Chapter 14
KINCAID
IndexEcho: It’s hours after lights-out here and I can’t sleep. Tell me something that made you smile today.
DrunkenPoet: This. Right now. You messaging me.
_____________________
I didn’t want to think about Alex Marian as often as I did, but he was damned near impossible to forget. So after two weeks of not being able to find a night alone, I broke.
Give me five minutes out by the dumpsters.
Firebug
OMW
I pulled into Timber’s back lot and parked in the darkest corner. It was late, and I could hear music and crowd noise coming through the open kitchen door. It didn’t seem like Timber’s Friday night crowd was thinning anytime soon.
As soon as Alex appeared, I didn’t waste any time. I yanked him behind the giant dumpster enclosure and kissed the fuck out of him.
We kissed like we were both starving, but all too soon, he was called away.
“Boss? You out here?” someone shouted.
Alex pulled back with a dazed expression on his face and whispered, “What?”
I used my thumb to wipe his bottom lip. “Call back that you’ll be there in a minute,” I said with a soft laugh.
“Be there in a minute!” he shouted, and then he leaned in to kiss me again, his eyelids still only half-open.
We would have lost track of time again if the radio hadn’t squawked in my truck.
“Fuck, gotta go,” I said, pushing him gently away while already counting down the minutes until I could see him again.
Two days later, he was the one who started it.
Firebug
I have to drive past your place on the way to deliver a catering order. You home?
Have to leave here in twenty. Make it quick.
He sped down my driveway twelve minutes later, and we spent another ten with our hands up each other’s shirts and our mouths locked together.
“Fuck!” Alex barked, shoving me away. “This is the worst! I fucking hate this.”
I stared at him for a beat, trying not to take it personally when I realized he was talking about the stolen moments of time. Not the kiss.
“Give me a night and I’ll block it off. I’ll get someone to cover me, no matter what,” I said without thinking. While work definitely came first, I didn’t need to work every night. Or so I told myself.
Alex’s hair was wild from where I’d had my hands in it. “You mean it?”
I blew out a breath. “Yeah. Tell me when.”
Three nights later, I heard the crunch of gravel outside and hastily finished wiping down the counters. Not that I gave a shit what Alex Marian thought about my housekeeping skills. I simply liked a clean kitchen. Or so I insisted on telling myself.
When I opened the door, I couldn’t help but stare. The weather had gotten colder, and Alex stood there in a heather-green sweater and faded jeans. Somehow, the green brought out the reddish tones in his hair and made his lips look rosy.
“Get in here.” I yanked him in and immediately began kissing him, forgetting at first that we didn’t need to rush. By the time I remembered, Alex’s hands were on my ass, and I’d be damned if I was gonna do anything to stop him.
“Kiss lessons, check,” he said against my mouth. “Ready to level up, Professor.”
His hand moved to the front of my jeans, where my cock was already plenty leveled up. As soon as he pressed his palm against my length, I groaned into his mouth. “You’re picking up skills like a pro,” I teased.
“Fake it till you make it.”
Alex’s fingers moved along my length, testing the size and shape of my erection through the fabric until I was sure there was probably a wet spot on both my boxer briefs and my jeans.
“Hand jobs. Good place to start,” I said breathlessly. “Open my jeans. Take me out.”
He chuckled at my instructions. “Gee, thanks, Prof. Wouldn’t have been able to figure out the steps.”
“Five points off for mouthing the teacher.”
The word choice landed between us and set us both off laughing. Alex grinned at me. “I was hoping that would be bonus points, not deducted ones.”
“Mouthing off,” I corrected. “I’m not working with a full set of brain cells right now.”
When Alex looked down at the fly of my jeans, I caught a whiff of his shampoo, that same sweet and tart combo that had drawn my attention early on. Cherries, maybe. I ran my fingers through his hair to get more of it.
As soon as his warm hand clasped my dick, I sucked in a breath. “Jesus.” I wasn’t going to last. This was going to be laughable. How long had it been for me? At least since before I’d moved here.
Alex’s free hand shoved my jeans and underwear down until I was bare enough for him to stare at me while he began stroking me. “Just like that,” I murmured.
Honestly, he wasn’t doing anything miraculous. It was simply the fact that it was him, his hand was warm and solid on my dick, that had me riding the edge.
