Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
ATLAS
I should have kissed Hector a lot sooner. Not only because kissing him felt good—so freaking good—but also because it was exactly what we both needed to relax.
I’d been on cloud nine since Hector had finally promised us a chance, but the stalker problem that loomed over me would never let the stress fully dissipate. I believed it was the same for Hector too.
But now? On his lap and wrapped up in each other, all my tension melted away.
I could sense it was also the same for the man currently underneath me.
His shoulders, stiff from always carrying the weight of the world on them, finally relaxed.
Right now, he wasn’t worried about my safety or thinking he wasn’t good enough to deserve me.
The only thing that existed at this moment was how amazing it felt to be together.
Hector didn’t try deepening the kiss. His lips were firm but hesitant, like he didn’t want to push too far.
With how tightly he was holding me against him, I could tell he wanted me, probably just as much as I wanted him.
And the fact that he didn’t dare hold me like this until I guided his hands had my heart feeling soft.
Hector was different from all the other men I’d been with. They were all so self-assured and almost forceful in what they wanted, which was what made Hector’s hesitation endearing.
He let me lead every step of the way, and although I never voiced it, I was grateful for it. It felt like, for once, I was in control. I liked being in control, though not all my exes allowed me to be.
I wasn’t being dragged around and played by the shitty boyfriends I’d met online. I got to take things slow, even if sometimes I thought things moved a bit too slowly between Hector and me. Hopefully, that would change today.
I slipped my tongue through my lips, trying to gain access between his. Hector stiffened for the briefest second before he was kissing me back with an intensity that had my cock plumping inside my pants.
It’d been so long since I’d come with another person, and when the person in front of me was someone I liked this much, I had no hope of controlling myself.
I rocked my hips, which, oops. Bad move. Hector’s lips went slack as he tried to put some distance between us, but I wasn’t letting up. When I couldn’t reach his lips, I leaned down to suck on his neck and was rewarded with a sweet rumble from him.
“Atlas,” he breathed, voice heavy and thick with need. I could feel him hard against me too, but he had better control over his lust than me. “We shouldn’t. Not out here.”
I licked a stripe up his neck and gently nibbled on his ear. “We’re alone, and we’re deep enough into the springs that few people venture down here.”
“Is that why we passed the first couple of springs? Was this your plan all along?”
“Maybe.”
Another moan came from him when I licked the shell of his ear. His breath was coming out ragged, and his hands were going to leave a mark on my hips with how tightly he was gripping me. I loved how I could make this usually calm and collected man go wild.
“Fuck, Atlas. We’re gonna get our clothes dirty.”
I smiled because there was a very simple solution to that. I climbed off his lap. He easily let me go, though his expression told me he would rather keep me in his arms.
“What are you, um, doing?” he asked curiously. Instead of answering, I whipped my sweater over my head. “Atlas…”
I continued undressing until I was completely naked, and my boner pointed straight at Hector’s face. His gaze immediately dropped to my erection. There was no mistaking the heat in his eyes or the way his throat moved as he tried to gather the moisture in his mouth to speak.
I felt powerful knowing I could make him like this, knowing that he let his guard down around me enough to show me what he was truly feeling.
I turned slowly, making a show of it. I was rewarded by the hitch of Hector’s breath and the heat of his gaze.
“I’m feeling a little heated right now. A dip might help, don’t you think?”
“Atlas…”
“You ever been skinny-dipping, Hector?” I asked, looking at him over my shoulder. His eyes were on my ass—just where I wanted them to be. The tent in his jeans looked like it could pop them open at any second.
“No,” he replied hoarsely.
“Me neither. I’m glad we get to share this first together,” I said with a sly smile and practically skipped into the water.
Hector called after me, but I didn’t stop. I laughed as I jumped and broke the surface of the spring.
Despite it being fall in Kither Springs, the water wasn’t too cold. Just enough to cool the heat inside me without killing my boner. I dunked my head under the water to adapt to the temperature quickly and came up laughing again.
Back in Christmas Falls, I never would have done something like this.
I wasn’t the wild kid. I was the good boy who never caused any trouble for my aunt Polly, because she already had her hands full raising me after my parents passed.
I’d been so ready for a change that I’d left my hometown at the first chance I got to find… something. Freedom, maybe?
Being completely naked out in the wild with nobody but Hector to see? It felt as freeing as it could be. Maybe it was the thrill of being caught? Or maybe it was the person I was with, the person who made me feel safe enough to explore this side of me.
Hector was by the water’s edge when I looked back. He was still fully clothed, but he’d kicked off his shoes and socks. He dipped a toe into the water and frowned.
“You’re going to catch a cold,” he grumbled.
“Hmm, if only there was a hot, sexy diner owner nearby who’d join me in here and share his heat with me.” I didn’t even try to hide my desire as I eyed him up and down.
“Atlas…”
“Join me, Hector. Please?”
His brow furrowed deeper, making the scar on his temple scrunch up too, but his hands slid under his polo to pull it over his head. If asking nicely was all it took to get him naked, I would have done it sooner.
I watched him undress, enjoying the show, even if it took him impossibly too long to get naked. But soon, he’d finally gotten those boxers off, and I was met with the physical proof of how crazy I drove him, as well as how seeing all of him made me feel.
