by Sierra Riley
Briar glanced up and down Gabriel, taking in his loose print t-shirt and ripped jeans. He loved the extra peeks at his skin, and he itched to slip his finger into one of those holes.
So to speak.
“Had enough to drink?” Briar teased.
“One glass of champagne, when Kingston wouldn’t leave me alone. I’d rather save my calories for a proper meal tomorrow.”
Briar laughed quietly. “I can order supper into my room.”
“Now there’s a man who knows how to win me over.” Gabe tugged on his t-shirt, then fidgeted with the loose threads. “I’d better say goodbye to a few important people.” He didn’t sound very motivated, though.
Briar winked. “At your leisure. Top floor, door on the end.”
“I’ll see how I feel,” Gabriel smirked. “If anyone makes me a better offer.”
“Salad with steak?”
This time, Gabriel laughed. He was too taken aback to hide his amusement, which was greatly pleasing. “And ranch dressing.”
Briar smirked right back, then turned on his heel to head for the exit.
The hallway outside was cooler, and Briar strode through the foyer without a glance for those milling about outside. As he took the marble stairs up, he slipped his phone out of his pocket to check for important messages.
Nothing more important than Gabe.
As soon as Briar unlocked his hotel room door, he tossed his key on the side table and kicked his shoes off, then hung up his suit jacket. After unbuttoning his shirt sleeves and the top few buttons of his shirt, he loosened his tie.
Good and comfortable now, he picked up the hotel phone to order room service.
“Yes, one steak salad with ranch dressing.”
“Right away, sir. Anything else?”
Briar didn’t know what Gabriel liked to drink. “Still and sparkling water. That’s it. Thanks.”
Briar hung up and ran a hand down his face. As gently amused as he was at Gabe’s tiredness, he was exhausted, too. He’d sleep solidly tonight.
He hoped Gabe showed. Surely to God he would, but out of the blue, Austin’s words from earlier that week rattled around his head.
He’ll be mine.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts. “Room service.”
The hotel guy dropped off the meal with a neat little tray and utensils and the whole nine yards, and Briar nodded, slipping him a tip.
It wasn’t more than thirty seconds before there was another, softer, knock.
Briar opened the door instantly, smiling as Gabriel slipped into the room.
“Oh my God, you weren’t kidding.”
Gabriel couldn’t tear his eyes off the room-service tray.
Briar laughed under his breath. “I started off where you are, Gabe. I remember those weeks.”
The look Gabriel shot him was genuine appreciation. He was too caught off-guard to give him the attitude.
Briar just smiled back, glancing away after a moment and nodding toward the tray.
Gabriel collapsed into the armchair and pulled the tray over to him to dig in without another word.
Briar sat on the end of the bed, hitching one foot under himself and pressing his hands into the bed behind him. “Tonight’s show was the best of them all, I think. All of you got a lot of attention.”
“Mmm,” Gabriel agreed.
Briar spared him having to answer, letting him keep eating by talking instead. “I was talking to a few old friends and they want to see more of you all—you specifically.”
Gabriel didn’t look surprised, but his chest did push out with pride. “Awesome.”
“Mm,” Briar nodded. “And I have a few leads on jobs back in the city. You won’t have trouble finding work. The runway is yours.”
Gabriel nodded once. “It’s a lot easier than I thought.”
“I told you you had the natural talent for it,” Briar smiled. Gabe’s salad was half-gone already, and he was picking out all the steak strips to eat first.
Gabriel shot him another glance and nodded his agreement. A little egotistic already, then. Oh, well. He’d had a week having his ego stroked by everyone around him, so it was to be expected. At least Gabe knew how good he was.
Then, Gabriel choked with laughter for a moment, covering his mouth before taking a deep drink of the sparkling water.
He shoved it away from himself and coughed harder, then grabbed the still water glass.
“A little Perrier not to your taste?” Briar teased.
Gabriel coughed. “I’ve never had…” he cleared his throat and coughed again. Holy shit, seriously? Briar’s shock must have shown on his face, because Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I never knew people really drank it before I started… schmoozing with this lot.”
