2017 Top Ten Gay Romance

by J. M. Snyder

  David explained, “Your hand is bigger than mine.”

  What a wonderfully matter-of-fact assessment. Jake gave him another kiss which ended up involving tongues sooner rather than later.

  “Jake?” David said, pulling back. “This is good.”

  “But?”

  “But I need your claim.”

  Right. According to the information Amanda provided, an omega who bonded with an alpha prior to claiming was wired to want the claim, and Jake could only assume that urge was more important once they involved sex. He reached for the lube. “Just remember to tell me if you want a break. How about you roll over on your stomach for the prep?”

  Come to think of it, missionary would be the best position but it was out of the question with his knee still hurting. Cowboy was always fun, not ideal for a virgin though, and anyway, he needed access to David’s neck. Spooning it was then. On the plus side it’d be easy to stroke David’s dick in that position.

  David had a fantastic ass, all pert and squeezable. Jake indulged himself for a moment, cupping each cheek and following his hands with a few kisses before squirting lube in his hands and warming it up. He started with a single finger pressing against David’s hole, not breaching him yet, just massaging around and waiting for his omega to relax. When he saw David’s legs release their tension he said softly, “One finger now,” and pushed just the tip inside.

  Exercising great self-control, he made the prep slow and gentle, taking his time to ease his finger all the way inside. “How’s that?” he asked when he could go no further.

  “Okay. A little weird, but not bad.”

  Predictably David was tight and God, Jake couldn’t wait to be inside him. But he couldn’t rush this so he thoroughly stretched with one finger before asking, “Ready for another finger?”

  “I think so.”

  He was, though he gasped at the intrusion. Jake decided a little distraction was in order. “So hot,” he murmured. “You’re so hot like this, spread out for me, and I’m so damned glad you’re mine.”

  Jake was hit with a new wave of pheromones. Interesting. Maybe dirty talk was a turn-on for David? It bore experimenting anyway. “You have a great ass. I love that I’m the first person to see it like this, to put my fingers inside.”

  “Mmm,” said David.

  “You like it when I talk like this?”

  “Yes,” came the shy reply.

  Okay, Jake could work with that. Continuing his stretching, he traced David’s spine with his free hand. “You’re so responsive, I love it. How does it feel to have my fingers in your ass?”

  “It’s getting good.”

  “Yeah? It’s about to get better.” He angled his fingers and sought out David’s prostate.

  “Ohmygodjake,” yelped David. After he caught his breath he demanded, “Do that again.”

  He obliged, then warned, “Another finger now.”

  This time David hissed and Jake gave him a long pause to adjust. When David was as ready as he was going to get, it was time to finish stretching him to take Jake’s very impatient cock.

  “You’re so tight,” Jake said. “Fucking sexy seeing you like this, getting you ready for my cock.” This dirty talk business was harder than anticipated because most of Jake’s brain cells were otherwise occupied or had gone altogether AWOL. “That’s it, relax for me. Let me get you good and opened. You’ve got me so turned on, David. I can’t wait to be inside you, to make you mine.”

  About the time David started to whimper, Jake decided he’d done as much as he could to make this easy. “Ready?”

  “Yes. Please claim me, Jake.”

  “Roll on your side, facing away from me. Just like that. Leg out, there we go.”

  While lubing up his cock, he admired David, the worked-over hole just waiting to be fucked. What a sight.

  He got into position, rolling the head of his cock around David’s entrance and hot damn that was good. “Deep breaths and bear down, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He wasn’t sure how much bearing down David actually managed between crying out when he was breached. Jake paused before he’d even gotten his whole cockhead inside, stroking his omega’s chest. “Breathe, sweetheart. That’s it. Deep breaths.”

  “Hurts.”

  “It’ll get so much better. I promise.”

  After a minute David relaxed somewhat and Jake slid in further, getting his entire head past the tight muscles this time.

  “Too big,” muttered David.

