8. Chapter 8
Chapter eight
N oah didn’t consider himself na?ve. He knew there were no easy answers ahead. Only hard choices.
The easiest choice by far, though, was Finn.
His entire life, he had been the type to leave when things got hard. Instead of working through issues or finding mutual ground, he just packed up his stuff and ghosted. It had been easier that way. Cleaner.
With Finn, he had finally found someone worth staying for.
While he’d never given much thought to what that might look like in practice, he hadn’t expected it to feel so damn consuming—or so frightening. Because having someone he loved, someone he’d do anything for, meant having everything to lose.
“I’m not going to let her come between us,” he said, his voice thick with the intensity of his emotions. “You belong to me , Finn Truitt, and I’ll fight for what’s mine.”
Finn’s hand smoothed up his spine and came to rest on the back of his neck, urging him closer until their brows rested together. “That’s a two-way street, Noah. You are mine. My whole damn world.”
The depths of that conviction washed over him, both soothing and arousing. “Show me.” He rubbed their lips together and pulled away, loving the way his mate chased after him. “Make me yours, Finn.”
Finn growled, a dark, delicious sound full of possession as he gripped Noah’s nape and slanted their mouths together. There was no teasing this time. No reservations. Only heat and need and hunger.
The cowboy didn’t just kiss him. He laid claim to his mouth, branding him from the inside out, leaving no room for him to doubt exactly who he belonged to.
They ate at each other, desperation making them clumsy. Their mouths crashed together, lips firm but yielding, and every stroke of their tongues only fueled the fire burning between them.
Noah groaned, his body vibrating with anticipation as he rocked his hips, grinding against his mate as he sought the friction he craved. His cock throbbed behind his zipper, swollen and aching, and his stomach clenched, fluttering with excitement.
With shaking hands, he mapped the hard muscles of Finn’s chest and shoulders, caressing and groping, eager to feel all that smooth skin without any barriers between them.
A shiver raced through him when his mate dipped a hand beneath the hem of his shirt, his fingers dancing across Noah’s back and leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.
Blood roared in his ears as adrenaline flood his veins, and his pulse spiked, his heart drumming painfully against his ribs. Every brush of fingers, every glide of their tongues felt like too much and not enough at the same time to his overstimulated system.
“Fuck, I want you,” Finn growled, breaking away from his mouth to trail wet kisses up the side of his throat.
Noah couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. Acting on pure instinct, he tipped his head back, giving his mate more access as the heat of desire burned across his skin.
“Then have me.”
The words hung between them, both promise and invitation. Whatever Finn wanted, whatever he needed, Noah would give it to him. He didn’t even have to ask.
A low growl rumbled between them, and Finn’s arms locked around his waist, holding him easily as the vampire pushed up from the sofa. His mate carried him across the room, his lips still fused to Noah’s neck, and deposited him gently in the center of the king-sized mattress.
The moment his back hit the comforter, Noah wasted no time stripping out of his clothes and tossing them carelessly to the floor. Finally naked and free and restraints, he fell back against the bed again and palmed his aching shaft, arching up into the tight circle of his fist.
“Hurry,” he panted, squeezing his eyes closed as waves of pleasure washed over him.
“Look at me,” Finn demanded, his voice raw and filled with gravel.
Noah instantly snapped his eyes open, his gaze going to the end of the mattress. The sight of his mate standing there, all chiseled muscles wrapped in sun-kissed skin made his heart jump and his legs tremble.
Long and thick, his cock jutted from a nest of dark curls, the engorged crown a deep red. When Finn reached down to palm the length, stroking his big hand along the shaft, Noah’s entire body jerked, and a deep, needy groan ripped from his throat.
Fuck, the guy had barely touched him yet, and he was already clinging to the edge.
“Finn,” he gasped. “Please.” He had never begged for anything in his entire life, but if it got him what he wanted, he would happily plead himself hoarse. “Fuck me.”
Whether generous or just too far gone to keep up the teasing, Finn didn’t make him wait. The end of the mattress dipped as he crawled onto the bed, and Noah instantly parted his legs, welcoming the vampire into the cradle of his hips.
He hissed in a sharp breath through his teeth when their heated skin met, and he exhaled with a ragged moan at the feel of Finn’s heavy erection sliding along the crease of his thigh.
