By the Book

by Scarlett Parrish

  “Jesus fucking Christ.”

  “Yes?” But there was a smile in his voice. An inherent I know what you’re thinking.

  I ran a hand from his hip to his spine, faltering when my fingertips met the edge of his tattoo. “That’s why you put the light on.”

  He laughed. “That’s why.”

  Pressing harder, I traced each bump in his spine, and it arched under my hand. I trailed my hand back down to his hip. “Jesus, you’re…”

  “What?” He cocked his head but didn’t look over his shoulder. Every muscle and sinew just below the surface made his ink come alive, and when I touched the edge of one wing again, I was surprised to feel skin against my own rather than a feather.

  “Nothing, nothing,” I whispered. “Doesn’t matter.”

  “You need something to look at back there while you’re…” He moved back onto me, and when he touched the head of my cock, I jerked back, shocked at the sudden contact. “Jesus, Reece.”

  Gripping his hip with one hand, I used the other to guide my cock partway into him, less than half an inch, just testing the waters, as if I could stop here and take no more. As if one kiss from Daniel was ever going to be enough without fucking him.

  “Easy.” He panted once. Twice.

  “Am I—” Hurting you?

  “No. Just go slowly,” he said breathlessly. “Make me feel every inch.”

  “Fuck.” Barely able to believe what I was hearing, less able to move without trembling, I pushed against him, watched my cock slide in as slowly as I could manage. I wanted to be inside him all the way, but he was right. He was right. Make him feel every inch. You’ll never fuck him for the first time ever again. “God, Daniel, you should see this.”

  His head fell forward, and he pushed back; I didn’t have to do a thing but watch him take every. Single. Inch of me into him, even as his movement took every last breath out of my lungs.

  Gasping soundlessly, I held on to his hips, held him steady. Or myself. And when he moaned, it could have been me making the sound.

  “Fucking hell, Reece, that’s just…”

  “What? Tell me.” Screwing my eyes shut, I tried not to move too fast. I tried to keep it slow and steady, just the way he wanted, but he was so tight and it felt too damn good not to pull out nearly all the way and move back in just a little faster with each stroke. “Talk to me.” You said you were a talker. Speak to me.

  “Slowly.” He groaned when I moved in him, and I stopped to give him a chance to speak. And to give myself a chance to breathe. “That’s exactly how I like it.” Pushing against me, he arched his back, pulled me in deeper.

  Arousal blurred the corners of my vision; all I saw was the rippling of Daniel’s backbone, the way every beam of lamplight hit the contours of his back, casting shadows from his shoulder blades over his wings.

  From the base of my spine up, every vertebra liquidized, throwing me forward. I thought about holding on to his shoulders but couldn’t keep my balance and ended up leaning over him, bracing myself on shaking arms.

  Sheets bunched underneath Daniel’s hands, tightening with every slow stroke I took. His hands balled into fists below mine with every breath he exhaled.

  So I couldn’t see that beautiful, inked skin of his, glistening with perspiration? I didn’t give a damn. Not now. I felt every breath he took underneath me, and when he moved, the warm skin against mine made me want to fuck him harder.

  “Daniel.” I bit my lip, let my head fall forward. Couldn’t. See. But just about reached the base of his neck, just to—

  “Fucking hell, Reece.” He spoke through gritted teeth, I’d have sworn to it, and the way he sounded made me grit my teeth too. “Jesus!”

  “What? I—Oh shit.” I must have bitten him in the heat of the—

  “No, don’t stop.”

  I drew back. He repeated himself. And I gave in. I wasn’t sure whose arms shook the most; I wasn’t sure who perspired the most. All I knew was we fell into the perfect rhythm, me fucking him slowly from the hips and gradually picking up speed. He followed my lead but kept gasping out words, growling from the back of his throat, telling me how good it felt.

  “Jesus. I can’t…” Deep breath. Gulp back air. I’m gonna come. I can’t believe it, I’m fucking Daniel and he’s gonna make me—“I can’t wait…”

  “Don’t. Doesn’t matter. Just keep doing…”

  I blinked to clear my vision, but it wasn’t moisture; it was white light.

