Chapter Three #2
“Thank you.” Rayan smiled and leaned in to kiss him. Mathias’s hand found the back of his neck, and Rayan opened his mouth against the press of his lips. He felt his mind go blank as Mathias slipped his other hand beneath his chin and tilted his head back.
When Rayan broke away—a difficult prospect, like extracting himself from a powerful force field—he could only manage a mumbled “Let’s go” before taking hold of Mathias’s arm and pulling him toward the warehouse door.
At the house, Mathias lay back on the bed as he watched Rayan lower his mouth to his cock, evoking a familiar shudder.
He liked the way the heat rose to Rayan’s cheeks as the man stroked himself with one hand, aroused by Mathias’s arousal.
Rayan moved to the base of Mathias’s cock, grazing his balls with his teeth.
He trailed his mouth lower still, and Mathias stiffened.
Rayan had tried before, gauging his reaction then backing off.
Mathias’s resistance hit against something he couldn’t quite place.
Denial? Submission? But the sensation was extraordinary, Mathias’s own inhibition heightening it further.
Mathias shifted his legs, allowing him access.
Too quickly, he found himself dangerously close to the edge, Rayan’s hair bunched in his fist, his teeth grinding. It was almost a relief when Rayan came up for air. Mathias was untethered, wound taut, fearful of the depths he would fall if allowed to continue.
“You’re halfway gone,” he teased as Rayan straddled him—though it was as true for himself as it was for Rayan.
Rayan’s cock strained against his stomach, the head already slick. Mathias brushed his fingers against Rayan’s mouth, and the man parted his lips. Rayan took one finger into his mouth and bit down. Mathias felt a pull shoot through him.
“You liked that.” Mathias could still feel the heady linger of Rayan’s tongue.
“Almost as much as you,” Rayan murmured.
Mathias rolled Rayan over and pinned him beneath him. He brought his mouth to the dimpled scar on Rayan’s shoulder then moved to the firm buds of his nipples and down to the taut skin of his stomach, each flick of his tongue eliciting a shiver of desire from the man.
“Thought after last night you’d be all tapped out,” Mathias said. To say he’d enjoyed Rayan’s little display, upon returning home, would be an understatement. They’d gone several rounds after that.
“I’m making up for lost time.”
“You can’t manage without me.”
Something flickered in Rayan’s eyes. He knew Rayan hated how completely Mathias saw his need.
“You’re confident,” Rayan shot back, jerking as Mathias slipped a hand between his thighs.
Mathias stroked the pad of his thumb along Rayan’s taint, and a soft moan slid from the man’s parted lips. “I know you,” Mathias said.
“I love you.” It came out in a whispered burst, and Rayan blinked as if caught off guard.
Mathias envied the way Rayan’s honesty was a force beyond his control.
A warmth flooded his chest, tight and prickling.
He bent his head and brushed his lips against the curve of Rayan’s mouth.
Rayan wrapped his arms around Mathias’s neck and pulled him close.
As he kissed him, Mathias marveled at the hold Rayan’s words had on him.
He couldn’t remember ever wanting this, yet here he was, at the mercy of their communion.
Mathias ground his cock against Rayan’s erection, and the man inhaled sharply, breaking the kiss only to return a moment later, ravenous.
Rayan reached for where Mathias’s thumb still lingered and moved his hand lower.
Mathias needed no further encouragement.
He pressed Rayan’s knees apart and brought a slick finger to the hot clench of his opening.
He felt the flutter of Rayan’s eyelashes against his cheek, and then his finger found its target, and Rayan let out an involuntary groan.
Rayan’s breath quickened, short and shallow, as Mathias eased his fingers in and out, stretching him.
Rayan arched his back, fighting impatience, wanting more, but Mathias would not be rushed.
“Enough, fuck—” Rayan pulled away and reached for the small clear bottle beside him on the bed. He pushed it into Mathias’s hand. “Stop playing with me.”
Mathias chuckled. “You’re getting mouthy.”
He ran a palmful of lube down the length of Rayan’s shaft then slid an arm beneath his waist and lifted Rayan’s hips to guide the head of his cock between the man’s legs.
Rayan’s tongue darted across his lips, and his forehead furrowed as he relinquished each inch.
When Mathias was in to the hilt, Rayan hooked his ankles around the back of Mathias’s thighs and held him still.
It was clear without words that, after the previous evening’s frantic fucking, he wanted it slow.
Mathias gently rocked his hips, and Rayan pressed his mouth to his ear. “I don’t like it when you’re gone.”
