The Delicious Series: The First Volume

by Stella Starling

  That got him another slow, sexy smile. “Depends.”

  Danny waited. “Mace,” he finally said, smacking his boyfriend’s chest with a laugh when nothing else was forthcoming. Mace laughed, confirming Danny’s guess that he’d been staying quiet just to tease him this time, and Danny bit his lip, trying not to smile too widely in return. No need to encourage the man. “Depends on what?” he asked, breaking his own rule and smiling like a loon when Mace’s eyes twinkled at him.

  “When is your lease up, baby?” Mace asked.

  “I don’t know,” Danny said impatiently. “Not for a few months. Fall, maybe? But seriously, when would you move?”

  The man was maddening. Getting information out of him was like pulling teeth sometimes. Although granted, he was definitely getting better. And God, when Danny did manage to get him to talk, it was always worth it. Not to be disloyal to his girls, but Mace could put Disney to shame with some of the ridiculously romantic things that came out of his mouth. And sure, maybe apartments weren’t a particularly romantic subject, but if Mace was actually going to let Danny have a say in decorating his new place, then—

  Danny gasped. Mace teased him sometimes, but he was also pretty straightforward, and when Danny had asked him what his moving plans depending on, Mace had asked...

  “Oh my God. Mace, um, are you asking me to move in with you?” he blurted, holding his breath.

  Mace wrapped a hand around the back of his neck, pulling him in for a kiss. “Not for a few months,” he finally said, repeating Danny’s words back to him. “In the fall, maybe.”

  Danny looked away, toward the window, blinking away the prick of tears that sprang up and surprised him. There were roses on the window sill, a bouquet that Mace added one new flower to every day. Danny wasn’t sure why he’d ever thought that particular flower was overdone. He’d definitely come around. And he hadn’t even needed to ask Mace their meaning; it was a classic.

  “It was just an idea,” Mace said, his face starting to shut down a little as the silence stretched out between them. Mace cleared his throat. “I know you said you prefer to live alone. It’s fine. I know it’s too soo—”

  “No,” Danny cut him off, his heart tripping. It wasn’t too soon. It was perfect. “I mean yes.” He smiled, his lips stretching wide enough that his cheeks started to ache even as he dashed at the moisture on his cheeks. “I want to. I mean, if you’re sure you want to. But if you are, I want to, too.”

  “Then what’s wrong, baby?” Mace asked, pushing Danny’s bangs away from his face.

  Danny laughed, wiping away the last of his ridiculous tears. God, sometimes he didn’t know how Mace put up with him.

  “Absolutely nothing,” he said. “That’s the thing. It’s like the kind of happy ending that’s too perfect, you know? Like a fairy tale. I keep waiting to wake up.”

  Mace gave him that slow smile that always made him want to melt. “If you do, I want to wake up next to you. I think I’ll always want that, Danny.”

  He was talking about happily-ever-after, a real one, and for once, Danny really, really, had no words. He could find other ways to express the overwhelming feelings Mace brought up in him, though. As much as he was a fan of getting his boyfriend to talk, sometimes not talking could be good, too.

  He climbed onto Mace’s lap, straddling him for a kiss that started sweet, but quickly grew hotter. God, he would never get enough of this man.

  “Danny,” Mace groaned. “Can I make love to you?”

  The question sent a full-body shiver through Danny, and he instantly went from a state of tingling arousal to full, desperate want. They hadn’t yet, and that had been… fine. Totally fine, really. Mace was one hundred percent enthusiastic about everything else, and everything else had been very, very good. But Mace hadn’t brought it up before, and therefore neither had Danny. In the back of his mind, he hadn’t been able to shake the awareness that he was the first man Mace had ever been with. He knew that some guys just didn’t want to go there, so as much as he’d wanted it, he also hadn’t wanted to push it, the last of his lingering insecurities making him shy away from anything that might make Mace question being with him.

  “Yes,” Danny said, tugging Mace’s shirt over his head impatiently and then getting started on his boyfriend’s pants. Because God, now that it was on the table, he was done waiting.

