Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Alex
The smooth skin of Nico’s stomach caresses my lips as I trail a path of kisses slowly down past his navel. He smells of warmth and vanilla, and I pause to breathe him in as my fingers draw lazy circles on the inside of his bare thigh.
Morning lovemaking wasn’t on my list of to-dos today, but he woke me up a bit ago, teasing his fingertips down over my nipples and wedging his knee between my legs. Now he’s on his back, naked, his eyes closed and his hands stroking my hair as I kiss my way up and down his body.
He’s quiet, as he sometimes is on mornings like this.
No words, no crying out my name, no fast panting or loud moans.
It’s him needing me in a different way. And so everything is slow, sensual, tender.
It’s soft kisses, gentle touches. Usually he wants my mouth to bring him to his climax, but he’ll let me know exactly what he needs when he’s ready.
We take our time.
My slow kisses find their way out to his hip and then back up along his side and inward again until his nipple is in my mouth.
I suck gently on the stiff bud, and he encourages me, his hands still in my hair.
When I switch to the other side after a few moments, he lets out a soft sigh, and his hands slide down my upper back to rest just below my shoulder blades.
“Alex,” he breathes.
I swirl my tongue around his nipple and suck lightly as I lift my eyes to meet his. He’s watching me, bliss on his face, and he smiles softly and brings a hand back up to run through my hair.
I close my eyes again and continue fluttering kisses up to his neck, along his jawline, behind his ear.
And all the while, I continue to stroke his inner thigh, down to his knee and back up, the tips of my fingers teasing just high enough to graze the base of his cock.
There’s a quiet hum of approval, and so I repeat the touch, my flat palm running down to his knee and back up again.
“How’s this?” I ask, my lips hovering just above his skin along his jawline. In response, he turns slowly onto his side, hooking his leg around my thighs to give me room to keep touching him, and his mouth finds mine. His lips are as warm as his skin and so soft and pliable.
We kiss more and touch more, all with this sensual, slow tenderness. When he finally pulls back from our kiss, his cheeks are flushed, and he’s breathing heavily. He closes his eyes and falls onto his back on the bed again.
“Alex,” he says, and this time, there’s a neediness to his voice. “Please . . .”
“Mmm.” I caress up to his hip and then his chest and neck and chin until I’m cupping his cheek in my hand, and I turn his face so he’s looking at me.
I lower my mouth and kiss him again, softly.
“You’re so beautiful,” I whisper against his lips before I start downward one more time, trailing my tongue along his skin as I go.
He whimpers, and his fingers thread into my hair as he gently encourages me lower. “I . . . I want . . .”
“Shh, I’ve got you.”
He shudders and lets out another quiet breath, and I reposition myself between his legs and continue kissing down his stomach.
It’s still slow and sensual, even as I wrap my hand around his shaft and take him into my mouth—just the tip at first. I suck gently, tasting him, and then flatten my tongue down along his slit and tease a low moan out of him.
And it stays slow and sensual, even as I take him in all the way to the back of my throat.
I slide up and down his length again and again, but it’s not fast or hard or with any urgency at all.
And that’s how he wants it now—a slow build to the edge.
His breathing changes with each bob of my head, and the next time his cock hits the back of my throat, he makes a small sound, like another whimper.
He stops stroking my hair, and his hands find my shoulders just before his cock starts pulsing with his release.
I swallow everything he gives me. Then I let him slip from my mouth, and I push myself up on the bed to lie next to him, gathering him up in my arms. He’s warm and soft and feels weak and tired as I hold him, and yet, he clings to me and frames my face and then kisses my mouth.
“I love you,” I whisper when he pulls back, burying his head down into the crook of my shoulder. He nods into me and closes his eyes, quiet again as we lie there.
Mornings like this, moments like this, they feel comfortable, deep, important.
He asked me once if it bothered me that sometimes—that on mornings like this—he’s unable to reciprocate, to make me come how I made him come.
And I remember telling him no, it didn’t bother me in the slightest and that I was glad he trusted me enough to let me love him like this.
Outside, the sunlight grows stronger, peeking in around the edges of the curtains on the window, and sounds of a busy Tuesday morning in downtown San Jose begin trickling in.
Footsteps from the apartment above us, cars driving along Santa Clara Street, the occasional honk of a horn.
But he doesn’t move, and so I don’t, either.
“What time do you have to leave?” he asks after a while longer, though he stays curled up against me, holding onto me.
I kiss the top of his head. “I don’t. No class today, and John said I can have the day off.”
Nico tilts his head back and looks up at me with sleepy eyes, his mop of dark hair falling over his forehead. He’s adorable and gorgeous, and I can’t help it when my heart skips a beat.
“So you’re staying home?” he asks, and when I nod, he says, “Did you already plan to, or are you just staying because of last night? Because I’m okay.
I mean”—he pushes away from me a bit and props himself up on one elbow—“the conversation with my mom went better than I thought it would, and I think I’m .
. . I’m really fucking tired but I’m also okay, you know?
I might just, I dunno, stay in bed all day and play video games. I don’t think I’ll be great company.”
By the time he stops his ramble, I’m grinning and shaking my head, and I prop myself up, too, and scoot over to kiss him. When we part, I rest my forehead against his.
“We can do whatever you want,” I tell him quietly. “I just want to spend some time with you. I already planned to stay home.”
“Are you sure?”
