Chapter 17 #2
Landen guiding him backward, slow and deliberate. The back of Adriel's knees hitting the mattress. Him sitting, then lying back, Landen following him down. The weight of him settling over Adriel's body; warm, solid, perfect.
Landen braced himself on his forearms, one on either side of Adriel's head. He looked down at him for a moment; really looked, that unhurried, intent gaze that made Adriel feel like he was being read.
Then he kissed him again. Slow and deep. His hips settling between Adriel's thighs, the weight of him pressing down, his cock against Adriel's hip. Adriel pulled him down harder, wrapped his arms around his neck, held him closer.
Landen groaned quietly against his mouth. His mouth moved down. Down Adriel's throat, kissing the spot he'd just sucked, then lower. Down his chest, tongue tracing a path through the soft hair there. Down to his nipple.
His lips closed over it. The slight pressure of his tongue, circling, teasing, making Adriel's back arch off the mattress with a sharp inhale. Landen did it again, slower this time, and Adriel's fingers pushed into his hair and held.
"Good?" Landen murmured against his skin.
"Yes," Adriel breathed. The word was barely there. "God, yes."
Landen smiled against his chest and then he kept moving; kissed down Adriel's stomach, slow and deliberate, pressing his mouth to the soft skin there.
Adriel braced himself.
Waited for the voice to start, the one that lived in the back of his mind, the one that had been there as long as he could remember.
It didn't come.
Landen's mouth was warm on his stomach. He wasn't moving past, wasn't hurrying over; he was staying.
Pressing his lips to the softest parts of Adriel's body with the same attention he gave everything else.
His tongue traced the curve of his belly.
His teeth grazed the skin just above his hip.
His hands spread over his sides, holding him still.
Adriel lay there and felt the thoughts dissolve. Degree by degree. Kiss by kiss. Until there was nothing left except the warmth of Landen's mouth and the weight of his hands and the impossible, overwhelming reality of being wanted.
His sweats came off.
Adriel lifted his hips to help, watched Landen pull them down his legs, toss them aside. His underwear followed.
Then Landen sat back on his heels. Looked at him. All of him. Bare and flushed in the warm lamplight. His stomach. His thick thighs. Every inch of himself he'd spent a lifetime hating, laid out for Landen to see.
Landen's gaze moved over him slowly. Deliberately. Taking him in like he was memorizing every detail.
Then he said, quietly: "Fuck. You're gorgeous."
Adriel's throat closed. He couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Couldn't do anything except lie there and feel the words settle into his chest, warm and impossible and real.
Landen lowered his head. Took him into his mouth. Adriel's whole body jerked, a sound tearing out of him that he didn't recognize. His hand fisted in Landen's hair, needing something to anchor him.
Landen's palm pressed down firmly against his hip, holding him still. He worked him with his tongue in slow, devastating strokes; the flat of it dragging upward from the base of his cock to the tip, circling the head, his lips tight and warm on the downstroke.
Adriel was making sounds. Continuous and unguarded. Sounds he'd never heard himself make, that he hadn't known he was capable of. His free hand gripped the sheet beside him, twisting it. Every time Landen's tongue circled the head of his cock, Adriel's thighs shook.
"Landen…" His voice was wrecked. "I'm… if you don't stop I'm going to…"
Landen pulled off slowly.
Pressed a kiss to the inside of his thigh. Then looked up at him from between his legs with dark, intent eyes.
"Turn over," he said.
Adriel did. Pressed his face into the pillow, heart pounding, every nerve alive and waiting.
The pillow was cool against his flushed skin, a small relief in the heat that had built between them.
He felt exposed like this; on his knees, face down, his back arched slightly without him meaning to make it so.
Every inch of his body on display, offered up.
Then Landen's hands were on him. Moving over his back slowly, like he had all the time in the world.
His palms were warm and sure as they traveled; over Adriel's shoulders, pressing into the muscles there.
Down his spine, tracing each vertebra. Following the curve of his waist, the flare of his hips.
Adriel shivered under the touch.
Landen's mouth followed. Warm kisses pressed along the back of his neck, right at the hairline, where his skin was most sensitive.
Adriel's breath caught. Landen did it again; slower this time, his lips parting just enough to let his tongue trace the same spot.
Then lower. Kisses pressed between his shoulder blades, down the center of his back, following the path his hands had taken.
By the time Landen reached the base of his spine, Adriel was trembling.
