Chapter 14
Flynn
Bailey Steele lay in my bed, in nothing but a pair of clingy blue boxer briefs, skin still glistening from the shower, when I returned from my takeout run to Zacos.
He looked up, those pale blue eyes brightening with pleasure, and I thought I could get used to this.
Bailey in my bed. Smiling for me. Well, smiling for Zacos, but I went and got them. I’d provided. I got some credit for that, right?
“You’re staring,” Bailey said, a light blush working its way up his chest. “Should I put on some clothes?”
I held out my hand to pull him up from the bed, then kept pulling until he was up against me, all supple, toned muscle. “I’d be happy if you never got dressed again.”
Bailey’s laugh was muffled by my chest.
I stroked a hand down the subtle arc of his spine, a pleasure unfurling inside that had little to do with sex. I wanted to caress and comfort and pamper this man.
I released him. “Come with me to the kitchen. We can eat at the breakfast bar.”
Bailey followed me, and a wave of déjà vu hit. This was where I’d told him I was a killer he should stay away from. What an idiot I’d been—too scared and guilty to take what I really wanted.
To accept the gift that Bailey was offering.
Because a guy like Bailey didn’t come along every day. Especially for a guy like me.
“What’s on your mind?” Bailey asked as he took a seat on a padded barstool I’d picked up at Goodwill for a few bucks. The pleather was torn in places, fixed-up with duct tape, but Bailey didn’t give it a second glance.
“Just thinking about how lucky I am.” I set down the bag of Zacos, noticing that Bailey was faintly shivering in the drafty room.
I needed to add some weather stripping around the front door, but I hadn’t gotten around to it. Now that it was November, the weather was shifting toward bitterly cold with gusts of freeze-your-balls-off.
I detoured around the bar to grab a throw blanket from the couch and draped it over Bailey’s shoulders from behind. “You looked cold,” I murmured, dipping my head to kiss his neck.
He turned his head to catch my lips in a sweet kiss. “You’re taking good care of me, but I’m all grown up.”
“Believe me, I’ve noticed.” I slid a hand into his hair, tightening my grip, and kissed him very un-sweetly until we were both panting for breath. “Very adult. Very sexy.”
“Fuck, now I just want you to take me back to bed.”
“Food first. Yes, I’m taking care of you. Not because you’re a child. Because you’re my man.”
“Well, in that case, hand-feed me if that’s what you like. Pamper me like a prince. As long as I get to be your man.”
I laughed and shifted to take the seat beside him. “I bring you Zacos, my prince.”
“A very good start,” Bailey said with an approving nod.
I unpacked the bag, doling out Zacos like offerings.
“How else may I please your royal highness?”
“I decree that you shall kiss me whenever I want. Take off your shirt upon my command. And never stop looking at me like I’m the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen.”
“You have my word.”
Our eyes met, and Bailey shivered again. I didn’t think it was the cold this time.
“Also, don’t watch me when I eat. It’s never pretty,” he said.
I laughed and turned to unwrapping my sausage-and-peppers Zaco. I’d gotten the same kind for Bailey. I knew what he liked from the many lunch orders we’d shared at Forrester Bros Auto Shop.
“I’ve been in prison, Bailey. Trust me. You make eating look very good in comparison.”
Bailey took a bite of his Zaco—half taco, half pizza, all good—and chewed, eyes thoughtful.
“Was it terrible in there?”
“It wasn’t fun, no,” I said quietly. “It changed my life in ways that can never…be undone.”
This was the crux of what bothered me about touching someone like Bailey. He was untarnished, and I was tainted by years spent with hateful, violent, rough-edged men.
There were good men too. Men like Knight and Matteo. But there were a lot of shitty people, and the only way to survive in prison was to be hard. To lock down your emotions, lock down everything important to you, and give them nothing to use against you.
I’d failed at that with Snake.
Bailey touched my arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”
I tried to shake it off. “It’s okay. It’s part of who I am. That’s why I was so hesitant to do this with you.”
“Because you’ve been in prison? So what? You’re still Flynn. You’re still hot and sweet and loyal. Maybe prison changed parts of you, but not the most important ones. Otherwise, I wouldn’t want to be with you in the first place.”
My chest warmed. “I don’t think it’s as simple as that, but thank you for saying it.”
Bailey nudged me. “I bet Aiden would agree with me.”
I chuckled. “He definitely would. My brother is the loyal one. He always made time to see me in prison, even with his demanding class load.”
“He must be brilliant if he’s in med school,” Bailey said.
I warmed a little at Bailey’s acknowledgment. “Oh my god, he is. He’s always been great at school. He won a very prestigious scholarship, but he still had to take out some loans. Even with his inheritance after…”
“After his dad died?” Bailey prompted.
“Yeah.”
“It’s okay to talk about. You won’t scare me off.”
“Even knowing all it takes is one punch to kill you? That if I were to lose my temper one time, I could do irreversible damage?”
He rolled his eyes. “Flynn, I’ve never seen you lose your temper even once. And besides, you know now what harm you could do. It’s why you didn’t hit that guy at the pool hall, right? You only pushed him away.”
“It doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen,” I said. “I’m not infallible. You know how they talk about people being armed and dangerous? I’m always a weapon.”
“And so was Aiden’s dad,” Bailey said, looking me square in the eye. “He hurt your brother on purpose. You were just trying to save him. There’s a big difference. I have faith that you’d never intentionally hurt me, and that’s enough.”
