"Look at you," Landen said quietly.
Adriel's breath caught. His skin prickled with awareness; every inch of him alive under that gaze, every part of himself he'd spent a lifetime hiding laid bare and examined and, impossibly, wanted.
Then Landen moved. He sat on the edge beside Adriel's hip. His hand reached out, palm warm against Adriel's stomach, and rested there.
"Okay?" he asked.
Adriel nodded. Swallowed. "Yeah."
Landen's hand moved. Traced up his chest, fingers following the curve of his ribs. His thumb found a nipple, circled it lazily, and Adriel's hips twitched without permission.
"I'm going to take my time," Landen said. His voice was low, unhurried. "I'm going to touch you everywhere. And when you get close, when you're right there, I'm going to stop. And then I'm going to start again."
Adriel's heart hammered.
"You're going to tell me when you're close," Landen continued. His thumb kept circling, slow and deliberate. "And I'm going to decide what happens next. Do you understand?"
"Yes." The word came out rough.
"Yes, what?"
Adriel's throat tightened. "Yes, sir."
Landen smiled. Small and warm and pleased. Then he leaned down and kissed him.
It was soft at first. Then deeper, his tongue sliding against Adriel's, taking his time, tasting him like he had all night. Adriel kissed back as well as he could with his arms stretched above him, his body arching slightly toward the warmth.
His mouth moved down. Down Adriel's throat, kissing the pulse point there, feeling it race under his lips. Down his chest, tongue tracing a path through the soft hair. Down to his nipple, and Adriel's back arched as Landen's mouth closed over it and sucked.
"God," Adriel breathed.
Landen hummed against his skin. The vibration traveled through him, settled somewhere deep. His tongue circled the tightened peak, teased it, made Adriel's hands fist in the sheets above his head.
Then he moved lower. His mouth pressed to Adriel's stomach. His tongue traced the curve of it, and Adriel's eyes stung.
"Beautiful," Landen murmured against his skin. "Every part of you."
His mouth kept moving. Lower. Over the jut of his hip, the soft skin there. His tongue traced the line where thigh met torso, and Adriel's breath stuttered. Lower still, until his lips brushed the base of Adriel's cock, and Adriel made a sound he didn't recognize.
Landen didn't take him in his mouth. He kissed around it instead; his thighs, the sensitive skin behind his balls, the crease where his leg met his body. Each kiss was deliberate, thorough, driving Adriel slowly out of his mind with wanting.
"Please," Adriel heard himself say.
Landen looked up. "Please what?"
Adriel couldn't form the words. Could only look at him, desperate, his cock hard and aching against his stomach.
Landen smiled. Slow and knowing. Then he lowered his head and took Adriel into his mouth.
The heat was immediate. Overwhelming. Adriel's head fell back against the pillow, a moan tearing out of him that he couldn't have stopped if he tried. Landen's tongue moved against him in slow, devastating strokes; the flat of it dragging upward, the tip circling the head.
Adriel was close in minutes.
He felt it building, felt the pressure coiling in his gut, felt his hips trying to push up into that perfect heat. "I'm… I'm close…"
Landen pulled off immediately.
Adriel cried out at the loss. Actually cried out, a sound of pure frustration that he'd be embarrassed about later but couldn't care about now. Landen just looked at him, calm, his hand wrapped loosely around the base of Adriel's cock.
