“That was sweet of him.” From the corner of his eye, André spotted Kyle walking up from the beach, a towel around his neck. “You’ll have to invite Kyle, I guess.”
A line bisected Spencer’s smooth forehead. “I don’t have to if you don’t want me to. Will it be weird for you? Chess filled me in that he’s sort of an ex.”
Sort of an ex.
“He doesn’t need to be there.”
Chapter Thirteen
The next morning, after he and André had a walk on the beach, Chess decided it was foolish to hide that he’d been in the pool house and had seen the pictures. He loved André and trusted him to explain why he’d hidden that he and Kyle had a longer relationship than a simple fling. Was it embarrassment, or something deeper? Their talk would have to wait, however, as a fire at one of their hotels in Florida required André to get in on a conference call with their insurance company.
“So much for not being on our phones while we’re here. I’m sorry, love.” André held him close, kissing his brow. “I’ll make it up to you tonight. Maybe we’ll go for a midnight swim.”
“It’s okay. You know I appreciate the effort.” He held on to André’s arm. The wide gold band gleamed in the sunlight, and he’d already gotten used to its weight and taken to rubbing its smooth surface for comfort. “But I’d like to talk later? After you’re finished?”
André’s dark brows rose. “Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He gave his most reassuring smile. “I promise. Now go deal with your crisis. They need you.”
André framed his face between the palms of his hands. “You always come first. You know that, right? No matter what else is going on around us, it’s you and I who matter the most.”
“Sure.” He kissed André, letting his lips linger to give credence to his words. “Now go, Mr. President and CEO.”
André laughed, but Chess saw the uneasiness in his eyes before he turned away and hurried up the path.
Choosing to stay on the beach, he sat on the stairs leading from the shore to the house and stared out at the ocean. With the sound of the pounding waves and the salty breeze swirling around him, Chess recalled the first time he and André made love. It all started with a kiss…
“Come to mine?” André breathed, his tongue tracing a delicate path around Chess’s ear, driving him incoherent with desire. They’d been teasing each other with smiles and flirty talk all through brunch at The Boathouse, and that all too brief touch of lips under the weeping willow had rendered him useless for most intelligent conversation afterward. In the back seat of the car service, André placed one hand on his thigh and the other around his nape, pulling him in close.
“I’m not going to kiss you in the car.” His lips skated over the hollow of his neck and hovered over his mouth. His breath puffed out warm and sweet-smelling from the champagne they’d drunk.
“Why?” Chess almost growled with frustration, practically vibrating with the need to feel André’s lips on his. He’d fantasized about their softness and how firm and deep the kiss would be. That earlier touch of their mouths hadn’t been nearly enough. André Webster was a man who took what he wanted in business, and Chess had no doubt that extended to pleasure as well.
“Because once I kiss you, I won’t be able to stop until you’re naked and under me. And I want that. I want to spread you out on my bed and lick you from top to bottom.”
They reached André’s apartment, and two minutes later they were inside. True to his promise, André stripped them both naked and stretched him out beneath him in the bedroom. He straddled Chess, eyes burning, skin gleaming with sweat despite the air conditioning, cock heavy and erect.
“From the moment we met, I wanted you like this. Your smile, your eyes…I haven’t stopped thinking of you since that night.”
Desire shimmered between them. Lust and want filled the air. Like a live wire, the connection sparked between them, lighting him up inside, leaving him trembling and edgy, on the precipice of something extraordinary and life-altering.
“I…I want you too. So much, it’s driving me crazy.”
“Is that so?” André’s smile shone in the semidarkness, and then he nuzzled into his neck, trailed his mouth along his jawline. Chess shifted under him and reached up to pull him close. “Should we be crazy together? Or take it slow?”
“André, please. I—”
Chess’s words were cut off by the weight of André’s mouth on his.
Finally.
A buzzing started in his head as hot, hard lips moved slowly across his jaw, teasing a torturous path. No dreaming anymore of what André tasted like or what sounds he made when they were naked in bed. Reality blew past fantasy as André claimed him with the force of that kiss, and Chess gave himself willingly.
He strained closer, gasping for breath as André’s smooth tongue nudged past his lips. They touched and licked, sucked and played together, and Chess’s heart tumbled into André’s, finding a home waiting at the end of the path it had wandered for years.
Before André, he’d laugh if anyone talked about soulmates or loving someone so much, you couldn’t imagine a life without them, but now he understood. It wasn’t about the money—he’d live with André in one room and eat ramen every night, as long as they were together.
Footsteps sounded above him. “Why’re you sitting here by yourself?”
