Chapter Fifteen
DANIEL STEPPED onto his stoop as Aaron trailed slowly behind him. The car ride had been glum as could be, and nothing he said was making it better.
“You know how they say comedy is just tragedy plus time?” He risked a smile as he twisted to face Aaron. “Well, tonight is going to be one funny story someday.” All his levity efforts were landing on slumped shoulders and a crestfallen frown. “The sunset was beautiful, right? And the boat. Oh my goodness. So gorgeous. I might have to rethink my stance on boats.”
Aaron nodded, silent.
“Thank you for everything.” He pursed his lips. “I mean it. Thank you for getting my contract taken care of, and the parking tickets. Thank you for being an incredible human being. You are going to find the perfect person someday. I feel it.”
Aaron kept his gaze lowered. “I’m sure you are too.”
Daniel’s heart pricked as he pushed up to his toes and gripped Aaron to him. Aaron’s arms wrapped around him, and there they stood in the gray area between But I tried and Did I try hard enough? It was like he was as frightened to hold on as he was to let go.
“Okay, mister.” But he let go. “I’ll see you around?”
“See you around.”
“Just—” He snagged Aaron’s hand as he tried to leave. It felt wrong to let him leave quite yet. It was like something was missing. “One more hug?”
Aaron wrapped him up for the second time, and there it was. That would do the trick.
What was unfortunate was that he’d never get to smell this again. Never experience the potent combination that made his scent so unique. If this was the last time, then he was going to make it count. He buried his face in Aaron’s neck and inhaled orris butter and expensive suede, then released his breath. Out poured an accidental moan.
Aaron jerked back a touch to peer down at him, probably to make certain he was okay.
“Oh,” Daniel whispered, clearing his throat. “Sorry about that. Don’t know what that was.”
Aaron studied him, his beautiful face unfairly drenched in moonlight.
“Okay, then.” He pressed up to his toes and pecked Aaron’s cheek. “Good night.”
Aaron squeezed his hand. “Good night, kid. I’ll see you around—”
“Wait.” He yanked Aaron back. “Nothing. I just think it’d be fine to kiss. Don’t you?”
What the actual hell? Had he been possessed by the ghost of terrible decision-making past? How was it fine to kiss ?
“Like, one last time,” he continued, just to make sure his logic was as ridiculous as it sounded, and it was. “A kiss goodbye, if you want. Europeans do it.”
Aaron angled his head to the side. It was dark, but the confusion was clearly scribbled across his face.
“But actually, if you don’t want to—”
Aaron held his hips and kissed him. How… cute. Cute and closed mouth. Cute and chaste. It wasn’t the type of kiss Daniel had grown accustomed to from Aaron, but that was perfectly fine. A good-night kiss was supposed to be as harmless as a baked potato without the butter and just as bland. They didn’t need to make it any deeper than that.
“How nice,” Daniel said, stepping back and offering a little wave. “Now that it’s out of our systems, we can finally get some sleep. Good night, mister.”
Aaron hesitated for a moment, all tall and noble like an armored knight in an oil painting, while the moonlight did that unwarranted glowy thing to his skin. “Good night, kid—”
Daniel jerked Aaron in and crushed their mouths together. He took liberties, too, snaking his hands over his chest, writhing in tight to his body, tasting his mouth in excess because this was spring break in Cancun and not a front-porch breakup.
“Accident,” Daniel suddenly said, flittering his hands about. “I obviously didn’t mean—nope. Accident. Go. Good night. ”
A smirk lifted one corner of Aaron’s mouth.
“I’m serious.” Daniel pushed at his chest. “Go.” Then he fisted Aaron’s shirt and tugged him back to kiss him, because he was not a balanced human.
Aaron stumbled forth beautifully. A knight with a white flag of surrender.
“I can’t just stand here kissing you all night,” Daniel hissed against Aaron’s lips and kissed him deeper. “That is not what we’re doing.”
Aaron matched his crass amount of tongue.
“Are you listening to me?” He scraped his fingers through Aaron’s hair and down his back. Europeans probably did that kind of thing too? “I said it’s not what we’re doing.”
“So, am I leaving?” Aaron sounded out of breath and confused.
“Yes, duh.” His words were muffled by Aaron’s lips. “I’d clearly like you to go.”
“It’s not really that clear—”
“Go!” He shoved Aaron away.
Aaron grunted when he staggered backward, his back hitting the railing. At least he was smiling, even if he was a bit flustered. “Damn, all right. I’m leaving.”
Daniel thrashed his arms in the air and nodded like it was about to be outlawed. “Finally!”
They both stood frozen for a beat, breathing sharply. Aaron took one step toward his car.
