by Clare London
Dominic reached back and grasped Aidan’s leg. “Zeb?”
The name startled Aidan for a second, so far from any acting role right now. “I’m here,” he murmured, choked. I wish you could call me Aidan.
“This is rare for me.”
“Somehow I don’t believe that. You’re not a man who ignores his physical needs.”
Dominic snorted with amusement, though it was still muffled. He turned his head to the side so that Aidan could see one of his eyes, dark with both need and anticipation. “Like this, I mean.”
What? Aidan paused. “I’m…. God, I’m sorry. It’s just… you seemed ready for it.”
“I am. Believe me, I am. Whatever that reporter may think.”
The rude memory lingered, nudging Aidan out of his massage. “Who plays base camp?”
“You’re the big, butch, adventurous type, Dominic,” he said softly. “I’m the frail, delicate twink. What are the poor straight people meant to think?”
“Like I give a fuck.” Dominic growled, suddenly still under Aidan’s caresses. “But… what do you think, Zeb?”
Aidan gazed down at the gorgeous body laid out beneath him. He was glad Dominic couldn’t see his full face and find evidence of the pained tenderness Aidan suspected was blatantly obvious there. “Like you said, I think this is just about us, isn’t it? And I can’t think of anything I’m looking forward to more than fucking you.”
Dom let out a long, deep breath, and Aidan could actually see the muscles across his shoulders relax. “Thank God.”
No more words needed.
Aidan was very careful in pushing into Dominic, but he was steady too. Somehow he knew Dominic wouldn’t appreciate any further indecision. Progress was slow—Dominic was tight—but Aidan savored every fraction of an inch until he was fully inside. “Oh,” he breathed. “Oh, my God.”
Dominic grunted. “No, just me.”
Aidan wanted to laugh but his breath was too fragile. He was limber enough to hold himself above Dominic, and he began to move back and forth.
Dominic might have been taking the receptive role, but he was far from submissive. He shook his head and clenched at the bedclothes, and generally thrashed around with enjoyment underneath Aidan. When Aidan thrust particularly hard, Dominic arched up so vigorously he threatened to shake Aidan off.
Aidan put a firm hand on the back of Dominic’s neck. “You need to keep still now,” he gasped. His climax coiled deep in his groin and he couldn’t hold back much longer. He wished he could—even if it was only a matter of pride—but the thrill was too much. Dominic’s smell and feel and the deep, rumbling huffs of breath he made on each forward thrust were the most exciting things Aidan had ever known.
Dominic stilled.
For a sudden, shocked second, Aidan thought he’d messed everything up. Who was he, telling this bold and confident man what to do? His hand looked pale on Dominic’s skin, weak against the strong muscles of Dominic’s back and shoulders. How had he, Aidan, got to this stage? Dominic was used to ordering people around, to forcing nature to his will—to commanding a situation. Yet now he was lying under Aidan, and Aidan was sliding in and out of him, calling the pace for them both. Aidan faltered, losing his rhythm. Dominic was magnificent, his powerful body braced on the bed, at his most vulnerable—and to whom?
Me.
“Go on. Don’t… don’t stop, for God’s sake.” Dominic growled with what sounded like a mix of urgency and bliss. His body had relaxed and he’d stopped flailing. The firm hand had done the trick.
He wants me.
Aidan’s heart swelled with new joy. He slowed a little, luxuriating in the press of flesh between them, the tightness of Dominic’s arse around his cock, and the fantastic view of Dominic’s muscles tightening and releasing across his back and buttocks as Aidan moved inside him.
Aidan’s climax burst through him suddenly and swiftly. With a cry, he shuddered and came, gripping Dominic’s shoulders fiercely. Dominic gave a strangled laugh, bucked on the mattress, and the shudder that ran through him gave witness to his own climax.
Chapter Twenty-Two
DOM rolled onto his back on the bed, feeling boneless and exhausted for the best possible reasons. Jesus. He wondered if he’d ever move again—or if he even cared. The physical satisfaction had somehow permeated his emotions as well. He gave a long, deep sigh. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this relaxed. And happy too. So happy.
