Page 20 of Sour Candy (Sour Candy #1)

The changing room was massive . The mirror alone was wider than Benji’s bedroom. The carpet was plush, the ceiling covered in gilded leaves that seemed more suited to an opera than a clothing store.

“Were they serious about bringing us champagne?” Benji asked, twisting his shoulders to examine the most recent suit that Noah had picked out for him. “Because I’m not gonna lie. I could be into that if I didn’t have class and a hangover. They didn’t even ask me for ID!”

“They come with strawberries,” Noah said from one of the two couches.

Benji groaned. When was he ever going to get a chance like this again? “Fuck it. Gimmie a strawberry champagne, garcon!”

Noah smirked and stood. “I’ll let them know.”

He headed out of the curtains. Benji watched him go, suddenly feeling very small in such a big room.

He turned back to the mirror again. He couldn’t tell if it looked good, or if the last suit did, or the one before that.

They were all… fine. Variations of the same boring black and white with slightly different cuts.

Benji had never worn a proper suit before.

He changed into the next one. Dark green with a black pocket square. Benji stood there watching his reflection, a strange feeling curling in his stomach.

The curtains parted, Noah ducking inside with a champagne glass in each hand.

“They had them ready,” he said. Then he stopped, frozen in the middle of holding out the glass toward him.

Benji shot him a crooked grin. “That bad, huh?”

Noah shook his head. His eyes were warm and dark as he came up behind him, holding his gaze in the mirror.

“You look wonderful,” he said.

Benji snorted. But he couldn’t help himself from twisting to examine his reflection. He did look good. And he felt good, which was more than he could say for all the other boring suits he’d tried on.

“Gotta find a new coat to go with it,” he joked. “Can’t go green-on-green.”

“We’ll get you another one.” Noah pressed a champagne glass into his hand. “Something?—”

“Do not say Kermit-y.” Benji warned, sipping his drink. The champagne tasted crisp and light, like liquid sunshine. The strawberry floated at the top, the stem still attached.

“Here.” Noah reached in, plucking the strawberry from his drink and holding it out.

Benji hesitated. Then he leaned in, eating it from his fingers. His mouth brushed Noah’s thumb. He let his tongue linger, and Noah’s eyes darkened.

A thrill ran down Benji’s spine. He thought about closing his mouth around his thumb and sucking. Then he leaned back, chewing, wishing they couldn’t hear the store bustling through the curtain.

Noah’s hand flexed, fingertips shining with drink and the barest hint of spit. His eyes were still dark, but his voice was perfectly level as he asked, “Champagne. A new suit. Is there anything else you want?”

Touch me again , Benji thought. He shoved the thought away. He refused to get hard in a suit he hadn’t even bought yet.

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?” Noah took a sip of champagne, stepping close enough that Benji could smell it on his breath. “Not even the lingerie I saw you staring at while Janice ever so kindly explained their latest collection?”

Benji choked on his strawberry. He thumped his chest, eyes watering. “What? No, I wasn’t. That’s?—”

He cut off as Noah took his chin. Benji jerked back instinctively, but Noah held fast, thumb digging lightly into his jaw.

“Benjamin,” he said. “Tell me what you want.”

Benji shuddered. People had been telling him what to do his whole life.

Teachers, policemen, his long-suffering aunt.

Everyone telling him to sit down, shut up, and for fuck’s sake, be better .

His first instinct had always been to rebel.

To snarl or roll his eyes or run. But Noah…

God . Noah said it so gently. Like he was doing it for Benji.

Like he wanted the best for him and was going to get it, and if Benji was in his own way, then Noah was going to lift him out.

He opened his mouth, trying to find a way to tell him about everything he’d been looking at on lingerie websites late at night. Then he stopped. An idea washed over him, as bright and delicious as the champagne.

He took another long sip. Ran his tongue over his lips when he resurfaced, hot satisfaction roaring through him when Noah’s gaze dropped to watch it.

“Why don’t you tell me?” he asked. “Bring me something you think I’d look pretty in. I’ll see if I agree.”

Noah’s hand tightened around his jaw. For a moment, it almost hurt, and Benji gasped as it sent a frisson of heat to his groin.

Then Noah let go. “You might regret that. I might bring you half the store.”

He kissed Benji, slow and thorough. He sucked on Benji’s tongue, and Benji heard himself whimper as Noah sucked the liquor off of it.

“Careful,” Noah murmured. “Don’t want the whole store to hear us.”

Then he left, the curtain falling back into place behind him.

