Page 23 of The Intimacy of Skin

One was wide open, a small bathroom behind it. We passed decorations and picture frames along the wall. Two doors faced opposite each other at the end of the hallway. Crew stopped at the one on the left, pausing with his hand on the knob.

He looked at me over his shoulder. “Don’t judge the mess, okay? Nobody else comes in here but Willow. ”

Wouldn’t dream of it, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit of warmth in my chest that I was the only other person to enter his space.

Slowly, Crew opened the door before stepping in. I followed behind, raking my eyes over the room. The shades by the windows were pulled to the side, letting the nighttime city life become the only source of light. Headlights fought with streetlamps and tall buildings to outshine one another.

My foot met a pile of clothes that were strewn haphazardly on the ground. A smile tugged at my lips when I took in the messy room as best I could. The minuscule light didn’t help much, but I could see enough.

The bed in the center of the room was unmade, the blankets thrown, and the sheets were beginning to hike up on the edge. There was a desk to my right, just as unorganized as the rest of the room.

It looked lived in. I liked it.

What I liked most was the person standing off to the side, awkwardly watching me. I slowly closed the door behind me before turning around and locking my gaze with Crew.

The silhouette of Crew’s chest rose and fell faster with each step I took.

He looked nervous. Afraid, maybe. I had more questions than answers when it came to him.

I wanted to know why he was so against my preferences.

In my eyes, he was someone worthy of being worshipped—worshipping that was not done harshly or quickly.

Someday, I’d ask my questions, and he’d give me answers. Not today, though, and that was okay.

I liked to think I could be a patient man.

I stopped with barely a couple of inches between us. Crew craned his neck up to look at me; his lips parted as he panted uneven breaths. His eyes took on a mesmerizing glint that put the moon to shame.

Even mostly concealed under the shadows of night, Crew was breathtakingly handsome. I let myself search every inch of his face I could, basking in the acceptance he gave me to do so. Carefully, I closed our gap.

I traced his cheek with the tip of my fingers, gliding them over the skin there. I listened to the slight gasp he gave me and watched as his lashes fluttered while his eyes threatened to close.

Keeping my movements slow and as predictable as possible, I leaned my forehead down onto his. I urged his body closer with my other hand, pushing him by the waist.

Our breaths became one. Crew’s slowed as he began to inhale and exhale at the same time I did. The warmth of his body enveloped me until I, too, could see nothing else but him.

I cradled the back of his head, leading his lips to mine in a slow, sensual kiss that stole reality.

With each shared touch, Crew relaxed further until his hands were gripping me, his body was pressing into mine, and our tongues were meeting again.

It had only been minutes since I’d tasted him, yet the groan of relief that left me was as greedy as I felt.

His flavor was nothing like I’d ever had before.

I could taste his pleasure. I could feel the refreshing chill inside of him, wrapping around the flame in me to calm it.

We rocked against each other, savoring the moans we shared through our mouths. I trailed my hand from his neck down his chest, circling his waist, feeling every inch of his body I could. The muscles in his stomach twitched with my touch as his hips arched into me further.

I halted our kiss, intent on tasting more of him as I brushed my lips along his clean-shaven jaw. When I reached just under his ear, I savored the taste of his skin with a flick of my tongue.

My hands met just above his ass, pushing below the waistband of his pants to knead the firm flesh beneath them. Crew answered to my touch with a soft whimper, tilting his head to the side, allowing me further access to the delicate skin there.

Keeping my voice low, I whispered just next to the shell of his ear, “Can I take your clothes off, Pretty Boy?”

I felt the shiver that ran through him just before he nodded.

That wouldn’t do. “I need an answer, beautiful.”

“Yes.” A broken plea. A hesitant ask for something I desperately wanted to respond to.

He’d removed his jacket at some point. It was probably with the pile of clothes on the floor. It made my job easier, sliding my hands from his loose pants and up his sides, his shirt rising with them.

Crew was a gorgeous man. He was on the thinner side with a bit of toning in his arms and midsection. I knew his eating habits were not only atrocious but irregular as well .

Thankfully, I knew I could help with that if he let me. If we had any sort of future after tonight.

Fuck, I hoped he let me.

