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The majestic flight of a pair of cranes thought to be extinct.

Cadence falling from a tree but not breaking a single bone.

And now I can add another to my list.

Jordan Hartford.

He stands proudly in front of me without a square of clothing on his muscled body. In the overhead lighting, the shadows enhance the valleys between his abdominals; I could get lost in them. I count his ribs, left to right, then drop my eyes to the part of him I'd only imagined until now.

His cock juts proudly from tufts of groomed hair. Its tip is fat, ruddy-red, as if it's angry.

“You're smiling,” he whispers, “why?”

I didn't realize I was. My tongue drapes over my bottom lip, wetting it. It's easy thanks to how my mouth is watering. “I'm happy to see proof you want this as bad as me.”

“You thought I didn't?”

“I thought you'd have more restraint … since you came earlier today.” I blush fiercely.

“You came just now,” he notes in a husky tone. “Doyouwant it less?”

“No.”

“Then kneel. I'm going to feed you my cock.”

I'm already moving before the last word enters the air. Resting at Jordan's feet I'm eye level with his rigid shaft, close enough to study the veins that traverse the surface like roots in the soil. His scent fills my head—I take another deep breath.

My hand circles his girth.He's so warm.My thumb follows the biggest vein, causing him to hiss above me. Glancing up, I marvel at how far away he feels. Like I'm looking up at an oak tree that rises towards the sun. But his eyes find me, lock on me, and the distance evaporates. “Put me in your mouth,” he commands. “Show me how good you are at sucking my cock.”

I shift on my knees from the sudden ripple of arousal. My mouth presses to his cockhead, sweeping up the dot of pre-cum. It's delicious. It has no right to taste that good. I roll my tongue to get him lubed, start inhaling him with my jaw stretched—gagging to fit him—when I'm ripped away from my target. “Hey!” I cry out, confused by why Jordan interrupted me.

He's staring down at me, hands bracing my shoulders, fingers digging in until I wince. “Stop,” he says, out of breath. “Wait.”

Then I see it. The strain in his expression.He can't control himself.The thrill that gives me is as intoxicating as the orgasm was.He wants to be in charge, set the pace, and he realized … he can't.

We size each other up. I reach out to grip the base of his cock and he catches my wrist, eyes narrowing. “Don't stop me,” I say. “There's no reason to hold back anymore.”

Jordan breaks our eye-lock, looking at something behind me. “I'm not holding back.”

“Are you worried you'll hurt me?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I'm worried how much I'll like it. How muchyouwill like it.”

“Why is that bad?”

He snaps his emerald-green eyes back to me. “Because I don't want this to end. Isn't it obvious I'm fixated already? You know this situation isn't stable.”

“Dezmond.” I loath how his name tastes. “I told you we couldn't … shouldn't do this. You were the one who said it was fine if we did it in secret. Now we are, it's happening, why get cold feet? Nothing has changed, Jordan.”

“Yes. It has.” His eyes drop to my naked breasts, to the words he wrote. He releases me and backs away, starting to collect his clothing. “Get dressed.”

“Fuck you.”

He startles, jerking around to eyeball me with his mouth open. “Excuse me?”

“You can't decide this at the last second!” Rising to my feet, I let my dress fall to the floor. It's a crumpled pile of red fabric, a pool of blood. Both of us are naked except for our ink; me with the penned letters on my skin, him with the rose tattoo on his leg. “You might be used to dictating how Dezmond does things, but you can't do that to me. Don't talk to me like I'm too stupid to know how you feel.”

“You don't know how I feel,” he says icily.