Page 8

Chapter eight

Noah

M y heart lodged in my throat.

I’d gone and done it. Tossed out the question that had plagued me for so long. However, we were trapped in Declan’s house, and there was nowhere for us to retreat. I’d never get a better chance than this of finding out the truth.

Declan stared at me, his mouth open. Fuck. We were finally getting along better, finally talking again, and I’d tossed the question out there that could destroy every subtle win between us over the past few weeks.

I squeezed my nape and ducked my head. “If you don’t want to answer—”

“Sorry, the question just threw me. You ask what changed—well, you did.”

I glanced up, my brow wrinkling. I didn’t dare interrupt though, desperate for any crumb of information he’d give me. I’d been waiting for so damn long, driven mad by it.

Declan frowned, and he clutched his knees, a hunch to his shoulders. “We got into high school and started hanging out with different crowds, so there was a social and timing issue. It wasn’t as if I was welcome around your football friends. They made that quite clear.”

I swallowed hard. Some of the guys had been assholes, and while I’d never seen them say anything to Declan, I’d had to shut down comments about him. My stomach boiled with rage.

And those same guys were ones I still saw, still fucking worked with, like Brandon.

“If I’d known, I would’ve stopped hanging out with them.” I balled my hands into fists.

Declan shrugged. “That wasn’t all though. You started messing with me too, tweaking my hair, poking at me. Things you never used to do. And your behavior hasn’t changed throughout the years when I’ve run into you.”

I blinked at him. Then blinked again.

An incredulous laugh escaped me.

No fucking way.

That couldn’t be what wedged between us all these years. Except…I knew Declan.

The laughter burst out full-forth, and I couldn’t stop myself. My shoulders shook, and tears formed in my eyes as I cracked the fuck up, unable to believe how stubborn and ridiculous we’d both been for so long.

“I had a crush on you,” I gasped. “Declan, I was stealing your hat or teasing you because I was flirting with you.”

Declan’s jaw dropped.

The transition from confusion to clarity on his face was as quick and gradual as a drop of ink into a glass of water, spreading until it suffused everything .

“You’re kidding me,” he muttered, averting his gaze. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I didn’t want to make things weird between us.” I scrubbed my face, a little hysteria bubbling up inside me. “Except I apparently did that by not saying anything.”

“You liked me?” Declan asked, an incredulous tone in his voice.

My cheeks heated at the admission, the reality of what I’d confessed slamming in. The rest of this time stuck together might be awkward as fuck, but I’d been dealing with Declan being distant with me for far too long. At least that underlying tension lay out in the open.

“I mean, it’s not really past tense,” I said. “But I know you’re straight, Dec. I don’t have any expectations. I just…missed you, and I was hoping we could at least be friends again.” When I glanced up, Declan stared at me with an intensity that made me shiver.

“Well, I’ve dated women. But I don’t have conclusive evidence when it comes to men,” Declan said, his brows furrowed as if he was processing something.

My heart thumped hard. He was the only thing I could focus on right now. The dim lighting from outside mingled with the shadows here, casting his gorgeous features with a sharpness that fit him. The frame of his glasses around his deep-set eyes. The even strands of his hair splayed across his forehead.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my mouth dry.

Declan looked up at me. “Well, I got hard over you hugging me, so I don’t think I can safely say I’m straight.”

Wait, what?

Full stop.

Now it was my turn to gape. I thought I’d felt a bulge brush against me during our hug, and the idea he’d been hard made me so light-headed I’d escaped at once. Yet to hear him confirm it so plainly…well, that was pure Declan Brannon.

Fuck. The way he stared at me, his eyes wide, long lashes framing them, lit me the hell up inside. And he opened his mouth again. His tongue darted out, wetting his lower lip, and I was going to combust on the spot. My cock woke up, and the heady thump, thump, thump of my heart increased in volume with every passing second.

“So, where does that leave us, Dec?” I asked. “Because I’ll be honest. I’m still crazy about you.”

“Well, I think I need some conclusive evidence.” He didn’t look away, didn’t break his stare. “Kiss me.”