“Where the fuck are you going?” Daniel crashed into him.
If he was going to be an unbalanced human, he might as well be the kind of unbalanced human that threw caution to the wind, and if this was going to be his decision, then it might as well be the kind of decision he made with his whole body on hyperdrive.
He consumed Aaron with everything he had as orris butter, expensive suede, and the neighbor’s honeysuckle all crowded his senses. He spun around and struggled to unlock his door—stupid door with its stupid sticky key—the gorgeous stallion of a man behind him not helping. With his hands tracing all over Daniel’s body and his mouth glued to his neck with unspeakable skill, it was enough to make a guy scream.
Aaron’s tongue lashed around his ear, and maybe he did scream, because the lock finally gave up in fear that Daniel would destroy it with his bare hands .
He flung the door open, and there was a moment when time seemed to freeze. Well, not freeze so much as it patiently waited for them to catch up, to get into position—Daniel’s legs hopped around Aaron’s waist; Aaron’s hands cradling him in the tightest, juiciest kiss—as someone slammed the door closed but no one turned on lights and so they both rammed into a runner table, then an armchair, trying not to laugh as that interrupted the kissing and the kissing was already out of proportion.
It was Daniel’s fault. He was done with civilized. He wanted it rough and mindless, like a drunk sorority girl—all needy tongue and no tact. Aaron seemed to be fine with rough and mindless, because he pounded Daniel into the doorframe of the bedroom. “Shit! Sorry.”
Okay, maybe that was an accident. Just like the something that fell from somewhere with a clunk and rolled across the floor. Daniel managed to flick on a lamp as he chuckled against Aaron’s lips, his chuckle transforming into a squeal when he hurtled through the air, landing on his back in the bed.
“How is your room”—Aaron hurried his shirt off in a chaotic heave that got stuck over his face—“this messed-up already?”
“Shh, ignore that.” Daniel slid from the bed like a Slinky and hit his knees. He worked Aaron’s belt loose and his jeans down his legs.
“I don’t underst….” Aaron trailed off, twisting to gaze around the room. “Like. I just cleaned it.”
Daniel took his time with the underwear. Wouldn’t want to hurt what he was working hard to see. So hard. Deliciously hard. “Look at you.”
“Did you have a party after I left or something?”
“Watch me.”
Aaron’s gaze zipped down to him as a hand gently twisted into his curls.
“You like the way I move, mister? You need to watch me.” He stroked Aaron, a bit mesmerized as he tasted the tip. “Watch me fucking dazzle .”
Aaron looked just how Daniel would’ve pictured, fully naked: flawless. He was perfectly sized for his frame and centerfoldworthy with the muscles that cut their way around his stomach, stretching all that honeyed skin tight. The messy room must’ve lost its place on the list of Aaron’s concerns, because blue ice never left Daniel as he invited Aaron into his mouth. Sweet and soft, sweet and soft, sweet and soft. Slow, slow, slow. For a while .
Until it wasn’t.
He had a technique. It was a whole thing that brought the boys to the yard, and Aaron suddenly wobbled on his feet, his hands sort of hovering in the air like he didn’t know what to do with them as he grunted, “Holy.”
Yes, sir. Holy. Holy mackerel. Holy hell. Holy head. Daniel didn’t need vocal encouragement to lavishly apply himself, but it didn’t hurt that Aaron was falling apart under his command. It was kind of cute that his body jerked the way it did as he struggled to stay upright, supporting his weight on the bedframe, cursing under his breath.
It also didn’t hurt that he tasted just like he smelled: expensive.
Rich velveteen suede and lush orris butter. Fuck, Daniel would swallow with pleasure. He hadn’t really eaten much today….
“Holy—stop!”
“Holy stop ?” Daniel asked, swiping his tongue over his lips as Aaron laughed and stumbled away. “That’s a new one.”
“Jesus.” Aaron’s breath bucked his chest. “You want it to end before it starts?”
“I think I would enjoy anything it did.”
“Your mouth.” Aaron lifted him from the floor and sat him on the bed to cup his face and smear a thumb over his bottom lip. “I was wondering.”
“Mm-hmm.” Daniel nodded; then he shook his head. “No, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Sorry,” Aaron chuckled and dragged a hand down his face, his wild gaze heavy on Daniel’s lips. “I was wondering how it’d look afterward.”
“Oh?” Daniel batted his lashes and pouted his lips. “How does it look?”
He was expecting an answer like hot, sexy, bangable, but Aaron leaned in and kissed him long and tender. He whispered, “Precious. You’re so precious.”
That was the difference, wasn’t it? Some guys saw black and white. Hot or not. Sexy or not. Bangable or not. Aaron looked at him and saw shades of precious.
