by Evie Drae
“Hi.” Ellis smiled, a shy blush tinging his cheeks a rosy pink. The chiseled torso Cinder had fantasized about more times than he could count still bore several beads of water—remnants from his shower. “Sorry it took so long. I had a bit of an existential crisis.”
Shit. As he’d feared. Cinder stood and closed the distance between them, locking his gaze with Ellis’s even though enough blood had rushed south to split his brain control in two. He stopped short of suffocation distance and tipped his chin so he could maintain eye contact with the Greek god towering over him.
Focus, you jackass. “Talk to me. What happened?”
Ellis curled his lower lip in and shrugged. “It dawned on me that I spewed some pretty unmanly nonsense back there. I wanted to give you some time to make an exit if you changed your mind about… this.” He lifted his arms and motioned to himself before dropping them with a self-deprecating smirk. “I haven’t really mastered the art of being sexy. Seems I’ve got a long way to go.”
“Oh, baby.” Cinder clenched his fists to keep from reaching out before he knew for sure where Ellis’s head was at. “Nothing that happened in your childhood was your fault, and the fact that that asshole continues to manipulate and intimidate is on him, not you. He knows what he’s doing because he knows what he did. He’s using the awful things he did to you as a child to his advantage, but nothing about that makes you any less manly. Certainly, no less sexy.”
Cinder tilted his head, keeping his countenance as casual and nonthreatening as possible. “Can I touch you?”
Brows popping, Ellis simply nodded and melted into Cinder when he closed the final few inches separating them. As soon as they came together, Ellis released a quivering breath that tickled the sensitive skin behind Cinder’s ear.
Wrapping an arm around Ellis’s waist, Cinder pressed his hand flat against the middle of Ellis’s lower back to keep their bodies flush. With his other, he guided Ellis’s mouth down to meet his own, finally drinking from those lips with the unreserved abandon he’d yearned for after that tantalizing sample still haunting his happiest reveries and filthiest dreams.
Ellis’s strong arms folded around Cinder, tugging him close and holding him there as they both took their fill. Eventually, Cinder found the strength to separate their lips, but only long enough to gasp, “Okay?”
With an animalistic growl, Ellis dipped his knees, placed a hand behind each of Cinder’s thighs, and lifted him into his burly arms. He nuzzled his stubbled face under Cinder’s jaw, his hot breath fanning over Cinder’s neck. “I’ve wanted this from the moment I first tasted your lips.”
Cinder gripped Ellis’s shoulders as Ellis walked them both over to the couch and eased Cinder onto his back, covering his body with the solid heat of his own. When Ellis rocked his hips and their cocks grazed together through two layers of denim, Cinder’s fingers dug in deeper, a hoarse wheeze escaping his throat.
Perhaps he’d been missing more than he realized by always choosing to be the bulkier body in his sexual pairings. There was something inexplicably delicious about being surrounded and maneuvered by someone with so much strength.
Cinder pressed his lips to Ellis’s throat and swirled his hips to increase the friction. A shared moan filled the air before Cinder slid a hand down to cup Ellis’s rock-hard backside and murmured into his ear, “I want you naked.”
Ellis nodded against Cinder’s shoulder, his panting breaths a thing of beauty as he fought to maintain some semblance of self-control. The jerking, hungry motions of his hips spoke in tandem to his crumbling restraint.
But despite the frenzied passion driving his body to visibly scream for more, Ellis submitted to Cinder’s request without hesitation. He levered off Cinder until their eyes met. A twinkle of desire sparked between them, laced with something more. Something Cinder would unpack and examine later, but that flitted away quickly enough to leave his attention zeroed in on the physical yearning drawing them together like a magnet to metal.
Ellis stood beside Cinder, who remained splayed out on the couch. With a sexy smirk pulling at his kiss-plumped lips, Ellis flicked open the top button of his jeans and gave the zipper a tug. Rather than revealing the soft cotton of underwear, a well-trimmed thatch of golden-blond hair peeked through.
Cinder sucked in a breath and pushed up to his elbows. “Lose the jeans, baby.”
