Page 5 of Sour Candy (Sour Candy #1)

Benji's eyes fell shut at the praise, a mortifying whine slipping out of his throat.

He immediately pried his eyes open, ready to find Noah looking at him in crude amusement. What kind of twenty-year-old got so worked up over something so small as good boy ?

But Noah didn’t look amused. He looked hungry , watching Benji with an intensity that made Benji flush harder than he had all night.

If this was what Noah’s old partners were complaining about, Benji got it—kind of.

It made him want to run away and hide in a corner.

But it also made him want to let Noah do whatever he wanted, as long as he kept looking at him like that.

“Stop squirming,” Noah said.

Benji stilled. He didn’t even notice he’d been fidgeting—jiggling his leg, grinding his bitten nails into his palms.

“Sorry,” he panted. He winced, hearing himself. Sex was so embarrassing. He was so embarrassing. He squeezed his eyes shut once more, only for that hand in his hair to tug.

“Eyes on me,” Noah instructed.

Benji nodded, eyes coming open. The movement made Noah’s hand tighten, and Benji moaned. Noah smiled in the dim light.

“That’s good,” Noah said. “I want you to focus on what I’m doing to you. Alright? How good it feels. If anything doesn’t feel good, you tell me about it. Understand?”

Benji nodded again, enjoying the hot pull on his scalp.

“Good boy.” Noah let go of his hair, and Benji only had a second to mourn before Noah’s hand returned to his jaw, squeezing so firmly it made something deep inside Benji click into place. It was hard to be self-conscious when Noah was holding him so tight.

“Strip,” Noah commanded.

He stepped back. Part of Benji missed the hand on his face, so solid and grounding.

But then the order kicked in, and he fumbled for his clothes.

In a matter of seconds, his shirt was in a heap on a carpet that probably cost more than his annual salary.

He struggled with his boots, trying to find a sexy way to get out of them.

Why did he pick something with so many laces ?

Noah nodded at the bed behind him. “Sit.”

Benji was shocked by the ease with which he dropped back against the bed, still in his boots. He wasn’t shocked by the wave of indignation that followed.

“Not a dog,” he told Noah.

“I know,” Benji said. “I just wanted to make this easier.”

He dropped to the ground, undoing Benji’s laces with a grace that made Benji’s cock twitch against his stomach. Noah watched it as he pulled Benji’s second boot off, stacking them neatly before taking off Benji's shirt.

“You’re beautiful,” Noah said, still kneeling between his knees.

Benji snorted, neck prickling. He was never good with compliments—especially when he was naked.

“Okay,” Noah said, as if to himself. “Let’s work up to that.”

Noah stood, looming over him. His hand came back up to grip Benji’s hair, and Benji jolted as his head was pulled back. His grip was the same as when he’d held Benji’s face: firm but gentle. Tight enough he knew he was held, but gentle enough that it didn’t hurt.

Benji’s breath stuttered in his chest. This was too close to what he’d always wanted. He’d been so sure he’d never get it, and now it was here, and he was panicking. Of course, he was. He always panicked, always ruined things.

The hand in his hair tightened, dragging Benji back.

“Eyes on me,” Noah repeated.

Benji nodded. He could do that. He could look at Noah forever.

“Lie back,” Noah continued. “Move up the bed, arms above your head. How do the sheets feel?”

Benji shifted against the sheets, hands bumping the bed frame above him. He shivered as the sheets grazed his naked body.

“Uh,” he said. “Good? Soft. Cool.”

Noah hummed. He climbed over Benji, straddling his waist. Benji held his breath, waiting for that bulge in Noah’s slacks to come in contact with Benji’s naked erection.

But nothing happened. Actually, it seemed like Noah was pointedly avoiding grazing Benji’s cock as he leaned in to kiss Benji’s chest.

“And this?” He pressed a soft kiss to Benji’s nipple.

“Good,” Benji breathed.

Noah dug his teeth in.

“ Ah .” Benji threw his head back. “Good, that’s good, oh shit.”

Noah hummed again, satisfied. “How do you feel about restraints?”

Benji flexed his wrists against the pillows. “Um, I’m for them. Not with a belt, though.”

Noah slid his tie off his neck, holding it up for approval.

Benji nodded. He started to look up to the ceiling when Noah leaned in again, then remembered his order and looked back at Noah. His cologne was more obvious up close: amber and pine, something woody. It made him think of a cozy campfire, of getting warm after being out in the cold.

Noah tugged, testing the knot. “How’s that?”

