Just Business

by Anna Zabo

  Eli moaned. “Hope you can sew.”

  Yeah, he could. “Naked, even.” Justin pushed Eli’s shirt over his shoulders, sending it to the floor before he found himself up against a wall with Eli’s knee between his legs, pressing against his balls. “Fuck.”

  Between kisses, Eli spoke. “Can’t—take clothes off—on the stairs.” He unbuttoned the rest of Justin’s shirt and they both stripped it off Justin’s body. Between nips and kisses, hands touching everywhere, they worked pants and underwear off. Eli gripped Justin’s shaft and drew his teeth down Justin’s neck.

  Sparks in his vision and pinpricks to his fingertips. How he’d missed this—the way their bodies fit. How they moved, touched, ground, and pressed, each knowing what the other needed. Justin moaned. “Upsta—”

  Eli swallowed the end of the word with a kiss.

  When he relented, he grinned in the way that always made Justin want to drop to his knees. “After you.”

  He would have run up the stairs, but for the gentle touch of Eli’s hand on his back. Though Justin led, Eli set the pace his leg would allow.

  When they reached the hallway, they were back in each other’s arms. A seductive dance of touch, taste, and sound had them at the bed, then on top of it.

  The scent of lavender slipped around them. That would always mean Eli.

  “Still have condoms and lube in the drawer?”

  Eli scraped his nails against Justin’s scalp and pulled at his hair through another long kiss. They both moaned. “Yes. Get them.”

  Never so happy to obey Eli’s command. So right to do so. He crawled only as much as he needed to find the bottle and the box and settled back, straddling Eli’s legs.

  Eli’s skin was flushed—hot to the touch. The telltale traces of stress and tears still blotted Eli’s face, but desire sparked in his eyes and rippled the muscles of his stomach. Eli stroked himself, his gaze claiming Justin as sure as cuffs and a collar would.

  “Put one on.”

  Gladly. Hell, he’d ride Eli’s dick all night. He needed skin against skin, the tangle of arms, the sound of Eli’s moans and the release only Eli had ever given him. He reached for Eli’s cock.

  “No.” Dark and delicious words followed. “On yours. I want you inside me tonight.”

  “You—what?” The foil packet dangled from Justin’s fingers. He’d heard Eli, but wrapping his brain around those words? Wasn’t happening.

  “Have you topped before?” Concern. Gentleness—and that was so utterly Eli, too.

  “Yeah.” Not recently, not since he’d discovered how much he liked to submit.

  Eli raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to start counting?” The devil’s smile sent a shiver down Justin’s spine. Proof Eli was still a Dom.

  “No.” Somehow, he managed to rip open the package, get his fingers to work long enough to roll the latex over his painfully hard cock. He was supposed to fuck Eli? Still couldn’t grasp the concept, but there Eli was, beneath him. Waiting.

  God, he’d missed this. The tumble of nerves, the coil of need that Eli built and stroked and commanded from him. Justin reached for the lube. “Prep?” He barely pushed the word out of his dry throat.

  Eli nodded, his smile wavering slightly. “It’s been a while.”

  That didn’t help in many ways, given how spun up he was. But knowing Eli was nervous? The tension in Justin’s shoulders eased. “Hands and knees might be easier.”

  “Not on my leg.” Eli stretched his arms and folded his hands behind his head, the picture of relaxation. “Besides, I want to watch you while you fuck me.”

  Jesus. Those words moved like molten heat down Justin. He opened the lube with trembling hands. He wanted to watch Eli too. Wanted to see what happened when he pressed a finger into Eli just like—that.

  Hard to tell who gasped louder. Seeing Eli’s eyes widen and his head tip back? Beautiful. He pressed in harder the second time, twisting as he went. God, he was tight. Relaxed, but so firm around his finger. Couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have Eli around his cock.

  That grunt came from the back of his throat, not Eli’s.

  It was followed by a huff of laughter from Eli. “You’re a bit bigger than that, you know.”

  Of course Eli knew his girth. Justin’s cock had been in Eli’s hand and in his mouth. He pulled his finger out, added lube, and thrust two in, pistoning Eli until he groaned and twisted the bedsheets in his fists. Justin leaned over and took the head of Eli’s cock into his mouth, savoring the salty fluid pooled at the tip.

