Page 11
Chapter eleven
Declan
I woke up sticky and warm.
Light streamed in through the windows, and I was in my bed, but a furnace heat surrounded me.
Coming directly from the massive man wrapped around me.
I swallowed hard. Right, Noah and I had slept together last night. Literally. It had taken a while for me to fall asleep, but the moment he wrapped those big arms around me and cocooned me against his body, I’d been done for. Something about his presence shut my brain down in the best way, and I craved the peace. My mind seemed to always be running, and to be able to shut off as if I powered down—goddamn.
If this was why people had relationships, I could understand the appeal a little more.
Which, I wasn’t even sure Noah wanted that. We’d done a whole lot of fucking and not very much talking. Though, I couldn’t complain about the former, even if the latter would eventually be necessary. I shifted, a slight soreness in my hole. A thrill shot through me. That had been the hottest sex of my life.
Noah’s steady breathing stuttered, and he moved beneath me. “Hmm?”
“I haven’t checked the power yet,” I said. He wasn’t making any effort to unwrap his arms around me, and I sure as fuck didn’t want to budge either.
“Do you have to?” He wrinkled his nose.
“Yes. I mean, as much as I’d love to lie in bed for the rest of the week, I’m pretty sure we’d starve and then need to resort to cannibalism.” I glanced up at him. “I’ve become a recent fan of your cock, and I’d prefer not to have it with some fava beans and chianti.”
Noah’s chest rumbled with his laughter. I plastered my cheek against him again to capture the vibrations.
“I want to run my hands through your hair so badly,” he murmured. “It’s such a tousled mess, and I love it.”
“If I haven’t fixed it for the day, you can.” I was enraptured by the bleary bliss of the moment. “I just don’t like going through the effort of making myself presentable for the world to have it mussed up.”
“Like a chink in your armor.”
My chest warmed at his understanding. “Exactly that.”
He plunged his fingers into my hair and stroked through it with the same steadiness that had me wanting to curl up on him and purr. Goddamn.
“You keep doing that, and I’m liable to fall back asleep.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed,” he murmured. “Though I guess we’ve got to call out of work and such. If my phone even has a charge.”
I wrinkled my nose. Ugh, work. Yeah, if I didn’t have power and couldn’t leave my driveway, that wouldn’t be happening today. My phone had still been plugged into my charger last night. I’d left it there when I’d gone out to greet Noah, and I’d never grabbed it after, so hopefully, it had juice.
I peeled myself off from Noah, the crust on my chest a reminder I’d never cleaned up after we’d had sex. He let go of me, and I hated the lack of pressure and warmth. I popped my glasses on and snagged my phone. Eighty percent still. Good.
“I’ll go try to call my boss.” Noah pushed up off the mattress with a creak. He headed out the door, probably to find his cell.
I sent a quick email to my job, which was more efficient than any other route. The Brannon text chain had blown up, but I popped in to state “I’m alive” and then didn’t bother reading the rest of the messages. That lot could chatter for a century.
Noah reappeared in the doorway. “Good news and bad news.”
I heaved a sigh. “Good news first?”
“Your power is back on. The tree out front must not have been what disrupted the lines. Just your driveway.”
“The bad news?”
His lips twitched. “There’s still a tree in your driveway.”
“Oh, is that all?” I shifted to place my phone on the nightstand. “Well, I have brothers who have connections.”
“You know I can place a quick call too.” He approached me. The more the distance between us closed, the more I craved him plastered against me again.
“You should do that.” My gaze roamed from his defined chest, tan and smooth with the occasional bump of whitened skin from scars, to the dip of his hips, the trail of darker blond fuzz leading to his…fully erect cock.
Ngh.
Noah’s eyes met mine, and his lips tilted in a sexy smirk. “Hungry? ”
“Famished,” I croaked out, and he closed the distance between us. My cock was hard and heavy between my legs, an insistent throb in my balls I didn’t want to ignore. His lips descended on mine, and I moaned into his mouth. He gripped my hip with the surety that his movements held, and I free-fell into sensation.
He kissed me with a desperation that matched my own, and I ground my cock against his thigh. His nudged against mine, a little wetness from pre-cum imprinting on my skin. A full-body shiver traveled through me. He kissed like we had all the time in the world, like he wanted nothing more than to savor every second, yet the depth of those kisses, the hint of wildness, was what I craved the most.
