Except Cole tied down Levi’s ankles with two more scarves, anchoring his legs open, so Levi’s most sensitive spots were utterly exposed.
Levi dripped, the sheets below him damp with his precome. “I didn’t know you—you had the scarves ready.”
Cole’s eyes darkened. “I had them around. Just in case you wanted something more.”
A long time ago, Cole had tied Levi down, too, and he’d tormented Levi for hours, until Levi shook, delirious with pleasure.
Levi shoved his cock against the damp sheets. But Cole settled back between his legs, sliding his knee under Levi’s hipbone. This elevated him off the mattress, so Levi’s cock strained, neglected.
Levi swore, his flushed tip pushing out past his foreskin, nudging helplessly at Cole’s leg.
“Cole,” Levi panted, rutting against Cole’s thigh as best as he could. “Please let me come.”
“Not until I say you can,” Cole growled, leaning in over Levi’s back. Then he cupped Levi’s chin, turning his head gently to the side. Past Levi’s shoulder, Cole met his eyes, his gaze burning hot down Levi’s face. Levi panted, leaning toward his alpha.
Cole slanted his lips, catching Levi’s in a damp kiss. His tongue brushed Levi’s, and a spark of electricity hissed down Levi’s spine.
Cole’s musk rolled thick between them, his cock smearing precome against Levi’s thigh. Then he kissed Levi again, and pushed two fingers into Levi’s ass, opening him. Levi cried out against his lips, his attention locked on Cole inside him, opening him up.
“You trust me,” Cole growled.
“With all my heart.”
Cole rumbled, twisting his fingers inside Levi, pushing down hard on Levi’s prostate.
Levi jerked against him, pleasure shooting down his nerves. “Cole—!”
“I want to hear that,” Cole whispered, massaging Levi’s prostate. “Say my name.”
Then he pressed down on that sweet spot, and Levi arched, all his senses fixed on his alpha, Cole’s arm wrapped protectively around him, Cole working his body from the inside, exploring his most sensitive spots.
“C-Cole. Please,” Levi begged. “I want to be yours.”
“You’re mine,” Cole whispered. “This is how.”
Over and over, Cole stroked Levi’s cock, taking him right to the edge, and then releasing him. Levi thrashed in frustration, his cock leaking, his body so attuned to Cole that he could think of nothing else, but his alpha.
Cole held him, his touch steady against Levi, his eyes dark with hunger. “Want me to release you?”
And there lay Levi’s dilemma, because he wanted to be in Cole’s binds, but he also wanted his release.
“I don’t know,” he croaked.
“Then the answer is no.” Cole smiled, licking his lips, his cock pressed hot and hungry against Levi’s hip.
Cole turned Levi onto his side. Then he leaned in, took Levi’s tip into his damp, snug mouth, and sucked. Pleasure hissed through Levi’s nerves, wiping the thoughts from his mind. “Cole—Cole, please.”
Levi shoved his cock into Cole’s mouth, groaning when Cole took him further inside. Cole sucked harder, and harder yet when Levi fucked his mouth, chasing his pleasure.
“More,” Cole rumbled around him, the vibrations humming into Levi’s body. “Fuck me.”
Levi panted, his body damp with sweat. He rolled his hips, watching as his cock disappeared into Cole’s mouth, Cole’s tongue writhing against him. It felt wrong. And so right.
Levi pushed the deepest he could into Cole’s mouth, just to tempt Cole to turn him over, and fuck his ass. Except Cole swallowed his cock, his fingers teasing Levi’s hole. Levi shuddered, his balls pulling tight, his cock growing thicker. Needed to come.
Cole pulled completely away, leaving Levi’s cock throbbing damply, flushed and shameless.
Levi yanked on the scarves, his body so taut he needed to reach down, just tug on himself a few times. Just for one release.
The scarves held him splayed open, unable to get himself off.
“Fuck, damn it,” Levi hissed, rutting at Cole. “I just need—”
Cole pressed him chest-down against the mattress, his eyes burning.
“I just wanted to watch you,” Cole whispered, “knowing you did all that because you love me.”
Levi flushed, his face hot. “I just wanted to come. Not—Not that I don’t love you.”
