by May Archer
Cort coiled his muscles and lunged at Cam, ducking them both under. Cam came up coughing and spewing curses, and Cort braced himself for a frontal attack. But a second later, Cam had dived back under, catching Cort by the ankles and dragging him down.
The sneaky bastard.
They played like that for God-only-knew how long, neither of them willing to yield. They were more alike than Cort had anticipated.
When they’d both swum apart for a second to catch their breath, Cort remembered why he’d brought Cam up here in the first place. “You wanna see something cool?” he asked.
Cam raised one eyebrow. “Is this the part where you pull off your underwear?”
Cort laughed again - God, when was the last time he’d laughed so much? “Dude, when I pull them off, you’ll be saying something a lot better than cool.”
Cam snorted.
“It’s another piece of random trivia for you to add to your stash. Watch,” Cort said. Then he dived under the water and screamed, sending all the air in his lungs rushing to the surface in a cloud of bubbles.
When he resurfaced, Cam was watching him with a pitying expression. “You blew bubbles? Wow.”
Cort grinned. “Come down with me this time.”
When he dived the second time, so did Cam, watching him in the glow of the pool lights. Once again, Cort screamed, but this time he could see understanding dawn on Cam’s face. They both surfaced again.
“You were screaming down there?” Cam said breathlessly. “It looked like you were, but I could barely hear it.”
Cort nodded, wiping water from his eyes. “Water doesn’t conduct sound the same way as air, so the sound doesn’t travel above the surface.”
“Oh my God. You’re a science nerd?” He sounded shocked and more than a little impressed. Cort rolled his eyes.
“Sorry to disappoint you, badass, but that and baking soda volcanoes are about the extent of my scientific knowledge. This is typical kids’ stuff. There was a pond down the street, and my brother and I—” Cort paused and looked away for a second. “My brother and I would sneak down there sometimes to hang out with the other kids. He was a physics geek.”
“You have a brother, too?”
Cort nodded, easily treading water.
“Older or younger?”
Cort hesitated. He never spoke about Damon - not to his partner, not to his coworkers, not to anyone - and it seemed especially wrong to speak of him here and now. But it also seemed wrong to lie, or to use one of his million strategies for deflection, so he answered honestly.
“Seven years older.”
Cam nodded, gliding a few feet away. “And you guys were close? What about your parents?”
Cort could tell Cam was thinking about his own parents and the dickwad of a brother he seemed pretty fond of, but Cam and Cort weren’t ever going to have any kumbaya moments where they both reminisced about their awesome childhoods. “My parents are not something I discuss.”
“Ah. Got it.” Cam didn’t seem disappointed or rejected or whatever, but somehow Cort felt like an asshole anyway. He just didn’t share this shit - his shit - with anyone except Damon, because Damon had lived it too.
Cam watched him silently for half a second, then swam closer. His pale blue eyes glowed with spooky intensity in the pool lights, and it almost seemed as if he could read Cort’s thoughts. Then he smiled, and held out a hand. Cort reached out and grabbed it, and together they let the water claim them, sinking down to the bottom and screaming their heads off where nobody but the two of them could hear.
A few minutes later, they were floating on their backs, close but not touching, staring up at the stars - or the place where stars would have been on a less cloudy night. Cort had no idea what time it was other than late, and he was exhausted. Learning about Damon, dealing with Porter and Sean, everything had propelled him here tonight. But after the whiskey and the screaming, after learning way more about Cam than was good for him to know, his anger had evaporated, and he had completely lost sight of the plan that had brought him here. His mind was floating the same way his body did.
His hand bumped Cam’s in the water, and without giving it a thought, he tugged until they were floating together, side-by-side. He shifted his head slightly and saw that Cam, too, looked more peaceful than he’d been all evening. Cam turned his head just a little and gave Cort a look both fond and affectionate - as if they’d known each other for a million years instead of only a single night, and Cam trusted him implicitly. A single thought swam into Cort’s brain and took up residence.
I want to be worthy of that trust.
He instinctively backed away from the thought as soon as it formed in his mind.
