Page 10 of Creed (Rock Hard Mountain Men #3)

Kayden

Panic filled my head with an endless string of curses.

How could I have jumped Creed like that?

The man had just barely admitted to being gay, and clearly still wasn’t very comfortable with the idea. Now I’d probably ruined whatever chance I had with him.

Hell, I’d probably ruined our friendship as well.

I waited for him to yell at me, or maybe even turn around and leave me on this mountain to find my own way home.

Instead, he remained silent. His face didn’t even twitch with the slightest hint of emotion. Creed had always been a stoic person, but even for him this was extreme.

It seemed I’d broken him.

I didn’t know what to do, so I did what I always did when I was uncertain.

I kept running my mouth.

“You’re upset. I get it. I would be, too, if someone kissed me without permission.

I don’t have any excuse, but I just... I just couldn’t help it.

” I started pacing, covering the diameter of our little camp in just a few steps before turning around and going the other direction.

“I never should have even come on this trip. It was stupid, but when I realized you were gay, I thought maybe I had a chance, and I just had to come see you. My publisher was planning on sending me to the Himalayas, but I begged them to let me do a domestic piece. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

My pacing was brought to an abrupt halt when Creed grabbed my arm.

“Stop talking.”

Before I could utter another word, he dragged me over to the tent and shoved me inside.

I tripped and landed on the sleeping bags, which I’d thankfully, already set up.

Rolling onto my back, the demand for an explanation was already on the tip of my tongue, when Creed pinned me down to the ground and kissed me.

We were roughly the same size, but Creed was built with a lot more muscle after so many years of training. I could barely move under him, and I had no hope of pushing him off.

Not that I wanted to. Once I realized what was happening, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him even closer.

For all of Creed’s confidence, he was surprisingly uncoordinated when it came to kissing. The man seemed to have no idea what to do with his tongue after shoving it in my mouth, and his lips didn’t move at all.

It was, truthfully speaking, a bad kiss.

That was all right. I was an eager instructor.

Cupping his head between my hands, I tilted him until we were at a better angle for our mouths to align. Gentle coaxing showed him how to coordinate his lips and tongue, and soon enough, the kiss turned from awkward to pleasant.

We eventually had to part for air, but I didn’t let him get far and continued to press small kisses to the corner of his mouth.

“This is great, Creed, but I need you to use your words,” I said between kisses. “Say that you want to sleep with me.”

One of his hands plucked at my shirt, tugging at it like it was a stress toy.

“I think I do.”

I pulled back from the kiss enough to look him in the eye.

“You think?”

An unfairly charming blush spread across his cheeks, visible even in the low light.

“I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. But, yes, I think I do.”

He tried to kiss me again, but I pressed a hand against his chest and pushed him back enough so I could sit up.

“Wait. You’ve never done this before? Like, never slept with a man? Then how do you know for sure that you’re gay?”

Sitting there in the tent that was barely big enough for the two of us, with his head brushing against the top of the canvas, he gave me the flattest look I’d ever seen.

“The same way that I don’t need to fuck a kid to know that I’m not a pedophile.”

The shock of his crude words made me choke on my own spit. I coughed violently for several moments until I could breathe again.

“Okay, first of all, ew.” Tears gathered in my eyes for the force of my coughing, and I knocked myself in the chest a few times to get my lungs working again. “But, point taken, I guess. So, you’re certain about this, right? I don’t want to suddenly regret things in the morning.”

To his credit, he did legitimately think about it for a moment.

“Yes, I’m sure,” he eventually said. “I wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping with a stranger, and the only other people I’m close enough with to even consider are Magnus and Brody, and they’re obviously not an option.”

I would have been insulted by his insinuation that I was simply the only option, except I knew Creed.

The man did not settle for anything. He’d give something up entirely before he settled for second best. I’d once watched the man turn down a free sundae simply because they didn’t have the exact flavor he wanted.

Now, ice cream wasn’t nearly as important as sex and relationships, but the principle was the same. If Creed agreed to sleep with me, it was only because he’d decided that I was exactly what he wanted.

