult when he bent down and kissed near one of Devin's hip bones. His frustration was growing, and he wished Avery would hurry up and do something other than tease him and stare at him.

Finally, Avery pulled off his own shirt and removed his pants and briefs, then placed his hand on Devin's chest and lightly pushed him back towards the bed. When his legs hit the mattress, he sat down and let Avery push him onto his back. While this wasn't the same as being thrown around and pinned down like he was used to, he realized there was a quiet confidence to what Avery was doing.

When Avery leaned down and began to kiss his neck, the kisses were light and punctuated with gentle nibbles, rather than the biting and sucking Devin would have preferred. Avery's own movements were subtle at first, and he did everything slowly, keeping his eyes on Devin's face. This was exactly the kind of making love shit that Devin didn't like and had vowed he'd never do. But he knew he had to suck it up if he wanted to get laid. Besides, it's not like it didn't feel nice.

Avery stopped watching his face and closed his eyes, beginning to ride him with more exaggerated movements, his taut abs flexing as his hips rolled. Devin had to admit that it was hot, and it was a stark contrast from the way other men had used his body. He reached up and lightly put his hands on Avery's waist, his thumbs brushing Avery's abs, and Avery made a small, content noise. He ran his hands up Avery's back and then trailed his fingertips down Avery's chest. 

Avery wasn't the type of guy he would have gone for, but after weeks of being around him and hooking up with him, he had to admit that he didn't mind Avery's body and was starting to feel attraction to him. He actually liked Avery's lightly defined muscles and soft skin. The features he had deemed too cute before - Avery's big, earnest blue eyes - were now his favorite thing about the guy. Avery was adorable, and in this moment, he would even go so far as to call him sexy.

The constant long, slow movements Avery made were gradually compounding the pleasure he felt. He was used to throwing someone around and getting off on the intensity of it, so he'd never experienced anything like this. It was like a wave of continuous pleasure.

Avery leaned down and kissed him, changing the angle as he did. It seemed tighter somehow, and he couldn't stop himself from moaning into Avery's mouth. Avery's lips were soft and his tongue felt good against Devin's as he slowly kissed him. He started to lose control, and he could tell Avery was too.

When it was over, he closed his eyes and tried to catch his breath. This had been intense in a way he wasn't used to, but everything had felt amazing. When he opened his eyes, Avery was looking down at him, a soft smile on his face. He suddenly felt weird, like his stomach was in knots, and he sat up quickly. Remembering to be gentle, he pulled Avery off of him and got out of the bed to grab his clothes. He had barely gotten them on before he mumbled "Thanks" to Avery and left.

Outside, he paused and leaned against the wall of Avery's cabin. He felt flustered and out of his element. The whole experience with Avery in there had been too close for comfort. Avery had kissed him, and he rarely kissed anyone during a hookup. Certainly not the way Avery had kissed him. Nothing that Avery had done was anything like what he'd experienced with the multitude of men he'd been with. The multitude of men he'd fucked. What he and Avery had done...that was something different.

He hurried to his cabin, deciding that he was going to keep his distance from Avery for a while. He had the whole weekend to find something to do on his own and get back to feeling centered and more like himself.

-Avery-

Stunned and confused, Avery sat in his bed with the sheet pulled over his lap. He'd never had anyone leave him right after sex. Since all the guys he'd slept with before had been his boyfriends, they'd always stayed up talking or fell asleep together afterwards. Devin must have set a record with the fastest exit ever after sex.

Had he done something to offend or upset Devin? He knew Devin liked things rough and probably hadn't enjoyed it as much doing things his way, but Devin had seemed flustered. Flustered was not a typical state of being for Devin, and if he was annoyed by something he'd always made that very clear.

Whatever the reason for Devin's strange reaction, he couldn't help but be disappointed. This encounter with Devin had been some of the best sex he'd ever had, and he wished it hadn't ended like this. Not only was Devin incredibly hot, but he had been sort of sweet during their encounter. He closed his eyes, remembering how it felt to have Devin's hands on his waist and Devin's fingertips trailing down his chest and back. They'd been good together once Devin had let him take the lead, and he was already dreaming of doing it all again. But after Devin's behavior, he didn't think there was a good chance of them hooking up again. He knew he shouldn't even want to after the way Devin had been treating him.

He got out of bed and walked to the shower, just wanting to clean up and get to sleep. He felt like he'd been used even though he had known not to expect anything different from Devin. As ridiculous as it seemed, he'd felt less used the night of Devin's birthday because at least that time Devin had stayed with him and snuggled up to him all night. This time, he was left feeling like the whole thing had just been a dream. He spent the rest of the night trying to fall asleep and wondering what he could have done to upset Devin.