  “…that.”

  “God, Daniel, I want to come. I need to.”

  “Then fuck me harder.” He freed his hands from below mine. “Oh Christ.” He moaned and arched his spine again, rocked back and forward, slowly, then faster and faster still. “Put your hands on my hips.” He paused. “Now.”

  I managed to haul myself up, but as soon as my hands were back on his hips, I couldn’t stop myself. Sucking in a breath through gritted teeth, I let my head fall back as I fucked him, knowing I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything if I tried. Not even his tattoo. Nothing—nothing—was capable of distracting me now that I was this damn close. “I’m gonna come. Daniel, I can’t. I can’t stop, oh Jesus fucking—” I came so hard my spine felt like it was trying to arch back on itself and couldn’t hold my head up. I lost myself for a moment, couldn’t remember my own damn name and—“Fuck.” Panting, I fell forward, shaking worse than before, covered in sweat. Easing myself out of him, I collapsed onto the bed with him lying at my side. “Jesus fucking Christ, what was that?”

  “That.” He grinned. Laughed. “That wasn’t bad for a first timer.”

  I smiled back, half in relief, half in something else when he ran a finger along my upper arm.

  “Reece.”

  Ah. There. I found myself again with Daniel.

  Chapter Eleven

  Daniel turned his head on the pillow to look at me. “What now?” In the cold light of day, he was still Daniel. And I didn’t know why this surprised me.

  “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

  “But where do you see this relationship going, Reece?” he asked in a faux whine before smiling. “Look.” He shifted his weight, propped himself up on one elbow, and looked down at me, his free hand resting on my torso. Daniel’s thumb tap-tap-tapped against my rib cage; he took a deep breath, and the tapping became a back-and-forth motion, stroking, but something gentler than that. His brow furrowed when his eyes met mine. “I think we crossed the line last night.”

  Oh did we ever. “Yeah.”

  “We’re not strictly flirting anymore.”

  “No. I don’t think we ever were.”

  “Hmm. True. True,” he murmured.

  “I didn’t think I was capable of this.”

  “What, finding another man attractive?” He gave a quiet laugh, stroked his fingers dangerously close to my nipple. I shivered, and he moved his hand away. “Welcome to the wonderful world of the bisexual. Twice the chance of a date, twice the chance of a knock back.”

  “But both at the same time?” I bit my lip. “Liking men, well, you and this. What’s just happened. And women? I don’t have the right to…” Screwing my eyes shut, I said it. “I don’t have the right to like both at once.”

  “No?” The scratch of skin on stubble and I opened my eyes to him stroking his chin with the hand on which he’d propped himself up. “Well, damn. Nobody told me that was in the rule book.”

  “Funny, Cross.”

  “Guess I’ll have to hand in my professional bisexual membership card, then.”

  “You’re not helping.”

  Daniel grinned. “Honestly, Reece. It’s allowed. In fact, fuck it. There is no ‘this is allowed, this isn’t.’ You don’t have to pick a team and stick to it forever and ever, amen. I kinda like it this way. It’s a continuum, not either or. More fluid. This way everyone gets a piece of Daniel.”

  “Seriously, you’re—”

  “It’d be cruel to say no to an entire section of the populatio
n just because they’re the ‘wrong’ gender or I was already taken. I mean, what did they ever do to deserve that? It’d be downright cruel of God to put someone like me on Earth and deny anyone the chance of fucking me. I exist for a reason.”

  “And that reason is?”

  “Daniel Fucking Cross is his own reason for existence, Hutton. He’s beyond all explanation.”

  “Christ, now you’re talking about yourself in the third person.”

  “Does it make me more desirable?”

  Even lying down, I shook my head slowly, trying not to laugh. “There’s no need to flirt with me now. You’ve already got me into bed.”

  “I know.” He shrugged. “But I don’t have an off switch. We’ve already established that. Besides. I see no reason to stop flirting just because I’ve got you where I want you. Call it arousal maintenance.”

