Chapter 32
CHAPTER
THIRTY-TWO
ANGEL
Rhys helps me put the leftovers away and clear up the kitchen before we head back upstairs to my apartment. Mama doesn’t come out of her bedroom, and I don’t bother knocking to see if she’s okay. It’s best to let her calm down on her own when she gets upset.
“I’m sorry about Mama,” I say, shutting the door to my apartment behind me.
I lean back against it as Rhys presses into me. “It’s not your fault.”
“It kinda is. I forgot it was Sunday.” Guilt threads through me, making me feel all twisted up inside.
“Well, we had a lot going on today.” Rhys smiles suggestively at me, hands sliding up my shoulders and fingers playing with the hair at nape of my neck.
It’s hard to believe that we shot our second porn video this morning, and then I had Sunday dinner with Mama. Those two thoughts in the same sentence should have me burning up. But for some reason, it doesn’t.
I’m not ashamed of the porn videos. I mean, I’m not going to tell Mama about it, obviously. But there’s no embarrassment making my ears flush. There’s no regret eating away at me. I’m glad I did gay for pay, because it brought me to Rhys.
Although… now that we’re together, I guess I’m not really straight anymore? And the for-pay thing… well.
“Um, I, uh, think I need to tell you something.” Now my ears heat.
Rhys’s gaze shifts to my left ear, then my right. His eyes twinkle with amusement. “I would be worried, but judging by the color of your ears, it might not be so bad?”
I reach up to scratch my jaw. “Maybe we should sit down?”
Rhys’s eyes dim a fraction, then he takes my hand and leads me into the living room. Like earlier, he pushes me down onto the couch, then sits himself down in my lap.
“Okay, we’re sitting. What do you need to tell me?” He’s still wearing a teasing expression, but there’s a hint of wariness underneath it.
I take a quick steadying breath, then spit it out. “You know how I’m supposed to be gay for pay? Well, I’m not. Gay for pay, I mean.”
The concern in Rhys’s eyes morphs into confusion. “The gay part or the pay part?”
“Either. Both.”
He looks more confused.
I scrunch up my face. I’m not explaining this right. I’m only making things worse.
“Hey.” Rhys brackets my face with both hands. “Let’s start from the beginning. You were supposed to be gay for pay, but…? ”
“I was supposed to be straight, but doing gay porn for money.”
Rhys gives me a decisive nod. “Right, yes, I’m following.”
“But I’m not straight.” That’s the first time I’ve said it out loud and just as the words leave my mouth, a light, bubbly feeling floats up in my chest. “I’m not straight!” I exclaim.
“I figured as much.” Rhys laughs out loud, throwing his head back, exposing his long, elegant neck. His hair swishes through the air and all I want is to nuzzle my nose to where his pulse beats the strongest.
I have to clear my throat before continuing, and I reluctantly drag my gaze away from Rhys’s neck. “If I’m not straight, then what does that make me?”
He gives me a one-shouldered shrug. “Bi? Pan? Maybe you are gay? Doesn’t matter. You don’t have to figure that out right away.”
I nod, though I don’t really know what he means by “pan”. I have pans in the kitchen?
“What’s the pay part?”
“Uh…” This is more embarrassing to admit. “Well, the thing is, I didn’t really need the money? I mean, the money’s great. We have a second mortgage on the house because of my pop, so the money’ll help pay it off. But like, I was managing with just my construction paycheck, so we weren’t about to lose the house or anything.”
Rhys hesitates before responding, his brows drawing together a fraction, like he’s trying to process what I said.
“So you don’t need the money,” he clarifies.
“No.”
“And you didn’t need it before we started either. ”
“No.”
“And you knew you didn’t need the money.”
“Yes.”
“So the whole money thing was an excuse.”
“Yes.”
Rhys’s eyes narrow in suspicion. “If money was an excuse, why did you really want to shoot porn with me?”
The answer is so obvious, I don’t even know how to explain it. “Because… Because I…”
Rhys’s suspicion fades as he watches all the emotions that must be flying across my face. “Teddy bear?”
“Because I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
His lips part in a silent gasp, and for a second he looks like he might start crying. But then his face breaks out into a wide grin. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you either.”
