Benji pulled Reign around in front of him, securing both arms around his waist as he held him steady. “I’ve got you,” he repeated, suddenly very aware of the heat from Reign’s body and the fact that Reign’s face was just inches away from his own.
Those eyes. Those lips.
“Benji—” Reign’s lips parted, and that was all it took. Benji couldn’t think—didn’t care what it all meant, or if it meant anything at all. The only thing that mattered was Reign’s soft skin and warm breath.
He leaned in and closed his eyes, letting his lips brush against Reign’s for just a second. It was quick and sweet, and it sent a jolt straight through Benji’s body all the way to his core.
More. Now.
Reign whimpered, a soft, needy sound that Benji felt more than heard, but it was enough to fan the flames that were already threatening to consume him, and Benji couldn’t hold out any longer. He moved his hands to Reign’s upturned face, tilting it back even more as he planted a trail of kisses that started at the base of Reign’s neck and didn’t stop until Benji had captured Reign’s mouth again.
What had been soft and sweet and chaste before was totally different the second time. Benji felt Reign shift against him, his hard body melting against Benji as their tongues met. Benji probed Reign’s mouth tentatively at first, but all it took was another one of those little delicious moans to make him bold, and he let his hands explore Reign’s body just as confidently as his tongue was exploring Reign’s mouth.
Benji kissed him deeply, marveling at the subtle but distinct differences from kissing a woman. Reign’s lips were soft and sweet, but the brush of stubble against Benji’s face was a new feeling, as was the feel of Reign’s body against him—all hard planes and taut muscles and a throbbing erection that was brushing up against Benji’s in a way that was making him crave even more.
When Benji’s hands cupped Reign’s perfectly tight ass and pulled him even closer, Reign leaned his head back.
“Benji,” he gasped. “Oh my God. Maybe we should stop. If you keep doing that, I’m gonna want—oh—”
Leaning in, Benji nipped at Reign’s neck and grinned when he was rewarded with another breathy moan. “Fuck stopping now,” he growled. “Unless you want to, I mean. But I need to see you, to feel more of you. And I need it now.”
“Oh, fuck,” Reign groaned as Benji’s hands slipped beneath the waistband of Reign’s shorts and cupped that perfect ass again. “Okay. Yes, oh my God, please don’t stop.”
It was exactly what Benji had wanted to hear. And even though he knew it was going to be an excruciating walk back to his room as he used every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep from stripping down with Reign on the beach—or hell, right there in the ocean—he knew that it would be worth the wait.
He wasn’t going to let himself think about what he was feeling or what it all meant. It was new. It was exciting. It was hot as hell.
And it was just getting started.
Benji fumbled with the room key, sliding it through the card reader once, twice, three times before giving up and turning to face Reign.
“Fuck it,” he said, tossing the key aside and pulling Reign in for a quick kiss right there in the middle of the hallway.
He’d been in such a hurry that he’d practically dragged Reign from the beach back to his cabana suite, not giving a single thought to his normal reservations and inhibitions when it came to doing something as spontaneous as hooking up with someone he’d just met.
Not that Benji was an angel, necessarily. He’d had his fair share of fun over the years. But the fact that it was with a man this time, that despite the initial fears and questions and uncertainty he was plunging head first into the deep end—that was what set this time apart from any of the others.
But then, Reign was different from any of the other people Benji had hooked up with before, and not just because of the obvious anatomical differences.
Reign was nice. And fun. Someone Benji could talk to and relate to. And right now? Someone Benji really, really wanted to see more of.
Naked, preferably.
They tumbled against the wall, still kissing, and Benji felt Reign smile against his lips.
“Are you just gonna have your way with me here in the hallway?”
“Tempting,” Benji said, mirroring his grin. “I might have to kick down the damn door at this rate.”
“Here, let me help,” Reign said, bending over and grinding his ass against Benji’s already rock-hard cock as he picked up the discarded room key.
Benji had just put his hands on Reign’s hips and pressed himself against that amazing ass when Reign stood back up and opened the door with absolutely no problem.
Shit. He just couldn’t catch a break.
Although he definitely wasn’t complaining, either. Especially once they were finally inside the room with the door closed and locked behind them, with Reign melting into his arms, his sweet mouth and hard body ready and waiting for Benji to explore.
It was only after his hands were at Reign’s waist, unbuttoning his shorts and pulling at the zipper that he was suddenly hit with a flood of uncertainty.
Benji froze for a moment, even as Reign moaned and thrust against his hand.
Thankfully, Reign had apparently picked up on the mixed signals, because his expression changed in an instant. Well, the lust was still definitely there in his eyes, but there was concern there, too.
“What’s wrong?” Reign asked, taking Benji’s hands into his own. “It’s okay if you don’t want to—”
“No, I want to,” Benji said, quickly interrupting. “I really want to. It’s just… I’ve never… you know, with a guy.”
“Well, I have, so don’t worry.” Reign grinned and dropped to his knees, moving Benji’s hands aside as he focused on getting Benji out of his clothes.
Benji laughed, only too happy to help speed the process along as he stepped out of his shorts and shrugged his shirt off. “Maybe you can teach me a thing or two.”