  He wasn’t wrong there. It all felt strange. A short time after splitting from a woman, ending up in bed with a man. It should have felt wrong but didn’t. Strange, yes. Definitely novel. But wrong? No.

  “How do I know…?” I began and caught his eye. “Nothing.”

  “How do you know if this is what you want or not?”

  I paused before indicating with a twitch of my head that yes, I’d been thinking along those lines.

  “Felt like you wanted it last night when you were fucking me.”

  I shuddered.

  “Look. We both got turned on, right? And it’s natural to be uncertain if I’m the first guy you’ve ever been with. But there’s no law against it. There are no rules. You don’t have to choose this team or that team. Hell, you don’t even have to choose this person or that person if everyone involved agrees.”

  I frowned. Said nothing. Hoped the look in my eyes would encourage him to continue.

  “I don’t have a problem with being part of a triple. Just so you know.”

  My eyes widened in surprise.

  “What? You’re shocked at how matter-of-fact I am about these things? Come on; it can’t be that much of a shock to a guy who played around with threesomes that there are people who aren’t exactly vanilla out there.”

  “Point taken.” I sighed. “I guess I’m just not used to people being so pragmatic about it.”

  “I might sound pragmatic to you, Reece, but I’m just trying to be. I’m no more together than you are, not really. If this is what’s needed to carry on seeing you and for you to be happy, then I’m absolutely cool with being in a triple.”

  “God, I don’t know. It seems like too much.”

  “What, you feel greedy?”

  “Yes. Exactly. That’s exactly it.” Sometimes I wondered if he could read my mind.

  “Nothing wrong with that. Saying greed is good won Michael Douglas an Oscar, don’t forget.”

  “He was talking about money.”

  “Only because he’d never met Daniel Cross.”

  “You’re unbelievable.”

  “I get that a lot.” Daniel grinned, completely unashamed. “Speak to Georgia.”

  My heart skipped, and he must have felt its arrhythmia.

  “Maybe if she knows it’s not a fling. Something you’re doing on a whim. Sexual, yes, but not solely about that. Not just casual. Perhaps…” He bit his lip, looking deep in thought and, for once, serious. “She might be agreeable. If you ask her to consider it.”

  “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”

  “Ideal solution as far as I can see. I’d certainly be cool with it ‘cause I’m bi, and you? You like us both. She gets two men. Everyone’s happy.”

  “I’ve never met anyone as forthright as you, you know.”

  “Ah you know me. I’m special.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “Put it to her. Maybe not straightaway. You haven’t seen her in a while, right? Sound her out. Wait a bit. You know her better than I do. We know we’re all sexually compatible. Aside from that? Well, it’s up to you if and when you speak to her. I’m just making a clumsy attempt to be mature and sensible about it all.”

  “You? Mature and sensible?” I grinned, more out of nerves than humor. “That’ll be the day.”

  “Watch it, Hutton,” he said before dipping his head to kiss me. “Or I might have to hurt you.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  His brows knit together in the briefest of frowns. “Do you think I would?”

  My expression probably mirrored his; such was my confusion.

  “Last night…” He ran both his hands through my hair, smoothing it back off my forehead as he settled himself above me. “Did you get nervous?”

  A strange thing to ask, I thought. I believed my nervousness had been plain, but I’d gotten over it. Eventually.

  “Because…” His lips only a breath away from mine, Daniel paused before continuing. “There was nothing to be nervous about.”

  “Apart from the fact it was my first time with another man?”

  “Well, yes.” Those same lips curved into a smile made of memories and filthy thoughts. “Can I ask you something?”

  A sliver of ice wormed its way along my spine. “Sure.”

  “Did you think you were going to hurt me last night?”

  I took a deep breath, held it until the words came to me, and when I eventually spoke, they rushed out along with the air I exhaled. “I was worried I might. Even though you’d obviously done that before.”

  “You’re allowed to say it, Reece.” He smirked. In amusement rather than mockery, it seemed. Again he dipped his head to kiss me and whispered, “You’re allowed to say I have experience being fucked by another man.”