Mathias still wasn’t sure how it had happened—how he, staunchly solitary and adamantly self-reliant, had come to depend so much on this man.
He’d once found the very idea of sharing his bed offensive, only to become reliant on Rayan’s nightly presence—the exchange of those final tired murmurings before sleep—and then waking to find himself enveloped in Rayan’s warmth and simply lying there, in no hurry to leave it.
He’d reworked the fabric of his life to find Rayan woven into every part.
“I don’t like being gone.” Mathias tilted Rayan’s chin to capture his lips and kissed him as the rock became a thrust—even, tempered, entirely in control. When there was no more resistance, Mathias raised himself onto his knees and drew all the way out before driving forward.
Rayan threw his head to the side, his eyes closing. “Fuck… yes… there…”
Mathias loved when Rayan gave himself over to sensation.
He upped the pace, his own desire building, and he felt Rayan’s nails dig into the flesh of his forearms. When he saw the telltale signs—the way the muscles in Rayan’s neck tightened, his teeth biting down hard on his lower lip—Mathias stopped.
Rayan’s eyes flew open, his expression a mixture of surprise and frustration.
But Mathias was already pulling out and rolling him onto his side, using a knee to stack Rayan’s legs as he slid down lower on the mattress.
Mathias wrapped an arm around Rayan’s waist and pressed him to his chest before easing back in from behind.
As Mathias began to thrust, he lowered his other hand between Rayan’s thighs and teased the man’s cock through his fist. Rayan raised his hips for more contact, but Mathias loosened his grip, keeping him wanting.
On his side, he had the benefit of stamina and could edge Rayan until he broke. Mathias took his time coring him, drawing his hand up and down Rayan’s shaft, squeezing and releasing. Rayan pressed his face into the mattress , stifling the ragged sounds of his pleasure.
Mathias couldn’t look away. He swallowed a groan and attempted to rein in the surge of lust that threatened to overwhelm him.
He kissed the back of Rayan’s neck then brought his teeth to the soft flesh of his earlobe and bit down.
Rayan shuddered, and his hand shot out to grip Mathias’s wrist, yanking it in quick, tight jerks along his cock.
“I’m going to…” he panted in a strangled whisper. “Harder… don’t fucking stop—”
No longer restrained, Mathias began to slam against the man, hard and furious.
Rayan’s body stiffened, and he clenched around Mathias with an open-throated growl.
Mathias felt the muscles in his thighs tense, and a coil of pleasure rose from his toes to the base of his spine.
He tightened his grip around Rayan as he came, the world contracting to a single point—a hot, blinding dissolution .
When his breath returned, Mathias eased himself out yet remained pressed against Rayan’s back, his face buried in his hair, blissfully content. He was about to drift off when Rayan spoke, his voice husky.
“I’d like to come.”
“You just did.”
Rayan turned to shoot Mathias a look, unable to hide his grin. “To Paris, to see the Louvre.”
“Suit yourself.” Mathias peeled away and reached down to the floor for his jacket. He pulled out his cigarettes. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you about Dumont. She will talk your ear off if you let her.”
Rayan’s expression grew thoughtful. “Earlier tonight, she seemed off somehow.”
It hadn’t escaped Mathias either. She’d been bent out of shape about the shipment, which was to be expected, but there was something else.
He’d noticed it on occasion—the way she sometimes fell silent, staring into space or anxiously picking at her cuticles.
She constantly referenced her old job at the museum and reminisced about her time there with a glowing nostalgia.
So why did she leave it to come and work for me? His offer had been generous enough, but Elise had never struck him as the kind to be swayed by money.
Mathias tapped the pack and pulled out a smoke. “You couldn’t pay me to get in that girl’s head.”
Rayan gave him a knowing smile. “You like her, though. She wouldn’t have stayed this long if you didn’t.”
Like was a strong word. He could appreciate Elise’s expansive knowledge and her passion for the task. She shared his cynicism of the world, and he’d observed a familiar wariness in her—the knowledge that not everything was as it seemed.
“And she likes you,” Rayan continued, looking at him archly.
Mathias smirked. “Does that intimidate you?”
Rayan gave a quiet laugh. “Not in the slightest. I know what you like, and she can’t give it to you.”
“Is that so?” Mathias tossed the unlit cigarette to the floor and moved so he was above Rayan on the bed. He wrapped a hand around Rayan’s throat, and the man’s breath hitched. “Isn’t that lucky, then?”