He wasn’t the fittest person I’d been with. No eight-pack or giant biceps that were created at the gym, but that didn’t make him any less sexy with his tanned skin glistening in the sun and furry chest and stomach, the wrapping to the body I couldn’t wait to get my hands on.
I reached out my hand for him to take, and he answered my call. He didn’t jump straight into the water as I had, but took slow, deliberate steps until he reached me. I smiled at how that was so like him.
“How’s the water?” I asked and pulled him into a hug. The spring was only deep enough to cover our shoulders, so neither of us had to worry about keeping our head above water.
“I’m freezing my balls off,” Hector rumbled.
I laughed, pressed myself to him, and wrapped all my limbs around him until there wasn’t a centimeter of space between us. Hector’s hands found their way under my ass, mostly to hold me up, but I didn’t miss the way his pupils dilated.
In this position, my dick rubbed against his stomach, and his cock nestled almost perfectly between my ass cheeks. I wiggled my butt so the tip of his cock pressed against my entrance.
“Fuck, Atlas. Maybe this is a bad idea—and probably illegal,” he grumbled, but his fingers were gripping my hips firmly in place.
“The only thing illegal right now is you not kissing me,” I murmured and quickly rectified that situation.
Despite Hector’s reservations, he didn’t hold back and kissed me for all he was worth. It wasn’t long before I was rutting against his stomach. Each downward thrust had his cock pushing against my hole until I was gonna go insane with need.
“Fuck, Hector. Need you,” I said and kissed his neck. His reply was to grunt and set me on my feet. Before I could complain about the sudden distance between us, he lined our cocks up and palmed them.
“Mmhmm, yesss,” I moaned, loving the way his rough hand stroked us. Water was far from the best lubricant, but it still wasn’t enough to stop my imminent orgasm.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping it might help keep my emotions in check. I didn’t want this to end so soon. I hadn’t had my fill of Hector yet. I wanted to see him all worked up and feeling good because of me. I needed to see him.
Opening my eyes was a terrible idea. Hector was watching me with a fiery intensity that would have burned me if I wasn’t in the cool water. His hand never stopped its punishing pace, but he was solely focused on me, like nothing else in the world existed right now.
“Atlas,” he whispered my name like a caress, and that was enough to push me over the edge. I smashed our lips together, needing to taste him in that moment as I spilled over his hand.
A rumble shot through Hector as he moaned through his own release.
His teeth captured my bottom lip enough to feel the sting but not break skin.
I doubted he could ever hurt me, but seeing him lose control like that, not caring about anything else besides me and our desire for each other, was fucking hot.
Our kisses eventually slowed along with our breaths. “My mind is thoroughly blown,” I murmured against his lips. I could feel him smile against me as he pressed in for another taste before snuggling into my neck with a laugh.
“We definitely shouldn’t have done that inside the spring,” he commented, but I could hear the amusement in his tone.
“Maybe not,” I agreed with a laugh. “But hey, nobody’s swimming in the springs this late in the year anyway, and we fed the fishies. I hear sperm has protein in it.”
That earned me a laugh that sounded mostly like a snort. He straightened to look at me and used his thumb to swipe a strand of hair out of my face.
“What am I gonna do with you?” he asked, the affection in his voice as clear as the sky above us.
“I dunno. Guess you’re just gonna have to keep me on a tight leash,” I teased and leaned in to plop a quick kiss on his lips, then on his left brow where the scar ran through it onto his temple.
I followed the path of the slightly protruding skin from the top of his eyelid, through his eyebrow, and almost into his hairline. I’d never really thought about it, but the scar was dangerously close to his left eye. He could have lost it.
He told me he got it when he’d been tackled to the ground by a police officer. A piece of metal had broken his fall and slashed his face along the way.
“Does it still hurt?” I asked, softly rubbing his left eyelid. Hector’s eyes were closed as he let me explore his face as I wished.
“It doesn’t. I hear you don’t feel as much on scar tissue, but it does itch sometimes.”
“I hate that you have it.”
“It sure doesn’t help with my ugly mug,” he said self-deprecatingly.
“No, that’s far from what I was thinking. I hate that you got hurt in the first place when you were only trying to help. You could have lost your eye.”
“I didn’t,” he said and took my hand to kiss the back of it. I caught the curl of his lips when he pulled back.
“Why are you smiling? This is serious.”
“Because I’ve never had anyone this angry on my behalf before. I didn’t think anyone would get this protective over a little scar.”
“It’s not little,” I grumbled and thumbed the pale mark again. “I care about you, Hector. I wish I could take away every little bad thing from your life. I wish you’d never had to experience them in the first place. I want you to be happy.”
He let out a strangled sound that almost broke my heart. I pulled him into my arms. Hector’s head fell onto my shoulder. Warm liquid dripped on my skin, but he stayed quiet and kissed the side of my neck.
I held him close and let the cool spring wash it all away. Hector was right about one thing: that it was all in the past. The sadness, the pain, and not having anyone fighting for him. Because now he had me in his corner, and I wanted so much to give him everything he thought he couldn’t have.