Page 40 of Troubled Skies (Blue Skies #3)

Ren sat on one of the loungers and held his hand out for Adrian to join him, which Adrian did, though he felt unsure of himself again. For some reason, knowing Ren was friends with a Saudi prince put a spotlight on the disparity of their lives.

“Are you all right, poussin?” Ren asked as Adrian lay back in his arms.

“That was a lot to take in.”

“Oh, oui. You should not take what the captain says to heart. He is an asshole.”

“But, he’s not wrong.” When Ren shrugged, Adrian turned to face him. “You know he’s not wrong.”

It took a moment, but Ren finally nodded. “You are correct. As is he. When I am near you, I cannot help but touch you.”

It hadn’t been exactly what Adrian meant, but Ren’s words helped settle some of his turbulent thoughts. “I know,” Adrian said. “I feel the same way.”

Ren sighed. “I did not expect to feel this way about you, poussin, to enjoy your company so much that the thought of being without you…but it is not worth thinking about because you are here, and we still have time to enjoy each other.”

Without another word, Adrian lifted his chin and kissed Ren.

His stomach was still in knots, the distant toll of warnings sounding in his head, but Adrian pushed all that aside.

He’d gone into this with his eyes wide open, knowing who Ren was, knowing whatever they had together was only for a limited time.

Had this evening forced him to look at some truths about Ren that he hadn’t wanted to see?

It had. Ren existed in a world that did not, could not, include Adrian.

It wasn’t just about travel to parts of the world where men could be arrested on suspicion of being gay, where the way Ren had kissed Adrian at the Mdina gate could cause an international incident, it was that Adrian’s presence in Ren’s life could make it impossible for Ren to fulfill his responsibilities as a prince of Belvaux.

Adrian wasn’t sure what those were exactly, but he was intelligent enough to know that Ren’s life was not only parties and shopping and lounging about on a superyacht for two weeks.

They’d talked enough for Adrian to know that this trip was the first time in literal years Ren had had this much time without appointments or meetings or diplomatic events dictating the pace of his life.

He’d known from the moment he found out who Ren really was, that there was no space in that life for someone like him.

He could accept that, had accepted it when he decided to stay with Ren until the end of the trip in the Maldives, just as he now accepted that he was going to lose a piece of his heart when they said goodbye.

It was going to hurt, but Adrian was done trying to protect himself from that pain.

He wanted Ren. Hiding from that fact? Worrying about what would happen later?

It wouldn’t stop the inevitable. But it would cost him precious moments like this one.

Still kissing Ren, Adrian threw a leg over his waist and rolled up to straddle him. Ren smiled against Adrian’s lips, but didn’t break contact, his hands drifting under Adrian’s jacket and pulling his shirt from his waistband. Adrian sighed as Ren’s hands touched his skin.

Then it was his hands taking hold of Ren’s shirt, pulling it free from his pants.

His fingers undoing the buttons that kept him from Ren’s golden skin as he kissed and nibbled his way from Ren’s lips to his neck and then kept going.

Beneath him, Ren arched his back as Adrian ran his fingers through the coarse hair on Ren’s chest, rolling his nipples between his fingers, and then taking them in his mouth.

Ren’s hands drifted to Adrian’s waist, pulling Adrian closer, grinding their cocks together.

“Poussin,” Ren sighed. “Ta bouche est incroyable. Tes mains me détruisent. Ma bite te désire ardemment.”

Adrian laughed. “You could have just told me I’m the worst fuck you’ve ever had, and it would still sound sexy.”

“I would never say such a thing to you. You are incroyable, poussin, incredible. Your mouth gives me such pleasure. On my honneur, mon cher. It is like you read my mind, the way you know what my body craves, and I swear I hear angels weep when you touch me.”

“Angels, huh?” Adrian asked and shook his head. If anyone else had said these things, he would have thought they were making fun of him, but here, with Ren, in the middle of the Mediterranean, he was willing to indulge in the fantasy of it all. “Why are they crying?”

“Because they will never know such perfection,” Ren said, and Adrian lost a little more of his heart to the man. “But come, I do not even want to share you with the stars tonight, mon chaton.”

Their progress to the cabin was slowed by the need to stop and trade kisses and teasing touches along the way.

Adrian gave as good as he got, and they were both desperate by the time they stepped into the cabin.

Without stopping to turn on the lights, they shed their clothes by the door, tossing jackets, shirts, and ties to the ground without care because they couldn’t stop staring at each other.

In the dim glow from the ship’s exterior lights, the lines of Ren’s face, the angles of his body, were thrown into sharp relief, stark contrasts of golden skin and dark shadow. Adrian didn’t need to turn on the lamps to see Ren, knowing every contour of the man who stood in front of him.

Those sensuous lips? Adrian had kissed them, nipped at them, licked and teased them, and then slipped his tongue inside that luscious, ripe mouth to savor the richness of Ren’s flavor.

The strong lines of his jaw and neck? Adrian’s mouth and hands had traced those lines.

The broad expanse of his shoulders, the elegant arc of his arms and the long fingers they led to?

