5. Cory
CHAPTER 5
Cory
The first thing I noticed were the parquet floors. And after that, nothing that wasn’t Reese himself. The room smelled of him. I didn’t wait for him to give me the grand tour. The minute we were inside and the door was shut, I slung an arm around his waist and pulled him close. I moved around him like a predator circling prey until we were face to face.
Reese’s eyes were shut. Dark lashes fanned against his cheeks and I fought the urge to rise up and kiss him there. Later.
“Limits?” I rasped the now familiar word that signaled the start of our song and dance.
Reese huffed, seeming amused, but like a good boy, he complied. “They haven’t changed.”
I smoothed my hands down his chest and got lost in a daydream of all the things I wanted to do to him. Things I had to earn the right to. The trust to. Reese trusted me a little, not enough. And I didn’t think he trusted himself yet.
My hands slid down his sides and around his back. I cupped a handful of ass in each palm and squeezed with my fingers. Reese moaned and rocked closer, his hands coming to rest loosely on my hips.
“Can I spank you, Reese? Is that off-limits?” I looked up at him as I asked, watching every facial twitch for a clue as to what was going on inside his head. “I’ve been dreaming about your ass all month.”
A quiet laugh pushed past his lips. He looked down at me and arched an eyebrow. “Looking for retribution?”
“Never.” As I spoke, I ghosted my mouth against his. If we kissed, he’d taste like sake, whiskey, and trembling anticipation.
“There are a million other things I can do to you.” I kissed the corner of his mouth. “With you.” The line of his jaw. “For you.” His throat, where his pulse fluttered under the skin like a manic butterfly.
I felt the depth of the breath Reese took and what it cost him to let it out so he could acquiesce. “Okay.”
“There’s my good boy,” I crooned softly, dragging an open-mouthed kiss along his throat. I steered us toward the bed, which took all of a handful of steps. He hadn’t been kidding about the size of his apartment. But I loved it. A large bay window took up one wall. A plant hung from the ceiling, a giant monstrosity that climbed along the walls. Reese’s bed was pushed against one wall and opposite it sat a dresser with a TV perched on top. A mid-century chair with a wooden frame and upholstery half-hidden in a stack of laundry was shoved in the corner.
Reese reached for his belt, but I batted his hands away.
“Let me.”
He exhaled, making it sound sassier than any puff of breath should be able to. It was a small sign that maybe I was learning him and all his quirks. Discovering Reese wasn’t the submissive I’d thought he was had been a gift. I wondered if he’d always resist, if he would always make me work for it. Or if he’d bend one day, in some far-off future that I hoped to discover.
I divested Reese of his shirt first, exposing his skin to me and my mouth. I kissed along his clavicle, traced the edge of each nipple with my tongue until he shivered. By the time I worked my way down to his belt, Reese was trembling. He exhaled a shaky breath when I pulled at his belt, undoing it.
“You’re doing so well.” I praised him as I pulled his pants off his hips, taking his briefs with them, baring him to me. Pushing his pants to his ankles, I followed them down and helped him step out of his shoes first, then the rest.
When I looked up from my position near his feet and found him looking down at me, he no longer looked frightened or reluctant. Those other emotions had given way and made room for curiosity. Anticipation.
I rose to my feet and moved around him. Running my hand down his arm, I tangled my fingers with his and pulled him with me. When I tried to get on the bed, Reese tugged his hand out of mine.
“You’re wearing too many clothes.” His voice was rough and uneven, like our differences in attire bothered him. Turning to face him, I offered a smile, one soft as marshmallow and just as sweet.
I thought about telling him to undress me. Pictured the way his hands would quake with nervous hesitation. The way his eyes would widen as he battled with the urge to have me naked versus the urge to not do what I’d told him to do.
Instead, I made him stand there as I slowly undressed myself. I kept my eyes on Reese the whole time, watching the way his gaze ate me up. Watched as his cock got harder with every scrap of skin I exposed. The want was mutual. It was practically a third person in the room it was so present between us.
Fully naked, I stepped into his space, brushed my fingers over his cheek and pulled him down into a slow, tongue-tangling kiss. Reese put his arms around me and crushed me against him, dragged me in so close that no light could make its way between our bodies.
Perhaps it was a stalling tactic. A way to delay what I’d promised to give him because Reese kissed me with an ardor that made me dizzy. Truthfully, I could have spent all night kissing him. It wouldn’t be a waste or a letdown. It would be the most exquisite torture, to kiss and touch and not give in to other ideas or urges to control or dominate. To just exist. Embrace.
I pulled out of the kiss and sucked in a breath of air before climbing onto his unmade bed. I sat at the head of the bed, my back resting against the wall, cushioned by pillows. When I put my hand out for him to take, he took it. I reeled him in and made him stretch out over my lap.
Reese wasn’t relaxed at first. I had to coax him into loosening up by scratching my nails against his scalp, smoothing my hand up and down his back, coaxing him into letting go. After a few minutes, he was less rigid, and after a few more he, was practically putty in my hands.
“Color, Reese.”
He sucked in a deep breath, then forced it out slowly. “Green.”
“You can stop me at any time. Just tell me to stop, or say red.”
Maybe one day we’d play in a way where stop wouldn’t mean stop. Where words like no and don’t and quit would have different meanings. We weren’t there yet.
I stroked a hand down his back, gliding it over the globes of his ass, getting him used to my touch. “You have a magnificent ass,” I said, because he did and because he liked hearing it.
“Thanks, I made it myself.”
I could hear the smile in Reese’s voice.
To reward him for his humor, I pinched the cheek of his ass, not hard, just enough to get his attention. “Sassy boy.”
Smoothing my hand over the curve of his ass, I took a breath of my own. “I’m going to start. Don’t worry about counting them off; just breathe, Reese.”
He inhaled sharply and the air deflated out of him right after, but he nodded before finding his voice. “Okay.”
“That’s a good boy,” I told him as I drew my hand back. It came down and made contact with one cheek, then the other in quick succession. My strikes were firm, but not hard, enough to warm him up. Beneath me, he trembled and I soothed him with my other hand, raking my fingers through his hair. “You’re doing so well.”
I waited for him to relax, and I started again.