I nod. “Whatever you want.”
In my mind, today is the day. I can see it—us getting up and out of bed, heading on the short walk to Sunrise Café to have breakfast, then taking a bus to the Japanese garden.
Me getting down on one knee, the words I’ve been practicing, all the promises and I love yous and forevers right on the tip of my tongue.
I almost let my eyes dart over to the dresser where the rings are hidden.
But when I straighten up and our eyes meet, there’s an exhaustion in his expression that I know all too well. It’s not a physical exhaustion, but an emotional one. Our lovemaking, too, was proof that he’s okay, but he’s hanging on by a thread. Yesterday took a lot out of him.
And as much as I want it to be today, I also want him to be feeling good and happy and to have the energy to smile and laugh with me. I want him to want to come out, not for him to say yes just because he knows I want to.
So, maybe today will be the day. But maybe it won’t be. I can’t be sure yet.
Regardless, I do want to be here with him, even if it means staying home all day. Cuddling. Streaming a movie. Playing video games and generally just being together.
“Let me go grab us breakfast from Sunrise?” I suggest, letting my hand rub up and down his arm.
He smiles weakly and nods. “Yeah, that sounds good, actually.” And then, as though he’s run out of energy altogether, he closes his eyes and plops back down onto the bed with a quiet sigh.
I start to pull away so I can get dressed and get going, but he stops me, his hand lifting to my waist. He tilts his head toward me and opens his eyes halfway, then he shifts his hand and tugs gently on my hip.
“A few more minutes first?” he says.
My stomach swoops, and I immediately nod and settle back down on the bed next to him. “Of course.”
“No, no, no! Don’t go in there, Jenna! We should go around!”
“Oh, don’t worry. I got this. How many times do I have to tell you? I can tank anything!”
Nico groans in frustration, but he pushes the knob on his game controller forward, guiding his character to follow Jenna’s through a doorway and down a hall.
I follow with my character, too, casting a regeneration spell on our whole group, but I also keep arguing with her. “Not this boss, you can’t. He’ll one-shot you, and then I’m dead next, and—”
“Trust me, guys!” Jenna’s voice comes through the speaker from my laptop, and then, on the TV in front of us, we watch as her character rushes in, axe and shield raised, to meet the massive minotaur waiting at the opposite end of the room.
Nico groans again. “I’m gonna kill her.”
“I heard that!” Jenna laughs. “Look, see, guys, it’s easy! All I gotta do is not let him—”
Her character’s health suddenly drops from nearly full to nothing as the giant beast’s two-handed battle-axe drops right down on top of her.
I didn’t even have a chance to cast another healing spell.
Nico boldly holds his position, spamming fireballs at the boss until it takes him out as well, and I turn and run, morphing my character into a sleek black panther as I dash toward the exit.
Jenna’s laughing and teasing me for running, and Nico nudges my leg with his foot.
“Just let him kill you,” he says with a smirk. “You can rez and then get me. We can let Jenna run back, though. Give her time to think about how her actions affect others.”
“I heard that too!”
With a sigh, I stop, and the beast catches up to me within seconds. He raises his axe, stomps a foot, and bashes my character just once, draining all my health.
“I’m kinda tired of dying,” I complain, hitting a few buttons to resurrect my character once the monster is gone. I backtrack to find Nico’s character first and bring him back to life, and then inch my way forward just enough to reach Jenna’s warrior and bring her back to life as well.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta run, actually,” Jenna says. “My Con Law class starts in about an hour, and I need to finish writing this case brief still.”
“Procrastination is still the key to success, even in law school?” I tease, and Jenna laughs again.
“Maybe. I’ve gotten by so far, but this class is killing me. Anyway, it was nice to finally catch both of you online at the same time. It was fun!”
“It was, totally,” I agree.
Nico adds a quick thank you, and we all sign off. I take our controllers and put them away, back in a drawer in my nightstand, and Nico shuts my computer and pushes it over to the other side of the bed. Then he collapses onto his back with a dramatic groan.
Grinning, I crawl over and cuddle up next to him to nuzzle his neck.
“So, how are you feeling now?” I ask softly, and I press a series of kisses up from his collarbone to his jawline.
When I reach his mouth, he smiles and meets me halfway, his hands coming up to frame my face.
He feels good. Happy. Not as tired as he did earlier.
“Mmm, better. And hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?”
My heart leaps in my chest, and I glance toward the kitchen. The clock on the microwave says it’s one fifteen. I nod and lean in to kiss him again. “I have an idea. You can veto it if it’s too much. Okay?”
He eyes me with a cautious half smile. “Yeah, okay. What?”
“How about”—I kiss the tip of his nose—“we grab a couple slices of pizza, and then, if you’re up to it, we can catch the bus to the Japanese garden. The weather’s perfect today, and it shouldn’t be busy.”
I’m sure he can see right into my brain and just knows what I’m planning or at least that I’m planning something. But his expression just softens and he nods.
“Yeah, I think I can handle that.”
“Great,” I say, and I kiss his lips, lingering there for an extra few seconds, before I roll over and away from him to stand up. “We can get dressed and leave in five?”
When I glance back at him, he’s nodding and pushing himself up to sit. I get that sense again that he’s comfortable and happy and that whatever weight had been on his shoulders this morning, making him so exhausted, has lifted a bit.
And seeing that makes my heart stutter.
Maybe today is the day, after all.