How bloody odd. It’d be a weird man who didn’t enjoy fabulous sex like he’d just had with Zeb… but the disturbance inside him was something more. A muscle twitched in his leg, alerting him he was lying differently from usual. “Uh. Got to get up.”
“Shit. I’m too heavy, sorry.” Zeb wriggled away from where he’d draped himself on Dom’s left side.
“The day you’re too heavy for me is the day I take up modeling,” Dom said gruffly, but he couldn’t help the sigh of relief as he levered himself up. Years of climbing had inevitably left him with a few twinges unless he moved carefully after exercise. “I just need to clean up and get rid of this wet spot.”
He walked a little gingerly to the en suite bathroom to fetch towels for them to clean themselves off. By the time he came back, Zeb had disposed of the condom in the bedside bin and already started to strip off the sheets. The sight of Zeb, naked and bustling around the bed, made Dom’s heart ache in some indefinable way. Zeb looked busy, graceful, and eminently sensible—and also unutterably gorgeous. Exciting, exotic, and yet amiably companionable. And he fucked me. Dom felt a shiver of pure, animal lust. He shook it off and turned to the dresser to find clean sheets, and they finished making the bed together. It was a comfortable, domestic exercise that Dom couldn’t remember sharing before.
Zeb caught Dom’s gaze over the mattress and smiled. So sweet. Then he glanced down at his clothes still on the floor.
Dom spoke quickly. “Don’t dress. Not yet. I’m still enjoying the view.”
Zeb blushed but returned a sly smile. “Me too. But I ought to shower.”
Dom moved around to Zeb’s side of the bed and pulled him into a hug and a kiss that threatened to get passionate if either of them had the energy. “Take a nap with me first? We can shower after that. The bathroom’s been converted into a huge wet room a man can get lost in. Only room in the house I decorated myself.” He smiled, wondering if he looked as lascivious as he felt. “Maybe you can come in with me later as my navigator.”
Zeb laughed with obvious delight. “Yes please.”
They pulled the top sheet over them this time, grateful for the coziness. Dom hadn’t had sex that energetic for a long time, and his eyelids were drooping. He drew Zeb into his embrace, his arms surrounding Zeb, his breathing matching Zeb’s. God, it felt just right.
“It was marvelous.” Zeb’s murmur brushed Dom’s chin, as intimate as a kiss.
“God, yeah. You were great. Best thing ever.” Dom couldn’t hold back his yawns. “I love you.”
Wait! What? He had no idea where that had come from. His heart started beating too quickly.
After a pregnant pause, Zeb whispered, “Sorry?”
He didn’t raise his head, so Dom couldn’t see his face.
Thank God. Dom’s yawn had distorted his words, and Zeb never heard that stupid slip. “I said I loved it,” Dom mumbled, yawning again, though this time more for emphasis. “Bloody loved it.”
“Good.” Zeb gave a soft, shaky chuckle.
He must be knackered too. Dom hugged him one more time, then let Zeb roll back to his side of the bed and relax for sleep. No one outside movies slept on top of each other, in Dom’s experience, or maybe he just needed more space than other men.
Despite that, his skin felt cold without Zeb against it. He tugged the sheet around him more tightly, but it took a long time to settle. His heart thumped hard from something other than the lovemaking, long after he heard Zeb’s breathing slide into sleep.
AIDAN woke slowly to find Dominic l
ying on his back beside him, already awake but with his eyes half-closed and a self-satisfied grin on his face. Aidan smiled and snuggled up to him. The room was darker than before, and the trees outside the window had become silhouettes against the night sky. “How long did I sleep? What time is it?”
“No bloody idea.” Dominic yawned. “Do you have somewhere to go?”
“No, nowhere,” Aidan said gently. “But don’t you think you ought to check with me first? Seems to me you’re rather too familiar with making unilateral decisions.”
“Damn.” Dominic let out a huff of breath and turned his head to face Aidan. There was a frown between his brows, but his eyes twinkled in the dim light. “You’re right. I never thought to ask. If you do have somewhere to go, it’s fine. I’ll take you.”