Noah and I had wasted so much time already. I didn’t want to miss more.
Except, what if our parameters were just this encounter? We hadn’t discussed anything beyond clearing up our earlier misunderstandings.
I drew away first, unable to stop the thoughts from circling through my brain like a record stuck on repeat. As much as I wanted to chase the sensations emerging with abandon, I couldn’t shake the question that had emerged, and I needed clarity.
“How are we moving forward past today? What sort of relationship are you looking for?”
Noah blinked at me and then blinked again. “Holy fuck, I…” He swallowed hard. “I love how direct you are.”
I didn’t feel like I offered anything groundbreaking, simply getting clarity, but Noah’s stare grew more intense. Oh right, he’d mentioned this was what he struggled with. So much so he’d tweaked my hair for years rather than telling me he liked me.
“If it helps, I can start,” I said.
He let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, please. ”
“I’m interested in continuing to fuck for sure. As for more, I’ve never been in a relationship, so I’m not sure how I’ll be as a boyfriend. I tend to need a lot of alone time.”
Noah shook his head, a giddy laugh escaping him. “Declan, you’re perfect.”
I lifted a brow. “I’m definitely not.”
“For me, you are. I avoided relationships for years because I’m always getting pulled in too many directions and there are too many demands on my time. And…because they weren’t you.”
I tilted my head. “Well, I’ve been here the whole time.”
“I’m aware.” Noah groaned and scrubbed his face.
His statement didn’t clarify the entire situation, but I had a better idea of the parameters.
“Since we haven’t spent time together like this for a while, I propose this.” I plunked back down on the mattress. Noah loomed over me that way, and I liked feeling smaller than him a bit too much. “We go on a few dates and get to know each other again. See if dating is something that’s accessible for both of us.”
Noah shook his head, a wry grin on his lips. “You’re one in a goddamn million, Declan.”
“7.951 billion, technically,” I responded, unable to keep my lips from quirking.
“Okay, smartass.” He sat on the mattress beside me and placed his hand over mine. Sparks traveled across my skin. “When’s the earliest available time you have for a date?”
“Thursday,” I said. His earnest expression struck me in the chest, but a frisson of unease filtered through me. Outside this bubble, he had a lot of demands from the outside world, and Noah had always struggled to say no to people. While I’d been honest about my minimal need for upkeep—I’d rather be working on projects at home than going out with people on most days—I also didn’t adjust well to getting ditched when I did carve the space into my schedule. “Only offer the time if you can follow through, though.”
Noah swallowed hard. “You mean speaking up if other things come up, don’t you?” He ran his fingers through his tousled blond hair, the move effortlessly sexy. “I can’t promise I’ll be perfect, but you have no idea how long I’ve wanted you. If anything is worth trying for, you are.”
My chest squeezed tight at those words, and butterflies exploded in my chest. The brazen affection Noah spoke with…I’d never had a lover who treated me that way. Hookups or the dates I’d tried with for longer stints ended up getting frustrated with my need for clarity or the large periods I could spend away from them, working on the battery or whatever other projects preoccupied me.
“All right,” I said, soaking in the weight of his hand still on mine. I glanced up to meet his eyes. He stared at me with the earnestness I’d always appreciated about him. However, now that I’d felt how his mouth, his tongue, his hands could play my body like an instrument, I didn’t see the point in denying each other pleasure. “If the power’s back on, we need a shower.”
He lifted his brows. “We?”
I grinned. “Well, I can’t jack you off in the shower if I’m by myself.”
Noah hopped to a stand. “Shit, I thought we’d veered out of that territory with the talk.” He offered a hand to help me up, which I accepted.
“I’m capable of rerouting if you are.” I didn’t let go of his hand and led us to the bathroom attached to my room. It was just a shower stall that we’d barely squeeze into, but I liked being pressed up against him. The way my body reacted to his proximity finally made sense to me, and I wanted to slam my head into a wall that I had misconstrued the intensity of my reactions as uncomfortable all these years.
Noah roamed his hand along my side as if he mapped out my skin, and when I leaned forward to turn the shower on, he squeezed my ass cheek hard. My cock bucked. God, his touch was external voltage, and I was the conductor, the current flowing right through me. Now that I understood this was attraction with the voltage amped up, I didn’t hesitate to lean into it.
“You could slide in if you want.”
“Ngh, god.” He tilted his head back. “Don’t tempt me. Condoms are back in the room.”
