Instead of letting them in, Ashley stepped out, lunging at Finn and wrapping his arms around him, pulling him in against his chest and plunging his tongue into the man’s startled open mouth.
Relief washed over Ashley, hot and fast. He’d missed him and with the way Finn was kissing him back he suspected the feeling was mutual.
‘Can we come in now?’ Finn asked again when he finally pulled back. Ashley dragged him inside and kicked the door shut, locking it in case Finn had any imbecilic ideas about leaving.
‘I missed you.’ And it was strange that he didn’t care about admitting it.
‘That’s why I’m here,’ Finn agreed, stealing another kiss and letting Anubis off his lead. The dog sniffed the air, then ran into the living room and lay down in front of the television even though it wasn’t turned on.
‘I didn’t want to spend another night wishing I’d come here instead.’
Ashley grinned at Finn and pulled him close again, tugging him through the apartment to his bedroom, leaving the door open in case Anubis needed them because no one else was home to care. He wasn’t gentle, almost lifting Finn off his toes when he shoved him onto the bed, looking down at the long limbs sprawled across the white doona.
‘I’ve had fantasies exactly like this.’ He marvelled at how accurate that side of his imagination could be.
‘Me too,’ Finn admitted, sitting up on the edge of the bed and reaching for Ashley’s hips, pulling him closer to lick a trail of wet heat from his navel to his throat. Gasping for air, Ashley rethought his assessment of his imagination; nothing was hotter than the real thing.
He reached for Finn’s shirt, almost tearing it in his haste to rid his body of the flimsy cotton, tossing it aside and shoving him back onto the bed again, reaching for the fly of his jeans and hauling them off as well, startled to find Finn had gone commando.
‘Fuck me, that’s hot.’
‘Says the man in the … what are those pants? They are ridiculous!’ Finn stroked the fine black cotton, chuckling softly as he tried to push them off Ash’s hips. It was proving difficult because Ashley kept him pinned to the bed with one knee while he tried to pull his jeans off.
‘They’re pyjamas. They’re comfy. I thought I was home alone tonight.’
‘That’s the second time I’ve seen them,’ Finn reminded him. ‘And they’re ancient and practically sheer.’
‘Well, I like them,’ Ashley triumphantly rid Finn’s body of the jeans and tossed them away, hopefully into a dark hole leading to another dimension where they would never be found again because he wanted Finn Hale naked in his bed for the rest of time.
‘I never said I didn’t like them.’ Finn finally managed to push them down his thighs and free Ashley’s cock. ‘I happen to like them. I like taking them off. That’s kind of the problem with them.’
Ashley had a lot of smart arse comebacks on the tip of his tongue but they all disappeared when Finn’s tongue tentatively swiped at the head of his cock, freezing him and causing all thoughts to flee. Then his cock disappeared in warm, wet heat and all he could do was moan, staring wide-eyed at the vision of Finn swallowing his cock. His imagination could never do it justice.
It was the best blow job he’d ever had. His balls felt tight and his thighs shivered uncontrollably. He slid his hands into Finn’s hair and gently thrust into his mouth, amazed when he didn’t pull back, encouraging him instead.
‘I’m going to … oh …’ But Finn didn’t pull back or hesitate, swallowing his load and licking his sensitive head until it was almost painful and he couldn’t do anything but laugh and try and push Finn away while he teased.
‘Are you okay?’ Finn hovered by his hip, stroking his stomach in lazy circles while Ashley struggled to catch his breath.
‘Are you kidding?’
‘No.’
‘I don’t know what planet you’re from, but here on Earth blow jobs are definitely okay,’ Ashley pointed out, confused as to why Finn would think he was not okay with what had happened.
‘Yeah, but that was the first time you had a blow job from a guy, right?’
‘That was the best blow job I’ve ever had in my life,’ Ashley assured him. ‘But actually, no. Not the first. Harry Masters from the footy team was actually the first, back in high school.’ And just like that Finn was grinning again, nuzzling his still sensitive penis and licking his inner thigh.