I close the distance between us, catching Rhys’s lips in a desperate kiss. He tastes like the marinara sauce Mama makes from scratch, tangy with a kick of spice. Exactly how Rhys should always taste.
“Stay the night?” I ask, keeping my lips against his.
He smiles without pulling away. “Don’t you have to work tomorrow morning? At like, the ass-crack of dawn?”
“Yeah, but you can sleep in.” My hands slip under the hem of his sweater. “You can stay here for as long as you’d like. I’ll give you the spare key so you can come and go whenever you want.”
He giggles, and his hair shimmers in a curtain around us. “Then I can snoop around your apartment all day.”
“I’ve got nothing to hide.” And I really don’t. Not anymore. Everything I have, everything I am is laid out in the open for Rhys. He can have all of me .
Rhys’s smile widens. “No, you don’t. That’s why I love you so much. Now take me to bed.”
I shift forward, then scoop my hands under Rhys’s bum. He clings me to me as I pick him up and carry him to the bedroom.
I fall backward onto the bed and Rhys climbs up to straddle my hips. I fill my hands with Rhys’s muscled thighs, that perfect curve at the crease of his hip, the swell of his bum. Rhys arches, pushing back into my palms, even as he rubs himself all over my front.
I moan as he plunges his tongue into my mouth, licking deep and nibbling at my lips until my head spins from lack of oxygen.
“I love you, teddy bear.”
“I love you, too, sweetheart.” The endearment just slips out.
Rhys pauses, gazing down at me, surprised.
A burst of panic makes my stomach clench. “Is it okay if I call you that? I don’t have a nickname for you, and ‘baby’ feels… I don’t know, weird. You’re not a baby. You’re a man.”
I can feel my ears heat a bit at the explanation. I’ve never had anyone I could use a term of endearment with, and I want to make sure it’s something Rhys will like.
Rhys’s smile breaks wide across his face. “‘Sweetheart’. I love it. It feels very you. You’re definitely not a ‘baby’ type of guy.”
“Sweetheart.” I try it out again and Rhys’s breath hitches in response. I like it too. It feels right. It feels like us. “Sweetheart.”
Rhys attacks my mouth, tangling his tongue with mine as his fingers fumble with the buttons of my shirt. I drag my hands up Rhys’s back, taking his sweater with them. We break apart just long enough to pull Rhys’s sweater off, then he’s back, feeding me his tongue.
It takes us ages to undress, neither of us willing to stop kissing to remove our clothes. But eventually, we’re naked and I’ve got Rhys’s lithe body sliding against mine.
“Please, Rhys, I want to suck you,” I plead with him.
“Hmm, well, when you ask so nicely, how can I say no?” He plants one more kiss on my lips before righting himself.
But instead of shuffling forward so I can get my mouth around his dick, he turns around so he’s facing my feet, knees on either side of my head.
“Wha—”
Rhys tilts his hips so his erection pokes me in the chin, and at the same time, he takes my dick in hand.
Oh. I get it. I guess this is what they call a sixty-nine. I can get on board with that.
I lift my head and take Rhys’s dick into my mouth. It’s a bit awkward since he’s so much smaller than me, and I have to hold my head above the bed or else he’ll slip out. But at this angle, Rhys can slide his dick right into my throat without triggering my gag reflex. I grab a pillow to stuff under my head, then tug on his hips to encourage him.
“Fuck, teddy bear.” Rhys nuzzles his face into my crotch, his breath hot against my balls as he keeps stroking me with his hand.
“Mmm,” I hum, unable to respond when my mouth is full of his dick.
“Oh god.” Rhys is gentle with his thrusts, his hips moving slowly as he pushes his dick into my throat .
His balls rest heavily across my face. I suck in a quick breath every time he pulls out. And every breath is full of Rhys’s sweet, flowery scent.
I’m drowning in him. Saturated in him. I didn’t know life could be this good.
I jerk when Rhys’s lips seal around the head of my dick. I’m still a little sensitive from shooting the video earlier today, but Rhys is careful as he suckles me. His tongue swirls around the crown of my dick and the way he works me with his hands and his mouth feels like the most erotic massage.
