Chapter 14 #2
Hayden’s gaze is smoldering as he brings the bottle up to his nose again and inhales, slow and deep, eyes on me the whole time, like he wants me to feel it happen. His lashes lower, and the exhale parts his lips like heat leaving a body.
He passes me the bottle, our fingers brush, and my whole body lights up at the contact.
“And here I thought I couldn’t be any more surprised by you.”
He tilts his head. “I’ve been known to partake. Especially when I want to feel everything. They quiet the world, leaving only sensation.”
Of course that’s his answer.
I tip the bottle to my nose; the chemical sweetness hits, sharp as a match strike, and I pull it into me. “I just like how everything feels like too much and not enough at the same time. Or that I’ll crawl out of my skin if someone doesn’t touch me.”
My heart hammers as I inhale, and I feel like someone has poured sunlight and sin into my bloodstream. My skin’s too tight, my vision blurred around the edges, and all I can feel is Hayden. Every nerve writes his name and I could cum just from the sound of his breath against my neck.
Hayden exhales, eyes glued to mine. “Is that what you want right now?”
I grin. “More than anything.”
Without missing a beat, his hands lock at my waist and drag me in until there’s nowhere left to go, every tantalizing line of him pressing deliciously against me. Dominic and Elijah again fade into the crowd, laughter sparking off their skin like static.
“That,” I add, tilting the bottle to my nose and breathing in deep once more, “and they make me…”
“…horny?” Hayden finishes, leaning in closer.
“Insanely,” I breathe, the word almost a confession.
His mouth ghosts my ear. “Good,” he says, a promise I’ve already earned.
It hits me immediately, a wave of dizzying heat surging through my chest, my heart hammering in response.
My head tips back instinctively, eyes fluttering closed as warmth floods me, pooling low in my belly, sending every nerve ending into overdrive.
The music, fuck, the music courses through me, pulsing hot beneath my skin, as the bar smears neon.
The only thing in focus is Hayden’s mouth, his breath, his hands.
Alive, skin buzzing, hunger coiling low like it’s been waiting for a signal.
He moves with me effortlessly, hips aligning to mine, slow and seductive.
His body feels unbearably good, each point of contact sending sparks spiraling through my bloodstream.
His bulge presses firmly against mine, and I roll my hips against it before I can stop myself.
Chasing the drag of him like friction is oxygen and I’m struggling for air.
Through the haze, I spot Dominic and Elijah a few steps away.
Dominic’s hand cups Elijah’s jaw as they kiss, completely lost in each other.
I watch them and my whole body goes molten, hips pressing tighter against Hayden.
I want him to watch me watch the way Elijah touches Dominic.
Like he’s seconds from unbuttoning me with his teeth.
There’s something incredibly sexy in seeing them like this. My goofy best friends transformed, reminding me of their intimacy, their passion.
Hayden notices, lips curving into a smirk. “Careful. Am I discovering a new kink of yours? Do you always like watching?”
Heat floods my cheeks, and I tilt my face toward him, laughing against his jaw. “Maybe it’s them,” I tease softly. “Or maybe I can feel what they’re feeling.”
Hayden’s breath catches sharply at my honesty, and he lowers his mouth farther, lips brushing the sensitive skin beneath my ear. His voice turns deep, raw with barely restrained desire. “And this? Do you feel this, too?”
The question sends a new wave of heat spiraling through my veins, desire pooling deeper in my stomach.
My grip tightens around his shirt, and I draw him even closer.
“I feel…everything.” I palm his cock through his pants, hot, thick, so fucking hard, and squeeze until he moans, low and feral in my ear. “Especially this…”
Dominic’s laughter echoes somewhere nearby, Elijah’s voice blending into the buzz around us, but I hardly register them. All I can sense is Hayden.
“You’re torturing me,” I breathe against his lips, feeling bold, reckless, dizzy.
His mouth brushes mine, barely there, but charged with heat. “I could say the same about you.”
The room spins, colors blur, music pulses, but it all fades. There’s just Hayden, looking at me like I’m the only real thing in a world that hasn’t gone hazy and soft.
It’s the kind of moment that brands itself onto your soul. Impossible to forget even when everything else vanishes. A needy sound escapes his throat, fingers pressing harder into my hips. He guides me, his rhythm purposeful and deliberate, memorializing the way my body moves against his.
