by Jenny Tia
“I am! I’m ecstatic for you. Or at least, I would be if you told me anything about what’s going on. I haven’t spoken to you for longer than two minutes for over a week!” Stefan was nearly hysterical, and I held back a laugh.
“Okay, okay! Fair. Give me one second, I’m going to switch to my headset so I can tell you all about it.”
“Good. Fine. I’m getting comfortable.”
I threw back the covers of my bed and sure enough, there was the headset amongst the crumpled sheets, right where I’d thrown it the night before after a particularly steamy video call.
I wriggled the headset on and wandered out into the living room. “You there?”
“Of course I am. You think I’m going to bail on this?”
I filled the sink with soapy water and washed my breakfast dishes while I filled Stefan in on the most important parts of my courtship with Casius, skimming over the saucier details.
“When is he coming back to Goldleaf?” he asked excitedly.
I swirled a sponge around the bottom of a glass and smiled. “In uh…forty-two hours.”
“That’s very precise.”
“I’m practically counting down the seconds.”
“Okay but back up, you haven’t told me about the bad parts. Not to be a negative nelly, but I know you, Julian. There’s no way you’re just floating along accepting all of this good fortune without analyzing the shit out of it.”
I laughed and dropped a glass in the sink. “I have a lot I need to process with you,” I admitted.
“So hit me, what’s going on?”
“Uh…hang on.” A familiar sensation came over me, a light tugging I associated with Casius, but he wasn’t due to be here for another couple of days.
“You okay?”
“Just, uh—” I closed my eyes and focused on breathing, but a compulsion I wasn’t able to refuse had me heading to the living room, my wet hands leaving a trail of suds behind me.
“Stef, I gotta go—”
“Right now? We were just getting to the juicy stuff.”
“Sorry, it’s… Well, I think it’s Casius.”
“Here?”
“I don’t know…”
“Can we meet up later? Dinner?”
“Yes. Yes, great idea. Tonight. The café,” I said.
“You better be there.”
“I promise. I’m sorry. I’ve got to go.”
“Then go!” Stefan laughed and ended the call.
I stood at the front door and pulled the headset down around my neck before pressing an ear against the solid wood.
Silence.
I frowned as the tugging sensation stopped—but in its place came a warm glow, spreading from just below my navel and radiating to my chest. And then I heard it… The sound of footsteps on the stone stairs of the building, and a hand grazing against the inner walls as someone ascended. But it wasn’t just someone. I knew exactly who it was.
I threw open the door as he turned the final curve of the staircase and came into view. Casius…
His eyes met mine and his expression turned bright and happy. I rushed forward and threw my arms around him before I had a chance to second-guess myself. He held me close, and I pushed my face into the crook of his neck and shoulder, greedily breathing him in, deep into my belly, feeding the warmth there.
“I couldn’t wait,” he whispered into my ear as he squeezed me harder. The headset jabbed into my collarbone, but it could break for all I cared, I didn’t need it. After nearly a week of daily video calls, my body was itching for real contact, and now, he was here. I wanted to be pressed up against him even tighter, and I gripped him with all my might, only letting go to crush my lips against his. Casius kissed me back, exploring my mouth with his tongue. I moaned into it as pleasure glowed in every inch of my body.
“I missed you,” he said as he ran a hand over my face.
“Come in.” I pulled back and gestured inside. “I was just about to make lunch. Are you hungry?”
“Mushrooms?”
“Uh, of course? Is that a problem?”
Casius chuckled and shook his head. “I’ve been craving them every day since I got back to Everglow. I tried to eat a mushroom burger at my friend’s coffee shop, but it wasn’t great.”
“Know what kind of fungi they used?” I reached under the bench in the kitchen and picked a few heads of oyster and king mushrooms from my growing trays while Casius made himself comfortable in the living room.
“Um… Well, it didn’t taste like anything I had while I was here.”
“What did it taste like?”
