53. Lincoln
LINCOLN
THREE MONTHS LATER
“Can we play Zelda after we eat?” Tilly shot Daniel a hopeful glance across the kitchen table, and his gaze turned soft and indulgent.
“Course we can, Tils.”
“And can you braid my hair?”
“Yep.” They grinned at each other, and my heart swelled.
“It’s good to see you happy,” Mike murmured to me as Tilly began regaling my boyfriend with her latest school-related drama. “He’s good for you.”
“Yeah, he is,” I said softly. “Speaking of happy, you’ve been a lot more cheerful lately. I take it the job’s going well?”
He nodded. “Yep. Honestly, at first, I wondered if I’d made the right decision.
Going from the police force to risk management?
If it hadn’t been for the guaranteed hours and the pay scale, then…
” Balancing his fork on the edge of his plate, he picked up his water glass.
“Never mind, there’s no point in thinking about the what-ifs.
I know I made the right decision. I feel much more settled, I know what I’m doing now, and I enjoy it, and most importantly, I can be here for Tilly. ”
“Yeah. No more late shifts.” I tapped my glass against his. “A toast? To doing what makes us happy.”
He clinked his glass against mine. “Speaking of…”
Spearing a potato on my fork, I shook my head.
“I know what you’re gonna ask, and I don’t know.
Even though my parents are locked up, and as far as I’m concerned, they no longer have a say in my life, the fact is, I’m halfway through this degree, and I don’t want it to be wasted.
I’ve been looking into alternative career options, and there are other things I can do with it. ”
“Dream career?”
“Hockey player,” I said instantly. “But I’m not sure it’s an option.”
His eyes narrowed as he studied me. “Are any of your teammates giving you a hard time? They’re not trying to get you kicked off the team or anything, are they?”
I shook my head immediately. “No, nothing like that. A lot of them weren’t happy when I told them about me and Dan, mainly because of the whole rivalry, but Enzo shut that down quickly.
Some of them have been a bit distant since then, but you know.
Dan’s friends, though…they’ve been the opposite of distant.
I get on surprisingly well with them, especially Jay. ”
“Surprisingly well.” He grinned. “Okay then, if your teammates aren’t giving you a hard time, then what’s the issue?”
“Uh…” I thought about it for a moment. Was I holding myself back from chasing my dream? “Maybe the issue is me,” I said slowly.
“Don’t hold yourself back. Do what makes you happy. You chose him.” He nodded towards my boyfriend. “Now choose yourself.”
I glanced at Dan to find him watching me with a soft smile. I believe in you, he mouthed.
Little eavesdropper. A grin tugged at my lips as I turned back to Mike. “Okay. I promise I’ll look into it. Seriously. No more holding myself back.”
He nodded. “Alright. I know you, Link. If you want something badly enough, you’ll make it happen.”
I entered Daniel’s bedroom, locking the door behind me to find he’d made the most of his alone time after his shower, while I was having my own shower in his shared bathroom.
I took in the hot-as-fuck sight of him spread out on his bed like a delicious offering, his hand inside his boxer briefs, lazily stroking his erection as he tracked my movements with dark, wide pupils.
My cock hardened rapidly as I stalked across the room, shedding my clothes as I went.
“Clothes off. Now.”
“Hmm, I dunno. What’s it worth?”
My cock jerked. So this was how he wanted to play it. “How about we start with you getting naked and fucking me open, and then—”
“Then you can fuck me open, and I can come on your dick.” He shot me a sly smirk. “I know that was your plan.”
“You missed one thing.”
“Which is?”
“A surprise.” I climbed onto the bed, crawling over him, and hooked my fingers around the band of his boxer briefs. “Let’s start with getting you naked.”
“You always have the best plans. But how about we start with you keeping your hands to yourself? Sit back and enjoy the Dan show.”
Reclining on the bed, I watched avidly as he peeled his underwear down, revealing his mouth-watering erection. He shot me another smirk as I groaned at the sight, and I couldn’t resist any longer. I hadn’t even lasted a minute without touching him.
“Sixty-nine,” I rasped, and his gaze flared with heat.
“Fuck yeah. C’mere.”