  “That’s more like it.” Eli’s fingers scraped Justin’s scalp, urging him farther down. Justin complied and heard the heavenly sound of Eli gasping for breath. He added a third finger, stretching Eli, teasing his sweet spot.

  Eli pulled Justin off his cock. “Fuck.” Half a moan to that. “I want you inside me when I come, not the other way around.”

  That was an order he was more than willing to obey, and Eli was as prepped as he was going to get. Justin pulled his fingers out and slicked his cock, then pressed the crown against Eli’s entrance and slid in.

  They both gasped and groaned as he stretched Eli open. Justin paused to let Eli adjust and so he could catch his breath. Still hard to comprehend that it was Eli beneath him and around him.

  Eli rocked his hips. “Don’t you stop.”

  “Don’t intend to.” Not until Eli said, not until they both came. Justin pulled back and pushed in deeper this time. Eli met his stroke with a pleased grunt. Another stroke, quicker this time, then another and another, until he was lost in the rhythm and motion of their bodies grinding against each other.

  Each time Justin moved forward, Eli met his thrusts in a way that drove Justin higher. “You feel so—” Justin lost the word when Eli’s nails bit into his arms. Amazing, the sharp flick of pain on top of Eli’s tight heat. He didn’t want it to stop, this connection, the light in Eli’s eyes when they met again and again.

  Justin couldn’t tell if he was fucking or being fucked. So not in control. Didn’t matter. Never mattered, not here in Eli’s bed, where their bodies met and the world vanished. Justin leaned down as Eli reached up. The sharp pull of Justin’s hair only fueled the fire already tangled in his blood, his soul. Eli’s mouth met his and their tongues twined. Moans blended. Heaven. Hell. Both.

  He’d been a complete fool to run from Eli. Submission was a gift, but so was this—the control, the pain.

  “More.” A command between bites and kisses and the delectable agony of Eli’s grip on Justin’s hair.

  As if he needed a command to fuck Eli harder. Wouldn’t last long at this rate anyway, not after all that had happened tonight. Might as well give Eli what he asked for. Justin shifted angles and drove deep into Eli, thrusting as hard and as fast as he could manage, shaking the both of them.

  Eli’s grip in his hair slacked and his head fell back on the pillow. “Oh fuck, Justin!”

  The profound ecstasy on Eli’s face—he hadn’t come, but fuck, something had unlocked in Eli and made him surrender to Justin. For a moment, Justin couldn’t breathe. He closed his eyes and gave everything he had and took all that Eli offered.

  All those years, and he hadn’t understood how love was supposed to work.

  Fingers brushed Justin’s cheek and he blinked to find Eli focused on him. They met, lips, mouths, fingers, bodies. Neither had the upper hand, or they both did. That thought was too much to take in.

  Eli shuddered underneath him, and broke their kiss. “Just.” A plea, a request, and an order.

  He wrapped his hand around Eli’s cock and stroked in time with the rhythm they’d found. Begging spilled from both their mouths, blended together, and pushed Justin closer to release. Eli kissed Justin’s shoulder, breath hot against Justin’s skin, staccato in his ear. “I’m close. I’m—” Teeth scraped against Justin’s flesh, then a blaze of pain rocked though him when Eli bit his shoulder and came.

  Justin’s shout probably woke the neighbors. Eli ti
ghtened around him and pressed teeth harder into his muscle. Agony blended with euphoria as he spilled into Eli, burying as deep as he could over and over until the white heat in his body faded into exhaustion and awe. They both collapsed against the bed and each other.

  For a long time, they just held each other. Justin trembled. Or maybe Eli did. Hard to tell. Breathing took effort. Movement and speech were out of the question.

  Eli brushed his lips against Justin’s shoulder, over the spot he’d bitten, and dragged out a spike of pain Justin felt in his toes.

  He finally found the ability to form words. “Can’t wait to see the bruise.”

  Eli’s chuckle rocked both their bodies. “Sorry about that.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  Another laugh. This one moved Justin’s soul. He forced the lump in his throat down. He didn’t deserve this moment—these emotions—or Eli’s happiness.

  “Justin.” Eli stroked his back. “It’s all right.”

