Chapter Sixteen
We left the Archive in a state I'd never have tolerated under normal circumstances—books still open and notes scattered across the table.
I even abandoned my laptop. I didn't care.
I took áedán's hand and led him out of the Archive and to the apartments.
We didn't run, but we hurried up the stairs and to my room.
I opened the door, pulled him inside, and locked it behind us.
Then I turned to look at the place I'd brought him to.
My room was small but comfortable. It was clean, but only because I hadn't spent much time in it.
In conclusion, it was not good enough for áedán.
He had brought me into his wonderful home, and I had taken him to an impersonal apartment.
But it was all I had to offer him, and I wasn't stopping now.
“Ethan.” áedán stepped closer. “We don't have to—”
I kissed him. Harder this time, with more determination.
áedán made a sound low in his throat and pulled me closer, his hands sliding under my shirt to touch bare skin.
I felt hot, and his cool skin was the perfect remedy.
Groaning, I arched against him. Our erections brushed together through our pants, and we cried out into each other's mouths.
That intimate touch sparked bonfires of lust within us and propelled us toward the bed.
Along the way, between kisses, we undressed.
His shirt. My trousers. He kicked his boots off.
I pulled off my shirt. áedán's hands were everywhere, learning the shape of me, and I couldn't get enough of touching him in return.
He was cool everywhere, but not cold, and I was eager to share my warmth with him.
But first, I needed to see him. Yes, I'd seen him before, but I hadn't looked my fill, too embarrassed to stare.
Now, I felt as if I had the right to look.
Panting, I eased back and drew my gaze down his body.
áedán had the sort of perfection that no human man possessed.
No model or actor could ever be as breathtaking as he.
There wasn't a single blemish on his body.
His “scars” rippled under his skin like reflections on water.
When I laid my palm on his chest, they swirled under my hand.
“What is that?” I whispered.
“My magic.” áedán laid his hand over mine. “It likes you.” Then he let his gaze travel down my body. “Almost as much as I do.”
“You're too beautiful for me.”
He laughed and shook his head. “You will be the first man I've taken to bed in over fifty years, Ethan. Doesnae that tell you something?”
“Yeah, you've been hiding. It's hard to get a lover when you're at the bottom of a loch.”
áedán burst out laughing. “This is supposed to be romantic.”
“Is it?” I licked my lips as I dropped to my knees before him. “I thought it was supposed to be erotic.” Holding his gaze, I took his cock in hand and sucked it into my mouth.
“Och, blessed water!” He grabbed my hair as a shudder ran through him.
I groaned over the salty, clean taste of him and moved down his thick shaft.
Even there, he was cool, but so hard, and his skin felt like the velvety matte of a book cover.
My favorite kind of finish. Like a rose petal.
And he was throbbing in my mouth. My mind spun with disbelief.
Am I really doing this? Holy shit, I have áedán's cock in my mouth!
Then I gave myself a mental slap and focused.
I wanted to give him the best blowjob of his life.
I pulled back on him, dragging my tongue along the underside of his cock.
Then I pushed forward, taking him into my throat until my nose pressed into his dark curls.
I drew back again slowly. He was as perfect there as he was everywhere else.
I knew he'd stretch my channel without it being painful and stretch long enough to touch every pleasurable spot.
“Your mouth is so hot,” he moaned. “Oh, fuck, Ethan. You need to stop.”
I pulled back, holding his cock at my lips so that I brushed against it when I spoke. “Why?”
“Because I don't want to come yet.” He grabbed my upper arms and yanked me to my feet. After another hot kiss, he pushed me onto the bed.
Shivering in need and anticipation, I lay back on the pillow and spread my legs.
áedán crawled onto the bed between my thighs, a relieved look in his eyes.
I'd seen it before and knew what it was about.
Usually, I spoke about my sexual preferences with a man before we reached this stage, but things felt so right with áedán that I hadn't bothered.
I thought we'd be compatible. Honestly, if he'd been a bottom, I would have switched to a top just to be with him.
Then something occurred to me. “Wait!”
He froze, eyes wide.
“We need lubrication.” I reached for the bedside table and opened the drawer. “That tube there.”
“Lubrication?” áedán picked up the tube and read it. “Oh! Perfect.” He spread the lubricant on himself and put the tube back. Then he hesitated.
Half a century was a long time to go without this kind of physical connection. I knew he was nervous, even more than I was, and that helped me relax.
“We'll go slow.” I pulled him down.
He kissed me again, and this time there was something desperate about it.
Something that spoke of loneliness, longing, and the terrifying relief of finally being touched.
áedán's body settled over mine as if he belonged there.
I wound my lower legs around his and grabbed his thick ass.
When I squeezed, áedán eased out of our kiss and grinned down at me.
But as we stared at each other, his grin softened.
áedán bent his head and nuzzled my neck.
He kissed me there, then lower. When his teeth closed around my nipple, I arched into him.
It was as if he knew exactly what I liked.
His tongue shot out and swirled around my little bud before he sucked hard.
“áedán!” I grabbed handfuls of his hair and then pulled the cord binding it free.
He made a soft sound of pleasure and moved lower.
My ribs. My belly. He kept kissing me until my cock bobbed under his chin, begging for attention.
áedán moved lower, then rose. He hovered above my bobbing shaft.
He seemed enthralled by it, tilting his head to take in every angle.
Then his tongue flicked out to taste the bead of moisture on my tip.
I shuddered from the feeling and from the way he closed his eyes and moaned.
áedán bent his head again. Cool velvet consumed me, and I writhed beneath him so violently that he had to hold me down.
