Chapter Forty- One #2
it up!” Mark flopped dramatically backward on the pillow and Lucas
took advantage of his distraction to slide his finger further
inside. The passage was tight, but looser than it had been just
moments before.
“Mess it up?” Lucas laughed gently, still
playing with his finger, and then he gave a quick suck to Mark’s
closest nipple. “No way. You’re making me feel like a total stud.
Captain Capable, here to help you out.” His finger was moving
smoothly now, slow thrusts and equally slow withdrawals. “I’m like
a sex therapist or something. A total expert.”
“And I’m the one who needs therapy,” Mark
groused, then his breath hitched and his back arched a little as
Lucas slid his finger in deeper.
“I don’t know what that face means,” Lucas
said as he peered at the man beside him. “Is that a happy face, a
hurt face, or did you just swallow another bug?”
“Bug,” Mark said. His gaze found Lucas’s.
“And happy. I just…I forgot how intense it is.” Even as he spoke he
was squirming subtly, his body adjusting to the intrusion.
“Do you trust me?” Lucas asked. He wasn’t
sure what the answer would be, but he knew that it was important
for him to hear it.
“Yes,” Mark said without hesitation. He
caught himself, frowned as if double checking, then smiled up at
Lucas. “Yes,” he said again, and Lucas could feel him start to
relax.
“It’s not a test,” Lucas murmured, kissing
him on the temple.
“If it was, we’d pass it.”
Mark seemed to enjoy the process more after
that but Lucas still kept it slow. He knew what he was aiming
for—he didn’t just want the preparation to be adequate, he wanted
Mark desperate and begging to be fucked. And he was pretty sure he
could get that far if he just took his time. So he teased, and he
learned all the tricks of Mark’s body while ignoring his own
throbbing, aching need. A kiss here and a nip there, pressure and
release, stretching and then withdrawing to leave a void that Mark
would want filled. He knew he was on the right track when Mark
stopped talking in anything other than grunts and moans, knew he
was almost there when every gentle touch made Mark surge toward the
pressure, looking for more stimulation, more contact. It would
probably be easiest on Mark if Lucas entered him from behind but
after all his work he decided to be a little selfish. He wanted a
clear view of his partner’s face at the moment they joined. So he
eased himself between Mark’s legs and felt the muscles tense as
Mark realize what was going to happen, then toyed with him again
until that realization had faded back into the blur of sensation
and need.
When Lucas finally slid himself inside the
still-tight channel, Mark’s eyes fluttered open and he looked
almost confused before he rolled his hips up a little higher,
instinctively seeking deeper penetration and more contact. “Lucas,”
he moaned, and Lucas kissed him as their bodies moved together.
“It’s good. I’ve got you.” Lucas wasn’t quite
sure what he meant by that, but he couldn’t make himself worry
about it. He was finally letting himself go, finally freeing
himself of his responsibility and taking what he’d wanted for too
long. His thrusts were long and hard, Mark stretching up to meet
each one. Their breath came in gasps and sweat rolled down Lucas’s
back and tickled his ass. “Come on, come on,” he urged, although
again he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted Mark to do. Mark just
wrapped his hands around Lucas’s ass and pulled him in harder with
each thrust, both of them straining toward the same goal,
together.
Mark reached it first, his whole body jerking
and tightening as he shot thick white strands up over his chest. He
stared at Lucas as he came as if he were memorizing every detail of
his face, of the moment. Lucas kept his hips working, straining to
bury himself deeper and deeper in his lover’s body, until finally
Mark reached up and pulled him down for a rough kiss. That was what
pushed him over the edge and he came with a gasping roar, jerking
his torso back and hefting Mark’s body for just a few more deep,
perfect thrusts of completion.
He froze there for a few moments before
leaning backward and letting himself collapse, his spent cock
pulling free as he flopped onto his back, his head hanging over the
bottom of the bed. He could feel his pulse pounding through his
whole body, could feel his chest rise and fall as he desperately
fought for breath, but it was as if it were all happening to
someone else. Not Lucas. Lucas was floating through the stars,
relaxed and serene, and he had no concerns whatsoever for the body
stuck back on the Earth.
“You alive down there?” Mark finally croaked,
and Lucas managed to raise his head.
“I’m good,” he replied.
“Any chance you might come up and see
me?”
“You’re really far.”
“Want me to come down there?”
Lucas looked around. He was mostly upside
down, and his back was starting to cramp up. Not really an
appropriate location for entertaining. “No. Give me a minute.”
“Okay,” Mark replied, and he waited patiently
until Lucas dealt with the condom and got himself untangled and
turned back around.
