Chapter Thirty-one #2
He almost couldn’t stop kissing Riley afterward, but the knowledge Riley hadn’t yet come forced him, eventually, to relinquish his mouth and push him over onto his back.
Riley went easily, breathing hard, his eyes full of darkness.
Jason was too impatient to undress Riley properly.
He shoved his t-shirt up and used his mouth on Riley’s nipples briefly—later, he’d suck them until Riley begged, but right now, he wanted Riley’s cock.
Riley moaned as he pulled down the zipper of his jeans, hitching his hips up to let Jason draw them and his boxer briefs down his thighs. His cock was smooth under Jason’s fingers, and he loved the way it moved as he stroked it.
“Jason.” Riley’s voice was a gasp and a plea, and he realized that Riley was too primed for more teasing. His mouth watered at the sight of his cock, hard and perfect.
He loved sucking Riley’s cock. It wasn’t only the taste he adored, along with the arousal in the pit of his stomach at how Riley felt in his mouth.
It was the way Riley lost all control under Jason’s efforts.
When Riley had fucked Jason, he’d been so careful with him, but when his cock was in Jason’s mouth, he let go.
Like now, his head fell back on the pillow and he arched under Jason’s mouth, hands wrapped in his hair as he made little, staccato sounds, rising in pitch until he stiffened all over and came with a broken cry.
And then, his chest still heaving, he pulled Jason up the bed and kissed him, hot and messy, as if he couldn’t bear to stop. And Jason let himself believe it—not just the kiss, but what it meant.
He was loved. He was enough. And held in Riley’s arms, he finally believed it.
RILEY
It was evening by the time they made it out of bed.
After showering together, they managed to let go of one another long enough to dress.
Riley had to borrow clean clothes from Jason, turning up the hems and cuffs until he looked like a four-year-old in his big brother’s clothes.
There was something so intimate about wearing Jason’s clothing that he decided he didn’t care.
“Guess I should go rescue my car and all my stuff,” he said, and then froze.
What was he going to do? It had been one thing to stay here today, but showing up like he was here for good?
That wasn’t something Urban would ever allow.
Not after everything Riley had done. And it wasn’t even his car—it was a damn rental.
Maybe, if he could find a job in town, he could save for a deposit on a room so he had somewhere to sleep once he had to give the car back.
“Is anyone in town hiring at the moment?” he asked.
Jason, still loose and dreamy-eyed from their time together, raised an eyebrow at him. As if the question was ridiculous instead of essential.
“Why?” he asked, bemused.
“Uh, because I need to earn a living? To pay for a place to live?”
“But, you’re going to live here.” The certainty in Jason suddenly wavered. “Unless—don’t you want to?”
“No,” Riley said, a swift denial of Jason’s fear. Anything to stop that hollowness already creeping into Jason’s eyes. Then he heard what he’d said. “I mean, yes—of course I want to live with you, but Urban will never let me. Not after everything I did.”
Jason hooked his fingers through Riley’s belt loops and tugged him close.
“He will.” Such certainty was in his voice.
“He let you stay here last night, and he let you know about Jesse. I don’t think you understand just how huge a deal those two things are.
” He smiled into Riley’s eyes. “You’re my mate. That makes you pack.”
Pack. The word settled deep inside him. It should have been foreign, but somehow, it wasn’t. Jason was giving him so much more than just himself, though that was a gift beyond price. He was giving Riley a home. And maybe, a family.
Riley kissed Jason, because it was that or cry, and he’d come close enough to that earlier.
They were still kissing when a bell sounded, somewhere outside.
“Oh, God.” Jason pulled back in alarm. “That means someone else cooked. Don’t tell me I’m going to lose my mate to food poisoning.”
“Isn’t there a pizza place that does delivery?” Riley asked.
“City boy,” Jason teased, and kissed Riley to take away the sting of his words. “Come on, let’s find out the worst.”
They walked together across the yard in the moonlight. Yellow light spilled through the kitchen windows, from where the sound of conversation and the occasional burst of laughter could be heard.
Jason’s attention was on the house, but Riley, who’d been looking around, taking in the place that was going to be his home, held him back a moment.
“Look,” he said, nodding toward where the moon was bright in the clear night sky. “A lover’s moon.”
Jason turned, and Riley heard his breath hitch. The moon was bright, silvering the landscape and casting its glow over them. A perfect night.
Riley’s heart was full as Jason pulled him in, and their lips met, soft and sure.
They stood, wrapped in each other, as the moon rose higher in the sky and shone down on them.
And for the first time in as long as he could remember, Riley wasn’t searching for approval. He wasn’t bracing for rejection. He wasn’t striving to be enough.
Here, with Jason, he already was.