Chapter 12
A FTER HIS SHOWER, Daniel wrapped a towel around his waist and made his way through to Brantley’s room, where he’d unpacked and put his clothes away earlier. He pulled some briefs on and was about to get into bed when he stopped short of slipping between the covers.
Just like the rest of his house, Brantley’s bedroom was pristine.
The distressed bamboo hardwood extended into the room, and in the center was a king-sized platform bed that was pushed up against the back wall.
The white duvet that lay atop the mattress always made the bed inviting.
Daniel could literally step up into the low-to-the-ground, wooden-lipped-framed bed, and right then, he wondered who else had stepped up into that bed and lain down in it with Brantley. And that had him backing up.
The silence throughout the house let him know that Brantley still hadn’t come inside, and he thought that maybe, like himself, he’d needed some time. Some space to think about everything that had happened today and what was about to happen from there on out.
Deciding he’d feel more comfortable sitting in the cushioned wicker chair by the window, Daniel stared out at the pinkish-blue sky and willed himself to be forgiving.
Two weeks. He had two weeks to work his shit out…
and then move on. He’d originally gone back there with the intention of getting Brantley out of his system.
But he was starting to realize that while he’d spent years stewing over his anger, Brantley had believed he had done him a favor and truly wished him happiness and success—and how could he stay mad at that?
Even if the man had gone about it the wrong way.
“Finn?”
Daniel looked toward the bedroom door—Brantley was standing there with wet, disheveled hair, and his shirt looked stuck to him. Daniel knew exactly where he’d been and what he’d been doing.
His afternoon swim.
The glow of dusk was still enough to light the room, and when Daniel stood, Brantley saw how little he was wearing and unconsciously licked his lips.
“You didn’t have to stay awake. I know the last couple of days have to have been exhausting,” he said, tossing his flip-flops on the floor just inside the door.
Daniel walked toward him, and Brantley stepped farther into the room, letting his eyes sweep down his body before they locked and held on the ink trailing the lower right side of Daniel’s torso.
“I was planning to take a power nap. But I couldn’t bring myself to get into bed. I kept thinking about who might’ve been in it since I left.”
Brantley’s gaze flew up to his, and he closed the distance between them until he was standing on the plush white rug. “No one.”
“Come on, Brantley.” Daniel reached for his face and lowered his head to whisper against his lips. “Don’t lie to me.”
Brantley circled Daniel’s wrists and tugged his hands away, narrowing his eyes. “I’m not lying. I didn’t say there hasn’t been anyone. But no one’s been in that bed. That’s our bed, Finn.”
Daniel looked over his shoulder at the place he’d spent so many nights, and days. Then he turned back to the one he wanted to lie down on it with now and said softly, “You went for a swim.”
When Brantley nodded, Daniel fingered the top button of his wet shirt.
“Yes. I did.”
“This shirt must be really uncomfortable, then,” he said as he pushed the button free.
As Brantley brought his hands up to place them on his hips, Daniel took another step toward him.
He bit back the groan that wanted to slip free when those cool fingers traced the elastic of his briefs to the center of his back.
Then he nuzzled his nose into the damp hair just under Brantley’s ear and kissed him there.
“You smell like the ocean.”
Brantley angled his head to the side to give him better access, and there was no way Daniel wasn’t going to take it. He couldn’t resist drawing his tongue down Brantley’s neck before nipping at his shoulder. “You taste like it too.”
The fingers on his lower back trailed up his spine, then Brantley whispered his name like a prayer, and Daniel finally lost the battle to resist him.
Taking each side of Brantley’s shirt, he pushed one and then the other down his arms until he had them pinned by his sides.
Brantley tilted his face up toward his, and Daniel lowered his head to run his tongue along the seam of his lips.
The salty taste of the sea seemed to trigger an explosion of lust. Then Brantley moaned against his lips, and Daniel couldn’t stop himself from thrusting his tongue deep to continue his assault.
God, this was the sweetest torture there could be.