It was wrong and stupid. He was loyal to Damon first, which meant he couldn’t be loyal to Cam. This night had been a messed up, wonderful lie, but it would end the second Cam knew who he really was. He glanced back up at the sky, and felt the first few drops of cold rain hit his face. Their warm, drifting time was over.
He brought his feet down to touch bottom and turned, sheets of water sluicing down his chest with a loud splash. “Cam, I think—” he began, with every intention of calling a halt to this madness before he risked more than he was willing to lose.
But Cam surprised him once again. He stood up too, light and shadow playing across his face and the sleek expanse of his chest, and lifted strong arms to wrap around Cort’s neck.
“It’s crazy. It’s stupid. This connection can’t be real,” he whispered, his voice mirroring Cort’s own thoughts. “But for tonight, can we please do things the easy way and not think?”
He pressed his lips to Cort’s collarbone, and the heat of his mouth made Cort shiver. Then he pulled back, his eyes finding Cort’s like he was waiting for approval or maybe… Jesus. Permission.
Cort wrapped his arms around Cam’s waist, locking them together in the waist-deep water. Cam’s breath caught, and lust pooled in Cort’s belly. He let his doubts and misgivings float off into the gently lapping water as he stared at Cam’s mouth, slowly lowered his head, and decided for one night perhaps they both deserved the easy way.
His lips pressed against Cam’s, and then Cam’s parted, his tongue tangling with Cort’s like maybe he thought Cort needed convincing. Cort sucked on his tongue firmly, making Cam moan, and then he was licking inside Cam’s mouth tasting the smoky spice of the Jameson, and something even sweeter and more potent which was Cam’s alone. Cam’s hands came up to grab at Cort’s hair, locking them together, but then just as suddenly, he yielded, his lips becoming pliant under Cort’s. The sensation was so heady that Cort broke away slightly, pulling his lips an inch away from Cam’s to stare down at him. Both were panting, Cort was painfully hard, and he wondered if the easy way just might kill him.
Chapter Six
Cort pulled open the huge metal fire door and ushered Cam inside the stairwell with a hand against his lower back.
“Oh my god, it’s so cold,” Cam complained. The change in air temperature was messing with his equilibrium, making his belly clench and his skin break out in goosebumps beneath the rough hotel towels they’d snagged from the pool area. Or maybe it was the man beside him who was causing that reaction? He had no experience to draw from when it came to this.
Not the attraction - that was familiar. Sex was familiar, too. Hell, even the reckless need to lose himself for a night, to get out of his own head, was familiar. But the enticing connection between them after a handful of hours, that was weird. And the kiss! Holy fuck, that kiss. Cort licking into his mouth, biting his lip… it had felt more like a possession than simple foreplay, and Cam had gotten off on it. That was new too. In fact, the way he was letting Cort take the lead in all of this was not just weird but unprecedented. Guys - including Drew - seemed to assume because he looked criminally young and preferred to bottom, he must therefore be inexperienced and passive. He had no problem showing them they were dead wrong. So why wasn’t he doing it now?
No thi
nking. Just for tonight.
“Come on, princess, no complaining.” Cort grinned and shifted in front of him to lead the way down the stairs, a towel wrapped around his waist, a rumpled ball of clothing and shoes tucked under his arm, and his suit jacket slung over his shoulder. “I’m on the forty-seventh floor. We’ve got twenty million flights to go.”
“Who are you calling princess?” Cam demanded, skipping down the stairs so they reached the landing half a flight down at the same time. He hip-checked Cort into the railing as he passed him. “I thought I was badass.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hey! Hold up, badass,” Cort said, grabbing Cam by the wrist to pull him back up to the landing. “Don’t run down the damn stairs when you’re still dripping wet. You’ll crack your head open.”
Cam rolled his eyes, even as his pulse started to pound. Cort was still holding his wrist aloft, like he was proving a point. Cam dropped the clothes he’d been carrying to the ground and tried to jerk away, but Cort had leverage, so he couldn’t. Cort’s jacket fell off his shoulders in the tussle, and one of the shoes he’d been holding clattered down the stairs. Cort swore under his breath and dropped the rest of his belongings on the landing next to Cam’s. Then he backed Cam against the wall and paused, looking down at him. It was so quiet their harsh breathing seemed to echo up and down the stairs.