  Holy fuck he was tight. It was amazing—for Jake. He needed to focus on David, so he continued gentle caresses and spoke soothingly. “We’ll stop here for as long as you need. Keep breathing.” After a minute of silence he prompted, “Talk to me, sweetheart.”

  “Getting better. Less painful and more really, really full.”

  “That’s good. You’re doing great.”

  “Do I feel good?”

  “Incredible.” He kissed David’s shoulder. “You feel amazing, so tight and hot.”

  “You can push in a little more.”

  Jake inched forward. “Oh, yeah.” Amazing didn’t even begin to describe it. He’d never gone bare with a guy, so that part was new, and David’s body gripped his cock perfectly. A little at a time he pushed on, constantly stroking David’s body.

  Finally he was fully inside, balls against David’s fine ass. “That’s all of me.” Reaching around, he started gently fondling his lover’s balls, reveling in the knowledge that nobody had been inside David before him.

  His omega continued breathing deeply until Jake could feel him relax. “I’m so full. It’s actually kind of nice.”

  Nice was good. Jake could absolutely work with that. “You like me filling you up?”

  “Yes. Makes me feel like I’m really yours.”

  “You are.” Jake experimented, pulling out slightly and sliding forward again. “How’s that?”

  “Still getting used to it, but keep going.”

  His body strongly concurred. He needed to mate his omega, claim David as his own. Thrusting a bit more, he moved his hand to stroke David’s cock.

  “Fuck, that’s good,” he groaned, pleased to note the cock in his hand was starting to firm up again. He kept his movements gentle, despite his desire to bury himself fast and deep. Now was not the time for that.

  “Mmm,” moaned David approvingly.

  “Starting to enjoy?”

  “Yes.”

  He changed his angle a couple times, looking to find just the right one so David felt as good as he did. It was obvious when he got the right angle. Not only did David make a sexy little yelp, his pheromones kicked up again and his cock quickly came back to full mast. This was good because Jake didn’t think he’d last all that much longer. The moans David was making pushed him even closer to the edge and he dared to speed up just a touch.

  “There, yes, right there,” babbled David. “Jake…you…I’m going to…please.”

  Dear God, if Jake thought David had been tight before, he was a vise when his muscles clenched in orgasm and this inevitably set off Jake’s own climax.

  On instinct and by pheromones he knew precisely where to bite down, the junction of David’s neck and shoulders where one of his pheromone glands was. The claim bite allowed his body to recognize David’s pheromones and immediately Jake grew more possessive and protective, compelled by the urge to take care of the omega he’d claimed as his mate. He continued to thrust, coming long and hard until he was utterly spent.

  It took him a minute to return to reality. “Oh my God,” he muttered.

  David sounded similarly wrecked. “Yeah.”

  He examined the claim bite, then slid out of David when he realized it could use attention. After all, claiming David meant a lot of things, and one of them was that he’d take care of his omega. The previous day he’d had the foresight to put rubbing alcohol in his nightstand, so he sloshed some on a wad of tissues and dabbed it on the bite.

 
When he happened to notice his come leaking out of David’s ass it spoke to all his revved-up alpha instincts. David was truly his now in every sense of the word. His to protect, to care for, to cherish. Going forward he’d be able to detect minute changes in David’s pheromones, allowing him to take better care of his mate once he learned what to associate each change with. The claim wound would heal and leave neat scars on the sensitive skin for the rest of David’s life, allowing even betas to know he had an alpha.

  “How are you, sweetheart?” Alphas all responded to a claim basically the same, with their protective and possessive instincts kicked into high gear. The omega’s response was considered an important indicator of how the couple matched.

  “So good,” David mumbled, to Jake’s great relief. Actually David seemed pretty out of it still. That was okay. Dazed euphoria meant he was responding extremely well.

  Jake rolled his omega over so they were facing each other and pulled the man into his embrace, tucking a couple tissues under the claim wound.