“Hey,” Lucas said as he nested in and wrapped
an arm around Mark’s chest. “You okay?”
“Better than okay. A lot better.” Mark’s kiss
was gentle, but there was a little force behind it, enough to
suggest that he wasn’t completely, permanently drained of all
passion.
“Good.” Lucas had been pretty sure that would
be Mark’s answer, but it never hurt to double check. “I’m good too,
in case you were wondering.”
“You’re a damn sight better than good,” Mark
replied. Another kiss before he said, “That was incredible.”
“I told you—I’m an expert.”
“You told me I made you feel like an expert.
That’s not the same as actually being one.”
“Details,” Lucas said. Then he looked at his
watch. “Fuck.”
Mark turned his head in concern. “What?”
“It’s quarter to nine.”
“Shit, really? That was…wow. That took a long
time.”
“Sorry if you had other plans for the
evening,” Lucas said, forcing himself to sit up.
“Nothing more important than that,” Mark
said. “You have to go?”
“You know the rules. And I’m already on thin
ice. Hell, I might already have broken through and they just
haven’t told me yet. But yeah, I’ve got to go.”
Mark sat up and edged over to wrap his arms
around Lucas. “I wish you could stay.”
“Yeah,” Lucas said heavily. Once again, he
wasn’t the only one paying for the mistakes he’d made. And Mark had
already paid more than enough. He closed his eyes and took a deep
breath, building his resolve. “But I can’t.” He gently unwrapped
himself from Mark’s embrace and made it to his feet.
“You didn’t get dinner,” Mark said.
“I’ll survive.” He grinned quickly and did a
body-builder flex of his muscles. “It’ll help me stay ripped.”
“I think that workout we just did might help
too.”
“A good night all around, then.”
“Unless you’re too hungry to sleep.”
“I don’t think I’m going to have any trouble
sleeping. Not tonight.” Lucas shuffled around and found his
underwear and jeans all piled up together and grinned as he
remembered the eagerness with which he’d shed them. It was a bit
gross to pull clothes on top of the sex residue on his body but he
tried not to think about it. There was no time to shower now, but
he’d clean up once he got back to the house. He pulled his T-shirt
on, then found enough energy for one big, enthusiastic leap across
the room and onto the bed. He straddled Mark’s naked body, pinned
his shoulders to the mattress and leaned down for a deep, sloppy
goodbye kiss. When he tried to straighten up he found Mark’s
fingers laced together behind his neck, holding him in place.
“I want you to stay.”
“You know I can’t.” Lucas waited, and finally
Mark’s fingers unclasped.
“I know,” Mark said softly.
“I wish I could.”
“Yeah. I know that too.” Finally, Mark
smiled. “But I’ll see you tomorrow, right? I want to go to church
in the morning, but in the afternoon? At the farm?”
“No,” Lucas said slowly. “We need to talk
about that at some point. But short version: we need to cool it
around Alex.” He ran his fingers across Mark’s kiss-plumped lips.
“And I don’t think I can manage to be cool around you.”
“Alex,” Mark said slowly. “You told him?”
“He knew. Elise too. I guess we’re not as
subtle as we thought.”
“Might be because I couldn’t stop staring at
your ass.”
“Yeah, that might be part of it.” Lucas
heaved himself off the bed. “Okay, last chance to stare at it for
the night as I’m walking out the door. You shouldn’t come to the
farm tomorrow. Not on weekends, and not on weekdays when Alex is
around. He’s got two more weeks of school, so you can come out
during school hours on weekdays. Does that work?”
“I guess it has to. Can you come over after
work tomorrow?”
“Yeah.” Lucas smiled. “I’d like that.” He
stepped toward the door. “And it might be nice if you cooked me
dinner. Not burned it, not forgot it. Cooked it.”
“I’ll consider the possibility. Here, wait,
I’ll walk you out.”
“No,” Lucas said quickly. “Stay there.” He
smiled. “I like thinking of you there, all warm and peaceful.” All
fucked out, he thought, but he didn’t want to use the words out
loud. They seemed like maybe they’d be a jinx of some sort. He was
already pushing his luck making plans for the next evening. Who the
hell knew what could go wrong between now and then? But something
about Mark seemed to make him willing to take a chance on a little
optimism. “About five thirty? Tomorrow? That’ll give me time to go
home and shower before I come over.”
“You could shower here,” Mark said with a
little waggle of his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I guess I could. I’ll see you then.”
Lucas let himself out of the apartment and made his way down to the
street. By the time he hit the sidewalk he was whistling, and he
didn’t stop for the whole drive home.