  “Are you sure?” Mace asked, as if he were oblivious to the fact that Danny was doing his damnedest to get Mace naked. “I don’t know exactly how it works,” he added.

  Danny laughed. Seriously?

  The tips of Mace’s ears turned red, and then he laughed, too. “Okay, I guess I know how it works, I just meant I wasn’t sure if you’d like it.”

  “Yes,” Danny said again, apparently the only word he was capable of. He scrambled off Mace’s lap, pulling him up from the couch and toward the bedroom, and did his best to find a few more. “I’d like it,” he added. Understatement. “I’d really, really like it, Mace.”

  Once upon a time, Danny had wanted to believe in love. He might have even said he did believe in it. But now, getting naked with Mace—who loved him, wanted to move in with him, had never once wavered in his devotion and adoration—it occurred to Danny that he hadn’t really known what love was. Yes, it was just as fabulous and magical as what each of his girls had found with their assorted Prince Charmings, but it was more, too.

  It was the way Mace didn’t let him rush once they got to the bedroom even though Danny was entirely sure he’d never been as turned on in his life and was more than ready to finally feel Mace inside him.

  It was the reverent touch of his boyfriend’s hands as they removed the rest of Danny’s clothing, teasing and worshipping at the same time.

  It was the bright cascade of flowers that Mace had been getting added to his original tattoo from Danny’s designs, revealed once he finally—finally—had Danny naked and deigned to start taking the rest of his own clothes off, too. It meant everything to Danny that Mace had wanted to get them inked. It felt permanent and important and huge… a lot like the feeling that was swelling in Danny’s heart as Mace joined him on the bed and fished a bottle of lube out of his nightstand.

  Danny laughed, feeling giddy. “I thought you said you didn’t know how this worked,” he teased, pulling his knees back without a single ounce of self-consciousness. How could he have? Mace loved him, and knowing that without a doubt was a much too heady feeling to allow any doubts to creep in.

  Besides, God, Danny wanted him.

  Now.

  Mace’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I may have done a little… uh, research.”

  Danny bit his lip as Mace slicked up his fingers, warming the lube between them for a moment before reaching between Danny’s legs. The look on his face sent the flutters in Danny’s stomach into a frenzy, completely killing any lingering question about whether or not Mace really wanted to do this or not.

  “Fuck, you’re beautiful,” Mace whispered, pushing Danny’s thigh farther back as he brushed his entrance, eyes glued to the sight.

  Danny felt a hot flush take him over. Mace always made him feel beautiful, but… there?

  “Open for me, baby,” Mace said, stroking him until he quivered and then pushing his thick finger against the sensitive pucker. “Let me in.”

  Danny meant to say “yes” or “please” or “always”—any of which would have been accurate—but instead, as Mace breached him, a breathless, needy moan tumbled out of Danny’s mouth. It had been a while since he’d bottomed, something that the stretch and burn as Mace started to work his finger in reminded him of, but it had been even longer—like in the never-to-ever range—since he’d wanted like this.

  Not just Mace’s thick cock inside him, although yes.

  Not just the pounding, pulsing pleasure he was already anticipating from the hot look in Mace’s eyes, although oh God, yes please, that too, and soon.

  But Danny wanted Mace, filling his body the way he’d
already filled Danny’s heart, inside him, connected and joined and together in a way that was much less about happily-ever-after than it was about happily-every-day.

  Danny loved him, and the way Mace had asked to “make love” to him instead of phrasing it as something dirtier, took all of his horny impatience and wrapped it up in something glittering and vibrant that felt almost magical. And then Mace found his prostate, which made it feel magical in a much more immediate way, too.

  “Mace,” Danny blurted, his cock jerking against his stomach as heat shot up his spine.

  “There?” Mace asked, that slow, sexy smile growing as he worked a second finger in. “That where you want me?”

  “Unnnghhhh,” Danny managed, a hot, desperate need starting to eclipse all the flutters.