His hands spread over the curve of Adriel's ass. Squeezing slowly. Gently. His fingers pressed into the soft flesh, kneading, learning the shape of him.
Adriel pressed his face harder into the pillow and groaned.
"So pretty," Landen murmured.
His thumbs traced the cleft of him. Slow and deliberate. Following the line of it from the base of his spine down to his hole. The touch was light, barely there, but it made Adriel's hips push back instinctively, seeking more pressure.
Landen made a quiet sound of approval.
"So fucking perfect," he said.
His thumbs pressed slightly harder, parting him just enough to see, to appreciate.
Adriel felt the cool air against his most intimate place and shuddered.
Then Landen leaned down and pressed his mouth to the same spot, just above, just below, he couldn't tell, couldn't think, and the heat of it made his whole body jerk.
"Landen…"
"Shh." Another kiss, placed right at the top of the cleft. "I've got you."
Adriel heard the nightstand drawer open. Landen’s hand rifling through it. The click of a cap. His heart was pounding so hard he could feel it in his throat, in his temples, in the cock that was trapped between his stomach and the mattress, leaking steadily.
Then the cool press of slicked fingers against him.
Circling slowly. Teasing. Landen's touch was light, barely there, making him push back for more. When one finger finally pushed inside, Adriel's breath left him in a long, shuddering exhale.
"Oh…"
"Yeah," Landen breathed. "That's it."
He worked him open carefully. One finger moving in slow strokes, finding the rhythm, learning what made Adriel's breath catch and what made him push back for more. He curled it slightly on each inward stroke, searching, exploring.
When he added the second finger, Adriel's whole body tensed.
"Breathe," Landen reminded him. His free hand pressed warm and steady against the small of Adriel's back. "Just breathe through it."
Adriel tried. Failed. Tried again. The stretch was intense; not painful, but full, a reminder of how long it had been since someone had done this to him.
Landen waited. Stilled inside him until he felt Adriel's body relax, accept, begin to push back against the intrusion. Then he moved again; scissoring gently, stretching him wider, preparing him for what was coming.
When he found the spot inside that made Adriel's whole body go rigid, he knew immediately.
Adriel's cock, trapped against the mattress, pulsed violently. A sound tore out of him, high and broken, and his hips pushed back without permission, trying to force Landen's fingers deeper, harder, onto that spot again.
Landen obliged. Crooked his fingers and hit it again. And again. He worked that spot until Adriel was pulling the pillow against his face to muffle the sounds he was making; loud, desperate, utterly shameless sounds that filled the room.
"Don't." Landen's hand moved from his back to pull the pillow away. "I want to hear you."
Adriel turned his head to the side, gasping, cheeks red.
Landen added a third finger. The stretch was more intense now; a burn that bordered on too much and then settled into something exquisite.
He worked them in slowly, giving Adriel time, and then found that spot again and stayed there.
Crooking his fingers. Massaging. Driving Adriel slowly out of his mind.
"Please," Adriel heard himself say. His voice was wrecked. "Please, Landen, I need…"
"What do you need?" Landen's voice was rough now. The control in it wearing thin, fraying at the edges. "Tell me."
"You. Inside me. Please. Now."
"Me?" Landen asked.
"Yes," Adriel said. His voice cracked on the word. "Please..."
The fingers withdrew.
Adriel felt the loss of them acutely; felt empty, aching, desperate to be filled again. He heard the sound of the condom wrapper tearing, the quiet rustle of it being rolled on. He pressed his forehead to the mattress and tried to breathe.
Then Landen's hands were at his hips. Repositioning him gently.
Lifting him slightly, adjusting the angle.
One hand pressed against the small of his back, encouraging him to arch more, to present himself fully.
Adriel obeyed without thought, without hesitation, his body responding to Landen's touch like it had been waiting for this all along.
And then the blunt pressure of him pushing slowly inside.
Adriel moaned. Long and low and completely unguarded as Landen pushed in slowly. Agonizingly slowly. Inch by inch. His hands gripped Adriel's hips with firm, warm pressure.
When he was fully seated inside him, he stilled.
The fullness was overwhelming. The stretch, the pressure, the impossible closeness of being joined to someone like this. He could feel Landen's pulse inside him, or maybe that was his own, it was hard to tell anymore.
"Okay?" Landen asked. His voice was rough with restraint. It made something in Adriel's chest clench, knowing he was the reason for that. Knowing he could make Landen lose control.