Those were words I’d been waiting a lifetime to hear, but when they struck the air, I had to take a second to process.

Declan sat there brimming with pure seriousness, how he always did. In the dim lighting, his lips looked more carved and plump than ever, his jawline sharper than before. The scent of him, all crisp and pine, drifted toward me, heightening the arousal I overflowed with. He was the most perfect thing I’d ever seen, and I was spellbound.

However, he’d asked me a very real question, one I’d been fantasizing about for as long as I could remember.

I moved slowly, as if wading through a dream, closed the distance between us, and stopped an inch from him. His eyes were wide and rapt, and he drew in a small, hitched breath. He licked his lips again, the quick movement highlighting his lush lower lip, which was my undoing.

I dove in, wanting to taste lips I’d only ever dreamed about.

The storm roared on around the house, static rain and the boom of thunder, but none of nature’s raw wildness could compare to the ferocity rolling through me when we crashed together. It was as if years of collecting static electricity from charge after charge after charge roiled into one gigantic bolt that rushed through me .

I wrapped a hand around Declan’s nape, drawing him in even closer, and licked across his lower lip, tugging it into my mouth. Fuck, he was delicious. His trembled breath puffed against me before I dove in for more, this time deepening the kiss. God, the sweetness there. I drove my tongue into his mouth, tasting him, lapping him up. The way he quivered and melted against me launched signal flares. He was everything I’d dreamed of and more.

Declan didn’t just passively kiss back. No, he almost climbed onto my lap as he edged closer, as if he needed to meld with me. My cock grew hard, my tip weeping. It tented the fabric of my pants, and for the first time, I didn’t bother hiding what he did to me. Kissing Declan unmade me at my very fabric, my mere atoms vibrating from being in his presence. A hunger existed in the way he devoured that took me by surprise, a voracity I could fast become addicted to.

Being the sole focus of this man was a heady thing, which I’d been chasing ever since I lost it.

I tightened my grip around his neck, and his moan vibrated against my lips. Oh, goddamn. If he liked that…my filthy mind was filling in the blanks. What I wouldn’t do to have him bound at my mercy, to be driving into him until he turned into a puddle. My cock throbbed, and I reached down with my other hand to push against the length.

Declan’s lips met mine again and again and again with an inquisitiveness that kept me on edge, that brought me crashing back. Lightning flashed, illuminated the room for a second, but even that couldn’t pull me away. My world consisted of Declan Brannon, his chest a mere inch from mine as he drank in my kisses like he needed them to breathe.

God, the softness of his mouth. He tasted like something sweetly herbal, and each time I slid my tongue against his, sparks flicker-flashed through me. My heart careened all over the place. Indulging in any of this was hazardous to my mental health, but like hell would I stop. I surrendered to the heat of his body, to the brush of his lips, to the gasps and moans coming from him. He was enthralling, pure electricity.

When I pulled back, our breaths collided in the space between us. He panted, his eyes were still wide, his mouth ajar.

“That conclusive enough?” I asked, my body thumping with the erratic beat of all the adrenaline rushing through me.

Declan smirked. “Mm, I think we need more testing.”

A sharp bark exploded from me, but I didn’t wait around. I dove back in and slammed my mouth to his. The kisses grew hungrier. More desperate. We were tongues and teeth and as raw and savage as the storm dominating the sky. My mind dizzied, and I lost track of everything but Declan’s mouth against mine and my whole body exploding with life.

When we pulled apart a second time, we stared at each other, shoulders heaving.

Declan wrinkled his brow. “Were you flirting with me all these years?”

The laugh burst from me again, giddy and buoyant. “Yes, I was. Clearly, my game is terrible.”

“You’re aware I don’t pick up on cues.” Declan’s lips curled into a slight pout that was so cute I wanted to lean in and kiss it off him again.

I scrubbed at my face. “I know. Fuck, at the time, I was too scared of rejection to establish what I wanted.”

“Like you won’t set your boundaries with other people?”

Oof.