  Mace’s smile turned into something that made Danny’s toes curl, full of heat and possession all wrapped up in the adoration that always made him feel so cherished… special… loved. “You ready for me?”

  “Yes,” Danny panted, even though the truth was that Mace’s cock was a lot thicker than the fingers he’d been stretching Danny with and given how long it had been, he fully expected that it would take a bit of painful adjustment before he could accept everything Mace had to give him. But he didn’t care. He wanted him now.

  Mace pulled his fingers out, making quick work of covering himself and slicking up his condom-covered shaft. “Fuck, baby,” he murmured, bracing one hand next to Danny’s shoulders as he leaned over him and guided his cock home with the other. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are?”

  Danny whimpered, letting go of his knees to run his hands down the hard contours of Mace’s back. Grabbing his ass and pulling him in. Hissing out a breath as that hot, thick cockhead pressed inside, forcing its way through the tight ring of muscle and making tears spring to Danny’s eyes with the sudden, stinging stretch.

  “Danny,” Mace groaned, going still and leaning down to capture his mouth in a quick, hot kiss. “Holy shit. You feel amazing. Is it too much?”

  Danny shook his head, using his hands to urge Mace to go deeper.

  “Love you,” Mace murmured on a shallow thrust. And then another, gaining an inch. “Damn, baby, love you so much.” And another… repeating the words over and over again like a mantra as Danny’s body trembled and adjusted underneath him, accepting his shaft bit by bit until, finally, Mace was fully seated, hips flush against Danny’s ass and hard body trapping Danny’s leaking cock between them. Mace brushed Danny’s hair back from his sweaty forehead, smiling down at him. “Okay?”

  “So much better than okay,” Danny managed, the thick length inside him making him feel greedy and blessed and needy and precious, all at once. “God, Mace, so full. More… please.”

  Mace made the sexiest sound Danny had ever heard, kissing him hard, and then he moved. Finally. Hips canting backward and then driving home again. Big hands stroking down Danny’s sides, over his hips, lifting him and adjusting him until Mace hit the perfect angle, sending a cascade of riotous color through Danny’s nerve endings and making him cry out, balls tightening.

  “More,” Danny gasped, arching up to meet each thrust and entirely sure that he could die happy doing exactly this, forever.

  Mace fit him perfectly.

  Filled him endlessly.

  Made every part of Danny come alive.

  “So... fucking... beautiful,” Mace grunted, hips snapping forward with each word. Hitting Danny exactly where he needed it. Driving him hard and fast toward the kind of blissful, mind-blowing pleasure that deserved fireworks and trumpets and a swelling, majestic soundtrack.

  Danny wanted it to last forever and he also wanted to come, needed to, with a desperation that was overtaking everything else until it consumed him.

  “More, God, yes, Mace, now,” he babbled, reaching toward his aching cock.

  Mace captured Danny’s hand before he could touch himself, grabbing for his other one, too, and then holding them both over Danny’s head, pinned to the mattress.

  “Let me, baby,” he said, voice thick with want. “Let me give you what you need.”

  Danny whimpered, his cock flexing between them. Mace had, hadn’t he? Every day. Giving Danny the kind of happiness he’d only dreamed of, the respect he’d never found with anyone else, grounding him and freeing him and loving him so well that sometimes, Danny wanted to pinch himself just to make sure he hadn’t slipped and fallen into a fairy tale.

  “Please,” he whispered, wrapping his legs around Mace’s waist and giving himself over completely. “I always want it to be you.”

  Mace’s hips stilled, a fierce, gorgeous smile blooming on his face. Then, eyes locked onto Danny’s, he transferred Danny’s wrists into a one-handed grip and slid his other hand under Danny’s ass, angling it just… exactly… right.

  “Mace,” Danny groaned as Mace drove into him, holding him in place and giving him exactly what he’d promised.

  Again.

  And then again.

