Chapter Fourteen
RYDER
I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to convince Alex to move into my penthouse with his mother, but even I underestimated my obstinate boyfriend.
That man could out-stubborn a whole pride of lions any day of the week.
It took me an entire seventeen days and countless hours of strutting around naked as an incentive to get that man to agree to move in with me.
I still wasn’t sure if it was my persuasive debating skills or my swinging dick that did it, but who cares.
In the end, he agreed to move in with me.
Nicole would take one of the spare bedrooms, which was twice the size of her room at their house.
She’d have her own en-suite bathroom we could outfit with all the adaptive equipment she needed to make her daily tasks easier.
Alex spent a significant amount of his time fretting over his mom’s well-being.
The nights he slept at my penthouse, he felt guilty for abandoning her despite her assurances to the contrary.
He also hated leaving her alone with Kenny, though that little shit spent more time away from home than in the house he resided in rent-free.
Neither of us knew where Kenny spent his copious free time, though we had our suspicions.
He certainly wasn’t working, going to school, or doing anything productive with his life, yet somehow, he never asked for money.
We assumed he was selling drugs, but the times he’d been arrested, it had been for fighting or public intoxication, not drug distribution, so who really knew?
Even though moving in with me would solve all these problems and relieve mountains of strain from Alex’s shoulders, he’d fought the idea.
I understood. I’d attached myself to a fiercely independent man who’d never had someone take care of him, so he had no idea how to accept that kind of love.
He threw up roadblock after roadblock, afraid I’d get sick of him in my space, worried he’d be considered a gold digger, and stressed over what he’d do with his house if he moved out of it.
Mostly, he feared I’d find living with his mother too much of a burden for our relationship to bear.
I spent those seventeen days plowing through his roadblocks and reassuring him I loved him and had thought this decision through from every possible angle.
It’s one hundred percent what I wanted.
In the end, I got my way, and today we were moving Alex and his mom into my penthouse.
“You know,” Alex said as the elevator doors slid open to reveal him sweaty and mussed, standing beside a tower of boxes. “You can at least try to wipe the smug grin off your face.”
No. I really couldn’t. And it wasn’t smugness, it was pure giddy enthusiasm. I stepped into the elevator and hit the stop button, trapping it on our floor as I wrapped my arms around my damp boyfriend. “I’m not smug,” I said as I pecked him on the lips. “I’m excited.”
“Well, I’m sweaty as hell, so you better back up unless you want to get my stink all over you.”
“Mmm,” I said, kissing him again in a way he didn’t even pretend to resist. “Lucky for me, I love to smell you all over me. Sweaty or not.” This time, Alex grabbed two strong handfuls of my ass and yanked me in to deepen the kiss.
As our tongues met, I locked my arms around his damp neck and rolled my hips against his in a shameless search for friction.
Despite the exhaustion of hours spent hauling boxes, my cock was energized and ready to play.
We made out in the elevator until Alex finally broke away. “Let’s get these boxes inside,” he said, breathing harder than pre-make out. “This is the last load. Then we can shower and rest.”
His mouth said rest, but his eyes said fuck until we pass out.
I grinned, still plastered to his sticky shirt, though to be fair, mine was just as nasty. “Okay, you take the heavier one,” I said, referring to the final two boxes.
Rolling his eyes, Alex grunted. “Shocker.”
I grabbed the box on top, labeled Nicole Linens, and hoisted it onto my shoulder. “Sweet, this one is light. How’s yours?”
Alex glanced down at the box labeled Alex Textbooks, then glared at me.
“Make sure you use your legs, not your back.” I must not have been as successful in schooling my smirk as I assumed because he narrowed his eyes and flipped me off before squatting down to retrieve the hefty box.
I couldn’t help but admire the way his workout shorts stretched across his ass when he crouched.
“Stop staring and carry your box inside,” he grumbled as he straightened with the heavy box in his arms.
Busted.
A wide grin spread across my lips as I stayed where I was, watching his ass flex as he walked away. Elation and excitement wound around each other inside me, making my heart flutter like a romcom heroine. “Alex?”
