Chapter 20 #2
Joe looked up then, meeting Ben’s gaze. “You think I wanted this?” he asked quietly.
“Leaving behind everything I knew, not knowing whether I’ll be allowed to stay, not being able to work, to…
live properly? I’m more grateful than you can know about the opportunity Kaden and this country are giving me.
I want to contribute and I will.” And lie when I need to. This was exactly what he wanted.
Ben’s cheek twitched.
Kaden’s voice softened. “Just leave it, yeah?”
For a moment, it seemed like Ben might push again, but instead he looked away, muttering something under his breath as he reached for his drink.
The tension didn’t disappear, but it shifted to something less explosive, though in a way more brittle, as if something might crack if Ben started up again.
Joe felt a pang of guilt that he’d had to lie, but there was no choice.
He was sad that what had been a great evening for Kaden was ending on this note.
Lars told a funny story about getting stuck in a lift with a duck and the mood lightened a little.
But the moment Kaden had finished his drink, he pushed to his feet and tugged Joe up beside him.
“We need to go. Got a busy day tomorrow flat hunting. Thanks for your support, everyone. I really do appreciate it.”
“Flat hunting?” Danny asked.
“Yep. We have a roof over our heads but we really need a new place,” Kaden said.
“What happened with your old one?” Euan asked.
“Single occupancy and there are two of us.” Kaden shrugged.
“I have a colleague who’s looking for someone to take over his place for three months,” Danny said. “He’s being seconded to Paris. He lives in Muswell Hill. You interested?”
“Yes!” Kaden squeezed Joe’s hand.
“I’ll come with you to the Tube and give him a call.”
Danny left with them, walking a little way behind and chatting on his phone.
“We’re not going to get a place of our own?” Joe whispered.
“Yes, but this gives us the chance to look from a place of our own.”
“You don’t want to stay with Alistair?”
“No.”
Joe nodded.
Danny came up between them and put his arms over their shoulders. “I vouched for you. Malik says to come and look tomorrow. Early. He’s leaving at eleven. You can negotiate a price. I’ll text you the address. He says will you look after his hamster?”
Joe almost tripped over, but Kaden laughed.
“He’s joking,” Kaden said.
They split up when they reached the Tube.
“Thanks, Danny!” Kaden called.
Danny waved his arm in the air.
“He’s nice,” Joe said as they made their way underground.
“And Ben’s not.”
“He’s jealous, that’s all. He wanted to get people on his side.”
Kaden put his arm over Joe’s shoulders. “He’s not having you. You’re all mine.”
Joe laughed. “Not me he wants.”
They were as quiet as they could manage going up the third floor, but every time a stair creaked, they stifled their laughter.
Kaden kept telling him to shush and Joe tried but the harder they tried not to laugh, the more they seemed to fall apart.
When they finally reached their room, Kaden pulled Joe inside, pushed him back against the door and kissed him.
Kaden tasted of beer and though Joe wasn’t keen on drinking it, he liked it when Kaden had.
Joe brought his hands to Kaden’s neck, pressing his thumbs under his chin and felt Kaden’s pulse fluttering beneath his fingertips. Having the ability to excite Kaden never failed to fill Joe with wonder, but then the reaction of Joe’s body to Kaden’s touch filled him with wonder too.
Kaden changed the angle of the kiss, deepening it, and Joe lit up.
He adored this human body, the way it responded, how it made him feel.
He was so lucky Kaden had helped him. The hard line of Kaden’s cock throbbed against Joe’s stomach, and he adored that too.
Kaden put his hands on Joe’s hips and orchestrated a slow grind that sent sparks shooting all over Joe’s body while they kissed.
The ache in Joe’s chest was almost painful. “My heart…” he gasped.
Kaden pulled back, panting. “Mine too.”
He pulled off Joe’s jacket, stripped him of his T-shirt and pressed his mouth to Joe’s neck, then his ears, along his shoulders, down his chest, over his nipples.
Oh wow! Joe tipped back his head and his eyes fluttered closed as Kaden unfastened his jeans and tugged them down, along with his underwear.
