Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
The bet: Whichever team scored the highest against their respective opponents would be the victor, and the winning quarterback would get to tie the other one up during their next planned meeting the following week.
The situation: Cooper lay naked on Nico’s California king bed, his hands and feet handcuffed to the headboard and footboard.
Nico stood on the terrace just outside the parted French doors, leaning against the railing with his phone pressed against his ear.
Natalie rambled in circles about how awful the new principal at her school was.
Nico was a good brother and so he listened, but it was getting harder and harder to concentrate on what his sister was rambling about.
His cock throbbed in his underwear, tenting against the pinstripe fabric of the boxer shorts he’d stolen from Cooper’s bag.
Just through the doors, Cooper was stretched out on Nico’s bed. His hair had grown back since buzzing it earlier in the year and Nico preferred a little bit of length.
“Nico, are you still there?” Natalie asked through the phone.
“It’s not like you’ve stopped talking enough to let me interject, but the short version is your boss is an asshole, you should switch districts, and I love you but I have to go. My agent is on the other line.”
“If you hang up this phone—”
Nico did, in fact, hang up. The next time they saw each other, his sister would make him pay for this grave sin. For now, though…
Nico stepped back into the bedroom, leaving the doors open behind him.
With the house parked against the shore, there was nobody who could see into the room.
More importantly, nobody could see what Nico was about to do to his rival.
After their date—god, he hated that word—in the wide open space of John John, Nico craved more.
But it went back to the same ol’ locked hotel rooms, hiding in closets and hiding in rooms with the curtains drawn.
Nico grew tired of closed spaces and dreamed of wide open spaces like those chicks used to sing about. That’d never be his life though, so he settled for keeping the doors open.
Cooper cocked his head to the right as Nico approached the bed. “I thought you were going to leave me here to die. Does your sister always talk this much?”
Nico folded his arms over each other as he admired the man in his bed.
A naked Greek God who was kind of his but also kind of wasn’t.
Whatever it was that they were, it felt real.
Felt like the kind of thing one could see blossoming into something else in the future.
Felt like something worth giving up one-night stands for.
Though he hadn’t told Cooper that part. Hadn’t told him he hadn’t been with a woman since that night in the Florida wilderness.
Nico figured the less he leaned into Cooper, the more Cooper would want him in return.
Did that make Nico toxic?
The thought made him grin a little. “Remember, I won our little wager so I decide how this goes.”
Cooper shot him a glare. “You have a gambling problem.”
Nico took another step toward the bed, stopping just short of it. “It’s not really a problem if I’m always winning, is it?”
“You’re just lucky,” Cooper whispered. “Or maybe that intentional grounding call was intentional to force the field goal because this is exactly what I wanted?”
“I know you better than that, Coop. Know you hate losing.” Nico passed his palm over Cooper’s leg, barely touching him. He could feel the ends of Cooper’s leg hair stand on end, the friction of his touch pulling each strand from the surface. “You hate not being in control.”
Cooper’s eyes followed Nico’s hand. “Does it look like I hate this?”
To be fair, Cooper didn’t look like he was hating the position he was in. Not at all.
Nico ran his hand up the inside of Cooper’s leg, brushing gently over his inner thigh. Cooper’s leg jerked, the metal cuff around his ankle clanking against the wooden footboard. Nico had all the power in the world, and reveled in the way Cooper attempted to squirm as he edged closer to his balls.
Then, Nico stopped. Let go of the other man and pulled a black lace bandanna from the nightstand drawer.
He climbed onto the bed and straddled Cooper, his knees sinking into the pillowy mattress and the hem of his boxers riding up his muscular thighs to reveal Nico’s newest tattoo—the number 13 etched into his skin in black and blue.
He found the perfect spot to sit, bucking his ass over Cooper’s groin as he leaned forward with the bandana in hand.
Cooper swallowed nervously. “What are you doing?”
“Whatever I want to do.” He lifted Cooper’s head enough to slip the bandana underneath and tied it. “I won, so whatever I say goes.”
“That wasn’t part of the deal.”
“It was in the small print.”
