“Go on,” Noah said, holding himself steady. “You wanted it so much. Fuck yourself on it.”
Benji shoved down so fast his hole burned at the stretch. They had barely prepared him enough, but Benji wasn’t about to stop for more. He lowered himself until he was sitting heavily on Noah’s thighs. Then he started riding, whimpering as he angled Noah’s cock so it brushed his prostate on every pass.
The feeling of Noah inside him drowned out all his anxiety about the proposal. About Dillion’s attempted sabotage. About Michael and his vows to ruin his life. About Chet randomly appearing again and threatening to take Max away, as if that would ever happen. He even forgot to wonder if Riona could hear them past the partition, which was something he often worried about when they were fucking in the car.
Nothing mattered when Noah was inside him. It was the best thing he’d ever felt, every fucking time.
Then Noah grabbed his hips, stilling him. Benji groaned excitedly as Noah started fucking into him like they both wanted.
“Yeah,” he heard himself slur. His mouth smeared against Noah’s suit jacket. “Oh god, just like that.”
Noah’s fingers dug into his waist. “Say my name.”
Daddy. It was on the tip of Benji’s tongue. It felt so right, especially when he was letting Noah take care of him like this. But then he thought about Chet getting dragged out of the gallery, and it felt weird and wrong.
“Noah,” he breathed.
Noah moaned, burying his face in Benji’s sweaty neck. “God. So perfect. I love you.”
Benji shuddered and came.
Noah followed soon after, panting raggedly into Benji’s skin. He rubbed his hands under Benji’s shirt, tracing the notches of his spine, as Benji drifted on a cozy wave of endorphins. But soon enough, reality started to set in again.
Noah kissed his cheek, just below his healing bruise. “Hey. What’s going through that beautiful head?”
Benji stared down at him. His Noah, pristine and perfect, was gazing up at Benji like he hung the moon.
Marry me.
Benji wanted to say yes. He wanted to say yes so bad.
But Benji had always been a coward.
He cleared his throat. “Can we go home?”
Noah blinked. For a moment, Benji thought he saw a hint of disappointment in his eyes. Then Noah nodded, pressing another kiss to Benji’s sore cheek.
“Of course,” he said.
CHAPTER 2
Noah wanted to run him a bath.
Benji wasn’t having it.
“Just a short one,” Noah coaxed. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Benji’s shoulders, which had gotten stiffer the closer they got to their apartment. The ease that had washed over Benji from the car sex was gone, replaced by a rigid stress that he wouldn’t even admit to.
“I don’t need one,” Benji argued, undoing his cufflinks with the awkwardness of someone who had never had to undo cufflinks before. “Get off my back.”
Noah was being overbearing. He knew it, but he couldn’t help it. Benji was stressed, and he wanted to fix it. Even if he was, technically, one of the reasons why Benji was stressed in the first place.
He pushed away a stubborn sting of hurt as he remembered Benji’s shocked face in the gallery. He’d always imagined that when he asked someone to marry him, the shock would be followed by joy. But Benji’s shock had just been followed by more shock, to the point where Noah had been genuinely worried that he was going to pass out. Then ChetfuckingCaulfield, deadbeat father extraordinaire, had shown up to make everything even worse.
At least he didn’t say no, Noah consoled himself as he watched Benji pull off his jacket and shirt. He just… didn’t answer. That was better than an outright rejection.
Logically, Noah knew that he shouldn’t be this hurt by Benji not answering. They had only known each other for half a year, and they had never talked about marriage before. You were supposed to talk about it before you sprung it on a person, especially a twenty-year-old with trust issues and no prior serious relationships.
And yet Noah couldn’t help it. He wanted to fall to his knees and beg Benji to marry him, lavish him with gifts and sex and adoration until Benji agreed. He wanted to convince Benji with every bone in his body. He didn’t realize how badly he wanted Benji to marry him until he said it, but now it was all he could think about.
