At the same time, he couldn’t bring himself to give up the sexual nature of their relationship, even when the practical side of him knew they couldn’t have a future. A real one, anyway, with the whole happily-ever-after part.
As much as it sucked, they weren’t enough for each other and they both knew it.
But that didn’t mean he couldn’t take advantage of the time they had left.
“I missed you,” he said gruffly, moving away from the dresser.
“I was only gone a day.” The teasing look gave way to a sheepish smile. “But I missed you too.”
Dylan got to his feet at Aidan’s approach, and a second later their mouths found each other. It was a fleeting kiss, a feather-light brush of their lips—or at least it was before Dylan angled his head and deepened the contact.
The moment that hot, wet tongue slid into Aidan’s mouth, he was a goner. No stopping this kiss, no controlling the way his dick turned to granite and tried to poke right out of his sweats.
“Fuck, I totally missed you,” Dylan muttered.
Their tongues tangled, breaths mingled, and it wasn’t long before Aidan clapped his hands on Dylan’s hips and jerked the man’s lower body to his. At the feel of a telltale erection pressing into his thigh, he let out a hoarse moan, then slid one hand to cup the tantalizing bulge.
“Mmmm, probably not a good idea,” Dylan said ruefully, but the way he thrust into Aidan’s palm told a different story.
“Great idea,” Aidan murmured back.
He stroked the hard outline of that long, thick cock, chuckling when the SEAL’s head lolled to the side in pleasure. Applying more pressure, he palmed the stiff erection, then brought his mouth to the other man’s neck and sucked on his hot flesh.
Dylan jerked in surprise before groaning with approval. His hips continued to move, seeking contact, but Aidan abruptly dropped his hand.
“Seriously?” Dylan choked out. “You initiate a handjob and don’t follow through? Cocktease.”
“Oh, come on, we both know you want a lot more than my hand.”
With a mocking smile, he pushed the man toward the bed. When the back of Dylan’s knees hit the edge of the mattress, Aidan gave him a shove and forced him into a sitting position.
A second later, he dropped to his knees.
“What are you doing?”
“You really need to ask?” He reached for Dylan’s waistband, and then the metallic sound of a zipper opening echoed in the room.
“What if Claire knocks on the door?”
“Then we tell her we’ll be right out, you tuck your cock back in your pants, and we finish this later.”
With that said, he yanked on Dylan’s trousers and boxer-briefs, and grinned at the erection that eagerly sprang up to greet him.
“You know, you don’t have to give me a BJ to cheer me up,” Dylan rasped. “I wasn’t the one who got left at the altar.”
The bead of precome glistening on the mushroom head of Dylan’s cock made Aidan lick his lips, but he didn’t make a move to claim his prize just yet. “You want me to stop?” he challenged.
“God, no.”
“Okay then.”
With a grin, he wrapped his fingers around the root of that hard shaft and gave it a leisurely pump.
A shudder rocked Dylan’s body. “More,” he ordered. “Give me your mouth.”
The husky demand sent a dark thrill up Aidan’s spine. Same way he didn’t understand every other aspect of their relationship, he also didn’t get their sexual dynamic. With other guys he’d slept with, he was the one making the demands, the one taking control of the encounter. With Dylan, they both took the role of aggressor, a fact that confused the shit out of him. He didn’t like letting anyone else call the shots in the bedroom, yet for some reason he allowed Dylan the privilege.
Of course, he got to call the shots right back, which meant that Dylan’s commands often went unanswered.
“You’ll get my mouth when I decide to give it to you,” Aidan replied.
To punctuate that, he continued to jack Dylan off in languid, borderline-bored strokes that soon had the other man swearing in frustration.
When he tipped his head back and saw the sheer agony reflecting in Dylan’s eyes, he decided to have some mercy. Keeping their gazes locked, he leaned in and wrapped his lips around the engorged head.
“Oh Jesus,” Dylan croaked. “Oh, that’s good.”
Good was a fucking understatement. Good didn’t even do justice to the way Aidan felt when he was sucking this man’s dick. He loved every second of the act. Loved feeling that thick cock pulsing in his mouth. Loved the way Dylan’s hands tangled in his hair. The way Dylan moaned right before he came all over his tongue.