  He couldn’t stop shaking, couldn’t breathe right. “I don’t want this to end.”

  “It doesn’t have to.”

  He pushed up to peer into Eli’s face. “But—”

  Fingers against his lips. “It doesn’t have to end. No, it won’t be easy, and yes, we’re going to have to—to start all over in some places. But I’m willing. I’ve never been more willing.”

  “Why?” He knew the answer; Eli had said it before. Still, it came like the sweet fall of leather on his skin, shocking him to his bones.

  “Because I love you.”

  And he loved Eli. Just couldn’t say that yet. The whole concept was too new, too raw. “Give me time.”

  Eli kissed his cheek. “Always.”

  Nothing Justin could say would convey the tumult in his head. He pulled his softening cock from Eli, careful not to lose the condom. “I need to . . .”

  Eli let him go. He climbed off the bed, tossed the condom, and washed his hands. He paused in the master bath doorway. Eli lay on the bed, eyes closed, but a smile across his face. Semen glistened on his stomach. “Do you want tissues or a towel or something?”

  “Either.” He placed his hands behind his head, same as he had when they started. “Or your tongue.” He opened his eyes and grinned. “Whichever.”

  If he hadn’t just come, he’d have been hard again from the glint in Eli’s eyes and the turn of his lips. Justin crossed the space and crawled back into bed with Eli.

  There wasn’t anywhere else in the world he wanted to be.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The ringing of the telephone had Eli stumbling out of bed and falling into the chair by the phone before he was entirely awake. Not his most graceful maneuver, and fuck, did his leg hurt—everything hurt—but he’d managed to shut the thing up by answering it. “Hello?” His voice was unexpectedly hoarse.

  Lavi jumped off the bed, his displeasure at being disturbed evident in the flick of his tail before he vanished under the bed.

  “Eli?” Sam. The man on the other end was Sam.

  “Yeah, it’s me.” He scrubbed a hand over his face and blinked. “What the hell time is it, anyway?” On the bed, Justin rolled over and looked at him.

  Justin. Eli took one breath, then another. Oh.

  “It’s almost noon.” Sam’s voice sounded puzzled. Frazzled.

  Memories of the previous night flooded back. Of terror, tears, and hope. Justin on top of him and—

  Justin raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

  Sam spoke. “Eli?”

  “Sorry, I’m still waking up. Had a long night.”

  A pause. “Look, I don’t mean to bother you . . . but I can’t get ahold of Justin. He’s not answering his cell and I’m really worried. Lots of accidents last night. Did you see him leave the party?”

  “I . . .” Black hair, stunning blue eyes, and a thin and supple body. He’d felt so good moving inside Eli. There Justin was. In his bed. “Yeah. He’s here. With me.”

  “What?”

  Eli flinched away from the phone. That had been loud—enough to dissolve Justin into a fit of giggles.

  “What the hell, Eli?” Another pause. “You took him home and fucked him?”

  “Other way around. Kind of. Tried to give him a lift to Oakland because he was going to walk home . . . but I spun the car out. I think. That part’s hazy. We ended up here. And he fucked me, if you must know.”

  Dead silence on the other end.

  “Technically,” Justin said, “you had me fuck you. There’s a difference.” Amusement was written in his smile and wrapped around his words.

  “Oh, hush, you.” How he loved the man lounging in his bed. Eli rubbed his eyes. “He’s fine, Sam. Would you like to talk to him?”

  Something like a choke came from the other end. “E—are you okay?”

  He had to contemplate for a moment, which meant the answer was . . . “No. Not exactly.” Yes, he ached from the past, and holy hell, was he fragile at the moment, but— “It’s going to be fine, Sam. Everything. Just need to . . . piece it all back together. I—” Words ran out. Justin crawled to the edge of the bed and held out his hand.

  Nothing to do but hand the phone over.

  “Sam?” Justin said. “Yeah, I’m okay. I mean—” A pause. “He’s pretty shaken up.”

  Eli leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. Understatement of the year. At least Dr. Brohmer would be able to pay off her Christmas bills. He giggled.

  “I—” Justin sounded chagrined. “I know. Believe me, I know.” A pause. “He told me everything.”

