Chapter Ten
Waking up naked in Cash’s arms was both heaven and hell—the former because Cash’s morning wood wound up nestled between Nick’s butt cheeks; the latter because Cash’s misplaced sense of chivalry prevented him from acting on his arousal.
“Please,” Nick begged.
“No,” Cash returned.
Please. No. Please. No. Please. No. And so it went until Friday morning, when Nick tried another tactic.
“You’re so fucking hard for me.” Nick’s thick voice sounded more like a taunt than an observation in the predawn hours.
The awareness turned his insides to molten lava, which spread outward from his belly until he burned from his scalp to his toes.
Nick rocked his hips back and reveled in Cash’s needy moans.
“It would be a shame to waste something so perfect.”
Cash’s hand tightened on Nick’s hip. He thought it was to stop Nick from rubbing against him, but then Cash thrust upward, notching his cock higher along Nick’s crease. The groan that rumbled from Cash was all the encouragement Nick needed. He’d make his man blow his load by hook or by crook.
“Baby,” Nick crooned, tightening his glutes to massage Cash’s shaft. “I need to please you and feel the power coursing through your body as you get off. Want to feel your cum on my skin. Need to smell you, Saint, so I know I’m yours.”
Cash slid his arm low around Nick’s waist and pressed his warm palm to Nick’s abdomen.
Between the warmth flooding his insides and the heat pressing against his flesh, Nick thought he could burn to ash right there in Cash’s bed.
If they were to be his last moments, there was no other way he wanted to go out.
“I won’t hurt you,” Cash whispered before kissing the shell of Nick’s ear. He rolled his hips again, and Nick felt the glide of precum along his crease.
“Denying me your pleasure hurts me,” Nick replied.
“I’ll just put undue pressure on myself to recover, and the added stress will cause a setback.
” The statement wasn’t part of the hook or crook pledge.
It was an earnest plea from Nick’s heart.
“I don’t need penetration, baby. Grab the lube and rub one out between my thighs. ”
Cash didn’t move, didn’t even breathe, for a few seconds before he released Nick and rolled toward his side of the bed.
It was still pitch-black in the room when Cash yanked the bedside drawer hard enough to pull the entire thing from the table.
Cash cursed a blue streak as the contents crashed to the floor.
It was both one of the best and worst moments in Nick’s life.
The best because he’d rendered this elegant man to a savage beast. The worst because said beast wouldn’t be wearing out his ass the way Nick truly craved.
Cash turned on the bedside lamp and soft light encircled the bed.
Nick blinked to adapt, then rolled onto his back to see what was going on.
Cash was on his knees with his ass in the air as he leaned over to pick items up off the floor.
Nick reached between his toned thighs, cupped Cash’s taut balls, and rolled them in his hand.
“Lube, baby. Leave the rest for later.” Cash righted himself, braced his palms on the nightstand, and rocked back into Nick’s touch.
“Do you want to straddle my face? I can eat you out and jerk you off.”
Cash lost his balance and nearly pitched off the bed. “You’re trying to kill me, right?”
Nick chuckled. “C’mere, Saint. Quit stalling.”
Cash repositioned himself to lie on his side while Nick rolled over and presented his ass. “Won’t last long.”
“And whose fault is that?” Nick playfully chided. “I sure as hell didn’t ask you to abstain like a monk.”
Cash nipped his good shoulder as he drizzled a thin line of lube along Nick’s crease and taint.
A moment later, he heard the telltale signs of Cash slicking up his dick.
Nick expected him to begin frotting when Cash separated his ass cheeks, but Cash circled Nick’s pucker with his thumb instead.
Around and around the wrinkled rim, stopping only to tap the center.
Nick growled in frustration. “Fucking tease.” But there was no heat in his words, only longing.
“You’re so perfect for me, Nicky. I’ll never want anyone the way I want you.”
Key parts of Nick’s psyche had been hidden away for a while.
He’d mounted a rescue and located the locked iron door but couldn’t open it.
Nick closed his eyes and gave himself over to the moment.
Cash’s sexy voice and tender caresses filtered into his soul like wisps of smoke through the door’s keyhole, sparking life in the barren space.
Tears burned the back of his eyelids and his chest swelled with joy.
“Touch me,” Nick begged, though he didn’t instruct where.
Cash knew. He always did. Sliding his hand around to cup Nick’s cock and balls, Cash shuttled his erection between Nick’s closed thighs.