“I need it hard and fast. Let me fuck your mouth, Aid.”
“Not yet,” he said with a chuckle, and then he licked the salty drop pooling at the tip.
He flicked his tongue over the little slit for a few seconds, then licked his way down the length of the rock-hard shaft, eliciting a harsh curse from the man he was in the process of teasing.
Sure enough, Dylan had caught on to what Aidan was doing. “Fucking tease,” the SEAL grumbled.
He rolled his eyes. “Right, like you don’t do the same damn thing to me every time you suck me off.”
“I don’t tease. I just take my time,” Dylan protested. “Can you blame me for being thorough?”
The man raised a valid point. Aidan had a great appreciation for Dylan’s thoroughness in the bedroom, that was for sure.
As lust seized his groin, he ignored his painfully hard erection and refocused on the task at hand. This time he didn’t torment. Didn’t go slow, didn’t build up to anything.
He simply took Dylan’s cock into his mouth and sucked hard.
“Fuck. Fuck, just like that, man. Faster.”
Aidan quickened the tempo, moving his mouth up and down, tightening the suction with each upstroke.
“Goddammit, more.”
His soft laughter vibrated against Dylan’s dick. He brought his hand into play, using his fist and his mouth to pump and suck, while the fingers of his free hand found the man’s tight sac and squeezed it hard.
A sharp pain jolted through him as Dylan fisted his hair and brought his head closer, thrusting so hard and so deep Aidan suddenly had a cock prodding at the back of his throat. He relaxed his jaw and went into deep-throat mode, loving the taste and feel of this man’s dick consuming his mouth. His own erection ached inside his sweatpants, pleading for relief, craving release.
“Yeah, that’s it. Like that.” Dylan rocked his hips, fingers tangled in Aidan’s hair, tugging much harder than usual.
It was rare to see the man lose his cool like this, the hair-pulling and the desperate noises and the frantic thrust of his hips. Aidan knew today’s wedding fiasco must have upset him much more than he’d let on, and so he ceded control and let Dylan fuck his mouth, giving the man what he wanted, what he needed.
“Play with my ass,” Dylan moaned. “Now, Aid.”
Without hesitation he dipped his finger into the saliva dripping down the shaft and pushed it into Dylan’s ass. The second his finger breached the tight ring of muscle, Dylan let out a strangled cry and went still.
“Fuck. Fuck.”
The first jets of come spurted in the back of Aidan’s throat. A tidal wave of lust, combined with a hefty dose of male satisfaction, coursed through his blood. He swallowed heartily as Dylan shuddered in climax, while his own cock throbbed with pent-up need and angrily demanded attention.
Twenty seconds and several ragged breaths later, Dylan pulled out of Aidan’s mouth and fell back on his elbows. “Damn,” he mumbled. “I needed that.”
Aidan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand before getting to his feet. “I know you did.”
A pair of green eyes suddenly focused on his crotch. “You haven’t asked me to return the favor.”
He shrugged. “Because this wasn’t for me. It was for
you. And now I’m going to stop you before that hero complex of yours kicks in and tries to rescue me from a case of blue balls, because I really think we should check on our guest.”
The reminder immediately killed the mood, bringing a gloomy expression to his roommate’s face. “Crap, I totally forgot she was here.”
“I didn’t.” Aidan hesitated. “I mentioned that she’s smoking hot, right?”
Dylan’s jaw tensed. “Yeah, you did, but you can forget about it, man. She won’t be the filling in a Dylan-and-Aidan sandwich, so get that idea out of your head.”
He masked his disappointment. Dylan’s outright refusal was definitely not the response he’d been looking for. Today was the first time Aidan had met Claire McKinley, and when he’d walked into the living room and finally laid eyes on the woman Dylan had been bitching about for months, he’d been floored by how gorgeous she was. With her smooth flawless skin, rosy cheeks and enormous brown eyes, she looked like a porcelain doll. But below the neck, she was a different kind of doll. The kind you found at a sex shop, all tits and ass and endless curves.