He melted back onto the bed while Aaron undressed him, then riffled through the nightstand drawer like he was taking inventory of its contents. “Condoms in here? Lube? ”
A part of him knew better. It knew sleeping with Aaron was only going to muddle things further. It was taking an already complicated maze and redefining the layout halfway through.
“You’re so flexible.” Aaron pretzeled Daniel’s leg around himself. “Look. You’re like Gumby.”
He chuckled, scrunching his nose. “Can we maybe pick someone hotter than Gumby?”
“No.” Aaron grinned. “I’ve always had a thing for Gumby.”
It was taking a complicated maze and lighting that shit on fire.
“Hey, I want you to know something.” Aaron was suddenly close to his face. “I want you to know how excited I am to be here. How excited I am that you want me here.”
Daniel pushed a strand of chocolate hair away from Aaron’s eye. It was taking an already complicated maze and maybe never finding his way out.
“But I don’t have any expectations for tomorrow.”
Daniel raised his eyebrows.
“If tonight’s the last time I see you, then tonight’s the last time I see you.” Aaron raked both hands through Daniel’s hair and held his face stable. “But I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it.”
Daniel’s breath caught in the back of his throat. He couldn’t tell if it was something he needed to hear or if it just jumbled things more. But maybe it was for the best. If tonight was the last time he saw him, then tonight was the last time he saw him. Either way, he should also enjoy the hell out of it.
“Look at me,” Aaron said. He wet a finger with his mouth, then wedged it between Daniel’s legs and slowly pushed it inside him.
He couldn’t stifle the gasp or the way he gripped on to Aaron’s shoulders.
“Into my eyes, kid,” Aaron whispered. He grinned a little as he pushed a second finger inside him. “Nowhere else.”
It was easy following his command. It was easy getting lost in the depths of blue ice. So heated to be so frosty. Like the bottom of an iceberg or the center of a flame, either one delivering a burn if touched.
Aaron grinned fully now. Attentive. Mischievous. “Oh, you’re mine now.”
God, yes .
Then it was happening. It was happening in the condom Aaron ripped open with his teeth and lube he drizzled in excess. It was happening in sharp whips of tingling tenderness and wide eyes and even wider gasps, and damn, he was tight, but he was alive with adrenaline, and Aaron was so… controlled.
“Now, see, I had a hunch.” Aaron smiled as he gripped the flesh on his hips, slowly pushing himself deeper, one disciplined inch at a time. “I had a hunch you might feel the way you feel.”
Daniel wrapped his legs around Aaron’s waist, a little dizzy, a little lost in frosty blue. “How do I feel, mister?”
“Oh, you don’t know?” Aaron’s eyebrows furrowed. “I’d think you’d lead with that. ‘My name’s Daniel, and I feel perfect.’”
Daniel rolled his eyes to hide all the swooning.
Aaron leaned down until his lips touched his ear. He whispered, “Perfect.”
He shook his head, but he was as giddy as could be with Aaron’s face buried in his neck, insisting that he was “Dazzling. Inside and out, you’re dazzling.”
He might as well have been on drugs with all the starry-eyed chemicals beginning to surge into his system. One or two (or seventy) might have penetrated his emotional center, but it wasn’t like it was hard to do. He wasn’t good at this. At containing his emotions at all, but at keeping them in a safe compartment where they didn’t run rampant over his decisions.
“So good.” Aaron buried himself a bit deeper, coaxing a whimper from Daniel’s mouth. “So, so good. You are my new favorite place to be.”
Even if they were just words, it didn’t matter. They were words no one had ever said to him, and he suddenly didn’t care if there were a million reasons for them to remain unspoken. He’d carved out plenty of places in his heart for men who didn’t deserve it, but this sweet, nurturing jewel of a man did. He deserved an entire corner in Daniel’s heart. It could be Aaron’s corner, and no one would be allowed inside but him.
“Kiss me.” Daniel rocked his hips harder as he touched their foreheads together and inhaled Aaron’s expensive skin. “Kiss me—”
“Like I did—”
“At the party. ”
The kiss from the party transformed into the night Daniel met his match as an electric current clutched the moment, and Aaron bored into his body with a shocking amount of intuition.
How Daniel liked it—mostly rough. When he needed the rhythm to slow while he wrangled his breath. What he needed to hear hissed into his ear as he clawed at flawless honeyed skin: “My new favorite place to be.”
Daniel wholeheartedly agreed as he surrendered into the moment with one hand pinned to the mattress above his head and the other gripping Aaron’s jaw, because he didn’t want to see anything other than blue ice with its swirls of white topaz and the tenderness behind it all.