He wondered if he should reciprocate, but when he moved Finn clutched his thigh tighter and refused to let go, so he settled down and let the man do what he wanted. Finn sprawled over his stomach and within a minute was asleep.
Amazed, Ashley thought at first he was kidding, but when he stroked his fingertips along Finn’s jaw he didn’t stir at all, and his breathing was completely even. The only other person he knew who fell asleep that easily and soundly was Taylor. He said it was a hazard of the kinds of shifts they worked, stealing sleep when they could get it so they were ready when action was required. It was still bizarre to see.
It also highlighted the dark circles under Finn’s eyes. Usually the man’s long lashes cast a pale shadow that covered his weariness, but the circles were so dark and sunken even his lashes didn’t hide them. He had several new bruises as well, particularly along the length of one arm where it was obvious he’d been grabbed. Hard. There were finger-shaped bruises on his skin. There was a purple bloom on his abdomen that looked suspiciously like a boot, and a savage bite mark on his forearm. Work had apparently been hard.
Anubis came in and put his head on the side of the bed, large black eyes watery as he stared longingly at his master. Understanding the feeling a little too well, Ashley patted the bed and Anubis immediately jumped up, settling in beside them, his head on Ash’s stomach beside Finn’s, his tongue occasionally skimming out to lick Finn’s cheek.
‘Yeah, I know that feeling too,’ Ashley chuckled, scratching behind Anubis’ ears and grinning as the dog fell asleep on him as well.
Finn didn’t jerk when he woke. You could barely tell anything had changed, even though Ashley was staring intently at the man and looking for the signs. There was a slight pressure from his fingers, as if Finn were checking the surface he was sleeping on, and his muscles tightened from complete relaxation to a slack awareness before his eyes opened a crack. Checking where he was. It was creepy as hell.
‘Hey.’ Ashley hoped his voice helped with orientation.
‘Hey,’ Finn acknowledged him, rolling off to stretch at his side and then grinning when Anubis rolled over into the space between them and wriggled around, getting comfortable in his human sandwich.
‘You let the dog on the bed.’
‘He has a look …’
‘Yeah, he does,’ Finn laughed, petting the dog’s head and then leaning over him to kiss Ashley as well, looking for something in his face.
‘What?’
‘I haven’t brushed my teeth,’ Finn said softly.
‘Like I care. You sucked the life out of me, now give me more kisses,’ he demanded, cupping his hands around Finn’s head and drawing him close to do exactly that. There was no hesitation in Finn after that. He pushed Anubis out of the way and rolled on top, pinning Ashley to the bed while he had his way with lips and tongue. Ashley was hard again in minutes and Finn looked down at their cocks pressed hard together and smirked. He wrapped them together in one firm hand and stroked hard, his callouses rubbing almost painfully on the soft flesh but it was quick and dirty and astonishing.
Ashley came again, staring at Finn’s face and marvelling at the look on his face when he spilled over his hand, for a moment all thoughts forgotten and replaced with pure pleasure. He was the most beautiful thing Ashley had ever seen, and he hoped no one expected him to give him up because he was starting to think that would be impossible.
Finn collapsed on his chest but didn’t fall asleep this time. He caught his breath and laughed at the mess between them.
‘Shower?’
‘Yeah,’ Ashley
agreed, but it took a few minutes to get his body to cooperate. Finn had drained the energy from him and left him in that happy la-la land of blissed out crazy where you couldn’t be bothered to do anything.
Except shower with a naked Finn Hale. He could drag himself out of bed for that.
The shower was revitalising and despite having come twice already, he still got hard stroking Finn’s naked skin under the spray. Their bodies were so different, but that was clearly part of the attraction for both of them. Finn ran his hands across the broad expanse of Ashley’s chest and his breath would catch, his tongue darting out to lick the corner of his top lip, but he was completely unaware of the action. Ashley was too distracted to laugh about it, stroking his hands down a long thigh and trying to ignore the scar still healing on Finn’s leg.
He had Finn pushed up against the shower wall, kissing him hard under the gentle fall of water when he noticed the bite on the man’s arm again and tugged it up to kiss it as well.
‘Work?’