So was it heaven or hell? Most likely hell, he thought, because the flames licking their way up through his body could have only been a result of something sinful.
Brantley was pushing forward to get closer to him, and Daniel released the shirt, letting it fall to the floor so he could finally touch that handsome face.
He bit and nipped at Brantley’s lower lip as his hands came back to his hips, and this time, when he traced his fingers around to his back, Brantley slid them down to cup a handful of his ass.
As their bodies came into full contact, Daniel finally let free the groan that had been building in him, and he thrust his barely confined erection against the wet material of Brantley’s shorts. The fingers on his ass flexed and urged him closer, and his mouth curved at the familiar move.
No one’s hands affected Daniel the way this man’s did, and it amazed him that even after all of this time apart, Brantley still had the power to unravel him with one touch.
Tearing his mouth free, Daniel took a step back and looked into the heavy-lidded eyes focused on his. He then pushed his fingers into his briefs, bent at the waist, and boldly removed them.
Kicking the scrap of cotton on top of Brantley’s shirt, he reached for the button of Brantley’s shorts and slid it free.
With their eyes locked, he slowly drew the zipper down and then slipped his fingers inside to remove the shorts and boxers as he lowered to his knees in front of the man who he still very much wanted to worship.
brANTLEY’S CHEST ROSE and fell as he stared down at Daniel.
Christ, he hadn’t imagined for one minute that this was where the evening would lead when he’d come back up to the house and locked the doors. He’d expected to find Daniel in bed and quite possibly asleep. Instead, he’d been sitting over by the window in brooding silence.
Brantley’s swim had cleared his mind somewhat, just as it always did. But as soon as Daniel had stood and he’d gotten a full look at what he had, or hadn’t , been wearing, all sane and rational thoughts had fled.
All six feet, two inches of Daniel on display was a sight that would render anyone speechless, but add in those tight Calvin Kleins that cradled his balls like a warm palm and Brantley had forgotten anything other than getting close enough to touch.
Never had he expected, however, that Daniel would go to his knees.
And never had he expected the way he was now running his hands reverently up the backs of his thighs.
“Brantley,” Daniel whispered as he leaned forward to place his lips against Brantley’s hipbone.
Unable to believe that this was really happening, he was almost afraid to touch the man kneeling at his feet, but when Daniel trailed his tongue down the V of his leg to nuzzle his nose into the root of his aching shaft, Brantley could no longer keep his hands off him.
He stroked his hands through Daniel’s hair and marveled at the soft texture as warm lips skimmed the underside of his hardened flesh.
His fingers flexed in response, tightening in the short strands, and the hands on the backs of his thighs mimicked the move.
That was when words that broke his heart floated through the silent room.
“I want to forget. Forget how much it hurts when I’m not with you.” Brantley tipped Daniel’s face up, and those wide, golden eyes found his as Daniel added, “Help me forget.”
Brantley’s breath caught at the vulnerability in that request, and he found himself nodding as he lowered to straddle Daniel’s thighs.
As their bodies grazed one another, Daniel took his mouth in a quick kiss, and before Brantley knew what he was about to do, he shifted and had him on his back on the white rug.
DANIEL PLANTED HIS hands on either side of Brantley’s head and studied the face of the man under him. It seemed as if he’d waited every day since he’d left for this exact moment. Then Brantley widened his legs, and there was no way Daniel wasn’t going to take him up on that invite.
Nestling his cock in against Brantley’s, he marveled at the delicious feel of the familiar as he crushed his mouth against the hungry one waiting for him.
Brantley’s legs wrapped around his waist, and Daniel speared his fingers into his damp hair as he lifted up to get even closer to him. He growled at the eager response.
Fuck, he thought. I need more of him.
He raised his head, his lips curved as Brantley chased his mouth.
“Ten minutes,” Daniel said, and then cursed when Brantley arched his body up against his.