He moved over me with sure strokes, sucking up my heat while making me burn hotter.
But then I shoved his shoulders. “Not yet! Stop!”
Grinning around me, áedán eased back, and my cock popped out of his mouth.
Panting in need, I set my feet on the mattress and lifted my ass in invitation.
His gaze dropped past my slick cock as he took his in hand.
My legs trembled as I watched him move into position.
Then came the wet, cool feel of his tip, nuzzling me. I wriggled on him, urging him inside.
Lips pressed together, áedán pushed past my outer ring. Then a little deeper. Broken breaths fluttered over my lips. He pulled out.
“No!” I lifted my hips.
“I'm not stopping.” His gaze met mine. “I'm just easing you open. Trust me, Ethan.”
Suddenly, I was relaxed. Confident. “I do trust you.”
áedán closed his eyes as if savoring my words.
Then he opened them and pushed into me. I cried out triumphantly and grabbed his ass, pulling him even deeper.
It had been a while for me too, but my body didn't mind or care.
I opened to him, welcoming him inside me, making him a part of me. Nothing had ever felt so right.
I hooked my legs over áedán's shoulders and met his sizzling stare. “Fuck me, áedán.”
áedán jerked, and his eyes widened. “I intend to. I'm going to take you over and over until you cannae move.” He bent forward and moved deeper. Pulled back. Then thrust hard.
I was lost to lust by his third thrust, but I kept my focus on him.
I didn't want to miss a moment of him undulating his hips, moving into me like waves coming to shore, his thrusts powerful and relentless.
Inside me, áedán stroked every inch of skin that needed attention.
Outside, his handsome face and magnificent body provided a view that magnified my pleasure.
I never thought I'd have a man like him.
Breath coming faster, áedán bent me in two, bringing our faces together. He brushed his lips over mine. “I like a flexible man.”
I nipped at his lower lip. “You can put me in any position you want.”
His eyes lit up. “Several just came to mind. But I want you like this first.” áedán kissed me, his tongue warm at last. “I want to watch your face flush, and your eyes fill with ecstasy. I want to know I'm the one making you feel it.”
“Go any deeper, and I'll sing it for you.”
Grinning, he rose to his knees, grabbed my hips, and shoved deeper.
It took him three thrusts to make me sing his name, the note full of the ecstasy he wanted to hear.
It sent him beyond the niceties of making love and into a primitive place.
The man retreated, and the animal came forth.
áedán slammed into me faster and faster, his eyes glowing and magic swirling under his skin.
I couldn't look away from his savage beauty.
Hair wild around his shoulders and muscles rippling beneath his skin.
How had this happened? áedán and I didn't make sense.
I was a sensible man in all things. Except, it seemed, about áedán.
There, with him, I lost my senses, and was glad of it.
Fuck being sensible. That belonged outside of bed.
Coming wasn't a choice. áedán drove me over the edge with his surging cock and wrung my orgasm out of me.
As I shuddered and moaned, cock spurting, I clenched around him, drawing him over with me.
áedán locked up, holding me to him as if he truly wanted to make us one.
He flung his head back on a wild cry, but then quickly brought it up and locked gazes with me.
I memorized his face, all those sharpened lines, his glowing eyes, and parted lips. I'd never seen anything so beautiful.
Inside me, I felt his release. I'd never felt that before.
I wasn't sensitive enough to feel a warm release in my warm channel.
But áedán came in cool spurts that shivered through me, refreshing me like a cold shower on the inside.
I felt every drop, and as he slipped free, I squeezed my outer ring to keep as much of it inside me as I could.
Bent over me, hands on either side of me on the mattress and hair hanging over his face, áedán panted.
His spent cock lay beside mine on my pelvis, and I loved seeing us like that.
I loved it so much that when he moved to lie beside me, I felt a little disappointed.
But then he pulled me against him, turning me on my side to fit me into the curve of his body, and slid his upper leg between mine. That was so much better.
“Ethan.” His breath hit my neck and made me shudder.
“Mmm?”
“That was—” He paused, rising above me to meet my gaze. His eyes had a bright sheen to them. “Thank you.”
I touched his face. “You don't have to thank me.”
“I do.” He pressed his lips to mine. “You have no idea what this means to me.”
But I thought maybe I did. I could feel it in the way he held me. See it in the way he looked at me. He'd been alone for so long, and I'd just reminded him of what it felt like to be wanted. But he'd just made me feel more wanted, more treasured, than any man had ever done.
“It means a lot to me too.”
Smiling, he moved his hand and hit the cum on my belly—my cum. “What a cad I am!” He climbed out of bed and went into the bathroom. He came back moments later with a wet washcloth. “I'm sorry I left you like this.” He washed my belly clean.
“I didn't want to move away from you, or I would have gone and cleaned myself.” I took the washcloth, tossed it on the bedside table, and pulled him back onto the bed. “I want you to stay with me.”
áedán straddled me, hands on the bed. “I'm not going anywhere. And we're not done yet.” He rolled me onto my belly, pulled me up onto my hands and knees, and settled between my legs. “You can still move.”
I had thought I was tired, but my body came alive the instant he slid inside me. My head went back on a hungry cry, and I pushed back onto him until my ass flattened and he was as far in as he could go. In seconds, we were back to being two wild men lost to desire.
That desire consumed us for several hours until I flopped back onto the pillow and declared that I couldn't move.
Only then did áedán settle beside me. I closed my eyes and let myself drift to sleep, held in the arms of the last kelpie in the world.
My last thought was maybe Caelum was right.
Maybe myths saved Velascans as often as we saved them.
Maybe áedán and I would save each other.