Every sensation feels heightened as my fingers drift lower, slipping carefully beneath the waistband of his pants. My heart kicks wildly as I close my hand firmly around his dick, feeling him hard and hot under my touch.
Hayden draws a sharp, ragged breath, chest rising against mine as he presses into my palm. “Slowly. Take your time.”
My grip tightens, stroking him with deliberate slowness, causing him to groan against my neck.
“Like this?” I whisper, thumb swirling the tip of his cock.
“Mm-hm.” Hayden’s hips roll forward, guiding me. “Exactly like that.”
My fingers press under the head of his cock and he’s full-on panting now. Grinding against my palm, and here, with him groaning in my ear, it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever felt. “Say it,” I whisper, stroking him harder. “Tell me how badly you want to fuck me. Right here.”
“Oh, sweet Levi…” His lips drag against my jaw. “You have no idea how badly I want to be inside of you. To feel you clench around me and know I’m the one making you fall apart.”
“Then what are you waiting for?” I taunt between breaths, heat spiraling through me, gripping him tighter because I love how it makes him shudder. Hayden Harlow…fully surrendered to this moment, and my body aching with an intensity I’ve never felt before.
He dips his head, mouth a breath from mine. “Levi…” he whispers, heavy with unspoken promises.
I shiver at the sound of my name, and tilt my head up to catch his gaze, dizzy and breathless. “Yes, Hayden?”
But instead of answering, his mouth captures mine, a surge of pure desire that leaves me weak at the knees. He deepens our kiss until it obliterates every rational thought. My hands cling to his hair desperately, itching for more of him. His touch, his mouth, his sexy-as-fuck body on mine.
When we break apart, panting and breathless, Hayden’s eyes are dark with want. “We should get out of here. Don’t you think?”
It’s not a question, not really. More of an invitation. Intoxicating in its simplicity, the weight of it coiled tight between us.
I pull back to look at him. My pulse is racing so fast it’s almost concerning. He’s flushed, hair a mess from where my fingers had been knotted moments before. The normally sharp edges of his expression are softened and unguarded.
I swallow hard. “Yeah,” I whisper, barely audible. “That’s a really good idea.”
He threads our fingers together, intimate and earned, not letting go as he weaves us through the crowd.
His touch burns into my skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
The cold air does nothing to cool the heat simmering between us.
We don’t say much as we walk. Don’t need to.
Hayden’s thumb traces slow circles against the back of my hand, and with every step, the tension stretches thin.
When we reach his building, he turns to face me.
There’s a question in his eyes as we climb the stairs, like he’s weighing everything he’s about to give.
Like this fragile thing between us will break the second we cross that threshold.
I squeeze his hand again when we reach the landing, hoping it says what I can’t: You’re safe with me.
Without another word, he unlocks the door and pulls me inside.
The moment the door clicks shut behind us, the tension between us snaps taut.
The silence isn’t empty, it’s brimming. Thick with want, charged with something I don’t have language for.
Hayden steps into the space beside me, his movements careful.
Measured. As if to give me a second to change my mind.
I don’t.
I step forward instead, finding his mouth again.
He responds instantly, his hands sliding to my waist and tugging me closer.
Our kiss deepens, heat blooming in my chest, in my fingertips, everywhere.
There’s intention behind everything he does.
Like he’s been holding back since the moment we met and finally, finally, he’s letting himself want something. Someone.
Me.
One second, we’re in the doorway; the next, we’re a frantic tangle of teeth and tongues, yanking at our clothes like they’ve personally offended us.
Jackets hit the floor. His belt clinks. My shirt is halfway up my chest before he rips it off entirely.
We’re chasing bare skin like it holds the answer to every burning question.
By the time we reach the bedroom, we’re breathless with laughter and gasps between kisses.
He yanks his shirt over his head; I kick off my shoes.
We fumble with belt loops and buttons, cursing into each other’s mouths as we struggle out of our clothes and into one another.
His shadows follow us. Silent, sinuous things that slip along the floor, the walls, slinking around our ankles and wrists like they’re part of this, too.
Surprising no one, Hayden is stunning.
But not in the predictable “hot guy” way.