“But what if—”
Bailey leaned in and kissed me. “I can see I have my work cut out for me. Come on. Take me to bed and show me how gentle you can be. Your body isn’t only a weapon.”
I was powerless to resist an invitation like that. We left the remains of our food on the bar, and I followed Bailey to the bedroom.
We climbed into bed—him in his underwear and me in all my clothes—and kissed.
There was no hurry this time, and I enjoyed getting to know the taste and feel of him pressed up against me. I stroked every inch of his body I could reach—his arms, the back of his thighs, the curve of his hips and ass.
Bailey pushed his hands under my sweatshirt, tracing them up to my pecs and squeezing.
“Fuck, this body is a work of art, Flynn. Do you know that?”
“No.”
Bailey tugged at the fabric. “Take off your shirt.”
I pulled it over my head and cast it aside. Bailey leaned in and pressed a kiss to the center of my chest. He cupped my shoulders, squeezing gently, then slowly ran his hands down my arms. His fingers passed over a crude prison tattoo, and I inwardly cringed, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“This strength of yours is sexy because it’s controlled,” Bailey murmured. “You can put it to good use, picking me up and throwing me around in bed.”
I laughed a little and grabbed his waist, flipping him onto his back and hovering over him. “That does sound like a good use for it.”
Bailey spread his knees to cradle me and coasted his hands along my flanks. “And you protected me the other night without hurting anyone.”
“Yeah,” I whispered. “I wanted to hurt him, though. For hurting you.”
There was still faint bruising around his left eye, a pale green now that it had mostly healed.
I bent and placed a gentle kiss there.
Bailey wrapped an arm around my neck, drawing me closer until I was cuddled against him. As if I were the smaller, younger one.
“You take such good care of me. But now, I’m going to take care of you.” He nudged me. “Take off your pants.”
“That wasn’t in the royal decree.”
“A grave oversight,” Bailey said. “I suppose it’s your choice whether you keep them on.”
“In that case…” I rolled out of bed and shucked the rest of my clothes. Bailey grinned as he watched me, eyes appreciative as they skated over my form.
I’d spent a lot of time hating my body. Hating my size and strength. Feeling trapped inside a weapon I didn’t want.
But right now, with Bailey looking at me with so much heat, a flicker of pride warmed my insides.
Bailey liked my body. Bailey wanted me, even with all my messy history. If he could accept that I wasn’t the sum of my parts—if he could look at me like that, knowing that I’d killed a man—then maybe I wasn’t all bad.
“Get over here,” Bailey ordered, and I eagerly returned to the bed.
Bailey pushed me onto my back. “I think I need more practice with this giant dick.”
I choked on a laugh, gasping as his hot mouth closed around the tip. I didn’t know why Bailey struggled with school. He was sure as hell a dedicated student.
He alternated sweet sucks with strokes of his hand and sweeping licks of his tongue. He couldn’t take me deep, but he made a simple blowjob into a symphony of pleasure, all the various parts working together, until I was groaning out my release.
I rolled him under me before he’d even caught his breath and returned the favor, loving the sounds he made, so vocal as I spread his ass cheeks and licked around his rim.
“Fuck!” he cried as I pushed the tip of a finger wet with saliva inside him. He clenched tight around it, shuddering. I waited, patiently, until his body relaxed.
“Okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said breathlessly, pushing his hips forward to take me deeper. “I can take it.”
“You sure can,” I said. “But just so you know, Bails, you don’t have to take it. If you don’t like it.”
He bit his bottom lip, staring down at me with glazed eyes. “I like it. But you’re…big.”
“That’s why we won’t rush it,” I said. “We’ll take our time to get there.”
I licked a stripe up his quivering dick, then swallowed it down, while pressing my finger a little deeper.
Bailey gave a strangled shout, cock pulsing on my tongue, and I drank down his pleasure.
Afterward, I gave him a spare toothbrush, and we cleaned up for bed. Even though we’d never done this before, it felt natural. Hell, I hadn’t slept with a man in my bed since I was in prison, holding a shaking Matteo, who’d been terrified after a scary close call in the showers.
I’d made myself his protector, and I’d fancied myself in love with him. But it was a bond created by dire circumstances. It wasn’t real, not out in here in the regular world. Matteo was straight and in love with his fiancée, Allison.
And I was falling hard for a college boy who refused to see that I wasn’t worth his time.
Bailey laid his head on my chest, hair tickling my chin, and murmured into the dark.
“Told you I’d get better at sex.”
I chuckled. “Baby, you could have been the worst, and I’d still feel fucking lucky to even touch you.”
Bailey raised his head. “Are you saying I’m still bad?”
“No.” I laughed. “You’re a fast learner. Fuck, baby. It’s so good. The best I’ve ever had. Okay?”
“Well, you don’t have to go overboard,” Bailey said. “I know I’m not that good.”
“You are to me,” I said simply.
It was true. I’d never felt so connected to someone while having sex. Before prison, I’d been in my casual, young adult phase. And during prison, I’d been desperate and rushed most of the time, the act more about physical release than pleasure.
Now, with Bailey, it was something else.
Something special.
I went to sleep with that thought lingering in my mind.
Morning would come too soon. Bailey would go back to school. I’d go to work with his brothers.
We’d be miles apart.
And yet, I knew, he’d be closer to my heart than anyone else.
I just hoped he didn’t get bored with me too quickly. At nineteen years old, Bailey wasn’t likely to settle down.
But maybe that was good. I would treasure this time with him, and then he’d move on to someone truly deserving.