Page 94 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 2

“Oh, right.” I nodded, trying to clear my head from the sexual haze. “Ingrid. I met her at a queer student mixer, and we ended up living next to each other the year we graduated.You met her when you visited for that ski competition, and we watched movies all night. She identifies as demisexual.”

“I think that makes the most sense. For me, I mean.” He took another sip of wine.

I could tell he was processing important thoughts, so I stayed quiet.

“I never wanted random hookups. I wasn’t attracted to people that way.

But I like… I like taking our close relationship further.

It was sort of like that with Erin, too.

I think I had the wrong idea about demisexuality before—like, if I was demi, I should also have been attracted to Tiller or Hazel, or anyone else I considered a close friend. But I never was.”

“None of it is black or white, babe,” I reminded him.

“I identify as gay, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t gotten hard for a woman before.

It’s not that cut-and-dried. Just because demi means you need a closer relationship before feeling sexual attraction doesn’t mean you’ll be sexually attracted to everyone you have a close relationship with. ”

I could tell he was ready to move on from the heavy discussion when his eyes got a teasing glint in them. “Tell me what woman made you pop wood. And how have I not heard about this before?”

I rolled my eyes. “Never mind.”

“Spill. I demand it. As your best friend and boyfriend, I have certain rights. Full disclosure is one of them. We keep no secrets in this relationship, Julian.”

I kicked his leg under the table, causing him to make an exaggerated oof sound. “Fine, but if you use this against me later, I’m going to get my Sharpie out in the middle of the night and make you sorry.”

He gave me a quicksilver grin. “Oh, I don’t know. I think I might like wearing your ink the way you wear mine.”

I barely restrained a growl.

Or, actually, maybe I didn’t restrain it entirely, because Parker’s hold on me tightened, and his head tilted back with the force of his laughter.

Answering happiness bubbled up in my chest, leaving me feeling light and relaxed for the first time in a long time.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Remember when we went to that strip club for John Tolliver’s bachelor thing?”

Parker nodded.

“There was a woman dressed in a red sparkly thong and lacy bra that did it for me for some reason. Don’t ask me why.”

Parker’s jaw dropped. “I know why. Oh my fucking god, you’re an idiot. You follow that guy on Instagram who does burlesque and dresses in that kind of thing all the time. She reminded you of him . A guy . You’re so gay. Even when you pop wood for a chick, it’s because of a dude.”

I stared at him for a beat before remembering exactly who he was talking about. My face heated. “Wait, how do you know I follow him?”

Now it was Parker’s turn to blush. “I… I pay attention.”

He was totally lying. “What happened to the no secrets in this relationship thing, Parks? Full disclosure is sacrosanct in our new paradigm, right?” I crossed my legs and leaned back, taking another sip of wine and studying his reaction. He was adorably flustered.

He groaned and buried his face in his hands.

“I may or may not have kept an eye on who you follow on social media, but … and before you freak out, just listen… it’s because you follow a bunch of really cool people like the woman who shuffle dances and the guy who rides the unicycle.

And the family who sings sea shanties and the little cat who always cuddles with that giant dog. ”

“And the gay burlesque dancer and the gay bodybuilders and the gay influencers and the LGBTQ activists and the?—”

He cut me off. “And the Unofficial Parker Ellis fan page! So who’s the real stalker here, hm?”

“Still you,” I said with a laugh. “Still totally my creeper bestie.”

“I think you mean your creeper boyfriend ,” he corrected with a little puff to his chest.

“ Mine ,” I agreed, my hand tightening on my wineglass.

Parker grinned. “You’re growling again.”

“Am not.”

“Super are. Full disclosure,” he reminded me.

“You want to know what’s going on in my brain?

” I challenged. “Fine. I’m thinking I want to take you back to our room and absolutely ruin you for anyone else, man or woman.

I want you to sob and beg. I want to tear you apart and put you back together until you can’t remember a time when you wanted anyone but me, because I’m jealous as fuck where you’re concerned. I always have been, but now…”

Parker’s green eyes were wide and his pupils blown, like I’d overwhelmed him.

I forced myself to let out a shaky breath and shrug like I hadn’t meant what I said word for word. “Don’t worry, babe. I’m not going to jump you at the table. I can control myself until?—”

Parker leaped to his feet and summoned our waiter.

“Would you excuse us?” He grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet, still stammering apologies.

“So sorry. Unexpected… emergency… thank you so much, we’d love to have our dinner sent over.

Maybe in sixty—” He glanced back at me. “—make that ninety minutes? Thank you so much.” He rattled off our room number over his shoulder.

We ran down the path to our suite in the moonlight, Parker pulling me along in his wake. But before we got to our building, I tugged on his hand and pushed him up against a shadowed palm tree. Faint strains of music from the bar and the crash of the surf filled the air.

“Baby, I didn’t mean to ruin your romantic plans. I really could have?—”

Parker put a finger to my lips. “Julian, you are the plans. I don’t care about the restaurant or the clothes or any of that.

I just… I just wanted to show you that I love you.

