Risk Assessment

by Parker St John

“I get it. The garage is my baby. But you need a place to come home to, man.”

  Elliot sighed. He glanced at his leather sofa and IKEA coffee table. There was a single bookcase pushed against the wall, but he didn’t even have a television. He just used his laptop. “I always planned on getting a big screen, fixing the deck, making it a good place to watch a game. There just hasn’t seemed to be much of a point.”

  “Why not?” Lucas drained his glass and set it on the coffee table. Hopefully, he was trying to stay hydrated for events to come.

  Elliot wasn’t sure what he could admit without sounding like a complete loser. “I used to have a place in the city and a cushy job at a partnership. All my friends lived in the city and worked at big firms themselves. We talked shop a lot. When I didn’t live the same lifestyle anymore, people just… drifted away.” He looked away and shrugged, as if that would make him sound less pathetic. “I work so much these days that it’s been hard meeting new people.”

  “What about the people you work with now? The guys and I do a game night every once in a while. They bring their girlfriends or whatever, we get a pizza and blow off some steam. They don’t all need to be your best friends to hang out some.”

  “My colleagues work as much as, or more than, I do,” Elliot said helplessly, though even as he said it, he wondered if it was true.

  Alexander Cabrini had a habit of cutting out of the office in the middle of the afternoon, despite being the owner. He never told them where he went, and not even Miguel had the guts to ask. Their resident smartass kept irregular hours himself, volunteering for gang rehab and youth charities. Stella went out dancing most weekends. Maksim dated and networked more than a Hollywood A-lister. They were all busy, true, but it was possible Elliot was the only actual shut-in of the bunch. How had he never noticed the way work had slowly taken the place of all his interests?

  Lucas was giving him a skeptical look and Elliot didn’t blame him one bit. “I suppose I spent more time trying to fit into my ex’s lifestyle than creating my own,” he admitted. “I’m still figuring out how I want my life to look.”

  Lucas gave an unaffected nod, like it was a story he’d heard before. “Were you together long?”

  “Five years.”

  “Why did you break up?”

  “He was cheating,” Elliot said simply. Though it wasn’t really as simple as that, was it? They’d been drifting apart long before the philandering became too obvious to ignore.

  He picked up the discarded glass and carried it to the kitchen.

  Lucas followed him and leaned against the threshold. “With the way you suck dick? Was he fucking crazy?”

  It was gratifying how incredulous the man sounded.

  Elliot gripped the edge of the sink and stared down at the white peaks of his knuckles. “I don’t think I ever did that to him,” he said faintly.

  “What? Sucked him off?” Lucas’s voice sounded closer, but Elliot hadn’t heard him move.

  “No. I gave him oral sex. Polite, technically challenging oral sex. It wasn’t anything like the same species of animal I became last night.”

  “Why?” That molasses-and-gravel voice was close against his ear.

  He closed his eyes and shivered. “I don’t even know,” he whispered helplessly. “It was safer.”

  “Safer than what? Admitting you like it rough sometimes? Admitting you want someone else in charge?”

  “Yes.”

  A strong hand clamped down on the back of Elliot’s neck, and Lucas turned him so he could see his face. They hadn’t known each other long, but Elliot had never seen him look so solemn. Sarcasm and flippancy were more Lucas’s comfort zone.

  “He was a goddamn fool if he couldn’t see what you needed for himself.” He rubbed a calloused thumb across Elliot’s jaw. Elliot was suddenly glad he hadn’t shaved. The pressure of skin ruffling against his stubble raised goose bumps along the back of his neck. “You practically melted at my feet the second I leaned over your engine, Elliot.”

  He cringed. “Yeah, I’m well aware of that, thanks.”

  “You were the sexiest thing I’d ever seen,” Lucas rasped. His lips brushed teasingly across Elliot’s. “I fantasized about bending you over the hood right there. I’m more tempted than you know to take you up against this counter. And you’d let me, wouldn’t you?”

  Elliot hadn’t known he was capable of whimpering until that moment.

  He skimmed his teeth over Elliot’s Adam’s apple. “But I want you in bed. I want you spread out beneath me. I want to feast on you. Are you okay with that?”

  “Yes,” Elliot breathed. “God, yes.”