“I told you ten minutes for the age reference. And one thing you need to know about the man I’ve become, Professor Hayes”—he put a palm to the center of Brantley’s chest, and when he lay back against the rug, Daniel followed to tease his nipple with the tip of his tongue—“is that I like control. I like to be the one to decide what I’m doing in my life.
That also extends here, to the bedroom. Will that work for you?
” Brantley slowly nodded but otherwise remained silent until Daniel bit his nipple and added, “Also, I’m a man of my word. Ten minutes. Is ten minutes.”
A frustrated sound echoed around the room, but the hands in his hair disappeared as Brantley stretched them back over his head.
Daniel hummed in the back of his throat, and his cock throbbed at the permission he was being given.
Then he started to make his way down Brantley’s body.
He followed the trail of hair along his sternum until he got to his navel, where he licked and sucked the salt from his skin.
Then he swiped a warm, wet path farther down, the taste of Brantley so addictive that he needed more.
When he was finally between Brantley’s thighs, he put one leg and then the other over his wide shoulders and shifted to his knees, angling Brantley’s body up toward him.
“Hell, Finn,” Brantley gasped, reaching down Daniel’s body to fist his cock.
But he wasn’t having any of that. He batted the hand out of his way, swiped his tongue across the root of Brantley’s cock, and then said, “Mine. Keep your hands on the rug.”
Brantley glowered at him but did as he’d been told, and Daniel gave him a salacious grin that had Brantley bucking his hips up toward him. Fuck yes, it seemed he’d just discovered something new about his professor. Brantley liked taking orders from him.
“Keep your hips still.”
Brantley’s eyes flared, and Daniel smirked. Oh yeah , he liked it a whole damn lot. Having Brantley under him like this was a heady combination of coming home and newfound eroticism. It was both old and new, and that made this experience one thing—hot as fuck.
When they’d been together in the past, Brantley had been the more dominant of the two.
He’d been the one with the experience. He had been the professor, the one who made all the rules.
But now, Daniel thought as he circled his straining flesh, angling it up for his mouth—now that was all about to fucking change.
He took Brantley between his lips and sucked on the plump head, and when he bucked up toward him, Daniel raised only his eyes.
That had those wayward hips freezing in place.
Brantley clamped his teeth down on his lower lip, and as Daniel lowered his eyes back to the task, and then his lips over his cock until he hit the back of his throat, his name tore from Brantley in the most satisfying way imaginable.
Drawing his mouth off him, he looked toward the clock on the wall and then kissed the inside of Brantley’s thigh. “You have five more minutes…”
Brantley’s fingers dug into the rug, and Daniel couldn’t help the grin that split his lips as he nipped his way up to his balls and then sucked on the tender sac pulled tight to Brantley’s body.
“Five minutes until what?” Brantley demanded, his breathing harsh.
Daniel dug his fingers into the ass he was holding and then positioned Brantley exactly where he wanted him. “Five minutes until you’re finally going to give me one of my all-time fantasies.”
Brantley’s eyes darkened, but he managed to ask, “Which is?”
Daniel blew a warm breath over Brantley’s taut skin, and when he shuddered, Daniel gave him a wicked smile.
“You’re going to come up here and crawl on to my lap, much like you did the second time I came to your house. Do you remember that, professor ? I was so goddamn nervous you would tell me to leave again, but at the same time, I was so fucking turned on. I was determined to make you crack…”
“Yesss,” Brantley moaned, and his eyes slid shut.
Daniel licked his way back up to the tip of Brantley’s cock. “I can still remember exactly what you said to me as you sat there on my lap. Can you?”
Brantley’s eyes flew open, and he nodded.
“Thought you might,” Daniel said, and then he teased him, dipping his tongue into the slit.
The guy tasted amazing, exactly as he remembered, and suddenly, his desire to wait vanished. He lowered Brantley’s legs to the rug and then reached for his wrist, hauling him up until he was straddled over his knees.
“Fuck this. I’m not waiting,” Daniel told him. “Even the four minutes you have left is too long.” And then he crushed their mouths together.