“All right,” I practically cheered, happy to have gotten that cleared up. “You’re lucky that I brought some stuff. We’ll have to get it out of my bag. I thought I was being overly optimistic, but now it’s paying off.”

Creed just looked at me, confused. “What stuff?”

At first, I thought he was joking, but his expression was a hundred percent serious.

I gaped at him. “You know, like, condoms and stuff. How do you not...” I trailed off as a thought occurred to me. “Creed? You said you’ve never slept with a man, but I assumed that meant you’d at least slept with women. You have had sex before, right?”

The idea of a man, especially someone as appealing as Creed, making it all the way to his forties without ever having sex seemed preposterous. That was the kind of thing that only happened in romantic comedies.

Rather than answer me immediately, he grabbed my bag from where we’d stored it under a tarp outside the tent.

“That depends on your definition,” he muttered as he started unzipping various pockets. It was clear he didn’t know what he was looking for, but just needed something to do with his hands.

Reaching into the right pocket, I pulled out a small, nondescript black bag that I hadn’t expected to actually use when I packed it. “Depends on the definition? What does that mean?”

“It means, it depends on how far you think something has to go for it to be considered sex.”

I was tempted to demand further explanation, but in the end, I decided I didn’t want to know. Hearing the details of Creed’s past exploits would just end up making me jealous.

I was reminded of when I was a teenager, deciding to have sex for the first time.

It was right after Creed had left for the military, at the ripe age of eighteen, and I was determined to finally get over my longstanding crush on him.

I’d thought sex would fix it, and hooked up with the first willing person I could find.

It hadn’t worked, but my partner had been surprisingly supportive and walked me through my first time.

At the time, I would have considered dating that young man if he was interested in anything other than a one-night stand.

Now, years later, I didn’t even remember the name of my first partner, but I did remember the way he explained everything he was doing before he did it. That explanation helped keep me calm in an overwhelming situation, and I hoped it would help Creed now.

Step one was to get our clothes off, which I thought would be the easy part, but even that ended up being more complicated than it needed to be when Creed insisted on folding all his clothes first. I would have been annoyed by the delay if I didn’t find it so cute.

It was a shame the tent was so dark. Even in the dim light of the campfire, I could tell that Creed had a good body. Muscular in all the right places, with a dark thatch of chest hair that would be fun to run my fingers through, but he was also soft enough around the middle to be comfortable.

And his thighs....

I could have written an entire article about his thighs, though my fans probably wouldn’t want to read it. They were thick as barrels and corded with muscles that flexed every time he moved. I couldn’t resist reaching out giving one a squeeze to feel the hard flesh under my hand.

I wondered if I could get off just from fucking his thighs. If tonight went well, I’d have to suggest it next time.

When we were both finally undressed, the next step was to apply the condom.

I’d already decided to bottom this time since that would be easier for Creed, but I hadn’t thought ahead enough to realize that meant I’d be putting the condom on him.

I nearly came on the spot when I took his cock in hand for the first time.

Damn, the man was well built here, too. It was a good thing I had plenty of experience in both positions, or this would have been a rough ride.

I nearly laughed aloud when I saw the look of concentration on Creed’s face as I explained exactly how to apply the condom.

It was like he was studying for a test, and he was determined to get a passing grade.

The temptation to mess with him was too strong.

Once I had the condom on, I stroked him a few times and watched him gasp at the pleasure that suddenly hit him.

“You don’t have to be so serious,” I said, still trying hold back my laugher. Then, right as he was about to respond, I twisted my hand over the head of his cock in a way that I knew would feel especially good.

“I don’t— Ah!” He squirmed in place and squeezed his eyes shut tight to try and control himself. “I don’t want to make any mistakes.”

“Creed...” I sighed and shook my head, even as I continued to stroke him. “This isn’t a test. There’s no way to ‘fail’. As long as you don’t, like, accidentally stick it up my nose or something, then you’ll be fine.”

The look of horror that washed over his face was so comical I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

“Can that happen?”

He was completely serious, and I could see the wheels turning in his head as he tried to picture it.