“Aw, shit, I know that look,” Dylan grumbled. “I mean it, Aid, banish the thought. Forget the fact that I don’t like her, okay? She almost married my brother this morning. Think of how fucking incestuous that would feel if I took her to bed.”
Aidan snorted. “And you having slept with Cash’s girl isn’t incestuous? Plus, if you think about all the other chicks you and Cash, or you and Seth, tag-teamed in the past, that’s a lot of bed bunnies to have in common with other men.”
“Don’t care. We’re not fucking her.”
“We, huh?”
Dylan looked uncertain for a second. “Well, shit, me, I guess. You can do whatever the hell you want.”
“I’d never sleep with someone unless I had your blessing,” Aidan said gruffly. “That was our agreement, remember? Besides…”
He trailed off, but Dylan didn’t let it slide. “Besides what?”
After a moment, he gave a little shrug, feeling embarrassed. “I prefer it when you’re there. It makes the sex better, for some messed-up reason.”
“I know what you mean.” Dylan sounded uneasy. “Why is that? And why…” Now he was the one stalling.
“Why what?” Aidan prompted.
“Why can’t we stick to the whole one-on-one thing, just you and me?”
He had no answer for that, but it was the same question that had been plaguing him for months. Although Dylan had moved in last month after his lease with Seth Masterson elapsed in mid-November, he and Aidan had been sleeping together since the beginning of September. More than three months now, yet they couldn’t seem to last more than a week having sex with only each other. They both loved women too damn much, and eventually they ended up going out, meeting a beautiful, willing girl, and bringing her home.
“I don’t know,” he finally responded. “And I’m not sure tonight is the night to try to figure it out.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I think Notre Dame is playing this afternoon. Wanna catch a bit of the game?” Aidan said lightly.
“Yup.”
Just like that, the tension in the air dissolved like a teaspoon of sugar in water. At least on the surface. Inside, Aidan was still troubled, still thinking about all the times he and Dylan had had a warm female body nestled between them.
It was during those moments, when he was running his fingers over a woman’s sweet curves and listening to her throaty moans of pleasure, that Aidan was reminded of how much he needed a woman in his life.
But…he needed Dylan too.
He just had no idea how to reconcile those two conflicting needs.
5
Claire emerged from the bedroom later that evening and realized she was a lot tipsier than she’d thought. Like swaying-on-her-feet tipsy. AKA completely bombed.
Weird. She hadn’t felt drunk when she’d been sprawled on Dylan’s bed, nursing the Lagavulin bottle.
Everything was spinning as she made her way down the hall, so the first thing she did when she entered the living room was collapse in the black recliner before the floor gave way under her feet.
It wasn’t until she heard someone clear his throat that she noticed Dylan and Aidan sitting together on one of the L-shaped leather couches. Both guys were staring at her. Aidan with amusement. Dylan, disapproval.
“Are you drunk?” the latter demanded.
“No,” she said belligerently. Her gaze moved to the enormous flat screen, which was turned to a football game with the volume down. “Oooh, is Tom Brady playing? I wouldn’t mind me some eye candy.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Dylan grumbled. “You’re totally drunk.”
“I am not.”
“And FYI, this is a college game,” Aidan piped up. “No Brady, I’m afraid.”
She pouted, but football didn’t stay on her mind for long. She was suddenly far more interested in the two men on the couch. Aidan, unfortunately, had put on a shirt, but on the bright side, it was a sleeveless basketball jersey that revealed his muscular arms. Dylan had changed out of his suit and into sweats and a white wifebeater, which also showcased his arms.
“You guys have great arms,” she declared.
Aidan grinned.
Dylan scowled. “Where did you even get the booze? Don’t tell me you packed some in your suitcase.”
“Actually, I did. It was a surprise for Chris. His favorite scotch so we could toast to our happiness.”
Her response softened some of the hard edges in his expression. “Shit. Sorry. I guess you’re entitled to get wasted after what happened today.”
“Gee, Dylan, thanks so much for giving me permission. I felt so wrong drinking without your blessing. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said graciously. “By the way, you can go ahead and be as sarcastic as you want. You get a free pass tonight.”
