Shawn turned back to the laptop and typed rapidly for a minute, then turned his eyes away and hit send.
“Look at that,” I chuckled. “I only had to use my stern voice once.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “Good to know.”
Shawn stood and accepted the glass I offered him. “If you haven’t figured out that your voice is hot,” he teased, “you haven’t been paying attention.”
I poured some wine into his glass, then mine. “Congratulations,” I said. “You just worked your ass off, man.”
We clinked glasses. “Thanks for helping and for all the lunches.” He blinked a couple of times, glancing up at me. “When do I find out what my reward is, by the way?”
“There’s two parts,” I said. I reached into the back pocket of my shorts, then pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it, I offered it to Shawn. “This is the first part.”
Shawn adjusted his glasses as he looked at the paper. “The Atlanta Grant? Is this a hotel reservation?”
“Two nights,” I said, bouncing back on my heels. “I figured you could use a little trip to clear your head. And I’ve been getting curious to see more of your life. I thought you could show me your favorite places, introduce me to your friend Audrey. You’ve talked about missing her a few times.”
Shawn shook his head lightly. I was having trouble reading the expression on his face. His lips were slightly parted, and I saw the pink of his tongue flick across his teeth. Behind his glasses, his eyes narrowed, like he was trying to make sense of something.
“You want to see my favorite places?” he asked.
“Sure,” I answered, suddenly nervous I’d screwed the reward up. “If that sounds fun to you. The drive is about five and a half hours, but it’s beautiful the whole way. You can just relax. I’ll get us there.” I licked the back of my teeth. “Does that sound fun?”
Shawn dropped the paper to his desk and turned to me with a big smile. “Yes,” he said quickly. “Yes, totally, Cass. It sounds great.”
I let out a puff of breath. “Oh, good. Fuck, I thought you were disappointed.”
“No, not at all. It’s just—I’m not really sure what there is to show you. I didn’t go out to the clubs or explore all the tourist sites or anything like that.”
I laughed. “I know what your life was like there, Shawn. Do you really think I was expecting you to turn into a different person the second we got to the city?”
Shawn blushed, and I felt my body warm in response. “No,” he said. “Thanks, Cass. This is perfect.”
“We’ll take off tomorrow morning and get there in the afternoon. Do you want to hit up Audrey, let her know we’re coming?”
“Sure. But Cass, didn’t you say there was a second part?”
“Oh yeah.” I looked him up and down, taking my time to rake my gaze across his body. Shawn looked back at me, still blushing, and took a big drink from his wine. “Part two is even more exciting,” I said, my voice rolling across a growl.
The idea had popped into my head a week ago, and whenever I jerked off in the shower or woke up from a horny dream, my mind went straight back to it. I knew that it was something I wanted to do, but still, it had taken me a minute to work up the courage.
I pressed my lips close to Shawn’s ear, and he rewarded me by quivering against my body. “The second we get in that hotel room, I’m going to rim you until you beg me to come.”
Chapter Nineteen
Shawn
Naturally,I spent the whole truck ride to Atlanta thinking about Cass rimming my hole. It wasn’t even a fantasy I had really entertained before, but now that he had whispered it in my ear, it was all I could think about, like an electric charge humming in the truck.
Luckily, there was a beautiful morning and afternoon to distract me. The interstate took us through winding mountains, popping with vibrant greens. With the windows in the truck cracked, Cass explained what it was to be a studio musician and told me about this drummer James Gadson. He played me songs that featured the guy, everything from The Temptations to Beck. I nodded along, happy to get the tour through music history. Paying attention to the music Cass played all summer, I’d been learning to appreciate a good percussion line in a way I never had before.
Somewhere near the Georgia border, I even worked up the courage to read him some new passages from my book. He listened carefully, nodding his head and smiling at all the right moments, then asked me a few smart questions after. The satisfaction of an appreciative audience thrilled me, and when his questions unlocked a few new thoughts, I kicked myself that I hadn’t been reading the book to him the whole time.
My chest fluttered when we pulled up to the hotel, a big stone building across the street from a park. I never would have dreamed Cass would take me anywhere, let alone to a hotel. But from the filthy look he gave me as we parked the car, I knew he hadn’t forgotten our plans.
I leaned across the seat and pressed my hand to his chest. “Thank you for the vacation,” I whispered.
The lobby was sleek and minimally designed, with big glass walls and short leather benches scattered around. Cass checked us in as I stood behind him, watching the employee at the desk figure us out. We probably looked like a couple, I realized, and at least for that weekend, we kind of were.
Alone in the elevator, Cass dropped the bags to his feet and pressed me against the mirrored wall. “Fuck,” he growled, then grabbed my wrist and pressed my hand to his hard cock. “Look how hard I am just thinking about rimming you.”