I chopped up the mushrooms into big chunks and watched as Casius got settled in the corner of my favorite couch. It felt oversized to me, but it looked perfect under his big frame. I thought about how his scent would be permeating the fabric.
“It tasted like watery cardboard.”
I laughed and grabbed a head of garlic from a basket hanging to my left, and then started smashing cloves with the side of my knife. “They probably just fried up a portobello. Not good.”
“Not good at all. But that smells good.” Casius sniffed the air as I added the smashed garlic to a pan of hot olive oil then threw in the mushrooms.
“I promise it’ll taste better than that burger.”
I served the sautéed mushrooms on a simple salad of local, lemon-wilted greens and stiff spring peas, and then carried the bowls over to the living area and sat as close to Casius as I could.
“Hm, I recognize this…” Casius laughed as he took off the headset from around my neck with one hand while he cradled his salad bowl in the other.
“I was just chatting with Stefan before you arrived.”
“Hungry?”
“Starving.” I wet my lips and grinned.
In one smooth move, Casius put down the headset, swept his arms around me, and pulled me onto his lap. I gasped as my salad almost spilled, but he managed to grab my bowl and nestled it safely on my lap before I even blinked.
“Wow.”
I turned to smile at him, and he kissed me softly. As he pulled away, he brought a morsel of food up to my mouth. His gaze rested on my eyes as I took the mushroom from between his finger and thumb. I moaned at the taste and the sensation of his fingers so close to my lips. He smiled and took some for himself.
“This is so good!”
“I’m glad you like it.”
I went to reach for my fork, but he dove in and grabbed another piece of mushroom and greens and fed it to me.
Casius grinned a little sheepishly. “It makes my wolf happy to take care of your needs.”
I chewed and nodded, my wolf feeling content, protected, and taken care of.
“I don’t want you to feel like I think you’re incapable, but every now and then I want to do this. Even if it’s something silly like feeding you.”
I happily took another bite, and watched his face. This moment was more intimate than anything I'd ever experienced, and that warm glow was now spreading all over my body. As Casius fed me the last piece of lettuce in the bowl, I held his hand and brought it closer so I could wrap my lips not only around the food but also his fingers. I swallowed, keeping his thumb in my mouth, my eyes locked onto his.
Having a part of him inside me, even just inside my lips, set something off deep in my guts. Somewhere below my navel began a tickly, bubbling sensation I’d never felt before. Arousal was definitely there, but so was something else… I inhaled sharply as the feeling swept through my body and made me feel giddy, almost faint.
Casius seemed to notice something was happening to me. His tongue darted out between his lips for just a second as his gaze danced over my face. I still held his thumb in my mouth, and he gently started to pull it out, but I sucked on it, hard, and then I slowly circled my tongue over the thick pad. Casius let out a shuddering moan as I grazed my teeth over the sides of his digit.
Before I knew it, he pulled his thumb out of my mouth with a wet pop, and without any
thought, I threw my legs over his hips. The salad bowls rolled onto the floor, but I hardly noticed. We’d spent a week talking about how badly we wanted to touch, and my body felt like it was on fire as we started to finally do it. He ran his hands up and down my back before grabbing my ass and yanking me onto his lap. I moaned and kissed him hard, taking his tongue into my mouth the same way I’d taken his thumb.
Casius grunted as he held my hips and pulled me more tightly against him. I laced my arms around his neck, and the bubbling, tingling sensation became an urgent, desperation as I ground against his lap. As soon as I tilted my pelvis, a shock of pleasure burst through me. The feeling of our thick cocks pressing against each other through our pants was like nothing I’d ever felt before. He was already rock hard, and so was I. The heat from his dick made mine throb urgently, and I moved back and forth over him with slow, firm thrusts.
“You’re so fucking hot,” he said before pushing a stray hair back out of my face and planting a kiss on my mouth. I moaned and slid my tongue between his lips, exploring, savoring. My hole tingled and became coated in slick. Casius must have smelled how turned on I was because he suddenly flipped us so I landed on my back on the couch.