Was sparkling water a rich-person thing? Briar assumed so. Interesting. Gabe probably didn’t come from money, then. “You prefer your sparkles in your alcohol?”
“And all over my body, if need be. Anywhere but my water.”
“What was so funny?” Briar added once Gabriel finished his salad and set the tray aside.
Gabriel actually blushed, his eyes flickering across the room before he looked back at Briar. “It’s March fourteenth.”
Briar slowly narrowed his eyes in thought as he stood up to approach and grab the sparkling water glass. He drank deeply, then set the glass down, leaning on the table next to Gabriel. “Pi Day?”
“Steak and blowjob day…”
Briar hitched his eyebrow up, then smirked. Oh, he wanted to blow Gabriel’s mind, and he was never going to get a better segue than this.
He braced his hand on Gabriel’s armrest, then sank to his knees.
Gabriel’s jaw dropped, his mouth wide open for a second before he tried to collect himself and look cooler. “I didn’t— okay.”
Gabriel definitely hadn’t meant for Briar to suck him off, but this option amused Briar more. Apparently, Gabe realized he was about to talk Briar out of it and shut up before he could.
Briar smirked. “I’ll take care of your demands directly.” He pressed his lips against the hole in Gabriel’s jeans just above his knee. The smooth skin was warm, the denim brushing his chin and edge of his lips.
Gabriel twitched, curling his hands around both armrests and leaning back in his chair. He took a deep breath.
Briar connected the dots, zigzagging up his model’s thigh—then switching to the other to repeat the process. When his lips found the rip next to the pocket, he darted his tongue out and dragged it along the exposed skin from one side of the rip to the other.
“Oh, fuck,” Gabriel hissed. His hips were pressing up from the chair as he desperately arched, trying to get more attention to his cock and less to the sensitive, teased skin.
Briar pulled Gabriel’s t-shirt up, his movements faster and more direct now as he yanked it up and over Gabe’s head until he raised his arms to let Briar get it free.
Then Gabriel grabbed it and tossed it aside before pressing his fingers into the arms of the chair again, hard.
Briar teased one hand free and placed it on his own shoulder, encouraging Gabriel to touch. He slowly drew down the zipper, thankful for the designer’s choice of zipper. It wasn’t the rough, cheap kind that got stuck if you looked at it wrong.
“Hnnh,” Gabriel whispered, his breathy grunt echoing in the silent room. Briar smirked and leaned in to press his lips against Gabriel’s stomach.
Gabriel giggled, then pressed a fist quickly over his mouth and cut off the sound.
The sound made Briar grin. “Ticklish?”
Gabriel’s neutral expression was back, though it was strained. “Maybe.”
Briar kissed a few more times. Gabriel’s stomach, usually hard and flat to show off every possible ab, had a cute little swell. Briar loved how soft it felt when he slouched in the chair.
Gabriel hummed his pleasure with his tongue against the back of his teeth, then twitched when Briar pulled his jeans and underwear down slowly.
Briar kissed all the way down his hipbone to the base of his cock.
“Christ.”
Briar yanked Gabriel’s jeans and underwear down to his knees, then wiggled them off his legs until he could kick them free, leaving him naked and sprawling, gasping for breath in his armchair.
Briar slid one arm behind his back and the other under his knees to heft him up and over to the bed.
“Jesus, you can’t just—” But Gabriel was laughing as Briar tossed him flat on his back on the bed.
“Yes, I can,” Briar winked, scooting up the bed and between his legs. “That’s more comfortable. I don’t like to spend too much time on my knees.”
Gabriel moaned when he kissed his way up from his thigh to his cock again. Then, Gabriel looked across the room at his jeans.
“I have one.” Briar slid a condom—unlubed, given the occasion—out of his pocket and ripped it open, wasting no time on this. He pinched the tip and rolled it down in one slow, firm, sensual stroke from head to base.
Gabriel made a sharp hissing sound of pleasure, his toes curling into the bed. God, he was adorable, and Briar wanted to suck him off almost as much as he wanted to fuck him again.