“It’s okay. There’s nowhere,” Aidan repeated, smiling. Dominic was fabulous in bed. Not only because of his sexual prowess—God, Aidan had no complaints there—but also the mere presence of him on the sheets, big, buff, handsome, hairy, and just… relaxed and totally content with himself. And me? Aidan fervently hoped so.
“Good.” Dominic stretched and the mattress rocked. “Because I don’t want to take you anywhere at the moment. Probably not for many hours. Days, in fact.”
“We’ll need to wash. And eat.”
“Of course. I can’t forget you love your food. I’ll order in pizza. They can deliver. I’ll leave the front door open for them so we never have to leave the bed.”
“Except to get the pizza and bring it upstairs?”
“Damn. There’s always some logistical hiccup in my bloody plans.”
Aidan laughed, delighted. He’d left his jacket downstairs with his phone in it, and Dominic didn’t seem to have any electronics in his room at all—not even a digital alarm—so it was like being sheltered from the outside world. It wasn’t at all a bad place to be. The last few weeks had been tense and weird, and Aidan didn’t feel he’d found any escape from it until now. He glanced over the end of the mattress to where Dominic’s jeans lay in a heap on the floor. “What did Benjy give you at the studio?”
Dominic shrugged lazily. “A memory stick. Probably just copies of your photos, sweetie.” Dominic did a good impression of Sven, enough to make Aidan smile and give him a dig in the ribs.
“I suppose I ought to look at them.” He assumed that’d be what Zeb would do. Would Zeb be annoyed Aidan had hijacked his photo session, or would he—far more likely—laugh at the ridiculousness of it all? Aidan leaned down and wiggled the memory stick out of the jeans pocket. “Can I use your laptop?”
“Sure.”
He reached for Dominic’s laptop, propped precariously on the bedside table on top of an unbalanced pile of what looked like maps and guidebooks. Aidan pulled it onto his lap, popped in the stick, and fired up the contents, which were indeed photos. He started to scroll through.
Two minutes later he paused. Without a word he pressed the lid of the laptop very firmly shut and put it back on the table.
Dominic rolled over to spoon against Aidan’s side. “What’s up? I thought you’d be used to this sort of thing. Let me look—”
“No!”
Dominic raised his eyebrows. “Did I ever say what a touchy little thing you are?”
“Sensitive, remember?” Aidan protested. “Not touchy, you bully.”
The laptop was behind him now. Dominic mustn’t see it! He took Dominic’s head in his hands and made to kiss him again.
“Oh no you don’t.” Dominic had the benefit of extra strength and bulk. He just leaned over Aidan, effectively pinning him in the bed, and picked up the laptop from the table one-handed. He sat up, flipped open the lid, and focused on the photo still displayed. “Good Lord!”
Aidan fell onto his back with a sigh and threw his arm over his eyes. “It’s really embarrassing. How could he?”
Dominic was scrolling through a lot more slowly than Aidan had done. “They’re marvelous. You look… spectacular.”
“I’m naked,” Aidan muttered. “Maybe they’re not full-frontals—”
“This one is,” Dominic murmured, his gaze fixated. “And… oh. So is this one. Oh.”
“—but damn near. Benjy must have been snapping away as I got changed on set. It’s outrageous.”
“It’s gorgeous,” Dom said. “You were at a photo shoot, remember? He was photographing you all the time. You weren’t hiding.”
But Aidan had never imagined he’d be that exposed. God, would Benjy show these candid shots along with his others? Aidan knew Zeb did nude modeling now and then. Would everyone now see him, Aidan, in his full, nude glory—?
“There’s a note.” Dominic unfolded a slip of paper that had been wrapped around the memory stick and had fallen onto the sheet. “Benjy says these are private, just for us. He’ll delete the originals.”
“Just for us?”
“For fun. A kind of private pornography.” Dominic glanced down his body. “It’s working, too.”
Aidan wasn’t excited by the photographs—but he was by Dominic. And he knew the best way to distract Dominic from his concentration on Aidan’s embarrassment. He pushed the laptop off Dominic’s lap and swung himself over to straddle Dominic’s legs instead.