“Oh, I plan on it.” Reign pulled down Benji’s boxers, smiling up at Benji as his hard cock bobbed into view. “For now, just relax.”
Normally, Benji had a panic attack just thinking about relaxing, but when Reign wrapped his hand around Benji’s cock and slowly, gently stroked it while he worked his tongue around the head? Fuck. It was heaven.
“Oh, damn,” Benji moaned as his cock slid past Reign’s full lips into his hot, velvety mouth. “That feels… so good.”
Reign’s eyes flicked up and held Benji’s gaze, and just seeing him there, Reign’s sexy face bobbing up and down on his cock while Benji watched, was almost enough to push him over the edge.
He watched as Reign’s free hand reached down and started stroking his own cock, and Benji was mesmerized by the sight. He’d never even seen another man hard before in real life, but watching Reign stroke himself as he sucked deeper and deeper on Benji’s cock was fucking beautiful. Like a living, breathing, absolutely perfect work of art.
Benji threaded his fingers through Reign’s short blond hair and began to thrust rhythmically, loving the feeling of Reign’s tongue as it caressed his shaft. He knew he wasn’t going to last much longer, but that was okay. They had all night, and this was just the beginning. Before the night was over, he wanted to explore every inch of Reign’s body, to bring him just as much pleasure as he was giving Benji.
But that would have to wait until later. For the moment, Benji’s whole world had narrowed to the beautiful man on his knees in front of him, and the wet heat of Reign’s mouth.
“Fuck, Reign. I don’t know if I can hold back much longer.”
In response, Reign only sucked harder, longer, taking every inch as Benji thrust into his mouth faster and faster.
He could feel the climax building inside of him, and when Reign moaned and jerked his hips, pearly white ropes spilling over his fist, it was more than Benji could take.
With a low growl, Benji let his orgasm overtake him,
emptying straight down Reign’s throat in an explosive tidal wave that made his vision blur and his knees go weak.
Reign stayed there for a moment, taking it all down, then slowly let Benji’s cock slip from his lips as he stood up and smiled.
“I think you’ve got the hang of it,” he said.
Benji laughed. “Oh my God. I don’t know how I’ve survived this long without that.”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve never had a blowjob before. I don’t believe that.”
“I mean, sure. I have. But… nothing like that. Seriously, that was amazing.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Reign said, slipping past Benji to grab a towel from the bathroom. “And I’m glad you feel that way, because it’s still pretty early…”
Benji grinned. “I like the way you think. And yeah, we’ve got all night, and I’m definitely down for round two.”
Whatever thoughts and worries Benji might have about the fact that he’d just done something very sexual with another man could wait until morning. But truthfully? He wasn’t that bothered.
Actually, no.
He wasn’t bothered at all.
Benji liked Reign, and not just because the guy knew how to make Benji feel amazing. He liked everything about Reign—his hot-as-hell body, his personality, his sense of humor, his sarcastic wit, that smile—they just meshed so well, like two sides of the same coin.
Whatever the label for that was didn’t matter so much to Benji. What mattered was that, for the first time in his life, he was really enjoying someone else’s company. Really enjoying himself, too. He and Reign were just two regular guys, on equal footing. There was no pretense, no question of what came next—they were both on vacation, after all.
It was the perfect arrangement. Maybe Reign had been right. Maybe it was fate.
And Benji knew better than to argue with fate.
8
Reign
Get to the bar.
The bar is on fire.
Hurry! Get to the bar!
Reign bolted upright in bed, fighting against the sheets that had become twisted around his body. It was dark and hot in the room, and he was sweating and disoriented.
Gotta get to the bar.
Wait, no. That wasn’t right.
Where the hell was he?
Reign blinked hard as his eyes finally started to adjust to the sliver of moonlight that was filtering in through the curtains. Only when he noticed the expanse of naked back next to him did it all come rushing back.
Okay. Benji. Right. O-kay.
He slowly exhaled, unaware that he’d even been holding his breath until that moment. He was still in Anguilla, in Benji’s amazing suite that put his own room to shame. Dallas was two thousand miles away. The bar was okay.
It was just a dream.
A vivid, crazy, scary-as-hell dream.
He leaned back against his pillow, closing his eyes and trying to focus on Benji’s faint snoring. It was kind of adorable that such a big, muscular guy could sleep so sweetly. And apparently quite soundly, too, based on all the thrashing around that Reign had apparently done in his dream.
He wondered what it would be like to wake up with Benji. Would they order room service? Shower together? Pick up where they’d left off the night before?
His cock twitched at the memory. Damn. That had been pretty fucking amazing.
But nope. There was no way he was going to be able to get back to sleep now.
First of all, his mind was racing, and he still had a faint metallic taste in his mouth from the sudden spike of adrenaline he’d just experienced. Second, it was hot as hell in Benji’s room. How did he sleep with no air conditioning on?
And third, what if he was a little worried about waking up with Benji? What if it was weird, or awkward? What if Benji had second thoughts about what they’d done. He had said he’d never done anything like that with a guy before, even though he’d seemed fully on board at the time.
