CHAPTER 38
C HAPTER 38
R AIDER SIPPED HIS WINE and watched Seth staring out across the rooftops of Kastari. They had brought their room’s table out onto the rooftop patio to eat dinner and drink wine. Raider was wearing a sarong. So was Seth. It looked damn good on him.
Seth had been quiet this afternoon, ever since he’d come up from the catacombs. Raider knew he’d been quiet lately too. Seth had given him space for his silence. Raider tried to do the same for Seth, but it was making him anxious.
What was Seth thinking?
Unable to hold back, Raider asked him.
Seth looked at him. Whatever automatic reply had been on his lips died away as he took in Raider’s face. Raider didn’t try to hide his worry. He was learning that it was better to be honest. To let Seth see.
Seth admitted, “It bothered me. Seeing it. Imagining.”
Raider’s mind skipped. He was still having trouble looking at the things that had happened.
“I know you need to talk about it, Seth. I know I need to also. I … I will . I’m just not ready.”
“I know that, baby.”
Raider swallowed hard, so damn grateful for Seth’s patience. For his presence.
Raider set down his wine and stood up. He held out his hand. Seth took it and walked with him to the patio bed.
Raider tugged at the knot on Seth’s sarong. Seth’s hands covered his. Seth said, “We don’t have to.”
They hadn’t had sex since Jannat. Every night they had lain together, intimate but not sexual. Clearly, Seth could tell that Raider had other ideas tonight.
“I need you, Seth. I need to feel you.”
Letting Raider finish his work, Seth moved his hands to Raider’s sarong, untying the knot. Raider pulled Seth’s sarong away to find his cock already half hard. Raider felt his own sarong drop and heard the sharp intake of Seth’s breath.
Raider ran his hands up and down Seth’s torso and over his ass, not hurrying, just enjoying. Seth’s hands were making a similar exploration, lighting up Raider’s body, sending heat and delicious need into his cock. Gods, that felt good.
Raider dragged a hand up the inside of Seth’s thigh to the heavy weight of his balls. Seth’s erection twitched and Seth let out a sound of need that had Raider rocking into him. He wrapped his hand around Seth’s cock and stroked, moaning as Seth did the same to him.
“Get on the bed, baby,” Seth rasped.
The last of Raider’s anxiety dissolved at the command. He needed this, Seth taking charge. He needed Seth to ground him in his body again.
Raider crawled onto the bed and lay on his back. Seth bent down and kissed his lips and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Raider watched the flex of Seth’s bare ass as he walked back to the room, vanishing through the open doors. He returned a few seconds later with the oil. Raider stoked himself as he watched Seth move, enjoying the heavy bob of Seth’s hard cock.
Seth stopped beside the bed and poured oil into his hand. He slicked his cock and set the bottle aside. Then he kneeled on the bed between Raider’s legs and took Raider’s cock in an oiled grip.
Raider moaned and lifted into the touch, letting Seth stroke him. Then Seth’s fingers slipped back to Raider’s hole. Raider moaned as Seth massaged him then sucked in a breath as Seth’s fingers pushed inside. Seth stretched and stroked him until he was gasping and squirming.
“I’m going to make love to you,” Seth said.
“Yes,” Raider breathed. He already knew that. Wanted that. Needed it.
Tonight, he didn’t want to fight, or even play. He just wanted to feel Seth moving inside him.
Seth lifted Raider’s leg, making him tremble with anticipation. When the broad head of Seth’s cock pressed against his hole, Raider moaned.
Seth glided in slowly, letting Raider feel every inch, every moment. When Seth started to thrust, Raider watched his body in the moonlight, loving the sight of it.
Then Seth leaned down over him. The movement shifted his cock inside Raider. It took away the beautiful sight of Seth’s body, but it meant he could wrap his arms around Seth, feel more of him, and that was even better.
As Seth slow fucked him, Raider was amazed to feel how his body tightened. Gods, Seth was going to make him come, even like this, fucking him so gently. No, not fucking him. Making love to him.
Seth rocked inside Raider. Seth was up on one elbow. His other hand slipped under Raider’s back, angling him, pulling him closer. Seth’s muscled abdomen was brushing Raider’s cock with every motion of his body. His lips were kissing Raider’s chest.
“I love you, baby,” Seth breathed as his cock tunneled into Raider. “Gods, I love you.”
Raider tried to reply, but he couldn’t. He was gasping, straining, his body tight. He was trying not to come.
“Oh, baby, don’t fight it. Come for me.”
Crying out, Raider curled up into Seth, clutching at him as his cock spurted between their bellies. Seth cursed, hips snapping forward as he strained through his own orgasm. His cock kicking against Raider’s prostate made Raider cry out at another wave of his release.
As they came down from it, Raider stroked his hands over Seth’s head, which was resting against him. “I love you, too, Seth. So much.”
After Seth had cleaned them up and they lay together in the night air, Raider traced his fingers up and down Seth’s abdomen.
Raider said, “You’re worrying about something.”
“It’s just something Tarjan said to me.”
“He whispered something to you before we left Jannat. I had forgotten.”
“He said that he could tell how much I loved you and how much you loved me, but he said I had to be careful not to trap you. I would never want you to feel trapped. I would never want to take your freedom from you. But I do want you with me.”
Raider propped himself up on one elbow so he could see Seth better.
“Seth, you are my partner. You are the one who knows me. Do I seem trapped to you?”
“No, but you could’ve stayed in Jannat, maybe could even go back there—”
“ Seth. Do you really think I wouldn’t have felt trapped there? It was gorgeous. I loved being there—with you. I loved having you fuck me in a beautiful garden and beside an incredible waterfall. I loved eating good food and resting—with you . With you, Seth, I’m the freest I’ve ever been. I wasn’t free before, not when you met me. I was trying to be, pretending to be. But I wasn’t really.”
Seth seemed to think about that. “Because you couldn’t escape the past?”
“Yes. And every time it caught up with me in any way, I just hurried on. I understand now that I have to carry it with me, all the things that have happened. But with you, the burden is lighter. With you, I can handle it. Seth, don’t you understand? You are my freedom.”
“Oh, baby, come here.”
Seth’s arms wrapped around Raider and pulled him down into a kiss.