Page 31 of The Seascape Between Us (The Men of Saltwater Cove #4)
Chapter Twenty-Three
Daniel
M y head buzzed, and everything inside me felt warm and soft, like honey warmed in the sun.
The combination of Grey’s hands roaming possessively down my chest, spreading my legs, the sharp sting of his teeth tugging at my nipple, combined with his words—holy shit, the things he was saying—and the low hum of his voice had shorted out the connection between my brain and body, leaving me hungry, pliant beneath his touch—and achingly hard.
I couldn’t remember ever being this hard before, and he hadn’t even touched my cock.
“Would you like that?” he whispered between nibbling kisses. “To be kept naked in my bed—just for me?”
His hot breath whispered over my cock, but he didn’t take me in his mouth. My hips jerked upward in desperation, but his hand gripped my sides, pinning me firmly to the mattress.
“I’d take such good care of you, baby,” he murmured. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted, to take care of you.”
I closed my eyes against the sudden wave of emotion rolling over me.
Thank god, I was already lying down because the impact would have knocked me off my feet.
The things he said, I probably shouldn’t want them.
They shouldn’t make me ache the way they did, but part of me craved the idea of belonging to him—of being his, of him being mine.
But I knew better than to rely on anyone. It never lasted.
“Oh no you don’t,” Grey said, pulling me out of my spiraling thoughts. I opened my eyes and locked gazes with him. His face was inches from my dick, but his dark eyes held mine. “No overthinking tonight. Stay with me.”
Before I could agree, he dipped his head and traced the length of my cock with the tip of his tongue, still holding my gaze.
“Fuck,” I gasped. Tipping my head back, I tried to lift my hips to follow his mouth, but his grip held me in place.
“I love looking at you like this,” he murmured, then mouthed my balls, sucking each one into his hot, wet mouth.
My toes curled into the mattress. My cock was straining, desperate for some kind of attention.
“Please.” I needed him to touch me, suck me, any relief. Instead, Grey continued his relentless torture, licking and sucking my balls. Maybe it was better that he was ignoring my cock. I was so on edge, surely, I’d explode the minute his lips wrapped around me.
“Tell me,” he said. The edge of command in his voice lit me up like a Christmas tree. “Tell me how much you want that.”
“So much,” I groaned. God help me, I did want it. Naked in this bed for him to take, to use, to care for. I wanted all the things he described.
“It’s all I want for you.” He licked up my cock again, and I let out a low whine.
“Knowing you’re safe and happy. Well rested, well fed, and well fucked.
” He gripped my legs behind my knees and pushed them up to my chest, leaving me spread wide, exposed.
My skin burned hot under his gaze, and need ate at me, devouring me from the inside out.
He leaned closer, his warm breath whispering against my hole just before his tongue traced my tight ring.
“Oh god, please. Yes, please,” I begged. My brain had completely abandoned my body, and all that remained was jangled nerve endings, frizzed and shooting sparks like exposed wire. I existed in a bubble of sensation while Grey’s tongue pushed into my hole, fucking in and out of me.
Grey eased back from my body, and I tried to ask him to stay close, but I could only form a pathetic whimper.
I heard him rustling in the nightstand drawer beside his bed and cracked an eye open as he took out condoms and lube.
“Don’t.” My voice rasped like I’d been gargling gravel, and Grey’s eyes shot to mine. “I haven’t been with anyone since the last time I was tested. I’m clean.”
“I haven’t either. There hasn’t been anyone but you since I came back to The Square. Are you sure?”
I wanted to feel him bare inside me. I wanted him to paint my insides with his cum, to claim me, to be his. I didn’t say any of that. Instead, I nodded. “I’m sure.”
The smile that lit his face made my chest ache. He settled between my legs again and poured the lube over two fingers before he slipped them inside me. I tipped my head back and let out a low moan, closing my eyes.
Grey’s hand stilled. “Too much?”
“No.” I shook my head. “Keep going. Please.” Shit, I sounded needy even to my own ears, but if Grey noticed, he didn’t let on.
He kept working me open, driving me half out of my mind.
Finally, he slipped his fingers free, hooked my legs over his arms and rolled me back onto my shoulders, lifting my ass up and leaving me exposed and at his mercy.