With that in mind, Briar wrapped his lips around the swollen head and wrapped his hand around the shaft just under his lips, then smoothly bobbed his head down to suck it into his mouth.
Gabriel’s moan was delicious.
Briar bobbed his head down the hot shaft until the tip hit the back of his palate, then pulled his lips back up the shaft again.
“Oh, fuck.” Gabriel was noisy already, squirming against the bed and trying to find a comfortable position to push his hips up. He sharply thrust up into Briar’s mouth, then flopped back on the bed with a grunt.
“Nnh?” Briar moaned, pulling his head up. Before he could pop the shaft free to question him, though, Gabriel was pushing on the back of his head to keep him going down on him.
“I’m fine,” Gabriel whispered. “Just overextended myself.”
No doubt his body was worn out. Runway work was a lot harder on the joints than most people suspected. Briar ran a hand up along Gabriel’s thigh, caressing the indent of his groin and the sharp line of his hipbone, then set to work again.
With each quick bob of his head, he swallowed Gabriel’s shaft to the root, and Gabriel panted, whined, or moaned his pleasure.
By the time Gabriel was whimpering, he pushed lightly on Briar’s shoulders, then smacked his forearm. “No, or I’m gonna come.”
Briar slowly pulled his head up and off the flushed cock, stripping the condom off with one slide of his hand and blowing lightly on the tip of Gabe’s bare cock for good measure.
“Shit, you little…” Gabriel trailed off, but he didn’t have more breath to protest with.
Briar winked, then went for lube.
By the time Briar’s fingers were wet, Gabriel had his legs wide open, knees up and feet digging into the bed.
“You’re eager,” Briar teased as he ran two fingers down the crack and over the opening, then gently slid one tip inside.
“Hnnh,” Gabriel agreed, jerking his head in a quick nod.
Briar slid the second finger inside, then crooked them to rub over his prostate. It was easy to find, swollen and hard with his arousal.
Gabriel’s whole body arched off the bed when Briar rubbed his prostate, his achingly needy cock twitching midair, but Briar didn’t touch his cock yet. He didn’t want Gabe to come that fast.
Then, just as he found his rhythm, Briar slid his fingers out again, laughing at his expression.
Gabriel looked like his balls were the deepest navy by now.
But Briar could fix that problem.
It took him just a minute before he was rubbing his tip along Gabe’s entrance. Gabriel moaned, and Briar grunted his agreement, the hair-thin condom not stopping him from feeling the heat and tightness as he pressed inside.
It was a few overwhelmingly blissful moments followed by the intense need to move, to fuck Gabe nice and slow and deep until he was thrashing under him.
“Hurry the fuck up,” Gabriel demanded, and Briar grinned, grabbing Gabe’s hip with one hand and bracing his hand over his head.
Then he was pushing inside in quick, sharp thrusts, his eyes focused on Gabriel’s pretty lips and the way those soft blue eyes widened and then slid shut from overwhelming pleasure.
Gabriel’s soft lips parted, his throat bobbing as he gulped for breath.
“Let me hear it,” Briar whispered, his voice husky. He was almost panting for breath himself as he pounded Gabe into the mattress smooth and fast.
“Yeeees,” Gabriel moaned, his nails digging hard into Briar’s hips. Briar couldn’t return the favor, in case he got picked for an underwear show or something.
Not that Briar cared if Gabe left marks on him. He hadn’t fucked anyone since Gabe in his dressing room, and he refused to think about the implications of that.
Then, he was gasping into Gabriel’s mouth as he kissed him, trying to keep his own sounds deep in his throat, but they were spilling forth along with—
“Gabe!” Briar gasped, his hips thrusting in sharp, erratic, blissful movements as he came. His head spun, and it was all he could to stay steady so he could let his body work out those last few tense muscles.
Gabriel’s hands ran up his shoulder blades and held tight, pulling their chests together to kiss him thoroughly.
Briar let him kiss him, reaching between them to jerk his cock as he slid free of him.