  A couple minutes passed before David looked up and said, “I’m really yours now.”

  “You are.”

  “It’s like I’m all wrapped up in you, you’re all around me and it’s incredible, Jake. I don’t have words to describe it.”

  “So glad you’re mine.” It struck Jake how much of a privilege it was to be David’s alpha, to have this wonderful man in his life.

  David nuzzled him with a content sigh. “Me, too.”

  Yeah, they were a good match alright. Jake doubted it was possible to be better.

  Chapter 6

  David didn’t care that his ass was sore. For one thing, that orgasm when Jake was inside him had been several orders of magnitude better than even Jake’s hand, never mind his own. For another, he was so wonderfully happy in the afterglow of Jake’s claim. He knew claiming could be good with the right alpha but he hadn’t been prepared for just how good. Maybe it was better for him because he’d already bonded with Jake. If that was the case, every omega should bond prior to being claimed.

  Jake got a damp towel to clean them up. David reveled in the care. He was content to bask in serenity for a while, until he wanted to confirm something because the sex had been really, really good. “We’re going to do that often, right?” he asked.

  “Have sex? I hope so.”

  “Oh, good.”

  “Like I said, there are lots of fun things we can do in bed.”

  “Mm, like what?”

  Instead of answering, Jake asked, “Haven’t you watched porn?”

  “No. Aunt Julie and Uncle Ed blocked it very effectively.”

  “Really? They didn’t strike me as the ultra-conservative, porn-is-evil type.”

  “That’s not why they blocked it. I only learned last year they did it because they worried most porn is really degrading to omegas and they didn’t want me to see that, and either be traumatized or think I had to accept it. At least that’s what Lori told me.”

  “They have a point there,” conceded Jake. “We’ll explore together, figure out what you like. It’ll be fun.”

  “I liked what we just did, after it stopped hurting.”

  “It won’t hurt so much once you get used to it.”

  “Even better.” Because he was eternally inquisitive, he asked, “What do you like?”

  “Besides what we just did? I like oral, giving and receiving.”

  The concept was somewhat familiar to David. He did read a lot, after all, and he’d been known to sneak some of Aunt Julie’s heterosexual romance novels simply out of curiosity. “Giving, too?” It seemed very un-alpha-like. Or maybe that was just the books he’d read.

  “Yes. When it comes to anal, though, I’m strictly a top.”

  “I figured. You’re an alpha.” Alphas liked to be in control. “Anyway I really, really liked it just the way we did it.”

  “I’m glad.” Jake kissed him. “I wanted your first time to be amazing.”

  “Mission accomplished.”

  “Sometimes it’s nice just to keep things simple and stroke each other, or rub against each other until we come. Not to mention that once my knee is better we’ll have more options for positions.”

  This all sounded very promising to David. “As long as I get to have you inside me on a regular basis.”

  Jake smiled. “You will.”

  “I hope I didn’t come off as too selfish when we were talking in the hospital,” he said.

  “You didn’t. I hadn’t realized so many alphas were actually bastards, but I never thought you were selfish. You just wanted to make sure I’d treat you well. And I will.” He reached out to stroke the side of David’s face. “It’s a privilege to be your alpha, David. I hope you’ll let me know when there are things I can do better, things you need or want.”

  “Okay. You know I do want to be a good omega for you.” Now that Jake had claimed him, David could be a calming influence on his alpha, among other benefits such as cooking and, eventually, bearing Jake’s children. “I want to make you happy, too.”

  “Just be you,” was Jake’s reply. “I’m awfully fond of you.”

  “I’m pretty fond of you as well.”

  This post-claiming interlude was ideal and David didn’t want to get out of bed, but eventually his stomach complained audibly that he was overdue for lunch. This prompted Jake to remark, “We should eat.”

  “Ugh. Eating means moving.”

