Chapter 20 #3
Gabriel had said that; it felt like a lifetime ago, but had only been days.
Dog years, he’d also said. And it felt like that.
Like this kiss, this passion had been building between them from the moment Blake flung open his ambulance doors and told him to get in.
And now it was here, and they were caught in its wake, and Blake didn’t want to fight it.
So he went.
He kissed; he touched. He didn’t stop to think about the whys or the what’s, didn’t get in his head about how things looked, or if Gabriel wanted it done a certain way. Blake was so lost in them that he didn’t care.
Gabriel was the first to pull back. He curled his fingers in the soft hairs at the base of Blake’s neck and rested his forehead against his, breathing like he’d just been running.
“Blake,” he began, his eyes still closed. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you. I should have—”
Blake set his jaw. “Why did you kiss me?”
That made Gabriel open his eyes. He blinked down at Blake, taking in his swollen lips and skin pink from stubble burn. His gaze lingered, eyes going dark with hunger. Blake watched his throat bob as he swallowed.
"Because I had to," Gabriel answered, voice scraped raw with honesty.
"And not just because there are aliens outside.
" He touched Blake's cheek, eyes earnest. "Because you're you and I'm me.
" He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"Because whether there were aliens blowing up the Earth or we were standing in line at a coffee shop on a Tuesday afternoon…I would have kissed you.”
Blake flushed. “So do it again.”
Gabriel was a good soldier; he knew an order when he heard one.
They came together again, and this time it was more fervent.
The uncertainty was gone, and in its place was desire so hot Blake felt like he couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t fill his lungs with oxygen because he was too busy breathing in Gabriel.
Want thrummed in his veins, it smoldered inside of him until he had to shift, seeking friction against his aching erection.
He’d never been so hard. Not for anyone.
He was lightheaded with the speed at which all his blood drained into his dick.
Blake thought he knew about sex and about orgasms, but with Gabriel’s touch branding his skin, he began to realize why people killed and died for this. For this anticipation, this heat that spoke to him in a way his mind never could. A primal thing that his body understood but his mind didn’t.
When he pressed his hard cock against Gabriel, his hold tightened, and Gabriel pushed until Blake’s back hit the wall.
With better leverage, Gabriel was able to slide his hand down until he ended up resting on the swell of Blake’s ass. His fingers squeezed, releasing slowly like he didn’t want to let go.
“God, fuck, Blake, you’ve got to—I want you so much. I want—tell me to stop. Tell me to stop and I will.”
He should. He should push Gabriel back and tell him no.
Not now. Not when they had spent the last week trying to survive—living off adrenaline and the innate stubbornness of humanity.
He should tell him that this was all just biology.
A need to be close, to feel something other than fear.
Hell, he should tell him he’d never been with a man before.
But this thing between them transcended labels or logic. It felt like an inevitability. Like, all of this was just an elaborate plot to get them here, right now in this apartment with too much beer and not enough vegetables.
Gabriel was the whisper that silenced the screaming in his mind.
Blake reached for Gabriel’s belt, jerking him closer. “You know…tomorrow is uncertain….”
“Are you seriously trying to use the whole ‘we could die tomorrow’ trope to seduce me?”
“Is it working?”
Gabriel surged in to kiss him, laughing against his lips. “Fuck yes.”
Pressed so close even the atoms between them were screaming for breath, Blake lost himself to the press of Gabriel’s lips, the nips of his teeth, and the caress of his tongue.
He breathed in his breath, his tangy scent that was probably overripe but also so masculine, so Gabriel, that Blake inhaled greedily, hoping to brand the scent in his lungs.
Rough fingers slid into his hair, twisting into the strands for grip.
With that same confidence he always had, Gabriel moved Blake’s head where he wanted, to deepen the kiss or better lick into his mouth, dancing their tongues to a beat Blake didn’t need to hear. Not when Gabriel was so ready to lead.
And Blake wanted to follow. He wanted to give in to the hush, to the peace that silence brought, and let Gabriel do as he would.
Let him guide him the same way he did his squad.
He wanted to lie prone, sacrifice his will to this altar of desire so that Gabriel could show him pleasure only the holy could understand.
