by LaQuette
“When I was working on rebuilding my body in rehab after my attack, my therapist suggested I work on rebuilding my confidence too.” The quiet sound of Elijah’s voice was small and so fragile, like a delicate, breakable thing that needed the utmost care. Camden’s heart raced with concern as he stepped closer to offer his unspoken support. “She told me to find a space I could be safe enough to be weak. I’d thought of renting this space out when I moved in, or even leaving it empty for visiting family members. But the day I got my approval to return to work, I knew I needed to find someplace to be as broken as my mind told me I was.”
Elijah must have seen the questions forming on Camden’s face, because he held up a single finger to stop him from speaking, and pulled Camden farther inside. He motioned for Camden to take a seat next to him on the large daybed sitting in the center of the room.
“Why did getting your clearance for active duty papers make you feel weak?”
Elijah kept hold of Camden’s hand, stroking it before returning his gaze to Camden’s face. “There’s only been two instances where I’ve been caught off guard. The first was when I met you. Everything from the way we connected, to the way you took off in the morning left me shocked and uncomfortable. As good as my instincts were, they seemed to be completely wrong about you, and my expectations of what that night would be.”
“And the second?” Camden’s question met with a weary smile from Elijah. It was a look Camden wasn’t familiar with. It made him feel awkward and out of place, as if there was no space for him in whatever moment Elijah seemed to revisit.
“The second was the night of my attack. I’m always meticulous in my job, Camden. I knew all the angles, every single time I walked into a bad situation while undercover. But that night, somehow the tweakers who ended up almost killing me hadn’t made me uneasy enough to be on my guard. I thought I could handle them. They were just meth-heads. It wasn’t until I woke up in a hospital bed, clinging to a very thin thread, I realized how wrong I was. And from that moment, I had to question if I really knew as much as I thought I did. Was I really the baddest cop on the block?”
Camden sat quietly, not pushing Elijah to say more, but hoping his presence would provide comfort and encourage him to continue sharing his thoughts.
“When you left that night…. It was the first time I questioned my worth. It was the first time I wondered if I wasn’t enough. When I got attacked, it was the first time I questioned if I was enough to get the job done.”
“Then why take this case, Elijah?”
Elijah shook his head as he turned to face Camden. “My captain assigned me this case. I didn’t choose it.”
Camden’s head dropped, and he pulled away from the warmth they appeared to be creating from the moment they stepped into this place.
Elijah must have noticed Camden’s retreat, because he tightened his hold on Camden’s hand and tugged him closer.
“I may not have had a choice in taking this case, Camden. But getting to know you over these last few days, figuring out that my radar wasn’t as wrong as I believed where you’re concerned, helped me in ways I didn’t know I needed.”
Elijah released Camden’s hand, letting his own travel slowly up Camden’s arm until his fingers caressed Camden’s jaw. The feel of them rubbing back and forth against the thin layer of stubble there made his breath catch in his throat. “I didn’t know I hadn’t been breathing since that night, holding my breath, waiting for what I was missing.” Elijah leaned in, punctuating his sentence with a ghost of a kiss to Camden’s angled jaw. The barely there touch made his skin buzz with anticipation of the next touch Elijah would gift him with.
“I didn’t know how desperately I wanted to be enough for you, Camden.” Elijah snaked his fingers through Camden’s hair, his fingernails grazing his scalp, making the skin warm beneath his touch. “When my ego kicked in and told me that your slight was meaningless, that I didn’t care anyway, I didn’t know there was a reason I was holding on to that night.” The tip of Elijah’s tongue tickled the curve of his earlobe. The touch was so light and yet his cock instantly responded, plumping up in anticipation of what Camden prayed would follow.
“And I wouldn’t have known how amazing it feels to connect with you again.” Elijah traced his tongue down the curve of Camden’s neck, eliciting a shiver that shook him to his core. Camden had been so busy trying to regain his composure that he hadn’t noticed they were now horizontal on the daybed. Elijah settled himself between Camden’s legs, leaning on one elbow as he looked down at Camden with a generous smile. “If I hadn’t been forced to take this case, I never would’ve known my instincts were right when they told me how special you were, and how I needed to do everything in my power to keep you near.”