“Yeah?” He called over his shoulder as he stepped out of the elevator toward the penthouse he’d now call home.
“I’m not sure if I told you, but I’m happy we’re living together now. Really happy.” Ecstatic to be precise.
He paused, then turned back to face me. Those strong biceps I loved bulged from the substantial load, making my tongue tingle with the urge to lick along the thick swell.
“You’ve mentioned it.”
Of course, I had. Probably a million times, but he’d been so caught up in his own reservations about the decision, I wanted to make sure it sank in how much I wanted him permanently in my space.
Living together, including his mother, was not a sacrifice or a compromise on my part.
I craved Alex to be by my side every day and night.
Initially, Alex claimed I made the offer out of a feeling of obligation or a desire to help him and Nicole with their admittedly difficult situation.
While helping was a side benefit, I was way more selfish than Alex understood.
Whatever I had to do to glue him to my side, I’d do.
“I’m happy too,” he mumbled before continuing into the penthouse, leaving me beaming in the elevator like a lunatic.
I grabbed the final box, hit the button to resume elevator functions, then hurried into the penthouse.
After depositing the box in Nicole’s room, I made my way to the master suite.
As much as I didn’t mind having Nicole live with us, I was glad her bedroom and bathroom were clear across the penthouse.
Alex and I would have plenty of privacy on our side of the penthouse—privacy to do all sorts of filthy things to each other without worrying about being overheard.
Of course, he’d worried our sex life would suffer as a result of living with his mom.
More accurately, he was worried I would have a problem with our sex life.
“We won’t be able fuck anywhere anytime around here like we do now if she lives with us.
You understand that, right?” he’d asked with uncertainty in his overthinking gaze.
First, I never backed down from a challenge, so I’d be finding all the ways to sneak an extra orgasm out of him in random corners of the penthouse, and secondly, it would not be a problem.
Despite her limited mobility, Alex’s mom was very social and spent eight hours a day at a day program away from home.
She also had a network of friends who kept her busy many evenings.
They were wonderful women who’d known her for years and had no problem making the accommodations necessary so she could participate in their activities.
Alex and I would have plenty of alone time to get our freak on.
If we could fuck like rabbits and avoid getting caught in a crowded club, we could make it happen in our own home.
And if we struggled to get overly creative, there was always the bed.
Who had a problem with a conventional fuck in a bed?
Not me. In fact, maybe I should prove it to him now.
I found my grumpy worrywart in our bedroom, filling his new dresser with clothes. He really fought me on purchasing that dresser, claiming the decades-old piece he’d scored on the side of the road and used for the past eight years would suffice.
It would not. He’d laughed and called me a snob when I’d wrinkled my nose and insisted on buying a new one. I liked nice things, sue me. In the end, I’d won the argument. Well, I’d purchased one, didn’t tell him, and then claimed it couldn’t be returned after delivery.
I leaned my shoulder against the doorframe, admiring him in silence.
He did everything with precision and care.
Each piece of clothing was folded identically and placed in a neat row in the dresser.
Alex worked hard and strove for perfection in everything he did, whether it was folding his underwear or completing complex robotics engineering projects.
His meticulousness extended to the times he edged me near insanity with borderline sadistic skill.
As though sensing my presence, he peeked over his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
I shrugged. “Watching you.”
He grunted.
I grinned, nearly coming out of my skin with the excitement. He was here, moving in. We live together now. “I’m also thinking,” I said as I pushed away from the door and strode across the room.
“Well, that’s new for you.”
“Funny.”
He chuckled. “What are you thinking about?”
I reached him and snuggled myself against his back as I planted a kiss on his neck. “Sucking your dick,” I whispered in his ear.
He stiffened against me, in more ways than one, as I could feel beneath my wandering hand.
“Hmm.” I licked a path up the side of his neck as I massaged my hand over the growing bulge in his shorts. He was warm, hard, and smelled like sandalwood, citrus, and heaven even after hours of manual labor. “Seems like you like that idea?”
Alex spat out a curse. “I always like seeing you on your knees.”
“Yeah?” I nipped his earlobe.