  “Then take me to bed.” Lucas grinned. “You do have a bed, right?”

  “Smartass.” Elliot laughed and gave him a playful shove.

  Lucas nudged him gently back, and for possibly the first time in his life, Elliot felt completely natural taking a man by the hand. Lucas’s rough palm slid against his own, and their fingers linked together. There was no hesitation, no sense that he didn’t belong in his own life as he squeezed Lucas’s hand and led him into the dark recesses of the house.

  10

  Elliot

  “Does it meet approval?” Elliot asked as they entered his sparsely decorated bedroom. He kept it dark and cool, and it was as empty as the rest of the house. His one concession to comfort was the king size bed in the center of the room.

  Lucas gave his surroundings a single, dismissive glance. He grabbed Elliot by the front of his belt and tugged him close. “It’ll do,” he whispered against his lips.

  Elliot smiled. He’d never spent time with someone who made him feel as good as Lucas did. He’d spent his whole life feeling like an imposter no matter what he did, but when Lucas looked at him, he felt valued and desired. He felt seen.

  It terrified him, because he knew he was already falling, and falling fast.

  Cupping the sides of Lucas’s neck with both hands, he asked, “What do you want from me tonight? I want to give it to you.”

  Lucas’s eyes gleamed dangerously. “That’s a risky thing to offer a man like me.”

  Perhaps, but it felt like the safest thing in the world.

  “You mean it, don’t you?” Lucas asked wonderingly, brushing his knuckles down Elliot’s cheek.

  Elliot swallowed hard, and Lucas’s eyes dropped to where his Adam’s apple bobbed. He licked his lips and stepped back a pace. His gaze was steely as it flicked down Elliot’s body.

  “Strip,” he ordered.

  Elliot’s hands shook in his eagerness. He was concerned, of course, because he knew his body couldn’t compare to one so much younger. But that was part of the thrill. It felt dangerous, baring himself intentionally for another man’s inspection. He had no earthly clue how to make his actions sexy, but the approval on Lucas’s face kept him moving. He tightened his stomach as he pulled his sweater over his head.

  Lucas’s swift intake of breath was gratifying. “Keep going,” he croaked.

  Elliot bit his lip and undid his buckle with trembling fingers. Lucas’s eyes were hot and laser focused as he popped the button on his slacks, so Elliot purposely slowed his movements. He counted to five before grasping his zipper and drawing it down inch by inch.

  “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you?” Lucas groaned.

  “Just following instructions,” Elliot said innocently. He tucked his fingers into his waistband and peeled his slacks down. The sudden, absolute silence in the room made him nervous, and he glanced up to gauge Lucas’s reaction.

  Lucas’s chest was rising and falling at a quick pace, and his hands were fisted in his pockets as if he were trying to prevent himself from reaching out and grabbing him. Despite that, Elliot balked when it was time to slide off his boxers. Lucas didn’t pressure him. He just met his eyes and waited, patient and nonjudgmental. The intensity in those blue eyes gave Elliot the last little push he needed.

  He stood there, stark naked, and allowed Lucas his leisurely pe
rusal. His breath caught when Lucas reached out and slid his palm across the springy hair at the base of his abdomen. He reflexively clenched his stomach muscles, but Lucas wasn’t in any hurry to stop touching him. He dragged the backs of his fingers up and across one tightly pebbled nipple.

  “Breathe, sweetheart,” Lucas murmured.

  Elliot gasped, and he chuckled. Elliot wished his hand wasn’t trailing back down south, but before he could suck his stomach in again, Lucas whispered, “You’re so damn beautiful, Elliot.”

  He said it so quietly and so sincerely that Elliot couldn’t help but believe him. It was astonishing. Lucas could have anyone he wanted, but he truly liked the way Elliot looked, office body and all. The last of Elliot’s tension leached from his shoulders. Lucas smiled at him, and it felt as good as a hand stroking down his spine.

  “Sit on the bed,” Lucas commanded. Elliot went without even a moment’s hesitation. He seated himself at the foot of the bed, watching with increasing surprise as Lucas crouched in front of him with his hands on Elliot’s knees. “Spread your legs.”