‘Yeah …’ Finn sighed and the weariness was back in his voice. ‘It’s been a long week.’
‘Oh. Did a house fall on you?’ He was joking, trying to remind him it could be worse, but also trying not to belittle whatever had happened. Finn seemed to understand, laughing hard and pulling him in for another kiss before turning the water off and climbing out.
‘No, no houses exploded on me,’ Finn towelled off and then reached out to stroke one of the fading bruises on his shoulder. ‘No more houses fell on you either, thank God.’
‘Scared you, huh.’ He’d known, but it hadn’t really sunk in until then.
‘You have no idea. I was eating a muesli bar when Clay gets this phone call and we can all hear Hayley screeching loud as day that you’re buried under a house and it’s still on fire. I nearly choked on my fuckin’ lunch.’
He was laughing at him, because it was nice to know he’d worried, and because he could imagine what Hayley had sounded like. He’d received those calls himself, when Hayley rang to tell him Clay had been shot and to get to the hospital. He’d only been shot in the leg, but the way she made it sound he’d thought his brother was being given his last rites.
‘It’s not funny! Mendel tried to do the Heimlich on me!’
‘No one does the Heimlich any more, you’re supposed to hit them on the back,’ his first aid training reminded him.
‘Mendel’s old school,’ Finn shrugged. ‘Besides, pretty sure if he hit me on the back I’d end up in a wheelchair.’
‘Is it true he mistook his baby for a chicken one night and tried to eat it?’ Ashley was still extremely dubious about that story.
‘I don’t know … I want to say no, but …’ Finn shrugged. ‘Jones swears he went to drop off the stuff he’d borrowed, and Anna had put the baby on the table to change its nappy and Mendel stormed in, sat down and didn’t really look and just assumed it was chicken. Apparently he had knife and fork at the ready when Anna turned and started screaming the house down and ran out the door past Jones screaming about Mendel trying to eat the baby.’
Ashley dropped the towel onto the rack and laughed, but it was more nervous than amused.
‘The people you work with are not normal.’
‘I work with your brothers,’ Finn reminded him.
‘Like I said …’
Finn went to the bedroom, but instead of grabbing his jeans and tee-shirt he grabbed one of Ashley’s shirts and pulled that on instead.
‘What?’ He frowned at the expression on Ashley’s face.
‘Nothing, I just … I like you in my clothes. Makes me feel like you’re mine.’ It probably wasn’t healthy to be that possessive so soon.
‘That’s why I do it, dumbarse,’ Finn laughed at him, then went out to the kitchen. Ashley found him there unpacking the grocery bag he’d brought with him. There was a bag of frozen vegetables, not so frozen any more, and a jar of stir fry sauce; sweet plum.
‘Do you have rice?’
‘Yeah … You brought me dinner.’ He couldn’t stop grinning.
‘Technically, I brought myself dinner, because I’m starving, but the plan was to share, yes.’ Finn laughed at him and Ashley didn’t care. He watched Finn move around the apartment like he lived there, Anubis following him as he got out the wok and cooked the veggies and sauce, and put some rice in a saucepan to cook. Legs bare, naked apart from the oversized shirt, hair rumpled, looking relaxed and happy, he was everything Ashley had ever dreamt of and more.
And Ashley realised he was falling in love. Head over heels, obsessed, cannot live without the man in love. His heart ached with it, his stomach did cartwheels and his bones felt like jelly and he thought maybe he understood what Brayden had been trying to tell him. He could hurt his man, and in turn that would be the most painful thing he had ever done to himself. Brayden had already known how Ashley felt, before he’d realised it himself. That had been the fear. Taylor was afraid Ashley would break Finn’s heart. But Brayden was terrified Ashley would be the one to end up heartbroken. Brothers. They were nosey bastards.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Anything,’ Finn agreed, immediately serious. But right then Ashley didn’t want to ask about the scar or the kidnap and ransom. He didn’t want to ruin the mood.
‘What’s with the rhinos?’
Startled, Finn’s eyes went wide and then he laughed, the sound bright and rich in the otherwise quiet apartment.
‘Not the scar?’ The fragility behind the words was not lost on Ashley. Whatever had happened had broken Finn in some way.