Smirk growing more pronounced, Ellis hooked his thumbs into the front pockets of his jeans and tugged until they fell into a pool at his feet. Kicking them free, he spread his arms and allowed Cinder to soak up the full, stunning glory of Ellis bared.
“Christ, you’re beautiful.” Cinder’s voice came out gravelly and hoarse as his gaze traveled every inch of Ellis’s body. Greed and the ache of ravenous desire drew a snarl up his throat. Swinging his legs around so he now sat on the couch rather than lying upon it, Cinder spread his knees and motioned Ellis forward with a crook of his finger. “Come here, big boy.”
The hesitation was brief but evident—a shift, really, from one headspace to another as Ellis closed the distance to stand before Cinder. His swagger faded, and in its place was the shy, blushing submission Cinder had grown used to seeing in Ellis.
But he wouldn’t assume anything. He would ask, and he would verify. Over and over again. As many times as it took until the necessary trust and instinctual, mutual expectations had been established. “Can I touch you?”
Ellis sucked in his bottom lip and blew out a heavy, shaking breath through flared nostrils. He nodded, his eyes glazed with wanton anticipation.
Cinder placed his palms over Ellis’s hipbones and rubbed his thumbs in gentle circles over the soft skin there. Ellis stuttered out a moan, and Cinder locked their gazes. “Lace your fingers behind your head and close your eyes. I want you to focus entirely on the sensation of my hands on you. On the sound of your own labored breaths. Can you do that for me?” Ellis’s eyes widened, but he nodded and lifted his arms to thread his fingers together against the back of his neck. Cinder lifted his chin, his brow raised in silent question. “And you know I’ll stop if you ask me to, right?”
His own brows wavering in a delightful mixture of confusion and humor, Ellis nodded again. “Of course. Although I can’t imagine a reason I’d ever ask you to.”
Pursing his lips, Cinder could only shrug in response. Perhaps someday they’d explore Ellis’s boundaries, but today would not be that day. “Close your eyes, baby.”
Obeying the command without another moment’s hesitation, Ellis shifted his feet to widen and steady his stance, inadvertently bringing his dick to perfect mouth height. Cinder licked his lips but shoved that thought aside for now. Until they were tested, unprotected contact wasn’t smart, and he didn’t have a condom within easy reach. Perhaps more important, he hadn’t asked Ellis’s permission for oral contact.
Instead, Cinder traced his fingers over the ludicrous Apollo’s belt etched into Ellis’s lower abdomen and reveled in the way Ellis’s breath hitched at the touch. He skated over every inch of warm, golden skin he could reach, following the lines and angles of perfectly sculpted muscles. When Cinder’s attention strayed to the crease of Ellis’s groin, working toward the evidence of his arousal, Ellis hissed, “Yes, god, please.”
His own cock throbbed at the desperation backing the plea, but Cinder wasn’t ready to up the ante yet. Ellis would have to wait. In place of giving in to Ellis’s desperate entreaty, Cinder scooted forward so he could reach the round globes of Ellis’s ass.
He explored the smooth skin, relishing the muscled contours flexing beneath his touch. A single bead of sweat trickled down Ellis’s stomach, diverting into the central crevice created by stark lines of muscle and sinew. Cinder yearned to follow in its path with his tongue, but instead placed a finger in his mouth to coat it with slippery wetness.
“Spread your legs farther apart, baby.” Cinder made the command in a raspy whisper and was pleased when Ellis did as he’d been asked with continued keen cooperation.
“That’s right. Like that. Good boy.”
When Ellis whimpered in clear appreciation of the encouragement, Cinder grinned and slipped his hand between Ellis’s legs. He stroked a featherlight finger along the crack of Ellis’s ass without pressing deeper, pairing the questioning touch with a gruff, “May I?”
Ellis tipped back his head and garbled out another desperate plea. “Yes. God, please. Yes.”
That response sent Cinder’s pulse racing at record-breaking speed, and without another moment’s pause, his moistened digit found its goal. As soon as he touched the puckered flesh, a shudder ran through Ellis, and when he swirled his finger in a series of tiny, focused circles, Ellis’s knees buckled. His eyes flew open, and his hands fell to rest on Cinder’s shoulders for support. A frantic, reckless cry slipped past his lips as his fingers dug in for dear life.