“I’m not a kid and I don’t need a babysitter, Cort,” Cam told him.
“Yeah? Then act like it, before I spank that ass.”
Oh. Holy shit! Cam felt those words go straight to his dick, but he masked his arousal. “I’d like to see you try. I’m not into that shit. I don’t need a… a Master, or whatever.”
But Cort just grinned and whispered, “Hmmm. Your eyes tell a different story, baby.”
Cort’s voice was so deep, so hungry, Cam could feel the vibration in his chest and he sucked in a breath. Baby was just a word, one guys used all the damn time, and it didn’t mean anything. Cam didn’t want it to mean anything. Tomorrow, this would all be an amazing memory, and he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
With his free hand, Cort skimmed down the plane of Cam’s chest and then around his waist and down, cupping Cam’s ass. “I think you like this a lot, don’t you Cam? I think you want me to own this ass in more ways than one.”
Cam wanted to shake his head, wanted to emphatically deny it, but he couldn’t. It seemed like the kind of thing that should be wrong. He had never gotten off on power games before, but suddenly he actually was.
“You stay there,” Cort told him, eyes flaring in a way that said Cam could back out if he wanted, but Cort really hoped he wouldn’t. He lifted Cam’s free wrist and pinned it to the wall, so both Cam’s hands were joined above his head. Then Cort ducked his chin and claimed Cam’s mouth again, forcing his lips open.
Cam’s head went back an inch to hit the concrete wall, hard enough to pull a startled mmmph from him, although it wasn’t painful. Cort immediately moved his head away, his lips glistening and green eyes glowing with arousal and concern.
“God, Cam. I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
Cam didn’t answer in words. Instead, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Cort’s, trying to convey that he was more than okay, he wanted it - the roughness, the heat, the hands against the wall.
It didn’t take Cort more than half a beat to catch on. “Oh, fuck. You want it hard, baby? Yeah? God, you’re perfect.”
He transferred Cam’s wrists to one big hand and skimmed the other down Cam’s smooth chest, flicking his fingertip over one flat nipple experimentally. Little jolts of electricity pulsed along Cam’s skin, goosebumps rose on his arms, and he moaned, thrusting his hips forward into Cort’s. Cort groaned in response, but shifted slightly to the side, denying Cam anything to grind against, all the while trailing his fingertips up and down Cam’s chest, torturing him with sensation.
Sadistic bastard. And the more Cort drew it out, the more Cam lost track of reality, falling under Cort’s spell.
He was on fire from head to toe, lust clogging his throat. His dick was rock hard, straining at the still-damp fabric of his boxers, and he needed friction. He pulled against Cort’s restraining hand, but Cort merely squeezed Cam’s wrists more tightly.
Fuck.
Cam bucked his hips harder, trying to break the hold, but all he succeeded in doing was making Cort lift his head and take a half-step backward.
“I said, you stay there, Cam.” Cort’s voice was a harsh, breathless, warning and his eyes were hard as jade as they stared down into Cam’s.
“But I want—” Cam began, and then stopped, his mind flailing. He couldn’t articulate what he wanted - it was way too huge. He wanted friction, Cort’s lips back on his, Cort pushing him into the wall and making him take it. He wanted to come, goddammit, and he wanted Cort to lose his mind, but he didn’t know how to give up control.
“I know,” Cort said. His voice was soothing, and he leaned forward again, just a tiny bit, just enough to rock his stiffened cock against Cam’s. Their twin moans echoed around the empty stairwell. “I know exactly what you need, but you need to trust me to give it to you. Can you do that, badass? Just for tonight.”
Cam’s breath stuttered. Could he? Cort rocked against him, his lower lip caught between even white teeth, not like he was tormenting Cam, but as if he couldn’t help himself - as if he wanted Cam as much as Cam wanted him, needed Cam to say yes and trust him enough to yield control.
Just for tonight.
Cam took a deep breath, but it did nothing to calm him down. “Yes,” he whispered.