It only took a handful of firm strokes from base to tip before the thick shaft pulsed in Briar’s hand. Gabriel’s needy pushes up into his clenched fists left his hand wet, and Gabriel was writhing on the bed as he gasped for breath until the last few drops trickled out.
As hot as he was with bedroom eyes on the runway or in a dark club swaying from side to side, he was fucking gorgeous when he was coming under Briar’s hand.
Gabriel’s expressions were loose and easy as a quick smile flitted across his face and he melted into the bed.
“Hm?” Briar hummed.
“S’good,” Gabriel whispered, and that was all. He half-closed his eyes, limp on the bed and clumsily raising an arm to cover his eyes, then wipe his forehead and brush his hair back.
Briar slowly lowered himself onto his side next to Gabriel, propping himself up on his elbow. He wiped his hand on Gabriel’s stomach so he could rest his hand on his side.
“Hey,” Gabriel laughed under his breath, elbowing Briar.
“You’re naked, I’m dressed.” Briar pushed himself up to fix that, pulling off his clothes as easily as that.
Gabriel cracked open his eyes to watch and Briar smirked at him. “Shower?” Briar suggested.
Gabriel hesitated, then nodded, reaching out behind himself as he stood up.
Briar caught the implication and took Gabriel’s hand, letting the hot little model lead him to the bathroom and step into the huge rain shower with him.
He loved the green and blue tiles of the shower and the elegant marble of the bathroom, but more than that, Briar loved that slender, toned body in front of him in the shower.
They were both quiet as they washed up, Gabriel taking his time to get all the product out of his hair and off his face.
A minute after Briar stepped out, Gabriel followed suit and Briar tossed him a towel.
“What are your plans tomorrow?” Briar broke the silence to ask.
Gabriel hummed, a smile crossing his face. “Turn those in,” he jerked his thumb toward the clothes still strewn along the bed and floor, “after I wake up. Which will be nice and late.”
Briar grinned. “How about eight? You guys are off ’till we leave here around noon, right?”
Gabriel eyed him and nodded cautiously. He didn’t seem sure what to think.
“I can show you a bit of London.”
That made Gabriel’s expression brighten. “Okay. Should I head back…?”
“I highly doub
t most of your coworkers will be spending the night in their own rooms,” Briar winked, then gestured toward the bed. It was a super-king or something ridiculous. The kind of bed so big it could fit four guys comfortably.
Not that he’d admit to testing that.
Gabriel nodded, gathering the designer t-shirt and jeans Briar had peeled off him and folding them up. Once he had them set aside, he crashed under the covers, his body going limp instantly.
Briar knew the feeling. With contentment burning through his bones, as soon as his body felt dry enough, he flicked the lights off and slid under the covers.
He remembered nothing after that, sleep whisking him away after the hellish week.
17
Gabriel
Gabriel’s toes touched a warm leg.
He caught his breath, pulling his foot back mid-stretch and cracking his eyes open. Before his shoulders could freeze up with tension, though, it came flooding back to him.
He was in Briar’s bed.
A shudder of excitement—this was his life?—passed through him before he drew a deep breath to settle himself again.
Briar had once seemed like a superstar idol he might bump into on the street one day, but now they were sharing a bed.
And his image was perfectly made up online, in all his Instagram photos, but he was far more beautiful in natural little moments such as these. The white sheets were tangled just under his shoulder blades, but his upper back and shoulders were strong and smooth. His eyes closed, lips parted for breath, hair in his eyes, he looked contented.
Best of all, in his sleep, sometimes Briar smiled.
What was he doing sleeping with the CEO of the whole damn agency? People had to know by now—had to have talked. Surely someone had noticed them leaving one after another, or that he was absent from his room last night.
All it took was one model spotting something, and the rumors would fly.
Gabriel shook himself out of it after a moment, sitting up slowly and pushing his own hair back out of his eyes. It was a strange feeling to be waking after the first morning light touched their curtains, not at four-thirty with the panic that he’d slept in somehow.