But Cole only smiled. Then he pushed his fingers back inside Levi, grinding down on his prostate. Levi cried out, staring at him in aroused shock.
“You allowed me to do this with you,” Cole whispered, swirling his fingers around inside. “I’ve denied you over and over, and you’re still with me.”
Levi bowed his head. “I trust you.”
Cole smiled.
He settled himself behind Levi, undoing the scarves at Levi’s ankles so he regained some leverage. This allowed Levi to cant his hips up, inviting Cole inside.
Cole’s breath rushed out of him. He swore, stroking his cock, pressing his forehead to Levi’s back. “I wanted to take this slow,” he muttered. “Not get off in two seconds like a teenager.”
“You’d do that?” Levi whispered, squirming against him so Cole’s skin brushed his back, damp with sweat.
Cole chuckled, his voice rasping. “I want nothing more than to bury my cock inside you, Levi. But I also want to hear you beg. I want to hear how much you want me. Since we started babysitting, since I met you... I’ve craved your love.”
“This isn’t how you hear it,” Levi said, laughing breathlessly. “By fucking me senseless?”
“No, it isn’t.” Cole grinned. “But I want to see how different it is when you love me.”
“How different is it?” Levi asked.
“You’re so damn hungry for me,” Cole growled, sliding his hot palm down Levi’s chest, circling his cock. “Even more so than before.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Cole sank his teeth lightly into Levi’s shoulder, those sharp points like a brand on Levi’s skin. Levi gasped, bucking against him, his fists clenching tight. “Cole, please—”
“Please what?” Cole whispered, shoving his cock up against Levi’s thigh. “Tell me.”
“Claim me,” Levi panted. “Make me yours.”
With a groan, Cole pressed himself flush against Levi’s back, anchoring Levi against himself. He yanked Levi’s lace panties aside, pressed his silky cock up against Levi’s hole. It was thick, hot, and it promised pleasure.
“Yeah?” Cole whispered, rocking against Levi’s opening, lubricating the rest of his cock.
“Please,” Levi said, his voice broken, his hole squeezing tight.
Cole slid his cock down Levi’s cleft. Then he pressed that blunt tip between Levi’s cheeks, lodging it against the dip of Levi’s hole. His precome mixed with Levi’s slick, and Levi relaxed for him, his insides growing hotter yet when Cole groaned.
“Mine,” Cole growled. Levi’s breath snagged in his throat.
Cole pushed in, opening Levi with his cock. Levi pulsed so hard he couldn’t think. Just took Cole inside himself, his body singing with pleasure, his mind going blank.
He was Cole’s right now, and everything was right.
Cole sank a couple inches into him, smearing his cock with Levi’s slick. Then he pulled out, slid in deeper, until he’d buried every last inch into Levi, his breathing hot and ragged in Levi’s hair.
“Fuck,” Cole hissed, his chest heaving against Levi’s back. “You’re so damn tight.”
He thrust in deep, right against that sensitive spot. Levi arched, panting, rocking back against his alpha. Cole had filled him up, the weight of his cock sending sparks through Levi’s nerves. “More,” Levi begged, offering himself. “All of me.”
Cole shuddered against him, his hands trembling against Levi, his movements strained with how much he was holding back.
“Cole,” Levi breathed. He lowered his chest, pushing his hips up at his alpha,
offering himself completely. Cole groaned. And fucked in deep, building a sweet, hard rhythm that had Levi’s body thrumming, his cock leaking, so full it hurt.
“Mine,” Cole whispered, pressing sloppy kisses down Levi’s shoulder, his hips meeting Levi’s, rocking him forward with the force of his thrusts.
Levi panted. He took every stroke, the tension in his body building until he writhed, until he was close to the edge, and now he was afraid of telling Cole, in case Cole didn’t allow him to come.
But Cole read him, somehow. And he closed his fist around Levi’s cock, pumping him hard, until Levi whimpered and bucked into Cole’s fist. Cole swelled even bigger inside him. Levi couldn’t hold on any longer.
Pleasure exploded through his body, sending his back arching and his body clenching around Cole, his toes curling. Levi couldn’t think. Could only feel his alpha against him, Cole’s hands firm, possessive, hungry.