“Yeah, especially when your mouth is stuffed full of my dick. I’ve never seen anything better.”
Jesus. My cock surged to attention against his ass as his need punched me in the gut. I was supposed to be the one teasing him, but it seemed he’d flipped the tables on me. “You’re a little bit evil, you know that?”
“You’re the one who chose to live with me.”
“I am, aren’t I?” I slipped my hand down into his shorts to find the smooth skin of his erection waiting for me. I wrapped my palm around it, giving him a stroke that had him grunting and reaching for the dresser to steady himself. “I wonder what that says about me?”
“Probably says you like sucking my cock.”
I laughed. That was an assertion I’d never deny. “You know me well. Maybe we should move in together.”
“I don’t know…” He turned in my arms, forcing me to remove my hand from his dick.
“What if I like sucking cock as much as you do? Can’t let you have all the fun.
” As he spoke, he walked us backward until my legs hit the bed.
Then he gave me a little shove, and my ass hit the bed with a light bounce.
My cock throbbed as I stared up at the hungry look in his eyes. God, I loved when he looked at me like that. “I don’t know. I hear living together requires compromise. I guess we could always take turns, or…”
He raised an eyebrow, giving him a sexy, rakish appearance. “Or?”
I licked my lips, staring up at where he stood above me. “Or we could have a treat at the same time.” An idea hit me, and I couldn’t help the impish grin that curled my lips. “We could relive a memory.”
“What memory would that be?” Alex asked as he shoved his shorts and boxers down, leaving his very hard dick pointing straight at my mouth, which started to water immediately.
His glistening tip snagged my attention, chasing away whatever I’d been about to say.
“Ryder?”
“Huh?” I forced my attention off my favorite toy and up to Alex’s dark, heated eyes.
“What memory?”
“Um…” What was he talking about? I fanned myself. “It’s hot in here.”
He chuckled. “You were saying we could relive a memory.”
Right. “The one that started it all, of course.” I joined him in relieving myself of my shorts and underwear, then yanked my tee over my head, tossing it to the side. Fully naked, I scooted up the bed until I lay back against the pillows. “See who can hold out longer.”
He smiled with a wicked grin. “And if I win?”
“Hmm…” I wrapped a hand around myself and lightly stroked my shaft. Alex followed suit, still standing at the edge of the bed, gripping his cock. “What do you want?”
He smirked before saying, “If I win, you stop researching new cars for me.”
My jaw dropped, and I gawked at the sneaky fucker I called my boyfriend. “How did you know?”
He winked, working his cock with sure strokes. “I have my ways. My car is fine. You are not buying me a new one.”
His car was not fine. It broke down more often than it ran.
Winter would be here before we knew it. I hated how Alex drove around in a twenty-year-old rust bucket without four-wheel drive.
For the last week, I’d been slyly—or so I thought—researching cars to gift him.
Nothing fancy, I knew him better than that, but something reliable enough I wouldn’t have a heart attack every time it snowed.
Challenge accepted.
“Unless I win.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“When I win, you take whatever car I pick. No questions asked.” This was the perfect idea.
“I wouldn’t be so cocky. Pretty sure I swept the floor with you last time.”
Yeah, my first blow job from Alex was something I’d never forget. I barely made it long enough to moan my own name. But this time, I knew all his tricks, and I would come out victorious.
“Bring it on, baby.”
He crawled up onto the bed and kept going until he reached my head, where he spun around and swung a muscled leg over me. Straddling over my face, his erection hung suspended right above my mouth. A string of precum ran down, dangling over my lips.
“Let the games begin,” I whispered before grabbing his ass and lifting my head to capture the tip of his dick between my lips.
“Shit! I wasn’t ready. Oh fuck. Cheater. Ah… you win…”
I sucked him like I loved every second, which I did, working my lips down his shaft until he hit the back of my throat. He cursed again, then warm, overwhelming pressure surrounded my dick, and I was the one praying for mercy.
I gave myself over to the intense sensations both in my mouth and around my dick. If this was what we could expect from living together, we should have made the jump months ago.