‘Not tonight,’ Ashley agreed, smiling. He only wanted good things for tonight and apparently he’d guessed right. The rhinos were the good thing, to cover up the bad.
‘When I finished school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.’ Finn shrugged, stirring the rice. ‘I had a stick up my arse about changing the world and I didn’t want to go to university, but my parents wanted me out of the house. So I decided to go to Zimbabwe.’ He said it like it was a totally normal series of events. Finish school, go to Zimbabwe.
‘I’m sorry, what?’ How did that make any sense?
‘I know, right? You should have seen my Mum’s face the night I came home and said, ‘Right, well I’m leaving in three days. I’ve got a ticket to Zimbabwe’. She was secretly happy with it, but it was still the shock of her life!’ He was cackling about it, the memory clearly hilarious. Ashley could not quite imagine it. He tried to picture himself doing the same thing, but Chloe would have beaten him worse than the house that fell on him and Daniel would have literally locked him in his room and let his brothers lecture him until he changed his mind. No way would any of them have been allowed to leave the country without an intervention resulting in them not leaving the country.
‘Why Zimbabwe?’ That seemed like the obvious question. To start.
‘Because of the rhinos,’ Finn waved the spoon at him, grinning. ‘I’d read about this game reserve near Victoria Falls where an Aussie bloke was training people to fight poachers, to try and save the rhinos.’
‘So you what … signed up?’ Ashley was incredulous.
‘No, that would require organisation, which at the time I honestly sucked at. I literally read the article, bought a ticket and thought I’d rock up and sign on when I got there. Something like that. I don’t really know what I was thinking back then. It all seemed like a good idea at the time, and I was a stupid seventeen-year-old kid.’
‘The hell …’ How had his parents agreed to that? How did anyone let him on the plane? Weren’t there rules about that sort of thing?
‘I know. It was insane. But it worked, weirdly enough. I flew in to Harare, took a bus out to the reserve and met the team. They were equally as confused as everyone else that a kid had rocked up and wanted to train with them, and they said no about the first hundred times I begged, but in the end it was safer to let me go with them rather than have me sneaking around behind them in the shadows. I’d just turned eigh
teen when I was officially allowed to join the team and train with them. My Shona is useless, so don’t ask me to speak any.’
‘Shona’s what … a language?’ He felt small suddenly, like he’d never left the Shire.
‘Yeah, there’re sixteen languages in Zimbabwe but most people speak Shona. I tried to learn but everyone just laughed. Apparently I sound like a farting gorilla.’
‘What?’ Ashley was laughing hard at him, unable to imagine it.
‘My French, however, is fantastic.’ But he seemed to think that was a bad thing, so Ashley didn’t ask about it. Something in the way he said it and the shadow that fell over his expression told Ashley it was a conversation for later.
‘So you finished school and moved to Zimbabwe to save the rhinos.’
‘Yeah,’ Finn was laughing again. ‘I know, it’s crazy.’
‘Nah, it’s cute. So’s the tattoo.’
‘Thanks. One of the guys on the reserve knew a guy in Singapore, so when I was flying back through I had it done. I wanted to have a reminder, you know?’
Ashley did not know. He didn’t have a tattoo and doubted he’d ever get one. He’d never felt the need to brand something to his skin to remember it, but he suspected when someone else scarred you the way Finn was, then visual reminders took on a different meaning.
‘Were you there long?’
‘Long enough. They taught me to shoot, realised I was really good at it and made me even better. I used to shoot really close to the poachers to scare them. Hit the front of their boots, that kind of thing. A warning to remind them if they went for the rhino we’d stop them. Worked most of the time. I got a pretty good reputation for it.’
‘You’re telling me even in Africa people think you’re scary.’ Ashley was chuckling but it was unnerving. No wonder Taylor had always been hesitant around the guy. Lifesavers were the tip of the iceberg. He’d been trained to shoot on an African game reserve for crying out loud!
‘Why are they different colours?’ He still had so many questions, but that seemed the most innocent.
Rhino Ash (Saturday Barbies Book 2) Page 17
