Page 10 of The Year of Us: October

Reese

The day after Halloween, I woke up and everything hurt. The only salve was the gentle press of Cory’s mouth against the arch of my foot and the smell of coffee drifting in from the kitchen.

“You’re awake,” he murmured, dragging his nose upward until his mouth reached my heel. He kissed me there too.

“Is that what this is?”

Even my throat hurt, my voice scratchy and hoarse from all the use the night before.

“You look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.”

“Wasn’t I?”

Cory kissed my ankle bone, my calf, all the way up to the back of my knee where he paid enough attention that gooseflesh prickled down my arms. Shivering, I stretched as much as I could, knocking into the perch he’d made between my legs.

He bent my leg at the knee and kissed his way up the back of my thigh, getting dangerously close to the places he’d fucked and ruined just hours before.

“Seems you were,” he agreed, replacing his lips with his teeth.

Gentle nips until he reached the place my leg turned into my groin. Another kiss, then a deep breath and a groan.

“You smell like sex.”

I managed a tired scoff.

“Smell like you’ve been fucked and filled with cum,” he went on, licking his trail of kisses across my balls and the underside of my flaccid cock. “What a slut. What a good boy.”

Another kiss, this one against my crown. “What a well-loved man.”

I covered my eyes with my forearm groaning and sinking into Cory’s brand of aftercare and letting his words wash over me with the same level of care he devoted with his mouth and his hands. Cory made his way up the entire length of my body, pausing only when he reached my neck.

He was naked, I realized, his breath tasting like coffee as he reached between our bodies and gripped his cock.

With another flurry of dirty nothings right into my ear, Cory rutted against me and fucked his hand, shooting a spray of hot cum across my stomach without so much as a grunt.

After he finished, he kissed his way across my throat and the underside of my chin, then back down the other side of my body.

When he reached the mess he’d made on my stomach and my chest, he made a mess of me again, smearing spit over my abs as he licked me clean.

My cock was finally awake by the time he reached my hip, alert and twitching, but ignored.

I lifted my hips off the bed, hinting at what I wanted, but he kissed his way past my cock and down to my thigh, back again to my knee and lower still to my ankle.

When he reached my other foot, he kissed my arch and cradled it against his face.

“You’re awake,” he said again.

“Very much so now,” I murmured, threading my fingers together behind my head.

I was still very sore, definitely too used and stretched to fuck, or at least to top. Cory rocked back onto his heels between my legs and stroked himself, eyeing me with a quiet and unexpected sort of speculation. His stare lingered between my legs, my cock, my balls, my asshole.

So often when he looked at me, I found myself with the distinct impression he knew everything about me.

All my fears and wants and secrets, but the way he watched me now was like he was seeing me for the very first time.

It wasn’t unsettling, but I hadn’t realized how accustomed I’d grown to being known by him.

“What’s wrong?” I stretched a hand toward him, and he grabbed it, kissing each finger, then my palm. He’d neglected my hands on his first pass, but he made quick work of remedying the oversight once he realized.

“Not a thing,” he answered.

“Are you sure?”

Cory hummed and gently settled my hand on the front of my hip. “I’m going to draw you a bath, then I’m going to get you into it.”

“Yes, Sir,” I agreed, sighing.

“Fucked you into complacency, did I?” He chuckled under his breath, then climbed out of bed, helping me to my feet in the process.

If I thought my body ached lying in bed, it was nothing compared to the tight agony of being on my feet. Cory gave me a sidelong glance as he helped me shuffle into the bathroom.

“I’m fine,” I said before he could argue about it.

“I shouldn’t have fucked you so hard,” he said with a frown, “not after fisting you for the first time.”

“Think I’ll be able to take it better the second time?”

He arched a doubtful brow at me, waiting until I steadied myself against the counter to go turn on the water for the bath. I folded my arms in front of my chest and watched the hesitant way he moved around the bathroom, trying to keep space between us while somehow not knowing how.

“Come on.” He jerked his head toward the tub. I relented and stepped into his space. After being upright for a while, it was easier to move, and I made sure to hide the grimace that wanted to surface in response to the very deep ache inside of my body.

“I’m fine,” I assured him again, grabbing him and pulling him into my arms. He might be more dominant than me, but he was still shorter, still slimmer.

Thankfully, he didn’t really try to get away from me.

He only loosed a perturbed noise against my clavicle when I kissed the top of his head.

“I wanted everything we did last night.”

“Do you want this now?” he asked. “The pain. The discomfort.”

“A thousand times over if it means I get to share something with you that no one else will ever have.”

He snorted, fighting his body back enough that he could peer up at me. “Isn’t that your submission?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “And my heart.”

“That’s too sappy for this early.”

“You’re the one who started it with the kisses and telling me I was a good boy.”

Cory chuckled, reaching away from me to turn off the water. He pointed at the tub, and I obediently climbed in. The temperature was just on the right side of hot, and my muscles immediately relaxed as I sank under the water.

“Let me get you coffee,” he said, ignoring me.

“Get some for yourself. I want you in the bath with me.”

He pursed his lips. “You’re in charge now?

“I’m not a submissive,” I reminded him. “I submit to you, which is not the same thing.”

“No,” he mused. “I imagine it’s not.”

Reese is leaning into trusting all the things Cory wants to give him, but as their anniversary approaches, will it be enough? Find out just what Cory and Reese are thankful for in the next installment, The Year of Us: November.