Benji let out a shaky breath. He took another sip of champagne, then closed his eyes and tried to will his erection away before Noah got back.

Ten minutes later, the second couch was piled with lace.

Chiffon. Sheer, gauzy material that Benji was genuinely afraid to touch lest he rip a hole through it.

It was all so soft. Camisoles and stockings and bras with barely-there cups, garter belts with silky straps, and so many panties that Benji felt lightheaded.

Noah came up behind him, still nursing his champagne.

Benji had finished his while Noah was gone, deeply glad he’d had a bagel beforehand.

The liquor was already hitting him, letting thoughts seep through that he’d usually shove down.

Like how much he wanted Noah to fuck him against the plush carpet.

“Do they even let us try on panties?” Benji asked, voice thin as he stroked a black pair with a heart-shaped hole in the back. “That sounds… unhygienic.”

Noah’s hot breath clouded over his ear. “I’ll just have to buy them, then.”

Benji turned to face him, then immediately regretted it.

Noah was even more distracting when Benji could see his eyes, knowing and molten and staring straight into Benji’s fucking soul .

Like he knew every depraved thought Benji had invented that involved Noah and lingerie.

Unfortunately, they all involved being alone.

Which they most definitely weren’t, even if the curtain made it feel like they were.

Distant noises drifted in from the shop: people chatting, a radio on in the distance.

“Um,” Benji said and swallowed. “Do you want to help me put these on? I’ve never… you know.”

It was a flimsy excuse. He could surely figure out how to put on a bra. But Noah said nothing, his eyes burning into Benji’s in the mirror as he undid his shirt buttons. Exposing his clavicle. Then his stomach. Then pulling it off his shoulders, baring Benji’s narrow arms.

Benji sucked in a breath and looked away.

“No,” Noah said instantly. “Eyes on me.”

Benji swallowed. He could do that. It was better than looking at himself as Noah stripped him naked, his bony body exposed.

Noah folded the suit neatly and placed it on the couch with everything else he’d laid out for him.

He left Benji’s boxers, which were tented with an embarrassingly wet patch growing at the tip.

He didn’t even touch it, which Benji was deeply disappointed and relieved about.

He couldn’t figure out if Noah was going to fuck him.

The idea filled him with nerves and excitement.

He had told Noah he’d let him do anything to him.

But he didn’t know if he was ready to have sex in such a public place.

Humiliatingly, Noah picked the babydoll first. Something Benji could absolutely have put on himself. Benji closed his eyes as Noah slipped it over his head, arms finding the sleeves. Then he just… kept them closed. The fabric felt like a kiss all over his body.

Noah took his boxers off last. Benji almost stopped him, but Noah was too fast. Then the boxers were gone, and Benji’s cock bobbed up against the silky fabric. Smearing precum, dripping . His cheeks burned with shame.

Noah touched his collarbone. “What are you waiting for?”

“Nothing,” Benji mumbled. Then, because he couldn’t stop himself from saying honest shit around Noah, “Do I look stupid?”

“Stupid isn’t the word I’d use,” Noah said. “Look.”

Benji pried his eyes open reluctantly.

His first instinct was to flinch. He was a twenty-year-old guy standing in a cavernous dressing room with a boner tenting his babydoll, which hung awkwardly off his bulbous shoulders.

But there was something… appealing about the pink fabric against his pale skin.

And it felt so good . And the way Noah was looking at him…

Benji bit back a moan. Noah had picked it out for him.

Hell, Noah dressed him. It should’ve made him feel weird.

Penned in. Controlled . But it didn’t. Benji felt…

cherished. Noah could have anyone he wanted, and he was standing behind Benji, watching him like he wanted to pin him against the mirror and pull up the babydoll over his ass?—

Benji cut off that line of thought before it could get out of control.

“Do you like it?” he rasped.

“Do you?” Noah replied. “That’s what matters here.”

Benji held back a frown. Noah was the one who had to look at him. Noah was the one paying . It shouldn’t matter if Benji thought he looked like shit, as long as Noah liked it.

“Benjamin.”

“I do,” Benji said. “I like it. I-I want it.”

It was the right thing to say. Noah looked pleased as soon as the word want left Benji’s lips. He even looked a little proud. It made butterflies riot through Benji’s silk-clad belly, his cock spurting another pulse of precum into the clinging fabric.

He squirmed, waiting, heart in his throat as Noah stepped closer, gripping his hip through the fabric. He didn’t grind into Benji like he expected. He just stood there, watching his face.