Nico figured Cooper could somewhat see through the lace fabric, but his vision would be obscured and that was good enough for him. It wasn’t about blinding the man. It was about making him work for it, to fight to get a glimpse of what Nico was about to do to him.
He made his way down Cooper’s bare torso and painted his tongue in a circle around Cooper’s nipple, leaving a thin layer of dampness that he blew hot air over. Cooper exhaled as his nipple hardened, and then let out a soft moan when Nico tongued his way around him again.
Nico sprang up from the bed, landing on his feet. He ruffled through Cooper’s duffel bag, grabbed Cooper’s Cobra’s jersey, and slithered into it. It fit perfectly—loose, baggy, and long. He pushed his boxers down his thighs and stepped out of them before making his way to the end of the bed.
With one finger first and then another, Nico inched up the bottom of Cooper’s foot. Cooper’s leg spasmed, but try as he might, he couldn’t escape. A crooked grin hitched over Nico’s lips as he marched forward, brushing gently over Cooper’s calf.
He learned something new that day. The big, bad strong Cooper Callahan was ticklish.
Nico craved to know what other parts of his body would emit the same response.
He climbed onto the bed and hunkered forward between Cooper’s legs, edging his head over the ruffled sheets until he came face-to-balls.
Smooth, groomed balls.
He took them in his hands and weighed them, rolled them, and squeezed them.
He stabbed his tongue at the base of Cooper’s balls, and brushed unevenly up the length of them.
The handcuffs clanked against the headboard columns as Cooper’s back arched upward, positioning himself so Nico would have easier access.
Nico thumbed over the taint, applying enough pressure to force Cooper’s legs into a mesmerized spasm.
Nico himself had been tied up before. He understood the sensitivity that came with it.
Every touch ricochetted through the body, the feeling of which was felt more intensely because of the lack of control.
The lack of the ability for the body to contort the way it needed to.
The lack of being able to grab the head of the person to guide them where you desperately craved them to go.
Nico knew what it felt like. Mostly. He had never been tied up by a man.
Never been tied up by someone who would do the acts he was doing to Cooper.
Nico spit into his hand and stroked Cooper’s cock, bringing it fully to life.
Thick, long veins throbbed beneath Nico’s touch.
He was careful with it. Careful to not go too fast. Careful to drag this out for as long as he could with long, measured strokes starting from the base and rolling his palm over the sensitive head.
Nico lifted his gaze to watch the way each movement stole another breath from Cooper.
Watched the way the other man’s stomach pulled taut every time his fingers brushed over the seeping slit.
And he made sure to find Cooper’s eyes behind the black lace as he took the head of his cock into his mouth.
Licked it like a lollipop, tongue swirling over the candy.
He relented with his mouth, and began stroking Cooper again.
“Fuck,” Cooper cried out, blue eyes rolling behind the fabric. His fingers rolled into his palms, trying to regain any semblance of control.
But he didn’t have it.
Nico did.
And when Nico reached for his own erection poking into the sheets, he smeared his own palm in his precum. He wetted Cooper’s cock with the naturally clear lubricant and stroked a little faster.
Cooper exhaled sharply and jutted his head backwards, exposing the angular base of his chin.
Cooper fought hard to still his breath but it was a losing battle as he choked on moans Nico knew embarrassed him.
Cooper’s cheeks flushed a color red that matched the marks the handcuffs left on his wrists.
That’s when Nico knew he couldn’t slow down.
He wanted—needed—to see Cooper like this.
He swallowed Cooper to the hilt, the salty sweetness of his precum painting the back of his throat.
Like a lollipop that throbbed in his mouth and every time he circled his tongue over the head, Cooper chewed out another groan.
Plop.
Nico reached for a bottle of lube and poured a generous amount onto Cooper’s cock. Swirled his hand around the shaft and twisted upwards. Slow. Steady. Edging Cooper towards release that he’d be waiting a while for.
Nico rolled onto his side, admiring the view of Cooper. Admired the way Cooper’s chest rose and fell with each inhale. Admired the way his thighs twitched outwards with every stroke. Cooper stood adamant that he hated losing control but it looked like he reveled in every fucking second of it.