“You okay?” Cinder paused his movement, placing his free hand on Ellis’s hip to steady him. “I can stop. Just say the word.”
“Fuck, no.” Ellis snapped the words, a broken laugh following in their wake as he shook his head. A slew of half-formed sentences fell from his trembling lips. “Never felt anything… It’s good. Too good. Want more, not less. So good.”
Cinder stifled a chuckle as he set back to work. “Eyes closed. I don’t want you to do anything but feel.”
Ellis sucked his lower lip between his teeth and squeezed his eyes closed. When Cinder breached his opening, Ellis’s fingertips dug into Cinder’s shoulders, his hips rocking forward. And when Cinder’s probing finger found that holiest of spots and curled to press against it, Ellis fell apart at the seams. A stream of curses slipped past his lips. His body shuddered and swayed, his mouth falling open and leg muscles quivering.
“Feel good, baby?” Cinder pressed a kiss to the inside of Ellis’s trembling forearm. “Want me to keep going?”
Eyes flashing open, Ellis huffed out a breath and blinked in dazed awe at Cinder, who offered a cocky smirk in response. Ellis swallowed and licked his lips before wheezing, “Feels so good. Think I could come without… without you even t-touching my… my…” His head fell back on a deep, rumbling groan when Cinder stroked that spot again. And again.
Cinder’s lips curled even further until he was quite sure they resembled something worn by a supervillain about to destroy his prey. “Oh, sweetheart. I could make you come a hundred different ways if you’d let me.” He moved his finger in a slow, deliberate circle, savoring Ellis’s choked gasps. “This is only the beginning.”
With a gentle tug, Cinder freed his finger, delighting in Ellis’s grunt of dissatisfaction at the loss. “Lie on your back and drape one leg over the back of the couch.” Cinder patted the cushion beside him, holding back a grin at Ellis’s stumbling eagerness to comply. When he was positioned as Cinder had asked, with his head propped on the armrest and his legs splayed open, Cinder rewarded him with a single fingertip traced up the underside of his cock.
At the first breath of contact, Ellis whimpered, his dick throbbing in a plea for more. Instead of complying, Cinder kissed Ellis’s ankle and stood. “Don’t move a muscle. I’ll be right back.”
With that, he disappeared to his dressing room to retrieve a few necessary items. When he returned with his treasures in hand, he found Ellis exactly as he’d left him—gloriously spread, panting, and flushed with the need to be touched and teased. To be worshiped and indulged. But most importantly, the need for all those things to come from him. Cinder. Henry.
Ellis’s Henry.
After kicking the door closed, Cinder returned to Ellis and set the condoms and lube on the coffee table beside them. He stroked a hand up the inside of Ellis’s thigh, then stopped a hairsbreadth from his groin and grinned. “Lie back and relax, baby. I’m going to make you feel so fucking good.”
Chapter Thirteen
Henry settled between Ellis’s legs, still fully clothed, and hungrily traced every inch of Ellis’s naked body with those gorgeous hazel eyes. Again. For the umpteenth time. Worshipping him in a way Ellis had never experienced before. In a way he might never experience again.
Every experience Ellis had ever had with sex was quick, dirty, and almost always one-sided. It had never been like this. He’d never been the one receiving all the attention. Hell, in the past he was lucky to be noticed at all. The men he’d chosen to sleep with had demanded his mouth or ass to slake their needs and had rarely offered to return the favor.
He’d known he had a submissive personality. It was obvious in the way he related to people around him—even more so in the type of men he’d once picked to warm his sheets. But one too many bad experiences in that department had left him leading a life of voluntary celibacy.
Until Henry.
Henry was the first man Ellis had wanted to be with in over half a decade. He was also the first man who had ever asked for permission before touching him and kept checking in to be sure Ellis was on board with every shift in dynamics. He had the dominant personality Ellis had continuously sought in a lover, only without the asshole bits that broke his spirit and left him feeling mentally hollow and physically empty.
Rather than reminding him of those regrettable sexual experiences, Henry’s tender commands and doting devotion left Ellis satisfied in a way he’d never been before. Fulfilled yet yearning for more.