He was so hard it hurt. His cock throbbed against his pants, hot and wet.
Even as close as they were, it wasn’t enough.
Blake lifted his leg, wrapped it around Gabriel’s waist, and oh god, finally.
Finally, he could feel the thick swell of Gabriel’s bulge.
Their erections pressed together, and even through layers of clothing, it was searing.
It left him stuttering for breath, muscles tensing as he grabbed onto Gabriel for support.
Their kisses turned to lips smearing against one another as they gasped into each other’s mouths, their hips rolling in an unsteady stuttering rhythm.
An electric pleasure began building in Blake’s thighs, little sparks of pleasure that were coalescing into something bigger, stoking the fire in his belly.
Wrenching his head back, Gabriel dove for the line of Blake’s jaw.
He sucked and kissed, teeth scraping against his flesh, leaving behind lines of fire across his skin.
Blake gasped into it, hands scrabbling at Gabriel’s back.
It felt so good. Like his nerve endings were on fire.
He couldn’t sit still, body wriggling and legs twitching.
“God, Blake, baby,” Gabriel panted against his collarbone. “You keep moving like that and I’m going to jizz my pants like a teenager.”
There was something powerful in that. In having the kind of power to reduce a man like Gabriel to such a desperate mess. To have him breathless, fingers digging into his flesh, his dick prominent against him.
“So take off your pants,” Blake said, far steadier than he felt.
He reached for Gabriel’s belt again, wrenching the nylon from its keepers.
It was awkward with one hand, but he managed to get the belt undone, then the snap and zipper of his tactical pants.
Gabriel watched him with hooded eyes, licking his lips as he shuddered once Blake’s fingers brushed against the path of coarse hair trailing down his stomach and beneath his boxers.
Gabriel caught his wrist before he could go any further. “Are you sure?”
Reality punctured through his haze of arousal, and Blake found himself huffing in irritation. “I don’t care. I don’t—I just want you. This. For a few minutes. I want it to be you and me.” He twisted his wrist in Gabriel’s grip, sliding until he could slot their fingers together.
“We met in a coffee shop on Tuesday afternoon,” Blake said softly, tugging their clasped hands to his chest. “You asked me out in some devastatingly handsome leading man way. I made a snarky comment to hide my nervousness. You saw right through it. We went on a date. It was nice. And now we’re here. ”
Gabriel’s throat bobbed as he swallowed. His eyes were impossibly soft. “Now we’re here.” He repeated.
His kiss was softer as he pulled Blake close, grabbing his other leg to hoist him up.
Blake had never felt so secure. Their kisses this time felt different—not exploratory, like the first. Not fervent like the second.
These were different. Weighty. They had meaning words couldn’t define because they weren’t made for ears, they were made for hearts.
A communication between the ineffable essence of souls.
Blake hit the mattress gently, Gabriel following him, sliding between his parted legs to rest his weight on top of him. And it was good. So good. The mix of soft and hot, of his hot hands stoking the fire while his kisses brought the warmth, the kind that fed his soul.
It was such a mix that emotion clogged his throat. He ignored it, pulling at Gabriel’s borrowed shirt. The compression material stuck to his heated skin, peeling slowly over his head.
Blake had seen men shirtless before. Maybe he’d even been attracted to them.
But with Gabriel, it was something new. He couldn’t take his eyes off him—the definition of his muscles, the breadth of his shoulders, the duskiness of his nipples, and the long dark line of hair smattering across his taut belly to disappear behind his open pants.
Blake wanted to bite it. To run his fingers through it and feel the curls against his fingertips.
By any definition Gabriel was appealing, but Blake would have ended up underneath him regardless of his looks. It was Gabriel who had him hard in his pants. Everything from the way he confidently took charge of a situation to the way he made Blake comfortable in his own skin.
On the street, surrounded by death, it was Gabriel’s voice that guided Blake back. It was his face he saw when he opened his eyes. Gabriel had, without question, come for him. Thrown himself over his body and begged him to come back.
Blake reached up to touch. To let his fingers learn all the divots and grooves of Gabriel’s body. To find the places that made him shiver and the ones that made him groan. And through it all, he let him, eyes soft and cock hard where it pressed against Blake’s thigh.