  “Come on. You need to keep hydrated, too. My uncles figured we wouldn’t want to go out for a couple days so they brought over enough food for a week.”

  “That was nice of them.”

  “They can’t wait to meet you. Mom and Dad want to meet you properly as well.”

  David reluctantly followed Jake in putting on boxers and heading to the kitchen. “What’s this about not going out for a couple days?”

  “I think that’s mostly on my end. I’ve got all these crazy protective and possessive instincts running rampant right now and I’ve gotta get used to that so I don’t freak out when anyone gets close to you.”

  “That’s okay. I’m happy to have you all to myself.”

  “What do you want for lunch?”

  David considered the available options before deciding, “How about meatball subs? We have plenty of meatballs.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll get the sauce and meatballs heating up if you want to toast the buns.”

  “No, I’ll get it,” countered David, with an eye to Jake’s crutches.

  “I can still manage.”

  “I’m sure you can, but you don’t have to. Besides, what happens if you spill hot pasta sauce all over the place?”

  Jake didn’t like it but conceded, “You have a point. How about I sit and slice up a cucumber?”

  “Sure.”

  He worked on lunch while simultaneously admiring Jake. Even on crutches, his alpha exuded strength and power along with a kind of natural dominance. Not in a menacing way, though David had seen in the warehouse that Jake was more than capable of being menacing if the situation warranted it. All of his very alpha traits coexisted with gentleness and kindness.

  He was jolted out of his introspection when Jake said, “You mentioned you haven’t gotten out much lately.”

  “Once I hit maturity I got too much attention. With online education it’s becoming more common for omegas to finish high school, and it was important to me because that’s something nobody can ever take away from me. There’s still a perception that a mature, unclaimed omega is actively looking for an alpha, so we were always dealing with alphas interrupting us. One time I was getting a haircut when the beta hairdresser started talking up her alpha brother.”

  “How unprofessional,” remarked Jake, “not to mention rude.”

  “The worst part is that I couldn’t control my physical reaction. No matter how much I hated it I was turned on to some level by the presence of alphas. It’s not like many people imagine where I was overcome with lust and coul
dn’t think, but I was aroused and the alphas knew it. It just got to the point where going out wasn’t worth it.”

  “That sucks.”

  “It did,” agreed David, “though it was my choice. Aunt Julie and Uncle Ed wanted me to stay with them until I graduated and turned eighteen. She said sixteen was too young to be claimed. We didn’t start seriously considering alphas until the beginning of June after my birthday. But if I’d really wanted it they would’ve let me earlier.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t.”

  “Me, too.”

  “We can go all over now. Nobody will bother you when you’re with me. Of course it’ll be easier once I’m off these damn crutches, but we don’t have to wait. Where would you like to go?”

  “I haven’t been to a movie theater in a year and a half.” He tried it once and lasted about ten minutes because no less than three alphas came to sit near him and Uncle Ed.

  “That I can handle even with crutches. Just give me a couple days so I don’t go nuts the first time someone notices how hot you are, and then we’ll go to the movies and wherever else you want.”

  Oh, it was thrilling to hear his alpha mention how hot he found David.

  “You can drive?” David couldn’t say he’d ever paid much attention to driving because it wasn’t a skill he needed. He was allowed to get a license by some stretch of legal reasoning that escaped him, because how was it that of all the rights omegas were denied, driver’s licenses were deemed crucial? Something about licenses already not being restricted to legal adults, if he recalled correctly. However, it was too risky for him to go anywhere on his own. Even claimed omegas were prone to harassment without their alpha or at least other family around, and if he wasn’t going out by himself he didn’t see a point in learning to drive.

  “Sure,” said Jake, “my right knee is my driving knee. What else besides a movie?”

  “Honestly? I’m even looking forward to grocery shopping.”

  “That makes one of us.”

  “I’d like to be able to go out to events. Authors speaking about their books, special exhibits at the museums, summer festivals, that kind of thing.”