Henry retrieved something from the pile of goodies he’d brought back from his dressing room before placing a gentle, protective hand over Ellis’s hipbone. “I’m not pretending to know or to care what your sexual history has been, but I’ll admit mine has been extensive.” He held up a raspberry-flavored condom, his stare boring into Ellis’s. “I’m going to use this today because I respect you, not because I don’t trust you. Safety for us both always comes first, which is why I want us to get tested. Because I want to be exclusive, and I want the freedom to put my mouth on you. Everywhere. Whenever I want. Sound like a deal?”
Ellis gaped for only a moment before slamming his jaw closed so fast his teeth vibrated from the impact. Henry wanted to be exclusive. With Ellis. As in—
“Yes, that’s my super unromantic way of asking you to go steady. Or whatever the hell you kids are calling it these days.” Henry winked and kissed the inside of Ellis’s knee. “Now, may I?” He ripped open the foil packet with his teeth and presented the berry-colored condom for Ellis’s inspection. “I want you in my mouth when you blow.”
A whimper slipped through Ellis’s tightly clenched jaw, but he managed to squeak out a verbal agreement.
Henry’s lips curled into a cocky smirk as he pinched the tip of the condom and rolled it down Ellis’s length. Ellis had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming with repressed need and desire. No one had ever touched him like this, through a condom or not.
Such selflessness and consideration. Such painstaking care. And—another first—this flawless moment was being shared not between two people with mere physical attraction between them, but two men in a mutual relationship. A level of commitment and connection that stretched deeper than anything he’d experienced before.
The stupidest grin pulled at his lips, only growing wider when Henry caught it out of the corner of his eye and paused to arch a questioning brow. “Telling someone I want to make them come with my mouth doesn’t usually inspire childish glee.”
Shaking his head, Ellis laid a hand over Henry’s. “It wasn’t that. Although, that definitely, ah, yeah. No words.”
“Mm-hmm.” Henry laced his fingers with Ellis’s, using his other hand to trace circles over the inside of Ellis’s thigh. Moving closer and closer with every finished loop of his finger to the spot where he wanted him most. “Then what’s the dopey grin for, if not in response to my promise of”—Henry finally reached his target and cupped Ellis’s balls in the soft warmth of his palm—“divine pleasure.”
A groan escaped Ellis’s throat, but he clenched his jaw and tried to keep his focus on Henry, not the tingling jolts of yearning firing through his core. “Yeah, well, I sudd
enly have myself a committed partner. Apparently. Makes this whole thing… a whole new level.”
Henry let loose a delightful laugh before stretching over Ellis’s body to plant a deep, satisfying kiss on his lips. “More on that later, when I’m not about to blow your mind, but yes. You’re mine, and I’m yours. Now, eyes closed. Don’t make me blindfold you.”
Electricity sparked over Ellis’s skin, and he huffed out a breath, causing Henry to meet his gaze. Licking his lips, Ellis stretched his arms up and laced his fingers behind his head. Just as Henry had asked him to do while he was standing. “I have a bit of a one-track mind. If you want me to keep my eyes closed when there’s so much I want to look at… Well, a blindfold might be necessary.” Ellis winked when he caught the slight widening of Henry’s eyes. “And if you don’t want my hands getting in the way when there’s so much I want to touch…” He shrugged and pressed his lips together. “You might want to do something about that too.”
“Have mercy.” Henry closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, as if collecting himself, before boring his stare into Ellis’s. “You’re full of surprises today.”
Ellis scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. “There’s nothing wrong with a little light bondage between friends.”
Henry narrowed one eye and casually took Ellis’s balls in hand once more. He rolled them between his fingers and thumb with a gentle massaging motion that did nothing to quell the fire burning at Ellis’s core. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
When Henry licked his lips and bent to take Ellis into the tight heat of his mouth, Ellis gasped. He struggled to keep his hips from thrusting toward that delicious warmth, focusing instead on the sensations as Henry chose to give them. Allowing Henry’s lips and tongue and hands to guide his experience.
All too soon, that delicious pressure built at his core, signaling an imminent release. But he didn’t want to come alone. “Henry. Stop. Please.”