“If you stop, I’ll kill you,” someone suddenly threatened. Daniel realized it was him.
“Aww.” Aaron smiled, all cocky. “That it, sweetheart?”
Yeah. That was it. Aaron knew that was it, which is why he didn’t stop. Which was why he muscled through thrusts, rasping into Daniel’s ear, “You tiny fucking thing. Take it.”
Then Aaron more than fucked him.
“Take it.”
He more than had him.
“Take it.”
He ruined him.
Daniel had never been ruined so good. He’d never had a man pierce his soul with a few words, a few flicks of his tongue, and with such flawless certainty. He’d never had a man make him come.
Not like this. Not hard and heavy, sensational and coarse-grained without so much as a single stroke to himself.
His voice crackled from his throat while he suspended disbelief long enough to trust his eyes as hot streams of white spilled from him, over and over, coaxed stunningly from his body in bright bursts that obeyed Aaron’s thrusting hips and speckled both their abdomens as a reward.
Aaron jolted still to breathe or maybe stare while Daniel trembled all over, giggling through an attempt to rub his eyes.
“Goodness,” Aaron said, out of breath. “Do you do that often? Look at me. You do that often?”
Daniel shook his head, loopy and light-headed. “I don’t even know what just happened. ”
“Don’t tell me I’m the first.” Aaron shook him a little. “If you tell me I’m the first, I can’t be responsible for my ego.”
“You’re the first.” And the last. A radiator and a pair of handcuffs.
“Oh my God, it hurts.” Aaron collapsed on top of him. “My ego hurts it’s so swollen. What a little unicorn. So hot.” He slowly pushed up to his hands. “You probably need a minute. I’ll give you a min—”
“Nuh-uh, keep going.” He sounded strangely confident, like a porn star on poppers and not someone barely clinging to lucidity. “Whatever you want. Take as long as you need. But keep going.”
It was the kind of moment that was sure to become a memory, all saturated in dreamy colors and soft-focused around the edges. He cradled Aaron’s head in his neck and took him gracefully. Skillfully even. He’d do anything Aaron needed.
He’d arch his spine and moan through his teeth. He’d grip the sheets and whimper while Aaron unleashed into him. He’d part his lips and swallow his own cum because Aaron had said Drink and shoved dripping fingertips inside his mouth, down his throat. Every last drop, sweet boy. Every last drop.
He’d gaze up at him, completely blitzed with his eyes wide and his heart battering through beats, and he’d say somewhere between a whisper and a growl, “You are a fucking god.”
And Aaron would come inside of him within seconds.
THE ONLY sound in the room was the slow revolution of the ceiling fan. Daniel lay twisted in a tangled heap of arms and legs atop Aaron’s chest as he breathed in the neighbor’s honeysuckle, an easy rhythm in sweet succession of inhales.
He’d be sore tomorrow, but he couldn’t locate a single bone that cared. He smiled against Aaron’s skin, almost vibrating in the lingering high from their little joyride. “Aaron,” he whispered. “Are you asleep?”
Aaron drifted his fingertips down his arm. His voice was deep and underscored with fatigue as he said, “No, sweetheart. Just thinking.”
“About what?”
Aaron sighed, “My life.”
“What about it? ”
“I don’t know.” He tossed an arm over his face and shook his head. “Nothing. Never mind. I think I’m just tired. Would it be okay if I stayed here tonight? Or I can leave. No worries.”
Something in Daniel’s heart sputtered. He shook his head and squeezed Aaron tighter. “No, don’t leave. I don’t want you to leave.”
Aaron pecked his forehead. “Thank you.”
“In fact….” Daniel took a gulp and mustered all of his courage. “I want breakfasts.”
“Yeah?” Aaron rubbed his arm. “We can do breakfast.”
“No, breakfasts . Plural. I want more than one.”
Aaron angled his head to see him a bit better.
“And I want lunches too. I want dinners and dates.” He bravely pushed himself up to a seat. “I want you to meet my friends and Madeline. I want you to meet my mom. I want all of it.”
Aaron’s eyes brightened, and his smile got spectacularly sappy. Underneath his handsome, steel-clad exterior was a creature with such a tremendous soft spot that Daniel ached to touch it. To soothe him. To stitch up his painful past with a patchwork of affirmations. You’re good enough. You did nothing wrong. You’re safe with me. I’ll take care of you too.
The potential for something epic here had to outweigh the chance his entire heart would thoroughly break one day. And even if it didn’t, that was a problem for future Daniel.
He shifted to wriggle onto Aaron’s lap and loop his arms around his neck. An hour later, he could still feel him inside like the wind could feel all the thrown caution. He closed his eyes and whispered onto Aaron’s lips, “I want all of it with you.”