With a groan, Cole’s thrusts turned uneven, desperate. He surged inside Levi, pounding deep, until his strokes stuttered and he tensed, pulsing inside Levi, unloading his seed.
Levi imagined Cole’s pleasure, his body tingling all over. Cole reached forward, clumsily undoing Levi’s bonds, before rolling with him onto their sides, his cock still buried deep in Levi.
“Want my knot?” Cole rasped.
“Yes,” Levi said, shoving his hips down against Cole. Except Cole slid out of him, leaving him empty.
Levi whined, turning to seek his alpha. Cole rolled onto his back. “C’mon,” he said. “Face me. I don’t want to look at the back of your head.”
Levi couldn’t help smiling then. “Why? Because I’m not wearing glasses there?”
Cole snorted. “Get on my knot before it’s too big.”
“It’s never too big,” Levi murmured. Cole grinned, reaching out to support Levi when Levi clambered back onto him.
Cole’s cock slipped easily back inside. His knot grew, stretching Levi. Levi moaned; Cole growled, his eyes half-lidded with pleasure. And now they were locked together, with nowhere to be except here.
This, too, felt like home. Like Levi had found the answer to every question he’d ever asked. He leaned forward, bringing his face close to his alpha’s.
Cole stroked his cheek, nudging Levi’s glasses with his knuckle. “Ever thought of losing these glasses?”
“So I can’t see?” Levi wet his lips, his heart pattering. But he knew that wasn’t what Cole was asking. What Cole wanted was to see the person behind the glasses.
When he was thirteen, Levi had switched to wearing contact lenses, in the hopes that Cole would like him better. Cole had asked about his glasses, but he’d admired Levi’s bravery for trying on the contacts. So Levi had worn contact lenses for years, until they’d eventually broken up.
“I want to see you without,” Cole murmured. “Doesn’t really matter if you wear them all the time, or if you don’t.”
“You’ve seen me while I was asleep.” Levi slid his glasses off, feeling off-balance and naked, the world a blur around him.
He wasn’t in danger, though. He was safe with Cole.
Cole tugged him closer, until those green eyes came back into sharp focus. If everything were five inches from Levi’s eyes, he wouldn’t need glasses anymore.
Cole raked his gaze over Levi’s face, his smile warm. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, stroking his thumb along Levi’s jaw. “Those glasses are distracting. I see your eyes better this way.”
Levi’s heart skipped. “You like them that much?”
“Your eyes are hazel,” Cole murmured. “Warm. And they say so much about how you’re feeling.”
Levi blushed, feeling exposed. But Cole only stroked his arm, pulling Levi against his chest. Then he touched the scent gland on Levi’s neck, where he’d left a bonding mark on his eighteenth birthday. That had been a promise they’d both broken.
They loved each other now, though. If they did... they should bond, shouldn’t they? Levi gulped, glancing up. He found the same question in Cole’s eyes.
“It’s still early, I think,” Cole murmured, stroking the bite scar. “I want to prove myself first. Make sure I’m worthy of being your alpha.”
That was a good idea. Especially when they still hadn’t found a solution for Micah’s burn scars, when they didn’t know if their baby would survive.
“Okay,” Levi whispered, kissing Cole’s stubbled jaw. “We’ll wait.”
But maybe he’d switch back to contact lenses again, just to see how Cole reacted. Maybe Cole would like him more that way.
Levi leaned into his alpha, Cole stroking his scent all over Levi’s skin.
Their lives weren’t perfect yet. But something settled into place in his chest, and Levi relaxed.
16
COLE
IN THE DREAM, a group of ten-year-olds surrounded Cole, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The smallest of them, a kid with freckles and too-thin limbs, squeezed past the crowd, looking eagerly up at him.
“I want a firework,” the kid said, missing a tooth. “Please, Dad?”
Cole froze. He’d had this dream before. Several times. They always ended up the same, and his gut had twisted with dread the moment he recognized the scene. Except he’d never had this kid call him Dad before.
He glanced up, finding Levi on the other side of the children. Levi with his belly swollen, a sleeping bundle in his arms. Cole’s heart thumped.
“Okay,” he found himself saying. “We’ll play with fireworks. Here, I’ll show you.”
He took a slim tube from the pile, turning away from Micah’s house. They faced the backyard and the empty sky, and the night almost swallowed them both.