“I want to taste you,” he growled, low and deep, right by my ear. The vibration of his voice made me quiver, and the words themselves went straight to my cock, making it throb even harder.
“Please,” I whimpered.
A hot flush raced over my skin when he nibbled at my ear. I gasped and grabbed at the couch when he pressed his mouth against the crook of my neck and shoulder, right where the mating bite would go. My eyes rolled back in my head as my breath became choppy. I was so consumed by desire I craned my neck, desperate to feel his teeth pierce my skin and claim me as his mate, but Casius began unbuttoning my shirt then kissed across my collarbone and chest. A twinge of insecurity twisted inside me, but it was quickly forgotten when he wrapped his lips around one of my nipples.
“Oh shit!” My dick pulsed, and I felt my balls pulling up tight. Casius quickly pulled my pants and briefs off, pausing momentarily to admire my near-naked body. At least, that’s what I hoped he was doing. He grinned, and then smeared the clear fluid that dribbled from my cockhead all over it, making it glisten and swell while I gasped. Casius chuckled and gave me mercy by gripping my shaft and rubbing me with firm, deep strokes.
“That’s so good! Oh—” I arched my back, and he tightened his grip slightly. I whined and bucked my hips, begging for more.
He gave it to me by slipping the head of my cock between his full lips and lapping at my slit with his hot, talented tongue. I moaned and looked down to find him watching my reaction as he slid more of my dick into his mouth. I shut my eyes, and then lay my head back in surrender. It felt incredible. Better than I’d ever anticipated, and I’d done a lot of imagining about how it would feel.
He sank down until he’d engulfed my full length, and then he moaned, which sent vibrations to my balls. He bobbed up and down, sucking and licking, keeping me rock hard. I could feel my body tightening, ready to explode.
“Casius, please.” I didn’t think it could get any better, but then I felt a pressure at the entrance to my body. I gasped, and the pressure increased until Casius popped his thumb inside my slick wet hole. I shuddered, and my hole clenched tight. He moaned and smoothed his thumb back and forth, just an inch, until I relaxed and took more of him.
He slid off my cock. “I love how fucking wet you are for me.”
I growled, writhing my hips, wanting more, so much more. In an effort to appease me, Casius pushed two fingers inside me, and I almost fell apart. Heat built in my lower belly, and the moment he took my cock back into his mouth, I saw stars. Almost instantly, my ass pulsed around his fingers and my cock shot off load after load of cum down his warm throat. He drank every drop and kept sucking, hungry for all of it. For a moment, I was floating in a bubble of tranquility, completely satisfied. I didn’t even notice Casius pull his fingers from me. When I heard him grunting, I opened my eyes and saw him jerking his huge cock with fast, determined strokes.
I wet my lips and watched the head of his dick swell and his big, loose balls tug up with pleasure. I looked up at him and met his eyes. A languid thrill ran through me when I saw the desire on his face.
“Mark me with your scent,” I whispered. My cock twitched lazily at the thought, and then again when Casius groaned. He leaned forward, angling his cock. I spread my shirt open then arched my back a little to give him more of my skin to spray. He kept his eyes on mine, only breaking contact to glance down and make sure he was aiming right at me. And he was. With a final pump of his fist and an animalistic groan, he emptied his balls onto my stomach, my chest, and my neck. I gasped at how hot it felt, then moaned as he collapsed to his knees beside me. He lay his head on my shoulder and panted, chasing his breath as I smoothed his silky cum across my skin with my fingertips. I loved how much he’d covered me. I was saturated, and I wanted it to sink into my pores. I wanted to carry his scent with me all day.
Casius pressed a gentle kiss against my shoulder to get my attention. I turned my head and smiled at him sleepily.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows and smirked. “We just had lunch.”
He laughed and nuzzled into my neck. “Well, maybe I want dessert.”
“Aren’t I enough dessert for you?”
“What if I want seconds?”
I snorted, then leaned in to kiss him. “Fine, shower first, and then we can go and find some booza. It’s a Goldleaf specialty.”