Elijah tugged Camden into a deep kiss, their mouths moving in rhythmic harmony as they tasted each other. Elijah pulled away, leaving just enough space for their gazes to meet as they struggled to catch their breath. “I may have had no choice in taking this case, Cam. But I’m protecting you for my selfishness, because I’ve realized that being without you is too high a price for me to pay.”
Something broke inside him at the end of Elijah’s declaration. The dam he’d used to suppress this tangible thing that grew inside him for Elijah, rearranging the inner workings of his heart, was also breaking. He’d spent a majority of the last five years living in denial too. He’d told himself Elijah was nothing more than a one-night stand. A meaningless fling that had no place in his life. But lying beneath this man, having the chance to be pulled into the craziness that was the Stephenson family, revealed to Camden just how much he’d lost by walking away from Elijah.
“I want everything we never had the chance to have after that night. If you don’t want that too, then you’d better tell me now.”
Camden was hiding out in a quiet neighborhood in Westchester from deadly criminals who wanted his head on a platter. His parents, although aware of his current situation, were probably still planning his next political move and his marriage to the right man. But lying on this bed, enveloped in Elijah’s warmth and desire, Camden knew he couldn’t give one single damn about any of that.
He’d been numb all this time. After experiencing what real emotion was, how the beauty and pain of it were proof of living and not just existing, he couldn’t give that up for anyone. Not the Path, not for his parents, not for his father’s political aspirations for Camden. No, he wanted all the admissions Elijah offered him, and he was just selfish enough to reach out and take what he wanted this time.
“This won’t be as easy as me saying yes, Elijah. This business with the Path wanting me dead might complicate things. And my father will not be exactly happy about me being romantically linked to a blue-collar cop.”
Elijah maneuvered himself to the side of Camden and placed a firm kiss on his mouth before locking gazes with him. “This business with the Path will be over in a matter of days. My captain and my team will make sure of that. And as long as we’re inside these walls, you’re safe. As for your father, I’m not really all that concerned about what makes him happy. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
Camden closed his eyes and chuckled before returning his gaze to Elijah’s. “You only say that because you’ve never met my father.”
“No, Camden, your father hasn’t met me.”
The fire that burned inside the depths of his obsidian gaze scorched Camden’s fears and filled him with a warmth that called to the deepest parts of his soul. The man had hardly touched him, and his body was so on edge, Camden wasn’t certain he could control himself for much longer.
“Elijah, do me a favor?” Elijah narrowed his eyes and nodded his head. “Could we stop talking about my father and the crazy people trying to kill me, so you can fuck me?”
One corner of Elijah’s mouth rose in a half smile, making Camden’s entire body tingle at the sight. “Oh yes.” The playful, decadent tone of Elijah’s voice made Camden ache with want. “We
can most definitely do that.”
Chapter Eighteen
ELIJAH kept that sexy-as-sin half smile on his face as he pulled his gaze down the length of Camden’s body. He sat up, then lifted Camden up with him. When Camden tried to sit beside Elijah, he shook his head.
“Nah, that’s not your seat.”
Camden didn’t exactly follow his meaning until he smoothed a large palm over the top of his clothed cock. The gesture was both an invitation and a command, one Camden had no intention of turning away. Eager to fulfill Elijah’s request, Camden stripped his shirt off and quickly disposed of his sweatpants and boxer briefs a second later. He figured they’d need to come off soon enough, no sense in wasting time doing it later.
As he straddled Elijah’s lap, the spread of his full lips into a broad smile told Camden his assumption was right. Naked Camden was what they both wanted. Now, if Camden could just get Elijah to divest himself of his clothing too so Camden could get to that delicious flesh beneath, everything would be perfect in his world.