  Elliot’s mouth went dry. He wordlessly leaned back on his hands and made a conscious effort to relax his legs. His thighs fell open, but apparently not to Lucas’s satisfaction, because he pushed them further apart until Elliot was splayed to his view. His heart jackhammered in his chest. Lucas was touching him so gently, but this felt like the most dangerous thing he’d ever done.

  With one finger, Lucas traced the soft line of hair tapering down his lower belly. Elliot’s skin shivered beneath his touch. That curious finger traced a line of fire all the way down the length of his painfully hard cock. Lucas paused at the tip, gathering a pearly drop of fluid that had formed. Elliot lost his breath as Lucas brought his finger to his mouth and sucked his essence off it.

  “Delicious.” He grinned wickedly. “I’ve wanted to taste you since the first moment I saw you, all soaked by the rain. I knew you’d be sweet.”

  “Lucas…” Elliot wasn’t sure what he wanted to say, but his name came out as both censure and plea. This slow, deliberate examination of his was both the most erotic experience he had ever suffered through, and the most frustrating. It felt as if his skin was too tight to contain the need pulsing through him with every heartbeat. He was certain he’d explode free from the cage of his own body at any moment.

  “Patience, sweetheart,” Lucas chided. His fingers played along Elliot’s length with a gentle, teasing pressure. Elliot whined, hips twitching up and trying to force more contact. Lucas laughed. That sound did something marvelous to Elliot’s body.

  Lucas cocked his head thoughtfully as he studied the dark, tortured flesh in his hand. “Turnabout is fair play, I guess,” he murmured, and bent to swallow him with the hottest, wettest mouth Elliot had ever felt.

  Elliot yelled, and Lucas’s muffled chuckle surrounded him, rumbling over his sensitized flesh. He involuntarily bucked into Lucas’s mouth, forgetting manners, desperate for more of that slippery heat. Iron hands gripped him by the hips, forcing him back down to the mattress. Elliot moaned with desperate frustration, but he was rewarded a moment later by the swift rhythm of Lucas’s mouth sliding up and down his cock.

  He was dangerously close to his peak already. He’d never experienced something so erotic. It wasn’t that he’d never received a blowjob before. Most of his previous partners had been considerate enough to return the favor when he asked. But it had never been the sensual exploration Lucas turned it into, and Elliot had never felt like it gave his partners any pleasure.

  Lucas, on the other hand, acted as if Elliot’s body were something worth cherishing. His expression was focused, but his lashes were low and his eyes were hazy with pleasure. As they stared at each other, he gave a wicked flick of his tongue. It lashed the underside of Elliot’s cock head, and he thought he’d come right then. He shuddered, hands fisting in his comforter.

  “Please,” he croaked, every muscle clenched in an effort not to embarrass himself, “I’m going to come.”

  “Then come.” Lucas’s breath was cool against his wet flesh. “Unless you want something else?”

  Elliot nodded frantically. “I want you to fuck me,” he gasped.

  Looking pleased, Lucas rewarded him with one long parting lick before pulling away. He was still completely clothed. Elliot felt so remarkably sexy and vulnerable being the only one naked in the room.

  Lucas stood and stepped between the open cradle of Elliot’s legs. “Unzip my pants,” he commanded breathlessly.

  Elliot unsnapped his jeans and yanked down his zipper in a fraction of the time it had taken him with his own. As soon as there was enough room, Lucas took his hand and guided it to where his erection strained against the barrier of his briefs. The heat of him was incredible, even through the fabric, and Elliot reflexively began to massage his length. Lucas groaned, his head falling back in an expression of sheer bliss.

  With his free hand, he began to pop the row of buttons on Lucas’s shirt. Lucas helped him by shrugging the fabric off his massive shoulders, and then all that taut, gleaming skin was bare to Elliot’s appreciative gaze. He’d thought Lucas looked like an underwear model the first time they met, but he hadn’t known how right he was. Lucas’s chest was smooth and sculpted and his abdomen was shaped by the graceful indentations of a gentle six-pack. He wasn’t an overdone bodybuilder, but every muscle group was exquisitely formed.

  “Jesus,” Elliot breathed. “You can’t be real.”