“I’m so excited,” the boy said. He looked so eager, like how Cole’s own son would be. And Cole relented. Just this one time, he wanted to know what it felt like to play with his son.
Cole set a lighter in the boy’s hand, pressing lightly on the spark wheel with his thumb. Then they leaned forward, lighting the wick with Cole’s lighter. Cole hauled the boy away.
They watched from a safe distance as the fire devoured the wick, disappearing into the tube. With a shrill whistle, the tube launched into the air and exploded, bright white lights bursting into the night sky. The children cheered.
“Another one, Daddy!” the boy said. Cole lit another one, his gut twisting all bittersweet.
He knew how this dream went, and yet he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted to scream No, don’t do it! But his body moved. And the second firework whizzed into the air, bursting into a sparkle of gold.
Then came the third firework, silvery foil with red stripes spiraling around it. Cole wanted to jerk his hand away, except they were already setting it on the ground, his lighter was on, and the flame disappeared into the canister.
Cole’s stomach shriveled as the fireworks launched into the air.
Then it swerved behind them, into Micah’s house.
The flames swallowed dry wood, spreading across one wall, to the roof, then down the other side of the house.
No, Cole wanted to shout. Get out.
But the fire devoured the house like a raging demon. Levi ran forward, a bucket of ice in his arms.
Cole wanted to do something. Anything. But he didn’t have a hose, there wasn’t a truck, the guys from the station weren’t around.
And the screaming began, the worst sound Cole had ever heard in his life. He ran into the house, but fire surrounded him. He sprinted out. The sirens wailed from afar.
Then the firefighters stormed into the house, and there was Micah in someone’s arms, his frail body writhing, his feet on fire.
Cole dashed forward. Except by the time he’d gotten there, parts of Micah’s skin were charred, and Micah stared him in the eye. “You did this,” Micah said, fire flickering up his face. “You owe me.”
Cole yelled himself awake, the sheets tangled around his arms, his feet cold as ice. I burned him. I almost killed him. He couldn’t breathe.
“Cole,” Levi said, his hands tight around Cole’s forearms. “It was a dream. It’s okay.”
He panted, staring at Levi. Didn’t know where he was. But Cole dropped his head back against the pillow, and breathed. “Micah,” he said raggedly.
“He’s fine,” Levi whispered, his eyes solemn. “It’s just a dream.”
Part of Cole knew Levi was right. But the part of him that was still in his dreams—that part said this was all a lie. It said Micah had just been in that house, Micah had been burning, and Cole had caused it all. He could still smell the smoke from that fire.
Cole closed his eyes. “Feels too real.”
Levi swallowed loudly. “Yeah, I know. But please don’t blame yourself, Cole. You know Micah has forgiven you.”
He freed the damp sheets from around Cole, squirming under them so he could press himself close. Cole buried his nose in Levi’s hair, filling his lungs with jasmine and honey. Years had passed since that fire. Micah was still alive.
“Everything’s okay,” Levi whispered. “Maybe you should get out of bed. Ollie and Eric are coming by soon to pick the children up.”
Cole breathed in deep, once, then another time. His heart still thudding, he checked his phone. He found the most recent text from Micah—four months ago. Cole had been eighteen when the house burned.
He was twenty-six now. So Micah had made it out. He’d gotten burn scars, but he was still alive.
With a groan, Cole sank back into the pillows, dragging his arm across his face. He’d caused that fire. If he hadn’t agreed to that boy...
“He called me Dad this time,” Cole muttered. “That kid.”
Levi’s eyes widened. “Spike?”
Cole shrugged. “Yeah. And you were—” he swallowed “—you were about eight months pregnant in that dream.”
Levi froze. Then he looked down at his still-flat belly, and away. “I’m not sure if I should be happy that you dreamed of me,” he said quietly.
He felt the pressure to have a successful pregnancy, didn’t he? Cole took Levi’s hands in his own, kissing Levi’s knuckles. “I love you,” Cole murmured. “Regardless of what happens.”
Levi’s cheeks turned pink. That was such a good look on him. It took Cole another second to realize that Levi’s face was strangely bare.
The Pretense (Men of Meadowfall Book 7) Page 14
