Jude was about to ask about how exactly Al was able to delineate between Jude’s conscious and unconscious mindin his sleep, but Al chose that moment to slide out from under the covers and stand up, stretching his body—his very, extremelynudebody—and the words died on Jude’s tongue before they were even fully formed.
“I have noticed that being stationary makes human muscles feel unpleasant,” Al remarked, raising his hands high above his head and elongating his spine in a slight curve, his pecs pushed out and his abs flexing as he sucked in his belly. The now empty space beside Jude where Al had been resting made the bed seem cold all of a sudden, despite the fact that between their body heat and the blankets, it was decidedly still very warm.
Jude distracted himself from Al’s absence by focusing his attention on his gorgeously crafted body—the one his sweet alien had designed specifically with Jude’s personal preferences in mind. And boy, had he gotten it right. It had been dark in the car when he’d initially shape-shifted, and Jude had been too caught up in the power of his own lust to fully appreciate him last night in the bedroom, but now? Now, with the morning sunlight streaming through the crooked and bent blinds of the room’s singular window, Jude was drinking his fill of him.
Al had created a disguise that was pure sex and masculinity. He was tall, dark, and handsome in all the right ways. In terms of muscle, he gave off the air of “sexy hero knight strong enough to carry his beloved to safety while cradling them gently in his arms” and not “juiced-up bro who drinks raw egg yolks and protein powder for every meal.” Jude was not particularly attached one way or another to body hair, but he’d noticed last night that Al seemed mesmerized by it, like it was foreign and forbidden, and Al’s interest made Jude more cognizant of the dark hair Al had chosen to give himself. He hadn’t turned himself into Bigfoot by any means, but instead of opting for a waxed look, Al had made sure that there was a noticeable layer of dark hair on his chest, arms, and legs.
And between his legs.
Like a moth to the flame, Jude’s eyes wandered south to where Al’s cock was nestled in a patch of neatly trimmed pubic hair. It was fucking gorgeous. Thick and long, but not monstrous—the perfect length and width to stretch his holealmosttoo far, but not far enough to do damage.
Jude had called Al a Greek God as a hyperbole, but maybe he hadn’t been that far off after all.
“You are feeling arousal,” Al said suddenly, knocking Jude out of his silent worship. His eyes snapped up to meet Al’s, shame heating his cheeks. He didn’t mean to objectify the man, but he was just so,soobjectifiable.
“Sorry?” Jude said, and good god his voice actuallysqueaked.
“You were observing my body, and your cock”—Christ, Jude wasn’t sure if he loved or hated himself for teaching Al that word—“is hard. That means you are feeling arousal, correct?”
Glancing down at himself, Jude flushed when he realized that through a gap in the tangle of blankets, his morning wood—now stiff as a fucking board—was fully visible to Al.
And Al was full-on observing it, his head tilted in such earnest contemplation that it was almost funny. The sight of a strong, sexy man inspecting Jude’s cock like it was some kind of fascinating mystery was admittedly somewhat absurd—except it was those types of things that Jude found the most attractive about Al. Those flashes of Al’s true self inside the hunk of a man he was pretending to be. He was an adorable dork in the body of a porn star, and it made Jude want to ride him until he could no longer walk straight.
“Yes,” Jude answered, feeling bold now that most of the blood in his brain had drained out to fill his cock. “It means I’m aroused.” He shrugged in a way he hoped seemed casual and added, “I can’t help it. You’re hot.”
“Humans do have a higher internal temperature than my species does,” Al said agreeably, andwhydid that stupid sentence make Jude even harder?
“Context clues,” Jude said pointedly. “Use context clues, babe.”
“Babe,” Al echoed, scrunching his forehead. “This is a term of endearment, correct? Is this name not reserved for intimate relationships?”
Oh. That had slipped out without Jude meaning to say it, but he wasn’t about to scramble to take it back. Especially not when he was trying to act smooth in order to charm his way into a round or two of morning sex. Because that was where this was going, wasn’t it? What had happened last night hadn’t been just a one-time thing. One look at Al was all it took for Jude to fully commit to his new identity as an alien fucker, and the way Al kept observing his erection made him think Al felt the same way.
“Well,” Jude said, feigning nonchalance, “we’ve mated, haven’t we? I’d say that’s pretty intimate.” Kicking the blankets down to the foot of the mattress, Jude got out of bed, cock bobbing carefree in front of him as he stepped into Al’s personal space. “Does it make you uncomfortable? I won’t use it again if it does.”
“No!” Al sounded almost panicked. Jude blinked, not having expected such a strong reaction, but when Al spoke next, the panic had gone. “I mean—I felt contentment when you called me a term of endearment. I was feeling worry that maybe last night you did not realize… ah, never mind. My feeling of worry is clearly of no concern since you are addressing me in this way.”
A niggle of something played in the back of Jude’s mind, like there was something he was missing between the lines, but he decided to chalk it up to the language barrier. He had more important things to focus on, and quickly did so, reaching between their bodies and wrapping his hand around his own cock, giving it a few pumps until his palm was slick with precum. He then let himself go and took hold of Al by his shaft, pulling a soft and satisfying gasp out of him.
Using his own precum as lube, it only took a couple tugs before Jude had Al growing stiff in his hand.
“I think you might be aroused, too, babe,” he whispered, brushing his lips along Al’s collarbone.
Al shivered.
“That is a correct statement,” he whispered back in a shuddering voice.
Jude considered his next move. They’d been overwhelmed with lust and stress the night before, and the sex had been frantic. This time, he wanted to go slow and savor every jerk and thrust. It was partially his anxiety talking—eventually, they were going to have to face the reality of the situation, check the news to see if anyone had found Al’s ship, and figure out how they were going to get Al home—though that felt like way too much to tackle so early in the morning. Just thinking about it was giving Jude a headache, but sex would make things better.
Sex, like counting stars, would help them both forget.
But Jude was also feeling grimy from trampling around in the desert and from sleeping next to Al in his hot room in his hot bed, so rather than guide Al back under the sheets, he stood on his toes and murmured into his ear, “Would you like to join me in the shower?”
Al looked at Jude with hooded eyes, his arousal as clear in his expression as it was in his voice as he asked, “What is a shower?”
7
Jude