When he felt Kaden kissing down the line of hair towards his cock, Joe groaned.
He’d expected sex to be functional. Biological.
But it was so much more. When Kaden’s lips closed around the head of his cock, Joe groaned loudly, threading his fingers in Kaden’s hair.
He didn’t care if Alistair was listening.
He only cared about what Kaden was doing.
His toes curled. His blood raced along his veins.
Synapses snapped in his head. His whole body reacted to Kaden’s mouth and he wanted the sensations to last and last.
“You are so hot,” Kaden moaned the words into Joe’s crotch while the sounds that came out of Joe’s mouth made no sense.
Kaden sucked and licked and teased as if doing this was the sole focus of his existence.
Nothing had felt so intense on Joe’s planet.
He needed to come. There was no way he could resist the pull.
Would he ever be able to hold back when Kaden did this?
His balls drew up as Kaden worked his magic and Joe forced open his eyes because watching Kaden was everything.
Joe gave a quiet laugh as he registered Kaden had somehow got his own dick out of his jeans and was working himself at the same time.
But the best thing was watching his own cock moving in and out of Kaden’s warm mouth.
Except when Kaden looked up at him, Joe lost it.
His orgasm hit as hard as his ship had crash-landed.
His body lurched into shock. Without the door at his back, he’d have fallen.
He emptied himself into Kaden’s mouth, all of him shaking.
Kaden let him free, and cried out, throwing back his head, as he spurted into his hand. “Fuck, fuck… Oh Jesus, Joe!”
Pleasure with Kaden wasn’t quiet. It wasn’t contained and it shouldn’t be.
It was overwhelming—almost too bright, too loud, too much, as if Joe’s body didn’t know how to cope with it all at the same time.
Pleasure with Kaden was exciting in a way Joe had never known, no matter which of them was gasping, laughing or falling apart.
It didn’t matter who broke first, who clung harder, who gasped the other’s name like it was the only word left in the universe.
This was all that Joe wanted without even knowing that had been the case.
He was achingly certain that mating had never been like this on his planet or they’d have talked about it, been smug, bragged to those who weren’t chosen.
They pulled off the last of their clothes, and Kaden dragged him into the bathroom.
The shower was too small, their bodies pressed together with barely any room to breathe but neither of them tried to step back.
Their knees knocked and they laughed. The soap slipped from Joe’s hands again and again, and he couldn’t even focus long enough to catch it, because Kaden was right there, warm, alive, real, and it was too much, it was always too much.
They’d hardly made it to the bed before Kaden was asleep, wrapped around him. Joe sighed with happiness.
How did I live without this?
How had his world lost this?
They must have had it at some point surely, otherwise their species would have died out.
How had he survived without it? Without this reckless, stupid, beautiful joy that made everything else feel thin and meaningless in comparison?
And then there were other things. The things he couldn’t explain away.
Every time Kaden walked into a room, Joe felt it instantly as if something inside him turned towards him.
When Kaden spoke, Joe forgot everything else.
When he smiled… When Kaden touched him anywhere…
When Kaden looked at him… It wasn’t just Joe’s pulse that raced.
It was his whole body, his entire mind, everything in him reaching, reaching, reaching. He sucked in a breath.
Kaden wasn’t just important. He was Joe’s centre. His reason for everything. When Joe was with him, he felt…real.
Joe would destroy himself for Kaden. He saw that now with terrifying clarity.
He would give up everything to stay here, to stay close, to stay his.
He’d protect Kaden with his life. And if that resulted in his own destruction, then so be it.
He was a protector after all. That part of him remained. Kaden was all that mattered.
That realization didn’t feel wrong. It felt inevitable, like truth.
Was this love? Joe had never known love but he’d seen it in Kaden’s kindness and patience, and it was beautiful. Was love something only humans had? Was it learned? Biological? Was love possible between him and Kaden?
Pretending to be human hadn’t been as hard as he expected. It was a performance, a mask he could slip on. But this… Being human. Understanding love…
Except…what if Kaden couldn’t love him? Joe felt his eyes begin to leak. If he had to pretend he didn’t love Kaden, it would tear him apart.