I drift in that blissful place between awake and unconscious. My brain checks out and all I’m left with is sensation after sensation.
The scent of Rhys’s arousal. My throat full to bursting. The heat of his mouth on me. His talented hands wringing pleasure from me in ways I could never have before imagined.
He takes me all the way in, swallowing around me as his lips reach the base of my dick. The pressure of his throat is incredible, and when he hums the vibrations make me groan.
My arms snake around his narrow waist, and the slimness of his body, how small he is compared to me, makes me shiver with delight. I hold him to me, content to be stuffed full of him just as he’s stuffed full of me.
“Fucking hell, teddy bear.” Rhys’s voice is hoarse. “You keep moaning and it feels so goddamn good.”
His hips lose their graceful rhythm, growing jerky as he nears his orgasm. He tries to pull away, but I keep him captive. I want him to come in my mouth. I want him to come down my throat .
“Christ on a stick, I’m going to come,” Rhys murmurs into my groin, and I moan extra long and extra loud.
I wriggle my tongue against his length and swallow experimentally around the obstruction in my throat.
“Oh! Fuck!” Rhys throws his head back and his body arches.
I fill my palms with his bubble butt and my fingers graze his hole.
“I’m coming!” he warns a split second before his hot seed floods me.
I swallow as fast as I can, drinking down the bitter, salty cum that has become my favorite beverage of all time.
Rhys is still spurting when he takes me back into his mouth. He sucks and strokes, drawing that low hum of pleasure higher and higher. I’m buzzing. Vibrating. Stretched taut and ready to snap.
“Rhys! Sweetheart! Please!”
He hums around my dick and that’s all the permission I need to empty myself into him. Rhys strokes me through every wave of my climax, not stopping until I’m wrung out and dry.
Then he flips around again and presses his lips to mine. I open for him, letting him feed my own cum back to me. The perfect dessert to a lovely dinner.
I’m still floating, limbs loose and languid, when Rhys tucks us into bed. He pulls the covers over us and snuggles down in my arms. We’re both lying on our sides, his back molded against my front. My dick is nestled between his bum cheeks, and his hair tickles my nose.
I have never been happier in my entire life. I feel like I’ve finally become the man I was always meant to be. And none of this would ever have happened if it wasn’t for Rhys.
Only one thing could make me even happier, and honestly, I can probably live without it. But in an absolutely ideal world, Mama would welcome Rhys into our lives with open arms. I’d be able to parade around proudly with Rhys on my arm, showing off our love the same way everyone else in the neighborhood does.
Would it be too much to ask of him? Should I be happy with what I have? It’s already so much more than I could ever have dreamed of. I shouldn’t be greedy by wanting even more.
“Teddy bear?” Rhys turns and whispers to me over his shoulder.
“Hmm?”
“What’s bothering you?”
I hesitate. I shouldn’t say anything. Especially not after making love together. Today has already been a lot. This can wait for another day.
Rhys shifts, turning in my arms so he’s facing me. He hikes one leg up over my hip and wiggles until we’re snug again.
“You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”
“I know.”
“So tell me.” He cups my cheek with his hand.
Somehow, that touch gives me the courage to speak. “You know how your cousin Barry is getting married?”
Rhys’s eyebrows shoot up at the unexpected question. I don’t blame him. I didn’t even realize I was going to ask it myself.
“What about it?”
“Are you going to go? ”
He rolls his eyes. “I guess? I’m not sure Mom would forgive me if I didn’t.”
“Would…” I gulp and steel myself. I’m pretty sure I know what his answer will be. But that doesn’t make me feel any less like a high-school kid asking someone to homecoming. “Would you like to be my date for the wedding?” I spit it out as quickly as I can and then hold my breath.
Rhys blinks and his lips curl into a slow smile. “You’re asking me to be your date? In front of everyone in the neighborhood?”
“Yes. And you can wear whatever you want. Like, a big ball gown or something. Don’t feel like you have to wear a suit or a tux or anything. I don’t care what any of them think. I want you to be exactly who?—”
Rhys cuts me off with a hard kiss that quickly softens into something tender and sweet. “Yes, teddy bear. I’ll be your date to the wedding. And I’m going to wear something spectacular.”