  “Does it…” I may have been “allowed” to talk about it, I may have fucked him myself, but the words still jarred. “Isn’t it…?”

  “Uncomfortable?” His lips traced mine in the gentlest shadow of a kiss. “Good God, no. Did I seem uncomfortable to you?”

  “No, you…” Casting my mind back, which didn’t take too much effort given it was all I could think about, I pictured his muscles rippling under my hands as I—

  “Jesus, it feels like nothing on Earth. I can’t describe it; it’s like the most…” Daniel’s eyes lost their focus, and his hand lifted off me as he gestured, lost in the memories I couldn’t erase either, didn’t want to. “It can feel a bit awkward. You know, if you’re not ready for it, but…” He shrugged. “Get turned on enough, use plenty of lube, go slowly the first few times. It’s all good.” He finished with a wink.

  “Jesus, I would never have thought we’d be having this conversation.”

  “Hey, come on now, Hutton. You wanted me from the first moment we met. Admit it.” He laughed and nudged my leg with his knee. “You want me now; I can tell.”

  Damn him and the way he made me feel. I just had to think about fucking him and my cock reacted. And that dimple when he gave me that know-it-all smirk took my breath away.

  “How old were you? You know?”

  His eyebrows lifted. “I see. The first time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Fifteen with a woman, seventeen the first time I fooled around with another man, and nineteen the first time I fucked another guy. Same age when he fucked me.”

  “Jesus, you don’t hold back, do you?”

  “Why should I? You asked. No need to feel embarrassed.”

  “And you were okay with it?”

  “I answered you, didn’t I? Oh, you mean with whatever his name was?”

  “Whatever? You’re so classy.”

  “Yeah, I remember his name. I just didn’t think it was appropriate to mention another guy when I was in bed with you.”

  “I don’t mind.” Strangely I didn’t. I liked hearing about Daniel. His past. His history.

  “Well, I was nineteen. He was a few years older. Not many. Liam, his name was. A bartender.”

  “Ah so that’s why you went with him. Free booze?”

  Daniel grinned and held his hand up in mock surrender. “You got me. I fucked my way int
o his liquor cabinet.”

  “Talk about a cocktail.”

  He snorted with laughter and laid his palm flat against my skin again. “And you say I’m the classy one?”

  “Must’ve picked it up from you.” I winked, a casual gesture to cover my underlying nerves. “So?”

  He paused before answering, shook himself out of a daydream or a memory. “Was I okay with it? Well, I was a little nervous, but I’m like that my first time with anyone.”

  “Daniel Cross? Nervous?”

  “Ssh. Don’t tell. I’ve got a rep to protect.”

  “Listen.” I shifted my weight, and he lifted his hand off me again, which normally would have disappointed me, but there were things I needed to say. Ask. And they were the sort of words that were easier to say without physical contact reminding me of how Daniel Cross felt. Leaning back on both forearms, I scrutinized his face for signs I was, in fact, going too far. Found none. Urged myself to carry on. I was nervous, yes, but curiosity overrode that feeling. “You were nineteen.”

  “I was. Sweet nineteen and never been—”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get the picture.”

  He gave a soft huff of laughter, and his gaze flicked down to my lips before he met my eyes again. “Okay, go on.”

  “Did you suspect before then? I mean, you said seventeen was when you first…” I let my head fall back and stared up at the ceiling. Couldn’t find the right words there, either.

  “Did I know I was bi?”

  Thank you, Daniel, for asking the question for me.

  “Sure. I suspected as much.”

  And thank you for answering.

  “Noticed other guys.” He paused, and the next point of contact wasn’t a word at all.

  I had five senses and Daniel appealed to all of them, but touch seemed to be one of his favorites.

  “Jesus.” I lifted my head again, met his eyes, and he had that “yeah, I know what you want” grin on his face again.

  And his hand lightly—ever so lightly—wrapped around my hardening cock.

  “But what if…” I screwed my eyes shut and took a deep, shuddering breath. “What if… Jesus, Daniel, how do you expect me to concentrate when you’re doing that?”

  “I’m not doing anything.”