Alex used his other hand to cup my balls, testing them in his palm before rolling and tugging them gently. “This okay?”
I gripped his jaw and pulled him in for a hard kiss. “Yes, dammit. Fuck.”
The little noise he made as I put my tongue in his mouth made my cock weep. His thumb swiped over the tip and spread the slick precum over the cap.
“Wanna taste it,” he said in a voice that sounded unsure.
“Baby, I’m about to blow right now just from your hand on me. If you—”
He dropped to his knees and licked across the head of my cock. It took all of my self-control not to come in his face. “Fuck! Alex. Fuck. You don’t… oh fucking Christ. That… just like that.”
“This okay?” he asked, pulling back after licking and sucking experimentally. I could tell he was asking truly, but I also knew he was well aware of how good he was making me feel.
I nodded frantically. “Whatever you want to do is okay. Whatever feels good.”
One hand held on to my sac while the other held the base of my shaft. His mouth covered me again, and he took me deep enough to gag.
The sight of Alex Marian gagging on my cock was all it took. “Move,” I warned, nudging him off.
He fell back on his heels as I tried to keep my release from hitting him. It was messy and fumbling, but my orgasm shot through me like liquid fire, racing through my nerves and lighting sparklers in my vision.
As soon as I finished, Alex moved my cum-filled hand away and leaned forward to take my cock into his mouth gently, licking and sucking as if recording everything in his memories.
He pulled off and stood up, leaning in to kiss me again. The salty taste of my release was on his tongue, and I explored it with my own. His hands moved around me to cup my ass.
“Wait here,” I said, pulling back. “I need to clean up, then I want to make you feel as good as you just made me feel.”
“Oh,” he said, eyes wide. “No, that’s… it’s fine, I already, um…” His cheeks reddened, and his ears turned scarlet.
“Alexander Marian, did you get off just from sucking my cock?” I asked, relishing his discomfort. He was so damned adorable. Inexperienced and fresh.
Young.
“You should take it as a compliment,” he said, wiggling his hips uncomfortably.
I nodded my head toward my bathroom. “Come on, you can clean up back here.”
On the way to the bathroom, I considered how to play this. Theoretically, this was physical only. A chance for Alex to get a little sexual experience with someone trustworthy. And since we’d both already had an orgasm, that meant tonight’s official reason for getting together was complete.
But… shit, we’d both gone out of our way to make time for this, and I kind of didn’t want it to be over already.
It seemed Alex was having similar thoughts.
“I could cook you something,” he said as I handed him a pair of clean joggers. “To be honest, I’m kind of starving. Today was crazy at work, and I barely had a chance to think, much less eat.”
“What if all I have in the fridge is a carton of eggs and a leftover leaf of kale?”
He shrugged. “I’ll make an omelette.”
“What if it’s an apple and a heel of old bread?”
His grin quirked up. “Apple crumble if you have sugar and cinnamon. If not, we might need to order in.”
I led him to the kitchen. “You’re in luck. I went shopping yesterday, so there’s more than that in there. What are you in the mood for?”
Alex nudged me out of the way. “I offered to cook. Stand down, Chief.”
I watched him move easily in my kitchen. “Don’t set shit on fire,” I grumbled. “That would be hell for my reputation.”
His laugh was easy and sexy as fuck. It made my stomach clench with the desire to strip him down and continue our “lessons,” preferably over the kitchen table or back of the sofa.
Instead, I sat on my hands and let him cook for me.
“Tell me about your life before Legacy,” he said. “All I know is you’re from Philly.”
I nodded, wondering how much to tell him. Was this just a casual conversation, or was he interested in more than that?
“My parents died when I was young,” I said, using language that was benign enough to keep from making things awkward.
“So I ended up in the system.” I watched Alex carefully in expectation of the face-dropping “aww” that most people did, but he schooled his face with the small exception of a divot of concern between his eyebrows.
I continued. “Mostly, I stayed at this group foster home I actually liked. But a couple of times, I was sent to live with foster parents. In one case, the lady I was placed with tried really hard to convince me I was part of her family. Which would have been good if I’d liked her or been happy there.
But I didn’t, and I wasn’t. She has a son my age who was and still is a giant pain in my ass. ”
Alex looked up from dicing chicken breasts on a cutting board. “So what happened?”