The rasp of Cash’s cockhead over his anus and against his taint drove Nick fucking nuts.
Cash’s caresses and thrusts started out tender, almost soothing, but quickly escalated in intensity.
“I’m going to come,” Cash snarled in his ear.
“Glaze me like a donut,” Nick panted.
Cash eased from between Nick’s legs and got to his knees.
Nick carefully rolled onto his back and lifted his legs toward his chest, exposing his hole.
Cash positioned himself at Nick’s ass and shuttled his hand up and down his cock.
The ferocious expression on Cash’s face made Nick’s pucker quiver.
Cash reached forward with his free hand and massaged Nick’s hole, only pulling back when he started to come.
Hot semen splattered against Nick’s asshole, taint, and balls.
He couldn’t wait until it painted the walls of his tight channel.
When he lowered his legs, Nick noticed he’d achieved an impressive three-quarter boner that promised soon. He couldn’t resist reaching down and tracing its length with a few fingers.
Cash leaned forward and kissed the head of his cock before easing off the bed. “Don’t you dare call him Ole Sparky again,” he called out as he restored order to his bedside table. “That’s what they nickname electric chairs.”
“Fine. He’ll be known henceforth as Spiffy Stiffy.”
Cash snorted from somewhere in the closet or bathroom.
Nick was content to stretch out in bed with his almost erection and his glazed donut.
The underlying panic Nick had pretended wasn’t there, or was under control, eased up.
Cash returned with a wet, warm washcloth and lovingly wiped Nick’s cock, balls, and ass.
“Hey, I was still enjoying that,” Nick groused.
Cash tossed the rag onto the floor and eased onto the bed. “You’ll enjoy this more.” He splayed Nick’s thighs apart and lay flat between them. Cash licked a path along Nick’s shaft and sucked it into his mouth. The heat was incredible, and Nick moaned.
“I don’t think I can yet.” But he used his free hand to anchor Cash in place.
Cash eased off and met Nick’s gaze. “This isn’t about orgasms or hard-ons.
I’m just speaking your language, baby. Let’s try to get some more rest.” Cash nestled his shoulders between Nick’s thighs to lie flat.
Then he rested his cheek on Nick’s pelvis, put Nick’s cock back in his mouth, and closed his eyes.
Nick carded his fingers through Cash’s hair, closed his eyes, and imagined that damn iron door to the room beyond.
Cash’s earlier caresses felt like wispy smoke tendrils through the keyhole.
But these wet, passionate kisses were bright shafts of sunlight, piercing the gloom and despair.
Smoke and bright light created fog, but it was better than bleak darkness.
His last coherent thought was, Hang in there, Spiffy Stiffy. The cavalry has arrived.
It was after ten o’clock when Nick entered the kitchen in search of breakfast leftovers.
He’d hoped to sneak in and out unnoticed but no such luck.
Harry and Rory were sitting at the kitchen island, sipping coffee and looking at something on a laptop.
It reminded Nick that he’d left his computer in the library and it probably needed charging.
He made a mental note to take care of that after breakfast so he could do some covert research on Salvation Anew and the Samuel Jeremiah guy at its helm.
Cash had passed along Burke’s message that he didn’t want interference, but Nick didn’t trust Cash’s safety to just anyone.
He’d hoped Cash would come back from lunch on Wednesday with news other than the meatloaf had been dry and the mashed potatoes too wet.
Cash had read his mind, kissed his mopey face, and retrieved the rest of Nick’s belongings from the trunk.
He’d put Nick’s gun and badge in the office safe and found space for all Nick’s clothes in his dressers or closet.
Nick had observed and made lewd suggestions about what they could get up to on the oversized tufted ottoman in the closet.
Though he had his own clothes and toiletries, Nick still went for Cash’s stuff every morning.
On some level, he knew he was acting like a smitten teenager, but he didn’t fucking care.
He just enjoyed smelling like Cash and feeling his clothes against his skin.
Rory noticed his presence first and looked up.
His little brother scanned him from head to toe and didn’t bother trying to quell his knowing smirk.
Rory had been aware of his feelings for Cash before Nick was willing to recognize them.
They’d had a lot of time to reconnect, and it reminded Nick of when they were little boys.
They talked a lot and Nick felt like he was really seeing his amazing brother for the first time.
“Morning, Nicky.”