Benji pulled at the bonds. He wasn’t tied to the bed, which was a relief. The weight around his wrists was oddly soothing. Like Noah’s hand in his hair or holding his jaw. Grounding him. Making sure he didn’t float away.

“Good,” Benji said. He had a weird urge to thank him, which he determinedly bit back. He was already baring too much of himself to this man; he didn’t need to thank him for it.

Noah trailed a hand down his thigh, feeling the scant muscle. Then he leaned down, pressing another soft kiss into Benji’s throat. Then a bite. Another kiss. On and on until Benji’s chest was littered with bites.

Benji writhed, waiting for Noah to get naked already.

But Noah kept kissing and biting: slow, sucking kisses and careful bites, occasionally pulling back to admire his work.

Still fully dressed, completely content to ignore his own erection straining his slacks, let alone Benji’s bare erection throbbing against nothing.

“So pale,” Noah said, stroking a spit-wet circle around his latest work on Benji’s hip. “You bruise so easily.”

Benji whined, hips jerking against his will. His cock skimmed Noah’s button-down, leaving a smudge of precum.

“Shit,” Benji panted. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I didn’t tell you to stay still.

” Noah put an arm over his hips, holding him down.

It only made Benji whine louder, hips jerking up against that relentless press.

Held down, tied up. A man leaning over him, all muscles and power.

It should’ve made him panic. It did, for a moment.

Then Noah stroked his hipbone, right over the bite, and the panic drained out of him.

Benji spread his legs hopefully. “Are you going to fuck me?”

“Not yet,” Noah said conversationally. “Want you to relax first.”

“Well, I’m not feeling very— ah !—relaxed,” Benji groaned, head tipping back against the sheets as Noah pressed another soft bite into his belly. Then he dragged his head back up, remembering his order.

Noah kissed the bite mark. “Love how responsive you are. All your little noises. How your hips keep jerking. Like your body can’t contain how good I’m making you feel.”

He sucked on Benji’s nipple, teeth catching as Benji whimpered. “Do you think I could make you come like this?”

Yes , Benji thought, shocked. It might take a while, but he had no doubt this man could coax an orgasm out of him without touching his cock. He’d be out of his mind by the end of it, sweating and whining and probably crying, an idea that filled Benji with equal parts shame and desire.

“Benjamin,” Noah prompted.

Benjamin spread his legs further, curling an ankle around Noah’s torso. “You could do more.”

“Oh?”

Benji sucked in a breath. Now or never. “You could fuck me. I-I got ready.”

He let his head fall back. He stared at the ceiling, cheeks burning.

If Noah was going to punish him for taking his eyes off him, that was okay.

Anything to not look at him after that nerve-wracking confession.

Noah was going to look at his hole; he was going to know .

Know that Benji prepped himself in the bathroom before he came here, easing a plug inside.

Noah’s hands lifted his thighs. Pulling his legs further apart, lifting them to see the silver plug nestled in his hole.

“You were wearing this the whole date,” Noah said, and the happiness in his voice made Benji sag with relief.

“Yes,” he said. “Yeah.”

Noah dragged a fingertip over the plug. “I thought I told you to look at me.”

“Sorry,” Benji rasped. He lifted his head, dizzy with lust.

Noah was watching his hole. He traced the edges of the plug, then gripped the base. Benji held his breath, waiting, hoping, his cock so hard that it hurt.

“Did you want me to?” Noah asked, moving the plug inside him ever so slightly. “Before the date?”

Benji opened his mouth, unsure what to say. Then Noah pressed the plug right against his prostate, and Benji whimpered.

“I didn’t know,” he gasped. “Before the date. I wasn’t sure. Then—then I saw you, and I wanted it.”

Everything he was saying felt like it was wrested from somewhere deep and uncharted inside of him.

He kept cringing from it, expecting Noah to laugh or scoff or even just tell him to get out.

But then he felt the heavy weight of Noah on top of him, and his eyes flew open to find Noah gazing at him in awe.

Benji squirmed. Hating it. Loving it. Wanting to get away, wanting Noah to hold him still and make him take it: that incredible stare, those soft caramel eyes staring at him with so much intensity he couldn’t possibly earn it.

Noah swallowed. His slicked hair hung in his face, several brown strands out of place.

For a moment, Benji thought he might be lost for words.

As if a guy like Benji, who hadn’t even gone under properly before, could shake the youngest CFO in the history of Whatever The Fuck His Company Was Called.

Benji had been too busy trying not to stare at the guy’s mouth to pay attention.

“Don’t get ready next time,” Noah said finally. “I want to open you up.”

The images slammed into him, making him gasp: Noah’s thick, blunt fingers fingering him open. Getting him ready to take his cock.