Chapter Thirty-Five
Laken
Laken eyed the mess on his sleeves, distracted by thoughts of asking Isley to come to dinner at his parents'. He knew it wasn’t a request, more a demand when Dad asked.
It was his own stupid fault for starting the conversation in the group chat while Isley had bought what seemed like a ton load of the chocolate he’d sampled.
The noises he’d made while eating it got Laken’s body thinking it was party time, so he’d chosen the news about Kari as a suitable diversion.
Fool!
Despite Kodi confirming the relationship the previous evening, Laken was a little hurt that Kari hadn’t mentioned anything in person.
Fuck, Kari was mated! That nugget left Laken with many feelings on how it would be to claim Isley in that way after knotting him.
It had been an emotional connection, and why he’d never done it before.
He hadn’t been prepared for the all-encompassing need to bite Isley at the same time.
He’d barely had the wherewithal to keep himself and his wolf spirit in check.
In part, it was why, when he heard Kari as he was readying to leave, he’d used the excuse that he was in a rush himself.
He had gotten to bed late after the antics of the night before.
It was three o’clock before he had crawled into bed, and after the busy week, he’d slept like the dead—or in a beer induced coma.
Laken rubbed at the cuff of what was once a powder blue sweater and was now a yucky brown mess, making it worse.
How had he somehow gotten chocolate on both cuffs of his sweater when they hadn’t gotten to the ‘dirty bit’ yet?
The apron he wore had some smears on the chest, but Laken didn’t think he’d put them there.
In fact, he knew he hadn’t. It was the handsy man next to him.
When Isley got excited, he appeared to forget the fact his hands were a mess from all the dipping his fingers did into the melted chocolate.
He glanced at the man in question, chuckling at the big streak of brown smeared along his jaw line, leading up to his left ear.
Seeing Isley wasn’t doing any better with making a mess helped ease Laken’s anxiety.
The woman to his right looked like she was in a different league to everyone else given how clean and tidy she was.
In fact, Laken didn’t miss how she’d gotten the melted chocolate into the individual sections they’d decorated with patterns first, with no spillage.
He wasn’t competitive—alright he was. How the hell did she manage that?
“Right, now comes the fun part. Take hold of the trays and don’t worry about spilling the chocolate because that’s what we want,” Erin explained, grinning happily while picking up an empty tray and demonstrating holding it upside down and shaking it.
“Hold it over the greaseproof paper because we’ll be using that chocolate after. ”
Isley was already doing as he was told, except not all his chocolate landed on the paper in his enthusiasm. It splattered the marble counter, too. “Isn’t this fun.”
Laken hadn’t quite reached the fun feeling, when his clothes were getting in a mess, but Isley’s happiness was infectious so he leaned closer and whispered in his ear, although the chances were high no one would hear him with the laughter and excited chatter surrounding him.
“The fun bit will be licking off all the chocolate you have smeared on you.”
The marble counter they were sitting at was in the shape of a horseshoe with a gap for Erin to stand in the middle to do the demonstration and offer help when needed. There was enough of a gap between them all to move easily.
“Do you need a hand,” Erin offered when Laken was the only one not doing as he was told, too busy staring at Isley.
Is it hot in here? Must be the steam for the water making his cheeks burn. “No, I’m fine, thank you.”
Laken carefully picked up his tray and flipped it slowly, then heard the pristine woman mumble, “this can’t be right?”
He glanced sideways and his lips quivered at the unholy mess down the front of her.
No longer pristine, there were big brown splatters dripping down the apron, onto her jeans and over the toes of her white sneakers.
Laken quickly looked away, biting the inside of his cheek as he carefully moved his tray, watching the chocolate like a hawk watches prey to ensure he didn’t look like his neighbor, who was now cursing wildly about appearing to have what looked like dog poop on her feet.
Erin, bless her, pretended like the woman wasn’t having a personal meltdown.
“Now, take the blade and run it down the front of the tray, holding it at an angle to scrape off any excess chocolate, then we’ll chill the trays.
We will be peeling off the chocolate on the paper and putting it back into the pan to re melt it.
” She was smiling in such a way, Laken suspected she was wincing on the inside, taking trays with big globs of chocolate stuck to the edges and trying to rectify the mess.
More laughter came as folks worked to get the hardened chocolate back into the pans and over the steaming water.
Laken was struggling to hold on to his laughter when the woman next to him peeled chocolate from her apron and jean legs, putting it back in the pan and trying hard not to be obvious, but failing. Erin added a couple of extra scoops of chocolate to her pan.
Despite the time it took to get the chocolate to the desired heat of forty-two degrees, Isley never lost his grin. He didn’t say much, concentrating instead on what he was doing.
“Perfect, Isley, now you can start the cooling process. Only this time, we add the chocolate drops I asked you to set aside. They give the chocolate a velvety texture. Just add a few at a time, great.”
“Have you decided what fillings you’re putting in your chocolates?” Isley questioned when Erin said it was time to pick, a furrow developing between his brows as he looked over at the shelves holding the choices. “I want coconut for sure. Cherry too. Maybe some nuts—”
“I’ve got some nuts you can have with your chocolate,” Laken said, without thinking about his audience.
The lady on his left clearly heard what he’d said and choked out a cough, doing her best to look anywhere but at Laken, who was sure his face was heating to the same color as hers.
“Tempting.” Isley gave him another of those flirty winks. He was so much better at this than Laken.
Flirting in public was hard, and it galled him to admit he’d need advice on that, too.
Forgetting the chocolate smeared hands, he ran one through his hair.
The feeling of stickiness alerting him to what he’d done, he cursed under his breath and acted like there was absolutely nothing to see.
If he could manage a billion-dollar company with his brothers, he could fucking do this.