  And—oh God oh yes oh finally—again, until without any further warning there were suddenly fireworks, and trumpets, and a swelling, majestic soundtrack that lifted Danny up and broke over him in a wave of perfect, perfect bliss that went on and on and on, washing through him as Mace fucked him all the way through the world’s most amazing orgasm and then stiffened, shuddering on top of him as he came with a hoarse shout of his own.

  “Oh my God,” Danny whispered, still floating as Mace wrapped him up in arms he never wanted to leave and rolled him onto his side, pressing slow, hot kisses against his jaw… his throat… his chest. “Oh my… God.”

  Mace laughed, the sound rumbling through the both of them and filling Danny up all over again, like sweet, warm syrup. “Yeah,” he finally said. “It was.”

  “It is,” Danny corrected him, because it wasn’t just the sex, it was them. Mace. All Danny’s dreams, really and truly and finally coming true. He pushed against Mace’s chest, just enough that he could lean back and look in his eyes but not so much that it forced Mace out of his body yet, even though of course that would need to happen soon if they were going to be smart about things. “Mace,” he said, cupping Mace’s face and looking into his eyes. “I love you.”

  Mace smiled, and God, that was... everything.

  Danny bit his lip, smiling back. He wanted to add that he was pretty sure he’d love Mace always. That Mace was The One. That they should do this again, every day, endlessly, forever. He wanted Mace to know that this moment, right here, with pleasure still liquefying his limbs and his heart bursting with everything beautiful, was more perfect than anything he’d ever imagined finding. But instead, when Mace’s eyes softened and his lips parted like he was going to say “I love you” back—which Danny would never get tired of hearing but which he also really and truly and finally knew—he just kissed him, because all those words were too much, too soon.

  But someday, Danny would say them.

  Unless, of course, his own personal Prince Charming said them first.

  Epilogue

  Mace, October

  Mace looked around the tiny apartment he’d lived in for the last year, amazed at how quickly they’d managed to empty it. Gavin, Jeremy, and Sherri had arrived first thing in the morning to help, and as soon as the library had closed, Helen and Chris had shown up too, armed with an array of cleaning supplies to help finish up the final touches. Now, though, the others had all headed over to the new place to start unpacking and it was just the two of them, Mace alone in the empty living room with all sorts of unexpected feelings bubbling up inside him and Danny gathering up the last few things from the kitchen, humming happily to himself and filling Mace’s heart with the ever-present joy and wonder that Danny’s presence in his life—Danny love—always brought.

  He would never take it for granted. Would cherish it always, just like he was finding that he treasured the other people who had slowly worked their way into his heart, earning his trust and loyalty and turning his existen
ce into something as bright and beautiful as the flower gardens he tended.

  Still, even though he was starting to get used to having more people in his life, the way everyone had so readily volunteered to spend the whole day helping with the move had blown him away. The previous weekend, they’d all pitched in to get Danny moved out of his place—a much bigger job, especially since it had included quite a bit of repainting—but Mace honestly hadn’t expected the lot of them to show up again when it was just for him.

  He scrubbed a hand over the smile that had bloomed unexpectedly on his face, turning away from the window and the view of the bakery that had brought so much into his life. He didn’t mind at all that he’d been wrong about his assumption about his… friends.

  And they were friends. Not like Kelsie and Trevor had been, but true friends. People he could count on. People he would be there for, always, the way they’d been there for him and Danny.

  It was a good feeling.

  He looked around one last time, the room feeling barren without his plants. He wasn’t used to a barren life anymore, and that felt good, too. He turned toward the kitchen. Thanks to everyone’s help, the apartment was virtually empty other than the one box Danny was filling with the final bits of this and that which had somehow escaped the former whirlwind of packing.

  As Mace walked into the kitchen, Danny was reaching up to grab the cookie jar that he’d decorated months ago to replace the one Mace had broken. It was truly beautiful… and currently teetering on a high shelf Mace had put it on for safekeeping.

  Danny’s shirt rode up as he stretched for it, showcasing a whole different kind of beauty, and Mace felt a familiar surge of desire that he couldn’t imagine ever fading. It wasn’t just a blessing that Danny had come into his life, it was a bonafide miracle.