Cort’s smile was desperate and feral, making Cam’s heart thump out an even faster rhythm. “Then leave these here,” he instructed, squeezing Cam’s wrists to the wall firmly, just once, before letting go completely.
Cam couldn’t have moved his arms down in that moment even if he’d wanted to.
Cort ran his hands up and down Cam’s arms gently, approvingly. “So hot. So fucking hot, Cam.”
He nipped at Cam’s chin and slid his mouth back along Cam’s jaw, the scruff of his beard nearly painful against Cam’s sensitized skin. Then he bit harder right on the hinge. Cam whimpered.
“You like it like this, baby? I’m gonna mark you up, make sure everybody who sees you tomorrow knows exactly where my mouth was, where my teeth were.” His voice was a warm breath in Cam’s ear, ghosting over his damp skin, making him shiver as if he was fevered. Then Cort’s mouth moved to Cam’s neck and sucked hard, hard enough to ensure more of those involuntary whimpers came from Cam’s throat, before his tongue lapped over the place he’d sucked, soothing and arousing at the same time.
Cort’s broad palms came to rest on Cam’s chest once again, then he dragged them down Cam’s sides oh so very slowly, dislodging the towel wrapped around his waist and snagging on the band of his boxers, pulling them down over his hips. Cort adjusted his hold to squeeze Cam’s hipbones hard, as he whispered, “I’m gonna leave my fingerprints on your skin, so every time you look in the mirror, you’ll remember who held you, who owned you.”
Cort’s broad palms coasted around to cup Cam’s ass cheeks, squeezing and molding the pliable flesh like clay, forcing the tight material of Cam’s boxers to rub against his dick in a way that was almost painfully intense. “I saw you across the sea of people tonight, and I wanted you,” he growled just before his teeth scraped Cam’s collarbone. “I knew I shouldn’t. I tried to tell myself I didn’t come here for this. But then you talked to me. You made me laugh. And I could no more walk away than I could turn back time. I have never wanted anyone more than I want you, so how could I stop this, Cam? How was I supposed to stop this?”
Cam had never been so aroused in his life. He couldn’t make sense of the words Cort was speaking, only the desperate lust thickening Cort’s voice. He had to focus every shred of his remaining control to keep his wrists elevated, to hold his body motionless, to obey Cort’s instructions. His balls were already tight and aching, his dick practically
throbbing with every word Cort spoke. He hasn’t even touched my cock yet, Cam thought desperately.
And then, as if Cort could read his mind, he bent and slid Cam’s boxers over his straining erection and further down, until they joined his towel and the other clothes on the floor.
“Jesus, Cam. Look at you.” The words were a reverent command, and Cam obediently looked down. His dick was so hard, upright and ready, it was nearly touching his stomach, and a bead of precum had formed along his slit.
Touch me, Cam wanted to beg, but before he could form the words, Cort’s hand was back on his body, his fingertips coasting along the tops of Cam’s thighs, moving in tiny circles closer and closer to Cam’s cock. Cam had to bite his lip to keep from wailing.
Cort rested his forehead against Cam’s, and together they watched as Cort’s hand slid closer and closer, until finally he touched the base of Cam’s cock and slid his fingers up to the head, swiping the moisture with his thumb.
“Is this for me, Cam? Is this for me?” Cort asked, his voice wrecked with arousal. He made sure Cam was watching - as though his eyes weren’t already fixed on Cort’s hand like a magnet on true north - and brought that thumb to his mouth. Cort groaned, a filthy, gritty sound torn from his throat. “You taste delicious, baby. And I need to have more.”
He grabbed Cam’s nearly-numb hands and pulled them down, pinning them to the wall on either side of Cam’s waist with a hard look that clearly said Keep them there. Cam had no plans to move - the blood that had drained from his fingers while he held them up had all been diverted to his dick, and it wasn’t coming back anytime soon.
Especially once Cort sank to his knees.
Fuck.
He put his hands on Cam’s thighs, squeezing the muscles there, and leaned forward, licking up Cam’s length with one broad, flat stroke of his tongue. Cam’s head fell back against the wall. The sight and sensation simultaneously were sensory overload - too much for him to handle without losing his mind.