His own had come to know the smooth skin that covered firm muscles, had followed the curve of bone and tangled in the dark hair that almost hid the perfection of the dusky nipples Adrian had tugged on with his teeth earlier that day.

His eyes drifted lower, over the glory of Ren’s well-defined abs and the deep V that pointed the way to his delicious cock.

Adrian had explored and teased, wrought gasps of pleasure and groans of ecstasy from Ren’s throat with his hands, his mouth, his body.

Had tasted the fruits of his efforts, the bitter fluid that had flowed hot and thick onto his skin and down his throat.

His own cock jerked at the memory of Ren’s sounds, his taste, the feel of his heated skin, the rigid steel that filled his body as if he were made for it.

“I do adore the way you fuck me with your eyes, chéri.” Ren’s voice was rough, almost a whisper, as he took his cock in hand and gave it a long, upward stroke.

Adrian groaned as a creamy pearl of liquid appeared at the tip, then groaned again when Ren lifted his fingers to his mouth and sucked them inside.

Adrian knew the heat in Ren’s eyes mirrored his own, that they were both fighting to keep from falling on each other, and his body trembled with desire, with need.

Neither of them was ready to break this moment.

For Adrian, it was sacred, nearly transcendent, to stand before this man who knew him so intimately, knew all his foolish mistakes, and still wanted him, still desired him.

In only a matter of days, Ren had given Adrian back his heart and his passion, and he would forever be grateful.

Watching Ren continue to play with himself with languid strokes while denying his own cock the same pleasure was sweet torture, as was staying upright when all he wanted to do was fall to his knees and take Ren in his mouth.

“You are killing me, poussin,” Ren said as he slid his fingers past his lips once more and moaned. “I fear I will come before I get to touch you again.”

“Can’t have that,” Adrian purred as he finally closed the distance between them and placed his hand over Ren’s.

Their hands moved together until Ren shifted, aligning them and closing his hand around both of their cocks. Adrian shuddered at the heat as Ren’s cock touched his, then groaned at the feel of Ren’s hand. Tilting his chin up, his mouth met Ren’s and whatever restraint he’d had evaporated.

They were all teeth and tongues and wet and hot and yes as they maneuvered to the bed without losing contact until the last second.

As the back of Adrian’s legs touched the mattress, Ren let go, kiss-plump lips lifting at the corners as Adrian cried out in despair, bereft at the sudden loss of Ren’s heat.

Before Adrian had a chance to protest, he was lifted in the air, cradled by Ren’s strong arms against the firm chest he’d been admiring earlier, then placed tenderly in the center of the bed, his head cushioned on the pillows.

Ren still stood, and Adrian took a long look at him, his gaze rising from Ren’s legs to his cock, to his torso, and up those fine, strong lines of his chest and neck, until his eyes met Ren’s. Reaching out, Adrian extended his hand.

“Join me,” he said, smiling as Ren’s palm touched his, and he drew Ren down to the bed.

They paused again as their bodies came together, gazes locked, breathing each other’s air, lips so close to touching, Adrian could feel the heat of Ren’s exhalation against his own.

In the dim light, Ren’s dark eyes were fathomless, but Adrian saw the fire in them, felt the desire in Ren’s body like he felt the pulse in his veins.

“You are beautiful, poussin,” Ren whispered as he raised a hand to caress Adrian’s face. “Chéri. Mon trésor. Tu es parfait, mon c?ur.”

Adrian had heard those words often enough now, he knew they were words of praise. My dear. My treasure. My heart. And he’d looked up a few words of his own. “Et moi pour toi aussi.” When Ren laughed, he frowned. “How bad was my pronunciation?”

“Très,” Ren said with a gentle brush of his fingers through Adrian’s hair. “The phrase is ‘et tu l’es aussi.’ But I still understand what you say because I can feel it here.” Ren laid his hand over Adrian’s heart, then lowered his mouth and brought them together once more.

Despite the frantic rush with which they’d started, and the heat that still burned between them, Adrian was in no hurry for this to end.

He felt cherished and adored, truly precious for the first time in his life.

And when he and Ren were finally joined, Ren’s cock buried deep within Adrian’s body, he trembled with the power of the emotions rushing through him.

Ren rocked gently, not thrusting, not trying to pound Adrian into the mattress like most of Adrian’s previous lovers, and yet it was the most intense experience Adrian had ever had.

He felt Ren everywhere, felt the power of Ren’s body, his desire.

As it enveloped him and held him in its embrace, Adrian trembled as every nerve he possessed caught fire, and a climax unlike any he’d ever had before rippled through him.

Wave after wave washed over him, welling up and carrying him over the edge.

Helpless, he cried out, as he spilled between them, then cried out again as he felt Ren release deep inside him.

Eyes wide, mouth open as his orgasm waned, he stared at Ren, unable to look away until Ren bent his head and brought his mouth to Adrian’s.

Ren rolled to the side, cock still hard inside Adrian’s ass, lips fused to Adrian’s, his mouth delightfully cool.

They continued to kiss until Adrian began to drift under the hypnotic power of Ren’s caresses.

Only then did Ren let their bodies separate.

He left the bed briefly to get a warm cloth to clean both of them up, then slid back under the covers to hold Adrian as they both fell asleep.