That I want us to have romance, too. And that there are no other people for me.

Not like this. Not like what we have. I promised you that when we were fourteen, remember? ”

Of course I remembered. Though I’d spent the last six months thinking he’d forgotten. Or at least that it hadn’t been as important to him as it had to me.

“But you know what? I think you should sell me on it anyway,” he whispered. “Do exactly what you said you were going to. Show me all the best things about having sex with another man. Take me apart. Prove to yourself that I’m yours.”

When we got back to our room, I decided to go for it, push his limits with the kind of sex that was as far from what I imagined he and Erin had done as possible.

I stripped him down and pulled him into the large glass-enclosed shower. “Hands on the wall. Don’t move.”

I proceeded to wash every inch of him with soapy hands, hot water, and my tongue. When I knelt behind him with the handheld sprayer, he was already panting. “Want you,” he begged. “Now. Now’s good.”

“Mm, no. Not yet.” I spread his cheeks and teased the delicate skin of his hole with the hot spray before using soapy fingers to clean him inside and out. His begging increased, and when I found his gland, he pounded the side of his fist against the tiles.

“Fucking Christ, Jules. Fuck! More.” His words ended in a hot whimper. He was so delicious like this, vulnerable and needy, open and willing to let me do anything to him.

I turned the spray off and leaned in to taste him. The debauched groan he let out when he felt my tongue on his hole went straight to my balls.

“New favorite thing,” he croaked. “This… this…” He stopped trying to say anything and let out another groan instead. “Oh god, that’s good. That’s so fucking good.”

I held the rounded muscles of his ass in my hands and used my mouth and fingers to bring him to his knees.

When he was finally down on all fours in the shower, his hand vaguely flapping back toward me to get on with it while his throat let out broken begging sounds, I fumbled for the lube and slicked both of us up.

“Still good with no condom, babe?” I asked. We’d talked about it earlier, about our statuses and our shared desire to go bare.

“Please, Jules.”

I leaned over him and pressed a kiss behind his ear. “Gonna rail your ass,” I said in a low voice. “Going to fuck you so hard, you scream for me to stop.”

He twisted his head so his eyes met mine. “That’s never gonna happen.”

He slid down from being propped on his hands to his forearms. His ass pressed against my groin, and my hard dick moved slickly through his channel. I reached out a hand to grip his wet hair.

It was rough and physical, and I wanted him to know from his feet to the top of his head he was being owned and fucked by a man. There would never be another person allowed into his body like this. There would never be another person to see him at his most vulnerable.

“Only me,” I gritted as I pushed into him. “You understand that?”

“Jules,” he whimpered. His tight heat gripped me and sent stars winging through my vision. “Only you.”

It was wet and messy, hot and feral. I thrust into him like I was punishing him for all the years he’d gone without me.

Or maybe I was trying to make up for lost time.

I was the one desperate and needy. I needed inside him, I needed to own him, and I needed to show him he’d never have anything better than this. It was impossible.

Parker’s hand flew back to clutch at my hip, pulling me closer as he begged me for more.

The tight squeeze around my cock was pushing me closer and closer to the edge, especially now that I was able to know what it felt like being bare inside him.

I reached around his slick body and found his dick, hanging hard and heavy toward the shower floor.

“Give it to me,” I growled in his ear while I stroked him off. Our bodies stuck together in a hot, damp press, and our loud gasping breaths echoed in the enclosed space.

When Parker finally came, his hot spunk falling to the shower floor, he screamed so loud the hairs came up on my skin. I was finally free to let go, and I shot deep and hard into him with a roar.

The two of us ended up naked and messy on the tile floor with our faces in soapy puddles and our limbs entwined.

It was amazing.

“Holy fuck,” Parker said with a hoarse reverence. “Holy fucking fuck.” He turned his face to look at me. “I want to do that to you one day.”

I grinned at him. “Yes, please.”

He reached out and cupped the side of my face. “I never knew it could be like that.”

“Physical and rough? Loud and messy?”

Parker shifted closer and used his fingertips to brush wet strands of hair from my face. “Maybe. But also… possessive. Dominant. Overwhelming. Hot as fuck.” He met my eyes. “Unrestrained and fearless.”

He was right. I could have held back for fear of scaring him off. But if this was going to work, we had to be completely open and honest.

“Sometimes I like it sweet and tender,” I admitted. “But other times, I’m going to want you on all fours begging me to fuck you fast and hard.”

He let out a tired laugh. “It seems like that’s not going to be a problem. Who knew I had a bossy Julian kink?”

I opened my mouth to disagree with him, to say he wasn’t into being dominated by me, but that was a lie.

He was. He was clearly into it. I thought back over our life together and recognized the same themes.

There were so many times he preferred me to take charge.

But the fact he was willing to trust and follow me so easily in the bedroom, too, was everything I could have wanted.

“Thank you for loving me,” I said softly. “You’re the greatest gift of my life.”

He moved over into my arms. It was awkward as hell and uncomfortable as fuck, but as long as Parker Ellis was in my life and in my arms, I was happy.