  Lucas’s laughter was full of self-deprecation. He shook his head, as if Elliot was beyond hope. But before Elliot could question him about it, Lucas grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved his tongue into his mouth. Elliot groaned and sucked on it gratefully, bending like a willow beneath Lucas’s weight as he pressed him back onto the mattress.

  Lucas broke the kiss first, sucking air in desperate gusts, and rolled onto his back. “Ride me, Elliot,” he growled. “I want to see you coming apart on my cock. Okay?”

  The images that flashed through Elliot’s mind were so dirty and so damn hot. He wanted that. He wanted to climb on top of him, to feel that powerful body trapped between his thighs, and to know that he was fully on display to Lucas’s ravenous gaze.

  His eagerness as he clambered on top of Lucas might have been embarrassing, if Lucas’s fingers hadn’t been shaking as he retrieved a condom and lube packet from his back pocket. His pants were still mostly on, but neither of them were willing or able to stop their momentum now. He’d never seen anything hotter than the moment Lucas ripped open the foil pack with his teeth and rolled it over the gleaming head of his cock. Elliot watched, transfixed, as he gave his hard shaft a quick coat of lube.

  They probably should have taken more time for preparation, considering how long it had been for Elliot, but he couldn’t bear waiting one more second to feel Lucas inside him. He straddled Lucas’s pelvis and rose over him. Lucas braced him with one hand on his hip, his free hand gripping his cock by its base, holding himself steady as Elliot sank down onto him.

  He hissed at the slight burn as he was stretched from the inside for the first time in more than a year, and Lucas immediately tightened his hold to stop him from sliding deeper.

  “Take it slow,” Lucas gasped. Sweat glistened in the hollow of his throat. Elliot wanted to lick it away, but he was uncomfortably aware of the fine line he was riding between pain and pleasure just then.

  “I’m fine,” Elliot insisted.

  Lucas chuckled. “Yeah, you are. But don’t rush this, baby. We’ve got all night.”

  No matter how often he reminded himself those endearments meant nothing, it soothed something deep in his chest to hear them. He nodded reluctantly and allowed Lucas to take control of the pace.

  Lucas eased him down in excruciatingly slow increments. His arms were shaking even worse than Elliot’s thighs by the time Elliot was fully seated atop him. But it was worth it. Dear God, it was worth it.

  Elliot closed his eyes and threw h
is head back. He was overtaken, impaled by the iron strength of another man and utterly at his mercy, for that moment at least. There was relief in this kind of purposeful surrender, in knowing he didn’t need to be the strong one.

  Lucas’s hands were like a vice on his hips. His chest heaved with the effort to restrain himself from thrusting until Elliot was ready. His caution was endearing.

  Elliot nodded and gave him an encouraging smile. Lucas grinned back, then gently lifted him up and let him drop. The resulting friction had them both groaning.

  After that, Lucas allowed him to set the rhythm. He lay there like a sultan, stretched out beneath him in one long, sensuous line. His torso was bare and glowing with perspiration, his jeans opened just enough for Elliot to service him. The denim scratched the tender inner flesh of Elliot’s thighs as he rocked on top of him, but that little imperfection only added to the reality of it all. This was no fantasy, no matter how much the man beneath him looked like a dream.

  Lucas was beautiful and brave and real — and perplexingly, he seemed as desperate as Elliot felt.

  The rhythm Elliot set was a reward to them both. He splayed his hands against the washboard of Lucas’s belly and rode him, seeking the perfect combination of pace and angle that set off flashes of light behind his closed eyelids. He screamed when he found it.

  That was when Lucas took over, grabbing him by the waist and holding him still as he pounded up into him with sheer physical power. Elliot could do nothing but cling to his muscular forearms as he bounced like a rag doll in Lucas’s grip. His head fell back, his mouth dropped open, but he couldn’t horde enough air in his lungs when it was driven from him with each brutal thrust.

  His orgasm didn’t rise within him; it was forced upon him. Still maintaining that blissful, perfect angle, Lucas yanked him down hard, simultaneously slamming his cock as deep as it would go. His body locked up beneath Elliot. The cords of his throat bulged, and his eyes squeezed shut. His back arched so suddenly that he nearly unseated Elliot, who clung for dear life as his own orgasm rolled through him.