I dried that damn puddle so fast it would make a maid’s head spin.
Mission complete, I stretched the towel, readying to wrap it back around Chase’s waist, when his fingers found the underside of my chin and lifted my head until our eyes met again.
“Leave the towel. We don’t need it anymore.”
“Okay,” I said, letting the cloth fall from my hand and straightening to stand before him.
“You’re wearing too many clothes, Finn.” Chase’s voice was soft but level. “Take off your shoes, then your socks.”
I kicked off my shoes, then reached down and yanked off one sock, then the other.
“Now your pants.”
It took a second of fiddling to get the darn button undone, but a few heartbeats later, my jeans lay atop my socks.
“Tsk, tsk.” He cocked a brow. “Underwear, please.”
I shimmied out of my tighty-whities and tossed them aside. When I reached for the bottom of my shirt to tug it off, Chase’s hands smothered mine.
“Oh, no. This is mine,” he said, pushing my hands away and stepping so close I could feel the hair of his legs tickling my own.
With both hands, he reached beneath the bottom of my shirt, pressed his palms gently to my skin, then lifted them up so my shirt rose as he followed the contour of my torso. Everywhere his hands grazed, my skin flared with warmth. The moment they moved upward, a desperate cold followed, begging for his touch to return. By the time he had my shirt near my neck and was motioning for me to raise my arms, my cock had risen to full glory and was twitching against his own growing erection.
“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said, pulling my shirt over and off, while somehow gripping my wrists with one hand so they remained above my head. In one smooth motion, he tossed my shirt aside, spun me around, and press-walked me against the cords. I could feel them scoring lines in my back,but I didn’t care.
Chase’s mouth covered mine. He was so gentle, our lips barely touching before his tongue teased my skin. He kissed my upper lip, then my lower, then sucked in a breath, drawing air out of me and into him. He held it, like I’d held my first sip of wine.
His eyes never left mine.
He blinked, released the breath, then kissed me again. Firmer this time. With more intent.
His tongue grew bolder, more determined.
I couldn’t hold back, couldn’t wait for permission or command or whatever I was supposed to wait for. I kissed him back. God, I drank him in, letting our tongues meet and tangle and explore.
My hands were still pinned above my head, giving him freedom to explore. He touched my chin, then let his fingers trail to my chest, where he traced the lines of my pecs before settling on a nipple. I’d never been sensitive, but when he pinched and twisted, I thought I might jump out of my own skin.
“Ow. Oh, shit.” I squirmed.
His grip tightened, and his body pressed me into the stairs.
“Don’t you dare move,” he said. “I’m going to taste every last drop of you tonight. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Not trusting my voice, I nodded.
“Good,” he crooned. “Do you have any idea how many times I watched you in that bar and wished you were naked?”
I started to answer, but his hand found my cock and gripped.
The only sound to escape was a quick intake of breath.
“This is mine,” he said. “I claim it.”
He what? My dick? Who is this—
“And if you’re a good boy, I might claim the rest of you, too.”
Now my heart got into the gymnastics action, doing a somersault, then a vault-flip-thing, then a high-bar-whatever. I barely knew Chase, and he was talking about claiming me? And for some idiotic reason, my whole body was begging for it.