“You want more?” Dominic smiled wolfishly. “Did I say you were insatiable, too?”
“No. But I always say it takes one to know one.” Aidan rocked his hips slowly, rubbing his cock against Dominic’s arousal until he was as fully erect.
Dominic sucked in a breath. Then, catching and holding Aidan’s gaze, he licked his hand and reached down to capture both cocks in his generous palm. He jacked them together, slowly and firmly until tremors of passion rippled back up Aidan’s body all the way to his scalp. “Scoot up here and let me suck you.”
Aidan’s reply wasn’t more than a whimper. He shifted on his knees until his groin was at Dominic’s chin.
Dominic licked up the underside of Aidan’s cock with a very self-satisfied slurp. “Don’t worry about the photos,” he said, low but gentle. “They will be just for us, I promise. And I meant what I said. You look spectacular. I love them.”
The photos. He means he loves the photos.
“And that’s the truth. I’ll always tell you that,” Dominic murmured.
Aidan’s balls nudged against Dominic’s chin, and Dominic reached with hungry lips to guide Aidan’s cock even deeper into his mouth.
I know, Aidan thought with a flash of misery. I know you will.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A FEW days later, Tanya called Dom to invite him to a meeting with the potential sponsors from We Will Survive.
“Sorry to call so early in the day,” Tanya said. “Hopefully I haven’t disturbed your breakfast, but the client would really like to see you both in the office by two this afternoon. It’s next on my list to call Zeb—”
“No need,” Dom said brusquely. “He’s here right now.”
“He… is?” She recovered quickly from shock; he’d always admired that in her. “So can you both make the meeting? I think we’re close to a deal.”
“We’ll be there,” Dom said and hung up.
On the other side of the bed, Zeb raised his eyebrows. “What did I say about unilateral decisions, Dominic? At least when I’m involved.”
Dom didn’t even protest at the criticism. Zeb had stayed over several times now. His body was slim and graceful in Dom’s bed, his smile the first thing Dom saw in the morning, and his sexy laughter one of the last things Dom heard at night. “I like you being involved. You know that.”
Zeb frowned. “I’m not talking about sex.”
“I am.”
“You always are.” Zeb grinned. He pushed back the sheet and reached for Dom, running his hands down between Dom’s thighs. His breath was hot on Dom’s neck.
“Jesus,” Dom groaned. He lay back and did the only thing he could. He surrendered.
THEY made the meeting with only five minutes to spare.
“The client is very keen to meet you personally.” Tanya’s gaze flickered curiously between Dom and Zeb. “They’re already here.”
“Great,” Dom said. “That’s a positive sign, isn’t it?”
Tanya blinked hard. “I’m sorry?”
Dom frowned. “I was just asking.”
“I know. I mean… it caught me unawares.”
“What did, for God’s sake?”
“That’s better.” Tanya smiled wryly. “The Hartington-George bark is back. I was temporarily confused by your enthusiasm.”
Eric snorted in the background.
Dom scowled and then reached over and gave Tanya a brief hug. “Thanks.”
There was a sudden, shocked silence. Beside her, Eric gave a smothered laugh.
“Okay.” Tanya cleared her throat. Her cheeks were very pink. “Well, let’s go through, shall we?”
Tanya and Zeb went first into the conference room. Eric, sporting a barely disguised smirk, brought up the rear with Dom.
“What’s up with you, squirt?” Dom asked.
“Nothing. I just heard you two lit up a certain modeling studio earlier this week.”
“Dear God.” Was nothing sacred? Next they’d be showing peephole videos online of Dom’s bedroom. Or were they already? A chill ran up his back. That would be a step too far, even for the parasites of the modern media, wouldn’t it? But Eric had moved away before Dom could give voice to his paranoia.
Tanya made the introductions. “This is Felix and Claudio, the owners of We Will Survive.”
The two men were opposites in build. Claudio was lean and dark, whereas Felix was much stockier with a head of ginger hair and a beard to match, but they both had an eager, determined look, matching designer suits, and presumably a matching passion for their business. Dom had seen that drive in many men over the years, whatever the industry.