“We’d better get tested, then.” I placed my glasses on the counter by the sink and stepped under the spray. The idea of him bare inside me, of his cum filling me…fuck. I reached down and squeezed my cock so I didn’t blow. The hot water pounded against my back, into my hair, and the scuzz that had clung to me from the dried cum got sluiced away.
Noah strode in and shut the stall door behind him. We faced each other, bare inches between us, and the water slammed down, a reminder of the pouring rain from last night. He dipped his head and pressed his lips to mine, even though the shower spray battered the sides of our bodies. Endorphins rushed through me from his mouth on mine. We had minimal room to move around, which meant I was close enough to him for my cock to brush against his leg.
Noah didn’t stop kissing me, but he shifted so his cock slid against mine. The shock of the sensation rocketed through me, and I plastered my palms to his chest. He wrapped his hand around our cocks, bringing them together. I licked into his mouth, savoring the sensation of his massive grip around us, of his lips to mine. This could fast become an addiction, but I didn’t want to stop .
He moved his hands up and down along our lengths. Holy fuck . A long, low moan escaped me, muffled as our mouths collided again. With each pass from his hand, a sinful shudder rolled through me. I wouldn’t last long. The hot water pounded on my shoulders, and my muscles relaxed from the onslaught. The feel of Noah’s cock shuttling against mine sent wave after wave of sparks through me.
Part of me wanted to hold on, to savor this longer, but we’d agreed to explore what being in a relationship might entail, which meant I could have this time with him again and again and again. The thought of him coming over to fuck me into oblivion any day of the week shot me with a dose of pure adrenaline, and my legs trembled. I scraped my nails against his chest as I held on tight. He wrapped his other hand around my hip, keeping me in place, and worked us both with a finesse that had me panting into his mouth.
My orgasm overtook me far too fast. One second, I was savoring the sensuality of his movements, the electricity that rolled up my spine with every pass. The next, my balls drew up, and I spilled over his hand.
He continued to work me through it, and my cum gushed over our cocks. Pleasure punched through me, and I drew my head back to gasp for breath. The spray of the shower washed my cum down the drain, but Noah didn’t stop with his steady strokes, even as my cock deflated. A low whine escaped me, and I sagged against his chest.
Noah pressed a kiss to the top of my head, and then his whole body tensed. The warm gush of his cum coated our cocks, and he slowed his movements, then stopped.
Our ragged breaths mingled with the hum of the shower, and the hot water pounded down on our skin.
“God, that’s a hell of a way to wake up.” Noah let go of our cocks .
“Next on the agenda should be tea. Or, I guess, coffee for you.” I didn’t bother hiding my distaste. Coffee tasted like black tea that had been steeped too long and mixed with road gravel.
“How about I actually clean you first.” He brushed a kiss against my nape, then reached past me and grabbed my bodywash. He squeezed some out and rubbed it all over my body. A shiver rolled through me at his attentiveness, how he took his time up my arms, along my torso. His hands were as steady as the rest of him, and the rhythmic movements lulled me into the quietness I craved again. If I could glue my body to his to float in this sensation, that would be great.
Noah washed around my hole, and a moan escaped my lips as I tried to press into the touch.
“Holy hell, Dec,” he gritted out. “You’re going to kill me.”
“I didn’t realize you were so fragile.” Amusement bubbled up inside me.
“Such a smartass.” He squeezed my ass. He cleaned around my cock, then hitched each leg up, one after the other, to give them soapy caresses as well. I sagged against the wall of the shower stall, a complete rag doll after orgasms and pre tea. He brought my leg down, and before I could return the favor, he cleaned himself off with economical motions. I took his other hand and brought his finger to my lips.
Noah gave me a warning glance, but I sucked it into my mouth anyway.
Mm. I liked the feel of that a lot.
I sucked a little harder.
“My god, Declan Brannon.” Noah’s voice had a stern note I liked, a little hoarse as well. “I’m dead. Utterly slain.”
“A bit dramatic too.”
“You’re one to talk.” Noah gave me a look, removed his finger, and pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Come on. Let’s go have tea. ”
He shut off the water and stepped out first. Fuck, his backside was just as sexy as the front. That ass so muscular and firm. I wanted to sink my teeth into it. Maybe I’d get the chance to. Even though things between us felt like perfection here in this bubble, I was well aware of what happened when you took a project and introduced a new variable.
Either it would adapt, or it would break.