Chapter Fourteen
THE PIECESof Joe’s life had come apart like a dropped jigsaw. It was all unmatched edges and lost corner pieces, unanchored and unsolvable. Even though the idea hadalwaysbeen that Harry had lied, somehow the evidence of it had knocked the wind out of Joe.
And like he always did when the pressure built up at the base of his skull, when he felttrappedeven without walls,he wanted sweat, sex, and control, not novelty condoms and childish dares.
So the only excuse for the smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth was Cal’s ridiculous, infectious grin. It was the sort of squint-eyed, odd-angled grin that didn’t bother to be attractive but was full of humor.
“You want me to steal a condom?” he asked.
Cal raised his eyebrows and nodded as if it were a seriousquestion. His tongue was tucked into the corner of his mouth.
“A pink one,” he said. “Dare ya.”
Joe took a deep breath of air that smelled like yesterday’s pine cleaner and fresh sex. What the hell, he decided. Half of his life he’d spent turned inside out to please people who, it turned out, didn’t have his best interests at heart—law school, engagement parties that all the right people turnedup to, and a job that got done even when everyone hated him.
He could wear a pink condom if it amused Cal.
The foil crinkled between his fingers as he gingerly—although he supposed they restocked after each party—grabbed a packet from the tip of the pile. He pinched the notched corner between thumb and forefinger and ripped it open. The latex was slick with lubricant as he pinched the tip andthen rolled it down over his cock, from head to his balls. The plastic squeeze of it was familiar, the vivid, angry pink shade less so.
Cal cracked up. “Didn’t think you’d do it,” he wheezed out between giggles as he got up onto his knees. He cupped his hands together and held them out, a grin still on his face. “Toss me a blue one.”
“I believe the agreement was I get to fuck you,” Joe saidas he dipped his hand into the jar. They were all new, shiny, specially branded packets, fresh from the factory. He flicked it over to Cal, who grabbed it out of the air. “Not the other way around.”
“Your loss,” Cal mumbled as he ripped the packet open with his teeth. “I’m not going to leave a mess for whatever poor bastard has to come and clean these up.”
He spat the foil out and rolled theblue latex down over his cock to the base. Joe folded his lower lip between his teeth and stroked himself as he watched. Banked heat ached between his legs, twitched impatiently in his thighs. He wanted to be balls deep in Cal, the day’s events shoved out of his head to make room for tight pressure, salt-sweat on his lips, and Cal stretched out, spread out, for him, but he wanted to have this too—ifonly for a moment, as he watched Cal’s hand slide along his cock, the ridiculous blue stretched tight around the thick, flushed length of him.
In another week, if that, he’d be back in LA and Cal would have someone else in the back seat of the Bentley.
Ironically the reminder of why he wanted to take his time was one more reason he couldn’t. Joe crawled back onto the couch with Cal and pulledhim into a kiss. They fell back against the cushions, Cal’s thighs clenched as he leaned back and their cocks squashed between their bodies.
“I don’t think this suit is ever going to be the same,” Joe warned as he pushed Cal’s trousers down to his lean thighs.
He felt Cal’s smile against his lips. “Not like I’m out of pocket. You paid for it.”
Joe cupped the back of Cal’s head, the crop shorthair like velvet against his fingers, and bruised the kiss over his mouth. He finally pulled back, one hand braced against the back of the couch and the other in his pocket as he fished out his wallet. He’d only been a Boy Scout for a few months, but he still remembered how to start a fire and to always be prepared. The packet of lube had been in there since he woke up that first morning, the thoughtof Cal’s lush mouth and rough hands still vivid from his dreams.
“Turn around,” Joe said as he filled his palm with slick gel. Thankfully it wasn’t pink. “If you want, I’ll buy you another one.”
Cal squirmed around awkwardly as their knees and legs slotted together in the limited space. He made a low, rough sound under his breath as Joe shoved him forward, his cock pressing into the soft, overstuffedvelvet. Midnight blue silk pulled tight over his shoulders as he braced his elbows against the hard frame of the couch.
“If I’m gonna be a kept man,” Cal drawled as he twisted around to look over his shoulder, “buy me cars instead of motorbikes. Or a puppy.”
Joe laughed as he worked cool, slick gel between Cal’s cheeks and into his ass. The clench of tight muscle around his fingers made hiscock twitch with anticipation. He licked dry lips and leaned forward to kiss the corner of Cal’s mouth.
“A puppy?”
“Always wanted a dog,” Cal said. He broke off for a moment, eyes closed tightly as Joe worked him wider. He gripped the cushions. “Never lived anywhere that would let us as a kid.”
Joe shut him up with a kiss as he pressed his cock into Cal’s ass and buried himself inside him withtwo hard, eager strokes. A rough “fuck” growled out of Cal’s throat as he dropped his head forward, the nape of his neck knobbed and vulnerable, and sucked in ragged, uneven breaths.
“You could have both,” Joe told him as he ran his hands down Cal’s clenched arms and wrapped his fingers around his forearms. He licked down Cal’s throat and sucked a bruise into the tight skin over his collarbone.Each thrust buried him deeper in Cal’s ass, slick and tight as it squeezed down around his cock. He buried his face in Cal’s neck and breathed in the smell of his skin. “You could have anything you want.”
“No,” Cal said softly. “Some things it’s best to stop wanting.”
Joe wondered how you did that. He didn’t know if he could. Some things he couldn’t imagine not wanting.
His thighs slapped againstCal’s ass, smeared wet with sweat and lube between them as he thrust in time to the music that throbbed up through the floor. The guitar caught at his nerves and dragged him along with it as it built toward a crescendo.