Their mouths met in another blistering, frantic kiss, their tongues tangling and retreating, a pale mimicry of what they both really wanted. They groped at each other, every touch harder and rougher than the last, leaving swaths of pink across their skin.
The scrape of Finn’s stubble against his neck and jaw only pushed him higher, and the slight pinch of teeth against his shoulder nearly undid him.
Hanging onto his control by a frayed thread, he bowed up from the mattress, arching into his mate in wordless demand for more. His skin pulled taut against clenched muscles, tension bleeding from every line of his body as he struggled to regulate his breathing.
It didn’t do any good. Every panted breath seared his lungs and made his head spin until he felt delirious with raw need.
Teetering on the edge, desperate for release, he cried out when a slick finger brushed over his opening. The tight ring fluttered and clenched, convulsing around the invasion as Finn sank into his hole to the second knuckle.
One finger became two. Two became three. And not until he was writhing and whimpering against the blankets did Finn finally give him what he really wanted.
Lights exploded behind his closed eyelids when the vampire breached him, his thick cock stretching him to his limits. Noah welcomed the burn, riding the bite of pain all the way to the top.
Linking their fingers together, Finn stretched his arm over his head and pinned his hand to the mattress as he started a slow, controlled rhythm. Noah didn’t want his restraint, though. He wanted him wild. He wanted the unfiltered version Finn never showed to the rest of the world.
He wanted his mate just as desperate as him.
“More,” he encouraged, lifting his hips to meet the next thrust. “You won’t hurt me. Fuck me like you mean it, Finn.”
He didn’t know if it was the implication of challenge or simply the permission to let go, but a savage light flashed in his mate’s eyes, and a dark growl poured from his lips.
His fingers tightened around Noah’s, the tips biting into the back of his hand, and he snapped his hips, driving into him with almost feral intensity.
Every hard, demanding thrust dragged him higher. Every deep plunge pulled him closer to the edge. A current hummed through his veins, and a tingle buzzed at the base of his spine, the familiar signals of impending climax.
They moved as one, rising and falling, sweat-slicked bodies sliding together as they raced toward a common goal. As their tempo increased, so did his volume, his cries echoing off the high ceilings to reverberate around the room.
Wrapping his legs around Finn’s waist, he held tight, trying to anchor himself as he was dragged beneath a sea of sensations. The pressure built, then leveled, the lull just before the tipping point.
Hovering on the precipice, straddling the line between the impossible and what he could bear, he met his mate’s gaze in the dim light. They didn’t need words. That one look said it all.
Guided by instinct, Noah turned his head, baring his neck in offering and submission.
He expected it to hurt, at least a little, but he felt only a rush of pure pleasure when Finn’s fangs sank into the crook of his neck. Heat bloomed beneath his mate’s lips and spread, flooding him with endorphins that finally pushed him over the edge.
He shouted Finn’s name as his orgasm ripped through him. His muscles tightened, his body rigid as steams of translucent cream jetted from his cock to splash against his belly.
Finn followed after him, his growl of completion vibrating in his chest as pulse after pulse of his release filled Noah’s clutching channel.
Dizzy and disoriented, he moaned his approval when he felt Finn’s lips cover his, his tongue prodding the seam, seeking entrance. He opened willingly, shuddering as the distinct taste of copper filled his mouth.
He swallowed instinctively, crying out again when another surge of heat pulsed through him. It was like being bathed in pure, unfiltered sunlight. The sensation lasted only briefly, fading quickly and leaving behind a sense of unshakeable certainty.
Finn was his, and no one, not even the gods themselves, would take the vampire from him.
“Fuck, I think I died again.”
Noah stiffened as Finn’s ragged voice floated into his mind, but he settled almost at once with an indulgent grin. When his mate started to roll away, however, he wrapped his arms around his neck to stop him.
“Stay.”
Finn stilled, clearly working through the same shock Noah just had. “I’m crushing you.”
“You’re not,” he assured him. “I like it.” Surrounded by Finn’s big frame, he felt safe, like nothing could touch him. “Just stay.”
Of course, he didn’t listen. The cowboy never did.
Rolling to his side, he pulled Noah with him, gathered him into his arms to hold him against his chest. “How’s this?”
Noah smiled and snuggled closer, his heart full and his body blissfully relaxed. “Perfect.”