An hour later, he looked at chocolates that looked decidedly less like the shiny, perfectly round, delicious looking pieces fit to grace any top chocolate shop sat in Isley’s box.
The weird, misshapen blobs—because he’d clearly overfilled them even though he’d done his best not to—were…
Laken didn’t actually have a word that fit.
The best he could hope for was edible, and even that might be a stretch.
“You’ve got chocolate in your hair,” Isley pointed out, giggling as they got back in the car.
Laken’s eyes narrowed on the cheeky imp, and Laken pulled out his phone to snap a picture. He held it up for Isley to see, just raising his eyebrows.
Isley licked a finger and rubbed blindly at the smudges on his cheeks and chin.
“Hey, stop that! I told you that’s my job.” At the speed in which Isley dropped his hand, Laken cracked up laughing.
“Then why are we sitting here wasting time?”
They hit all the traffic lights making Isley complain bitterly. Laken couldn’t remember a time where he laughed so much, or felt so young and carefree. If he had, the memory was long buried under trauma.
He barely had time to collect their bags and carry them into Isley’s apartment with how Isley was hurrying him.
Once the door was shut, Isley stripped off his clothing, throwing them on the floor while Laken’s breath caught at the sexy eyes watching him.
Isley came and dug into the bag that held his chocolate, bringing out the bag that held the remnants of the melted chocolate they had formed into a small bar.
He took it out of the wrapper, which followed the clothes to the floor.
Isley held it between his hands, making his intention clear.
Laken’s hands trembled as he took off his own clothes, dropping them where he stood. He seldom left anything lying around, not liking mess, but a naked and aroused Isley squeezing chocolate between his fingers to make it melt was all he could focus on.
When those sticky brown hands ran down his torso, one stopping to coat his cock, Laken wasn’t sure his heart was going to survive the way it rocked against his ribs.
He made a dive for Isley who took off running, infectious giggles peeling out as Laken gave chase.
A tiny part of him was horrified at the mess they were making as he passed lumps of chocolate.
Only there was not a thing on earth or in heaven that was going to stop him.
He caught Isley in the bedroom, grabbing him from behind.
He lifted him clear of the floor to lick at the chocolate smearing his throat.
The heady moan Isley made left him weak-kneed and his cock rock hard.
His heart beat as fast as Laken’s as he squirmed against him, turning him into a sticky mess when his hands roamed over his body.
They tumbled onto the bed, a tangle of limbs, mouths seeking all those smears as they rolled and laughed, tongues tickling flesh until Laken pinned Isley to the bed.
Breathless and giddy and covered in stickiness, Laken’s chest constricted painfully at the glorious creature beneath him who was an utter mess but had never looked more lovely to him.
“How did I get so lucky?” His tone more serious than he intended, he swooped down and kissed Isley with all the feelings that he couldn’t express so easily.
The chocolatey kiss was sticky, messy and the best of Laken’s life when it held all that he craved—Isley.
“I love you,” Isley said against his wet mouth with so much sincerity, Laken’s nose burned with the tears that made his eyes ache.
He deepened the kiss, scared of failing this man. Of not being enough. The kiss confessed his emotions when he couldn’t speak them aloud.
Sticky hands held his face, forcing Laken to meet Isley’s gaze. “I don’t need the words as long as I know you’re with me in this. That’s all I want.”
“I am. Will you come to dinner at my parents' tomorrow, as my boyfriend?" he blurted out, hating the heat crawling into his cheeks. God, could he sound any cheesier?
“Love to,” Isley breathed into Laken’s mouth, delivering a soul searing kiss that curled his toes. They rolled once more with Isley on top, his hand everywhere at once. Then those tiny fingers latched onto his nipples and Laken couldn’t form a coherent thought.
Somewhere between the pinching and biting, Isley had gotten Laken’s throbbing cock inside his ass. “Too tight! Fuck my cock’s gonna burst open,” he moaned, his eyes scrunching tight at the onslaught of pain and pleasure. “Gonna hurt you.”
“No,” Isley moaned, sliding down another inch, his slick helping. But the lack of prep made Laken sweat as he tensed to stop pushing up.
“Feels so good. Feel you everywhere.” Isley pulled Laken’s hand to his smeared chest and placed it over his pounding heart. “Feel you here.”
His eyes ached at the struggle to hold his composure at how much those words made the world an impossible place to be without Isley.
“You have ruined me.” The raspy voice held emotion because he meant it. There would never be anyone who could fill the space inside him that Isley had taken up residence in.
“Good,” Isley whimpered, his ass meeting Laken’s thighs, stopping any further conversation.
Isley didn’t give him a chance to catch his breath and reversed back up, completely frying his brain.
His ass muscles squeezing Laken’s cock, leaving an imprint for sure.
He thought he might pass out with the pain and pleasure warring together.
Then Isley reached up and tweaked his left nipple so hard he shot up, crying out Isley’s name as his cock pushed in fast and he came without warning.
His large body shuddered as Isley’s lust-glazed eyes hooded and he used his thighs to fuck himself on Laken.
All Laken could do was hold on to Isley’s waist and pray he’d stay conscious as his body seized in the grip of a violent release, spurt after spurt ripping from his ball in vicious tugs.
He inhaled the scent of cum and slick right as wetness hit his stomach, chest, and chin, and he groaned in satisfaction at his mate coming just as hard as him before he collapsed back on the bed, eyes shut, chest shuddering, tiny aftershocks of pleasure running through him.
Isley melted against him, panting like a race horse after a steeple chase.
Gleeful laughter filled his head, but Laken was too tired to figure out why his animal was doing cartwheels in his head.
Don't know what you’re up to, we’ll talk about this later.