He positioned his cock at my entrance and sank into me with exquisite slowness, stealing the breath from my lungs.
Despite his careful preparations, his girth stretched me, burned deliciously, but in the best possible way.
The feel of him bare inside me, hot skin sliding against my inner walls fueled my already mindless need.
Once he was fully in position, he paused, giving me a moment to adjust—which didn’t take long. I started to shift and wriggle, urging him to move, but with my legs draped over his arms, I couldn’t gain purchase. Grey set the pace, and I was just along for the ride.
He finally started rolling his hips, thrusting slow and deep. I keened, trying to arch up to take him deeper, but the position he had held me in wouldn’t allow it. Grey took the hint though, increasing his speed until he was pounding into me.
He adjusted his angle, nailing my prostate with every thrust, driving me out of my head. I chanted his name like an incantation, begging for more, but I wasn’t even sure what I was begging for.
“Make yourself cum,” he whispered, his voice breathless and strained. My hand shot to my cock, but rather than stroke myself, I squeezed to hold back the orgasm barreling closer. I didn’t want this to end too fast.
Thankfully, I didn’t have to hold back for long. I could feel Grey’s pace turning erratic, his rhythm starting to falter. He was as desperate to cum as I was.
I stroked myself to match his relentless rhythm, and within moments, I was coming over my hand and across my stomach. I clamped down on his cock, and Grey tipped his head back and groaned. Wet heat flooded my channel, painting my insides, branding me as his.
Finally, he collapsed onto me, his weight pressing me into the mattress. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight to my chest.
“Good, so good for me,” Grey murmured, kissing the underside of my jaw.
Warmth flooded my chest, and I squeezed him tighter. “Right back at’cha.”
My voice sounded low and hoarse and not like me at all. Grey lifted up enough that he could look at my face, and he smiled down at me. “You okay?”
My limbs felt loose and rubbery. My ass ached deliciously from the pounding it had taken, and I could feel his cum dripping from my hole. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I felt this sated, this good after sex. “ Okay isn’t exactly the word I’d use.”
His grin widened before he dipped his head, kissing me slowly—almost sweetly. Something clenched in my chest even as warmth expanded inside me. I did my best to ignore the emotion swelling in my throat.
“Come on.” He rolled off of me and held out his hand. “Let’s get cleaned up.”
I stood on wobbly legs, letting him lead me into an absurdly luxurious bathroom.
About the size of one of the hotel’s rooms, it was all exposed brick, gleaming concrete and rustic wood.
He pulled me into a glassed-in shower stall that could have fit at least four more people.
Under the hot spray, we washed each other between long, slow kisses that made it easy to forget this thing with Grey couldn't last. I might have loved him so much my chest ached, but we were from different worlds, and every day that passed, Grey was closer to returning to this world where I just didn’t fit.
After we showered, Grey changed the sheets, and we slipped under the covers.
However, once back in bed with Grey curled against my side, sleep eluded me.
Despite the exhaustion weighing my limbs down, I stared out through the floor-to-ceiling windows surrounding Grey’s bedroom at the city lights reflecting on the river's dark surface.
What would it be like if this was my life?
If Grey and I were together for real, not just the partners-with-benefits arrangement we had going now.
The idea of Grey’s loft becoming my home was so far removed from my life at the hotel it was almost laughable.
But as impressive as Grey’s home was, I didn’t really give a shit about the money.
I mean, it made life easier. There was no denying it.
I’d seen the evidence firsthand, after all, watching how quickly Grey had been able to get work completed at the hotel.
But my feelings for him were the same here in his king-sized bed overlooking the river as they'd been at the hotel, or back in our room at his father's house.
The idea of spending the rest of my life with him wrapped around me, of falling asleep every night with the weight of his arm around my middle, his breath tickling the back of my neck, appealed in a way that was primal, desperate.
I thought about everything he'd said during sex—words he'd probably intended just to get me hot—and he'd been successful—but a part of me still craved having someone at my side, someone to help carry the weight of decisions, responsibilities, and consequences.
I knew better, of course. Relying on someone else was a mistake.
Life had taught me that just when things started to go well, when you felt like your feet were finally on solid ground, fate always swooped in and knocked you flat on your ass.
Better to rely on myself than face the inevitable disappointment.