Reign swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, belatedly remembering that he was completely naked and would have to search every corner of the very dark room for his discarded clothes. And the way he and Benji had torn through them, they could literally be anywhere.
Still, hunting around in the dark for his clothes was a better option than lying awake waiting for the sun to come up and driving himself crazy playing the what if game. It would probably be for the best if Benji woke up and was able to process his feelings alone, right? Then, if he felt weird about the situation, he wouldn’t have to pretend in front of Reign.
Technically, Reign was doing him a favor by leaving while he was still asleep.
And anyway, he really should call to check on the bar.
Slowly, methodically, he collected his clothes and got dressed as quietly as possible. He took one last look at Benji, so gorgeous and sexy as he lay there sleeping, and resisted the urge to reach out and run his hand along his perfectly muscled bicep.
No. Nope. No more touching until after he knew that Benji was cool with everything that had gone down between them.
He stifled a sigh as he turned and walked out the door, being careful to make as little noise as possible when he closed it behind him.
As soon as he was back in his own room, Reign made a beeline for his phone. All of the angst and worry that he’d been having about his situation with Benji was momentarily forgotten as he saw the text from his right-hand-woman at the bar, Jenny.
Reign, please call when you get a chance!
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” His hands were shaking as he waited for the call to connect. He could feel his heart beating in his chest as the phone rang and rang with no answer.
One ring.
“Hey, thank goodness you called.” Jenny’s voice sounded tired, and Reign’s stomach churned with that old familiar shot of adrenaline—the same feeling he’d had after that horrible dream.
“Jenny, are you okay? Is the bar okay?”
“I’m fine. The bar is fine, sorry. I probably should have been more specific in my text, but I didn’t want to worry you too much while you were on vacation…”
Too late for that. Even though she’d just told him everything was okay, Reign still hadn’t calmed down, and still wasn’t feeling any better about where the conversation was heading.
“No, it’s okay,” Reign said. “I just…” He paused, wondering if he should mention the dream. No, that would be ridiculous, right? Whatever. “What’s up? What can I help with?”
“Well, it’s good that you called when you did. I’m sitting in the office at the bar right now, trying to figure out how to balance the books. I’ve got to make a liquor order tomorrow and paychecks go out the day after that, and… we just don’t have the money in the main account for everything, Reign. I don’t know what to do.”
She sounded close to tears, and Reign hated that he’d left her to deal with his problems. The truth was that he’d been shuffling money from his personal accounts and credit cards to cover the shortages at the bar for months, and even though it wasn’t a good solution, it had been enough to keep the doors open and the lights on—barely. But if something didn’t change soon, he was going to run out of options.
For the moment, though, he still had a little credit left. Thank God for American Express.
“Don’t worry,” he said, trying to sound a lot more confident than he actually felt. “Just email me the amount we’re going to need in the account to get us through the weekend and I’ll transfer some money in a few hours when the bank opens.” He looked at the clock. Jesus. It was nearly four in the morning in Dallas. The bar had been closed for nearly two hours, and she’d no doubt been stressing the entire time. “So just wrap up the deposit and go get some rest. Just leave the worrying to me, okay?”
She sighed. “Okay. Thanks, Reign. And sorry to bother you on vacation.”
“Thank you. For everything you do. I’d be lost without you there to help me. And don’t apologize. You know you can
call me here anytime, and I’ll be back in a few days.”
She sounded better as they hung up the phone, but Reign felt worse than before. Maybe it would’ve been better if the place had burned down. At least then he’d be able to pay off his debts with the insurance money and chalk the whole thing up to a fun but failed experiment.
This was more like watching a train wreck in slow motion. Something that was going to be awful and painful but ultimately impossible to avoid. And the worst part? Knowing that he’d have to eventually look Jenny and the rest of his remaining employees in the eyes and tell them that he’d let them down. That he’d failed them, that he hadn’t been strong enough or smart enough or… whatever enough to make it work.
He sat down on the edge of his bed—still made from the previous morning—and put his head in his hands. For the hundredth time since arriving in Anguilla, he wondered if he should pack his bags and catch the next flight back home. He wasn’t doing anyone any good by staying on vacation.
But if he was being honest, he wasn’t sure he was ready to face all of that harsh reality back in Dallas, either. The vacation had been paid for and planned and Jenny was more than capable of taking care of everything in his absence—money woes that were out of her control notwithstanding.
Just a few more days of not dodging bill collectors and juggling credit card balances and due dates, just a few more days of not having constant reminders of his failed business and his failed relationship wasn’t too much to ask, was it?
Or maybe it was too much. It was hard to deny that he was being selfish. But… maybe a little bit of selfishness every once in a while was okay? God knows he didn’t get the chance to indulge that particular sin very often.
And then—as long as he was being selfish—what about Benji?
Reign had to admit that he was really looking forward to spending more time with the guy. Assuming, of course, that Benji still wanted to have anything to do with him. Reign also had to admit that he really hoped they’d be able to somehow stay in touch after they left Anguilla, too. Although that was probably asking a little too much from a vacation hook-up.
Where I'm Going Page 5