“Really?” She feigned delight. “So I can verbally abuse you without repercussions?”
“Yup.”
“Sweet! How wonderful!”
Aidan snickered, then reached for the remote and flicked off the television. When Dylan uttered a protest, the dark-haired man shrugged and said, “You two are way more entertaining than this football game. So please, keep going, this is a lot of fu—um, probably not a good idea to sit like that, sweetheart.”
It took Claire a second to grasp that he was talking to her. She’d just drawn her legs up so she could sit cross-legged, and when she glanced down, Aidan’s warning suddenly made sense. In her skimpy beach dress, and with her legs positioned the way they were, both men had a perfect view of her lacy white panties.
“Oh,” she blurted out. “I forgot to change into comfy clothes.” She paused in thought. “No, wait. I did take off my bra.”
“I can see that.” The heat that filled Aidan’s dark eyes was almost hypnotic. He was staring at her chest like he wanted to devour her whole.
Her nipples instantly responded to his hungry appraisal, hardening and poking against the fabric of her dress.
He wanted her.
A thrill shot through her. Maybe the alcohol was messing with her head, but a man didn’t look at a woman the way Aidan was looking at her unless he wanted her, right?
She could have sworn she heard Dylan murmur, “Don’t even think about it”, but she was too busy maintaining the heated eye contact with Dylan’s roommate, whose mouth now donned a tiny smirk.
“So let’s get to it,” Aidan told her.
A jolt of desire streaked through her, and she felt her already flushed face turning redder. Was he suggesting what she thought he was suggesting?
“I want to hear you abuse Dylan for a while,” he clarified.
The disappointment that flooded her belly was laughable. Okay, she really was drunk. Of course Aidan wasn’t propositioning her, a woman he’d met mere hours ago. And she was probably misinterpreting his lustful expression too.
“Or we can f
eed the lady,” Dylan spoke up, his tone wry. “Because I’m pretty sure she just downed a shit-ton of liquor on an empty stomach.”
“I did,” Claire confirmed with a broad smile.
To her surprise, Dylan actually laughed. “Not something to be proud of, honey. Trust me, you’ll regret it in the morning.” He sighed. “I’ll fix you up something small. Maybe a sandwich?”
When he started to get up, she waved for him to stay put. “I’ll eat in a bit, and don’t worry, I’ll feed myself. I feel bad making you wait on me.”
“Like I said, you’ve got a free pass. My brother was a total dick to you today.”
Stretching her legs out, Claire stared at her red-polished toes and wiggled them around. “Hey,” she said absently, “I’m not seeing double anymore. I have ten toes again.”
She shifted her head and met Dylan’s eyes. He had the most gorgeous eyes, she decided. They were the palest shade of green she’d ever seen, so vivid they looked photoshopped. Chris’s eyes were also green, but darker, and definitely not as pretty.
“You think your brother was right to end it, don’t you?” she said slowly. “You don’t think it would have worked out between us.”
Dylan went quiet for a moment. “Yes,” he finally replied. “I don’t think it would’ve worked.”
“You might be right about that.” She paused. “My friend Natasha said the same thing. She thinks that deep down I knew it too.”
“Did you?” he asked roughly.
She hesitated again. “Maybe. I don’t know. I mean, I’m upset, but…not as upset as I thought I’d be.”
Before he could question the response, she staggered to her feet. “I think I want that sandwich now.”
* * *
“Poor girl,” Aidan murmured as they watched Claire’s face disappear behind the refrigerator door. “I still can’t believe Chris recruited you to cancel his wedding.”
Dylan frowned. “It definitely wasn’t his finest moment.”
“It was a dick move.”
There was no arguing that. Hell, even Dylan’s mother agreed that Chris had done a horrible thing today. When Dylan called her earlier to apologize, Shanna had still been mortified by her eldest son’s behavior, but fortunately she hadn’t been angry at her youngest for taking off too. She insisted Dylan had done the right thing by getting Claire out of town—apparently everyone they knew was whispering about the wedding and stirring up a gossip storm of massive proportions.
Out of Uniform Box Set: Books 4-6 plus 2 Bonus Novellas Page 33