As was often the case when we fucked, our plans went out the window, both of us getting too worked up to hold back, and we ended up coming down each other’s throats. I collapsed on my back next to Daniel, breathing hard.
He licked his lips and then grinned at me. “Mmm, that was a fun detour. How about we skip me fucking you? We can do that next time. Because I know if we try and flip fuck, I’m gonna come again, and I wanna save my load for your dick.”
“If that’s what you want.”
“I want. Do you?”
“Yeah.” My gaze flicked down his gorgeous body to his spent dick. “On your stomach for me, baby. Let me get you ready for me.”
He rolled onto his stomach and then glanced at me over his shoulder. “Now what?”
“Now…” Getting into position behind him, pushing his legs apart, I dipped down, palming his ass as I let my saliva drip down onto his hole.
“Ohhh fuck,” he whispered. I lowered my head, licking a stripe over his hole, and his entire body jerked. “More.”
I licked over him again before circling his rim with my tongue, and when he was a writhing, moaning mess beneath me, I pushed it inside him. I continued to work him over with my tongue until he was fully erect again, and then I drew away, smirking at his whine of protest.
“Fucking sadist,” he moaned, glaring at me over his shoulder and thrusting down into the bed.
“Do you want my dick? Do you think you can take it without any more prep?”
His eyes grew huge, the black of his pupils almost eclipsing the blue. His tongue slid across his swollen lips. “Fuck yeah, I can.”
I shifted up the bed, lying next to him on my back, and I opened the lube. After slicking up my dick, I crooked my finger at him. “Come here.”
“Bossy.” It wasn’t a complaint. He straddled my body, and I drizzled more lube onto my fingers, smearing it over his rim before pressing my fingers inside in a quick tease, stroking over his prostate.
“Fuuuck. No, I can’t take it,” he moaned.
“I wanna open the rest of the way up on your massive dick.”
I withdrew my fingers, and he rose higher, lining himself up with my erection. Sliding my hands up his thighs, feeling his hard muscles tense beneath my palm, I met his gaze, dark and heavy as he stared down at me. “That’s it, baby. Fucking ride me.”
His dick jerked, leaking precum onto my belly as he slowly lowered himself onto me, impaling himself on my erection. “Fuuuuck,” he groaned. “You feel so good.”
“You do too. So. Fucking. Good.”
A floorboard creaked from somewhere outside his bedroom, making his rhythm falter.
“The door’s locked,” I reminded him.
“Yeah. Even so. When we’re finished with uni, we’re getting our own place, fully soundproofed, so we can be as loud as we want. Uh, that’s if you want to.” He glanced down at me hesitantly, biting his plush lip, as if there was any world in which I wouldn’t want to live with him all the time.
“Oh, I definitely want to. And right now, I want you to ride me. Are you gonna be good and do that?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, immediately forgetting all about his housemates as he rolled his hips down, taking me all the way inside him. His hand wrapped around his thick cock, stroking it in time with his movements, riding me until we were both gasping and panting, and we both needed more.
“On your back,” I rasped, and he complied straight away, completely in sync with what I wanted, moving onto his back and pulling his legs up. I got into place, hooking his legs over my shoulders as I slid back inside him, and then began fucking him harder, faster, deeper.
His hand went to his cock, leaking all over his stomach as he stroked himself in time with our thrusts, until I could feel my balls drawing up.
I yanked him harder into me, and his body jerked up, a low moan tearing from his throat as he started coming, his release shooting across his torso.
It only took a few more thrusts, and then I was right there with him, marking him as mine from the inside.
I carefully lowered Daniel’s shaking legs from my shoulders, and he held out his arms, pulling me into him. I lay there, wrapped up in him, panting and sweating as we came down from our high, relishing the feel of his warmth against me.
His palm slid up my back and into my hair, and he pressed a kiss to the side of my head. “Love you, Link.”
The words came out so naturally and easily, like there was no disputing them. Like he was stating a simple fact. Daniel Hoyton loved me.
Something inside me clicked into place then.
This man had chosen me over anyone else. He’d entrusted me with his heart.
My parents had been wrong.
I was loveable after all.