Camden reached for the hem of Elijah’s T-shirt and was disappointed when Elijah placed his hands on top of Camden’s and shook his head. He was about to protest, but then Elijah moved his hands to Camden’s flanks, then around his back, until they traveled to his shoulders. Elijah’s movements were tender, gentle, and so slow, painstakingly slow—the simple slide of his flesh over Camden’s building his need and frustration with little effort. Except for Camden sitting in his lap naked, they’d barely made it to a place where Camden would call this intimate or overtly sexual. But being near Elijah like this, feeling his heat, his desire—it made every touch, every look, every sound seem so arousing, Camden could hardly stand it.
Elijah placed a firm grip at the back of Camden’s neck, pulling him forward until their lips met in a hard press. From that moment on, the gentleness Elijah seemed determined to exact on Camden fell away and was replaced by burning desperation. Teeth clicked, tongues tangled as they struggled to taste each other, and Camden’s lungs burned from their need to breathe. But when the decision was his next breath or breaking away from the pleasure of Elijah’s kiss, he’d gladly suffocate.
Elijah kept one hand pressed against Camden’s neck, holding Camden’s lips right where he wanted them, while he moved the other to Camden’s straining length. The tight fist around his cock, coupled with the stroke of Elijah’s thumb across the straining domed cap, forced Camden to take a breath. But when he tried to pull away from Elijah’s lips, the firm press of his hand at Camden’s neck kept him locked in a torturous kiss.
Camden’s hips moved of their own accord as his cock chased the warmth and friction Elijah’s closed palm provided. Camden didn’t care that Elijah’s grip was dry; he didn’t care he would probably end up with some kind of abrasion on his cock if he fucked Elijah’s hand the way his body desperately needed him to. Thankfully, Elijah had better sense than he did, because he released Camden’s cock without warning.
Before Camden could lament the loss of Elijah’s hand or the glorious way it gripped his leaking cock, Elijah broke their kiss and moved his mouth to Camden’s ear to whisper, “Feed me.”
Camden groaned as he closed his eyes and let his head drift back. He shivered at the almost painful weight of his heavy balls while the image of Elijah swallowing his cock whole danced behind his closed lids. “Dammit, Elijah.” Camden shifted, restless in Elijah’s lap, tugging at his sensitive sac to stave off the orgasm that was already building. “You can’t say shit like that and not expect me to lose my load.”
The tip of Elijah’s tongue caressed his earlobe. The electric sensation sent tiny shocks through his system, making him tremble with need. “I thought the point of this entire exercise was for both of us to lose our loads?”
“It is,” Camden answered on a short-whispered breath. “But not like this.”
Elijah slipped his hand around the base of Camden’s cock again, making it throb, causing Camden to struggle to keep from tipping over the edge.
“How, then?” The quiver in Elijah’s voice made Camden open his eyes. He pulled back far enough to lock stares with Elijah to discover blazing desire and burning need.
Camden ran a slow finger across Elijah’s lips, delighting at the thought of having them wrapped around him, sucking Camden into oblivion. He shook himself free of the mini fantasy playing out in his head and focused on forming an answer to Elijah’s question. “With your cock buried to the hilt inside me.”
Elijah pulled Camden in for another kiss, his tongue pushing past Camden’s lips, demanding entrance to his mouth, licking and stroking Camden into a desperate frenzy.
“I promise to give you everything you want.” He punctuated his sentence with a quick kiss to Camden’s lips and a tight squeeze of his hand on Camden’s cock. “But please, Cam.” Elijah’s tongue traced his lips in hungry anticipation as he looked down at the sight of Camden’s straining length, running his thumb through the pearl of precum resting on Camden’s purplish cap. Elijah smiled just before swirling his captured treasure around the tip, pulling a desperate moan from Camden. “Let me taste that first.”
The sheer bliss on Elijah’s face as he stroked Camden’s cock made the breath catch in the middle of his chest. Elijah, a man who wore his passion on his heart for everyone to see, a man who lived loud and bold in the world, had leveled Camden with a few whispered words and the swipe of his finger.