In the shower, Casius washed down my back with sandalwood soap.
“Booza is ice cream, right?” he asked.
“No. I mean, kind of.”
“Kind of? Like, gelato? Or sorbet?”
I laughed. “No, it’s just…booza.”
He rubbed down my arms, then pulled me against him so my back pressed flat against his wet, warm torso. I moaned and tilted my head back to look at him, craning my neck so water didn’t flow right into my eyes.
“I’ll try it,” he said, but I caught a tremble of uncertainty in his voice that cut right into my heart.
“You don’t have to,” I insisted.
“I want to. I do. I’m just…”
“Not used to Goldleaf flavors?”
“Well, yeah. But I’m trying.”
Irritated, I grabbed the soap out of his hand then pulled myself out of his grip.
“Hey.” Casius moved me by the shoulders so I turned to face him. “I love it here. I love that you’re from here. It’s like nowhere I’ve ever been before, and I like that. I like you, and you wouldn’t be you without Goldleaf, right? I want you to know that.”
I nodded and wiped the water from my eyes. “Okay. Just… Most people from Everglow don’t like any of those things. In fact, they go about trying to erase what we have here, to push the Everglow culture on us. People move here and open up new cafés that don’t sell our traditional food. Gelato shops that don’t sell booza. Or worse—booza, but with Everglow flavors. It’s a…pet peeve.”
Casius ran a hand over his short hair, sending a spray of water droplets all over us both. “Sounds more like a political stance than a pet peeve,” he said, raising his eyebrows. A cheeky grin tugged at his lips and a dimple appeared in his right cheek.
I huffed. I didn’t want to get into it with him, not now he’d just arrived, and when things were just starting between us… Certainly not while we were in a post-orgasmic glow. So I just went back to rinsing the soap off my body and made small talk about what Casius would want to see in Goldleaf over the next few days.
“I’d love to see anything you think I should see. The forests, maybe? I don’t know. On my way down, I booked a room at the hotel I stayed at last time, it backs onto a forest—”
“What? The hotel?” I slapped his abs with the back of my hand. “Cancel it. You’re staying here.”
He raised his eye
brows, but a glimmer of excitement flashed across his eyes. “Really? Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I want you close.”
But of course our cultural differences came up again while we were out, walking through the paved pedestrian streets and through the crowded market stalls in the center of Goldleaf. The late April sun was made extra bright as it reflected off the stone buildings. Casius squinted into the glare and kept wiping sweat from the back of his neck. I stopped at the scarf seller and haggled a good price for Casius. When I turned to him, I found he was frowning with confusion.
“Why do I want a scarf?” he asked me quietly.
I frowned in confusion. “To keep you cool.”
“But it’s hot out,” he whispered.
“Yeah. The scarf will keep you cool.” I tugged on the ends of my own blue linen shawl that was bunched up around my neck. “Goldleaf lesson number one, cover your neck in any weather.”
“For real?” He looked at me like I was a crazy person. I scowled, grabbed the money out of his hand, and paid for the scarf.
“Just pick a color,” I insisted.
“Is one color better than another for staying cool?”
“Anything but black.”
“Uh, okay. What about that silver one?” He pointed to a silver linen scarf that was the exact shade as his Everglow protector uniform.
I laughed “Oh very original.” Once it was in my hands, I wove the scarf around Casius’s neck, tucked in the ends, and then gave him a reassuring pat on the chest before we took off through the market, searching for booza. Five minutes later, we had our tacky ice-cream like desserts, thickened with mastic gum and orchid root powder, and served in a cone. We lapped at them as we wandered out of the market toward the park.
“This is amazing,” Casius said through a mouthful of coffee and cardamom flavored booza.
I elbowed him. “I told you!”
“The texture is incredible! It’s like sweet, frozen mozzarella or something!”
I barked out a laugh and shook my head. “Sure. And how’s the scarf working out for you?”
“Honestly… So far so good.”