My hands had a mind of their own, racing over his bare chest and stomach like he’d escape if I wasn’t touching him at all times. I tugged him closer by the hips, fitting us together once more as I explored his collarbone with my lips.

Crew’s hand pressed against the back of my head, his fingers threading through my hair, keeping me in place. Perhaps he thought I’d escape, too. Maybe we were sharing the same fears. At that moment, were we more alike than we thought?

His jeans were my next mission. His grip loosened as I bent to pull them and his underwear off in one swift movement. Bare before me for the second time, I could appreciate Crew’s body in a new light.

I wished for the invasive hotel lighting, if only to get a glimpse of every perfect imperfection that made up his skin. My eyes adjusted just enough for the heat blazing through my body to rise to a boil, a ravenous need to feel Crew against me.

Truly, I hadn’t appreciated life until now. With Crew there, I could understand. I understood why I was still here, day in and day out.

Crew didn’t just make the itching stop; he made the entire world cease to exist. If I hadn’t gotten out of bed, I wouldn’t have experienced this.

“Price?” Crew’s voice was uncharacteristically shy and shaky.

I’d been staring at the entirety of him in silence. I shook my head, begging my brain to come back to me. With a smile, I cupped his cheek as gently as possible. “Sorry, you’re just so beautiful. Can you get comfortable on the bed for me?”

His answer was a shake of his head. “Not yet. I want…” I hadn’t seen Crew so uncertain before.

“What do you want, Crew?” I encouraged him, grasping the side of his jaw gently.

The side of his bottom lip went anxiously between his teeth. I cringed internally, remembering the now old wound he had the first night we met. “I want to undress you first. I don’t help my clients take their clothes off. You aren’t my client right now, right?”

My heart ached at the sincerity of his question. “No, I’m not a client.” I grabbed both of his hands, leading them to the hem of my shirt.

Crew began leisurely undressing me, his eyes roaming my body hungrily. When the last of my clothes were off, Crew’s palms danced along my skin. I shivered slightly at his cold touch. I’d felt the chill on his fingers before, but it felt harsh against my heated body.

I let him caress the ink on my skin, feeling the way he intentionally dipped his fingertips against the ridges my muscles created. He felt along my sides, around my waist, across my abdomen, the same way I had done to him.

He found the hair below my navel and traced it down.

Crew’s palm circled my erection, gripping it with enough pressure to make me groan.

My cock was straining with need, pulsing with its heartbeat.

Crew’s pubes were trimmed neatly, whereas mine were untamed.

My cock was thicker than his, though we were almost matched in length.

I couldn’t help but think we were a perfect match.

Crew pumped my length at an unhurried pace, stopping after three strokes. “How do you want me?”

The loss of his hand only riled me up more. I was itching in a different way—anxious to please the man before me. “Lean your back against the headboard, please.”

When he turned, I got a full view of his sculpted ass. He had the prettiest, rounded bubble butt I had ever seen. The muscles in his back rippled with his movements, locking me into a trance.

He was a wet dream personified, laid out against the messy bedding. I kneeled on the bed, watching as Crew tracked my every movement.

I crawled to the end where his feet lay. My hands gripped the sides of his legs as I began to pepper kisses along his skin, coating every inch of him I could.

Turning his foot slightly, I found the tattoo on his ankle he shared with Willow and kissed that, too.

I could feel him shiver beneath me, his muscles tensing before releasing from my affection.

I was sure it looked awkward, the way I was slowly crawling up his body, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.

The scars along the skin above his knees gave me a momentary pause. I didn’t stop, but the way they called to me scared me. Crew had no idea about the scars under the ink on my arms. The permanent reminder of the itching I’d spent my entire life trying to ease.

When I reached his crotch, I made sure to lick his skin with throaty, enthusiastic moans. His scent drove me wild. Musky, addicting, and unique.

Crew’s breath hitched as I inched closer to his dick, never getting close enough. I hovered there for a few moments, nipping at his hipbones just to hear him gasp for me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see his fists clutching the sheet beneath us.

I smirked against his skin before rising further, no longer kissing but licking my way along his stomach, to his chest, making a line to his nipples. They pebbled under my tongue, and the moan I got the moment I wrapped my lips around them sent a shock of electricity through my body.