Liam forced himself upright, muscles trembling, and leaned back until the cushions caught him.
“Hand on your chest. Do you feel your heartbeat racing?”
“Yeah.”
“Slide your hand across your chest slowly. Feel every inch.”
Liam closed his eyes, palm dragging over the cotton clinging to his chest, every pass sharpening his awareness of the body beneath.
“Keep it slow,” Jacob said, spoken in that rasp that made Liam’s stomach clench. “This is about being in your body again. You hear me?”
“Yes.”
The panic still hummed, but Jacob’s voice threaded through it, weaving something stronger than fear. His skin burned underneath his clothes.
“You need that shirt gone. Strip it off for me.”
Liam swallowed hard, then pulled the fabric over his head and let it fall, the cooler air raising goosebumps across his overheated skin.
“Better?” Jacob murmured.
“Yes.”
“Hand back on your chest. Drag your fingers over your ribs, your stomach. Feel it.”
The pads of his fingers slid across warm skin, catching faintly on the ridge of each rib.
“Find your nipples. Circle them.”
The brush of touch had him gasping, his body betraying him instantly. Jacob’s answering sound—a low hum of approval—shot straight through him.
“Breathe through it.”
He did, panic dissolving further with each shaky inhale, replaced by a different kind of breathlessness.
"Pinch them. Make it sting.”
Liam did, a whimper tearing free as the sensation arrowed down his body.
“That’s it.” Jacob’s voice roughened, unsteady for the first time. “One day I’ll make you come from nothing but that.”
The suggestion ripped through him, turning his cock hard in the same instant.
“You like that thought?” Jacob asked. “Me touching, licking, and biting your nipples until you’re begging? Until you’re shaking apart for me?”
“Yes,” Liam gasped. “Yes.”
“Keep playing with them. Harder.”
He obeyed, hips jerking against nothing. “Jacob—fuck—”
He could hear Jacob’s breathing now, a little rougher, like he was just as affected by all this.
“Stay with me, baby.” Jacob’s command bound him tighter than touch. “I want to hear every sound. Now pants off, boxers stay.”
Liam shoved his sweats down and kicked them away, until he was left in nothing but thin cotton clinging to the hard, aching length beneath.
“Touch yourself over your boxers. Just pressure.”