  He had. Opened himself completely to Justin. Physically, too. That had been intense—being fucked. He’d forgotten how powerful that could be. Eli opened his eyes.

  Justin sat cross-legged on the bed, playing with the edge of the sheet while he listened to Sam talk. He lifted his head and gave Eli a faint smile. “Oh, I’m sure he knows that. He’s pretty aware of himself.” Justin picked at the sheet more. “I’m not—there are things I need to tell him. But he’s right, Sam.”

  Such blue eyes. The jagged black and red hair, mussed with sex and sleep, was lovely.

  “It’s going to be okay.”

  Eli exhaled. Yeah, it really was.

  “Right. I’ll tell him. Thanks, Sam. Bye.” Justin turned off the phone and set it on the bed. “Sam says if the roads are shit tomorrow morning, stay home. Because he won’t be in, either.”

  “Wonder how bad it is?” Eli levered himself up and hobbled to the window. When he peeked behind the shade, a sea of white greeted him, dotted with several neighbors clearing their drives and walks. A few ruts in the snow in the street marked a car’s passing, but nothing like a plow had touched the road. Thin clouds hung in the sky, bright with the sun that tried to pierce them.

  “How much?” The bed creaked.

  “A foot? Maybe more? I can never tell. Enough to cause trouble. No plow.”

  Two soft thumps, then the warmth of Justin’s hand pressed against his back. Eli’s breath caught and he shivered.

  Justin raised the blind, letting the light spill into the room, and studied the scene. “That’s not as bad as it could be. Bet they’ll have it cleared by tomorrow.”

  “Pity.” There was something magical about the white scene outside and the warmth of Justin behind him. To have it interrupted with something so mundane as work seemed wrong.

  Eli’s chest hurt, but the pain was—different. Not overwhelming despair or guilt. Like the clouds above, something sweeter seemed to be breaking through the haze.

  He hadn’t felt anything but anger and fear at snow in so long.

  Justin drew him away from the window. “Eli, is there someone I should call?”

  That was a bit like a bucket of cold water. Good. Too much focus inward and he would spend all day contemplating his navel. He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Do I look that bad?”

  Justin scratched the back of his head. “You look distant. Scattered.”

  Eli shrugged. “
That’s not far from the mark. But it’s not—” He searched for the right words and came up a bit empty. “I’m a bit out of it, but I’ll be fine. I’ll call my therapist tomorrow.” He took Justin’s hands in his. “I didn’t lie to Sam. It’s going to be fine.”

  Justin nodded. “Why don’t you catch a shower, and I’ll make coffee?”

  Something of the fire that usually burned in him came back. “Are you telling me what to do, Mr. White?”

  His grin was utterly perfect. “And if I am?”

  Eli stood and pulled Justin into a kiss—one just long enough to shift Justin’s breathing. “I’ll take a shower. You make coffee, and we’ll see, shall we?”

  “Yes, Eli.”

  Music to his ears. “Good.”

  * * *

  While Eli showered, Justin borrowed a pair of sweats from the closet and headed to the kitchen. This time, the smell of freshly ground coffee brought a tangle of lust and guilt. The guilt he pushed away. There would be time and ways to deal with that later.

  The water in the kettle boiled about the same time the shower upstairs shut off.

  The glimpse of Eli’s half smile, his voice changing from unsure, back to in control. One moment, Eli had been lost—the next? Justin thought Eli might bend him over and tan his ass right in the bedroom. That shift fucked with Justin’s brain and heart.

  When Eli entered the kitchen, there were still traces of the stress of the night before—the flashback, the aftermath, the confusion of this morning—but that lifted brow was familiar and it drove a spike of desire through Justin.

  “Are those my sweats you’re wearing?”

  Of course Eli had noticed. “I only have my suit, nothing else . . . It is a bit cold in the house.”

  “I see.” Eli took a seat at the breakfast bar, but his focus remained on Justin. It was the Eli he knew so well, the confidence, the razor edge that could mean passion or pain. Eli’s sense of command had returned.

  “I’m sorry.” Justin pressed the plunger down on the coffee, then grabbed two mugs from the cabinet.

  “You are not.” Cool words, but the smile belied the tone.

  Justin matched it with one of his own. “I apologize?” He poured the coffee and carried both mugs to the breakfast bar.