His words hit me like a thump to the gut, yet I adored that he called me out. So often I wished people would see me, that they could tell I was wearing myself too thin. And he did in an instant. His truths were worth the small sting of delivery when the understanding and care washed over me. He wasn’t the sort to point out problems to people he didn’t give a damn about. He wouldn’t bother conversing with them at all, so I knew the weight of those words, his concern.

“Yeah, like that.” I sucked in a deep breath. “So, how straight are you feeling now?”

Declan arched his brow, an effortless sexiness that sent a shiver through me. “Not very.”

Holy fuck. He was so damn hot it was unreal.

My whole body grew ablaze with how his careful eyes skimmed over me with an intensity that pinned me to the spot. For years, I’d wished Declan would look at me with even a fraction of this heat. Now that he did, I could barely believe this was happening. With the darkened room, the rain roaring outside, I felt as if we were trapped in this bubble beyond reality.

I’d hold tight to every second of it before the world came crashing back in.

“Why messing with my hair?” Declan asked. “I hate it. Then I have to go and fix it the way I set it originally.”

I didn’t try to restrain my grin. Fuck, having this information—I was seeing everything through a different lens. “Truthfully? I just wanted to touch you.”

“Again, you could’ve asked.” Declan’s simple acceptance threw me for a loop. How he’d gone from believing he was interested in women to being comfortable with both women and men in such a short span…how did that happen? Oh wait, this was Declan. His self-confidence was something I’d always envied. I remembered the agony of coming out to my parents as gay, mostly because I didn’t want to cause anyone problems. Of course they’d ended up being nothing but supportive .

My heart thumped so damn hard the sound competed with the downpour. “Can I touch you?”

“Where?” he asked. “Be specific.”

Fuck. Without realizing it, he pushed me to speak up. To claim what I wanted.

“I want to kiss down your neck. I want to suck and nip marks all along your chest, taste every dip and crevasse.” Would this scare him away? Kissing a guy was one thing, but my thoughts toward Declan were very, very filthy.

He clutched his knees tight. “Go on.” He stared down, not looking at me, so I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Except he’d said to ask, and with Declan, I could do so free of judgment.

“Would you be okay with that?”

He glanced up now, his pupils blown, and licked his lips. “Very. Is there more you wanted to do?”

Declan offered the cue I needed, and I took it. “I want to suck your cock until you’re writhing, until you’re going out of your mind. I’ll drive you to the brink and back again over and over until you’re coming down my throat. And then I want to spread your gorgeous cheeks and lick and suck at your hole.” My entire body heated at the words escaping my lips.

“Don’t I get to do anything to you?” Declan teased. The lightness in his tone struck me square in the chest. He’d heard all that and wasn’t saying no.

Holy shit.

“Anything you want,” I replied, my voice ragged.

Declan shook his head. “Specifics, Noah.”

My mind reeled. “There’s too much I want, but if you’re looking for parameters, I prefer to top. I’ve tried penetrative, but it doesn’t do as much for me. ”

Declan grinned, a mischievous lightness in his eyes I hadn’t seen aimed at me in longer than a decade. “See, was that so difficult?”

My cheeks flushed, and I was grateful for the dark right now. Around him? No, and that was what made him unforgettable.

Declan pushed up from his seat and offered a hand, which I took. “I’ve got an electric lantern in my bedroom.”

“Is that a come-on?” I teased.

Declan had started toward his bedroom, but he glanced back at me. “No, it’s a clarification. Obviously, we’re heading there to fuck.”

Those words hung stark in the air, and saliva pooled in my mouth. This had tumbled forward at such a rapid pace I could hardly keep up, but the building blocks had been set between us years ago. Once we’d cleared the rubble we’d left over our friendship for years, it was obvious the foundations had remained intact. The sight of his slender form in front of me, the round curve of his ass, and the reality I’d get to explore his entire canvas with my mouth, hands, and teeth settled inside me. My cock hardened, ready for action.

“You coming?” he asked.

I scrambled to follow him.

“Fuck yes.”