The press of cushions against his back brought about the realization that Elijah must’ve moved him off his lap and laid Camden down on the bed. He hadn’t a clue when it happened; he was too busy trying to remember to breathe to focus on anything nonessential like how he ended up on his back or when Elijah had stripped—as evidenced by the electric sensation of Elijah’s smooth, hot skin pressed against Camden’s.
Elijah’s fingers were at his hole demanding admittance. He tensed for a moment, but the smooth glide of Elijah’s digits inside him eased the anxiousness. He turned his head to the side and saw a bottle of lubricant that Camden couldn’t remember seeing before.
Am I that fucking lost that I didn’t even see him get it?
Camden didn’t have time to dwell on the thought. As Elijah settled between Camden’s legs, stroking him from the inside, he swallowed Camden’s cock from tip to root. Camden’s eyes crossed, and his head pushed deeper into the bed cushions as his back bowed. If this kept up, he didn’t stand a prayer of making it through this blow job.
He went to pull out of the wet velvet of Elijah’s mouth, but the stretch of a second finger in his ass caused his hips to snap forward, pushing back into the tight cocoon of Elijah’s mouth.
Elijah placed a firm hand against Camden’s hip, keeping him still, forcing him to experience the dual sensation of being fucked from the inside and out.
The restraint only heightened the experience for Camden. Before, Elijah had given Camden the liberty to tease and torture him in every way Camden could think of. Elijah’s only demand was that he be allowed to repay the kindness to Camden when it was his turn to steer them to ecstasy.
Well, Camden relented this go ’round. But karma was a greedy bitch, and he intended to repay every torturous move Elijah doled out. It was only fair. And if Camden believed in anything, it was serving justice.
Elijah curved his tongue, cupping the underside of Camden’s cock, caressing each ridge with expert care. As Elijah closed his mouth again, making a tight seal with his lips as they reached the base of Camden’s shaft, Camden could feel his balls tighten and inch up. He gave up the idea of payback; the way his muscles were clenching, the way he could hardly think or breathe, Camden was certain he was going to die from the best orgasm he’d ever had, or he was about to have a heart attack. Either way, he didn’t think moving on his own accord would be a possibility when Elijah was through with him.
“Not gonna last.” Camden’s voice sounded ravaged, raw to his ears. But whatever mangled sounds he’d made, Elijah took one long swallow, collapsing his jaws a
s he sucked his way back up the length of Camden’s pole one final time.
He didn’t say a word to Camden. He pulled his fingers from Camden’s stretched ass and reached for the lube and the single foil packet lying next to it. Once he was sheathed, Elijah poured a generous amount of the lubricant on his cock and used his hand to spread it all over. He took the rest and spread it on his finger, then rubbed the exterior of Camden’s hole.
Camden grabbed his sac again. The edge of ecstasy was right there. All Camden had to do was let go, and he’d be at his peak, happily falling into the climax Elijah had led him to. But when he saw Elijah’s length straining in the air, Camden tightened his hold on his balls, applying pressure that was just this side of painful to take the edge off. He hadn’t been lying when he told Elijah he wanted to come on his cock. After waiting so long to experience that feeling again, the devil himself couldn’t have kept Camden away from this particular goal.
Camden groaned as he watched Elijah position the lube bottle over his ass again. He placed his hand on Elijah’s arm, preventing him from tipping the bottle over and adding more lubricant. “Trust me, I’m prepped enough, Elijah. I need you inside me now.”
Elijah shook his head as he smiled down at Camden. “Nah, baby. I want that ass sloppy wet for me.” Elijah moved Camden’s hand and poured more lube over his hole, pushing it inside with his wide fingers, making sure Camden’s walls were slick and stretched for him. “I need to be balls deep from the first stroke.”
ELIJAH consumed the picture of Camden lying spread out on his bed with his balls and dick so flushed with need, his skin had gone from a soft, rosy pink to a deep plum purple. Elijah fought the need to take Camden to the back of his throat again. As much as it would please him to swallow him again, Elijah knew the man couldn’t take it. The way he was twitching, fighting to keep from going over the cliff, one well-placed lick was all it would take for him to lose his control and spill his seed all over his belly.
