“You haven’t had coffee in every shop in the Caribbean,” Tove said, green eyes sparkling at the compliment all the same.
“But I have had yours, and nothing could surpass it. Where is your charming wife?”
Tove smiled, clearly taking that as a compliment, too. I liked them already. “Hiding away from the rowdy gaggle of boys you’ve invited here.”
“I am more than happy to vouch for all of these boys and their excellent manners,” Andries said, looking all of us over—Benji included—with pride.
Of course. We’d all flocked around him because he was the one with the friends and connections and he was eager to share them.
A good man, I thought. Tyler was lucky to have him.
Under the table, I curled my hand around Rowan’s, and a little thrill of pleasure unfurled in my stomach. He glanced at me, that same lowered-eyelash look that always made my heart stutter, and the ridges of his cheekbones flushed just a half-shade pinker than usual.
I was lucky to have him, too.
The cabin door barely swung closed before my hands were on Rowan’s shirt, plucking the rest of his buttons open and tugging it out of his pants, pushing him toward the bed.
He hit the mattress with a thump, looking up at me with wide eyes.
Dear God was I desperate for him.
“Lee?” he asked.
“Want you,” I gritted out, swooping down to catch his lips and moaning at the taste of him, sweet and warm and familiar. Both of my hands framed his face, keeping him still while I licked my way into his mouth and slid my tongue along his, whimpering at the warmth and softness. A low, satisfied moan rumbled in my chest as the worst of the need faded back, the kiss slowing down to needy little pecks, a bitten lip, the slow swipe of a tongue.
Rowan stared up at me as I pulled back, panting for breath.
“I’m not saying no,” he murmured. “But I’m wondering what I did.”
I blinked at him. How did he not know?
“All day,” I said. “All day you kept touching me and kissing me and you let me hold your hand and told everyone how smart you thought I was and you’re wondering what you did?”
Rowan nodded.
“That!” I said. “All of that. Every time you brushed the back of my neck or kissed my cheek or let our fingers brush together or… any of it.”
The surprised look on Rowan’s face wasn’t changing. I’d thought maybe he was teasing, that he knew exactly what he’d been doing, that it’d all been calculated to turn me on, but I was starting to realize he was actually confused.
Not saying no, but definitely confused.
“And you were so kind to Benji,” I added, because that meant something, too. Rowan was kind. Down to his bones.
I wanted his kindness for myself.
“Figured you were hoping I’d suck your cock or something,” I mumbled, looking away. I was willing and eager, but it felt like accusing him of something he hadn’t done.
“Hadn’t actually occurred to me,” Rowan said. “I like touching you. I guess I wouldn’t, normally, but there’s something… you’re… different,” continued. “Special.”
When I met his eyes again, they were soft and warm.
Rowan isn’t Craig, my brain reminded me.
Craig wouldn’t hold hands with me in public, but he could switch the affection overload on when he wanted something. It always worked, even now, even with someone else.
But Rowan hadn’t meant it like that. He’d been doing it because he wanted to.
He was different, too. Special.
Holy shit did I want him.
I surged forward again, sealing my lips over Rowan’s and then yelping into his mouth as he rolled us both over so he was on top, pinning me to the mattress.
“You’ve given me an idea,” he panted into my ear, kissing along my jaw, shoving my t-shirt up and out of the way.
I pulled it off, too hot all of a sudden, as Rowan worked his way down. My skin tingled wherever he kissed or nipped, a hot surge of arousal going straight to the pit of my stomach as he rolled his tongue around one nipple until it peaked, a whimper escaping me as he treated the other one to the same.
My fingers tangled in his silky, short hair as he eased down further, running the tip of his nose over sensitive skin and leaving a trail of sparks in his wake, looking up at me with his eyes dark and hungry.
“What’re you…?”
“Sucking your cock,” Rowan said, so casual I might have thought he’d been replaced if he hadn’t started blushing immediately. “Been a while.”
“You really don’t have to,” I said, even as my brain screamed at me not to tell him that, blood flowing southward to my already half-hard cock.
“I’m dying to,” Rowan said, tugging my shorts and underwear down with one sharp movement, cock springing free and leaking precome as I watched him lick his lips.
“You felt so good in my hand,” Rowan continued, talking directly to my cock this time as he pulled my clothes down further, encouraging me to kick them off, dropping them on the end of the bed along with the sandals I’d lost while I was pushing him onto the bed.
He had me stripped naked and he was looking up and down every inch like he’d found Captain Flint’s treasure.
“You’re gonna feel so much better in my mouth,” he said, and that was all the warning I got before he swooped down. My back arched as he licked a stripe along my cock, a hot rush of pleasure as he sealed his lips around the head without a moment’s pause.
My fingers tightened in his hair as he swallowed me down, my skull thumping against the padded headboard as I screwed my eyes shut and let out a silent cry toward the ceiling.
Fuck.
He was good, drawing me deep into his throat, breathing in measured gasps as his head bobbed, tongue working the underside of my cock like he had a roadmap to exactly where I liked to be touched. The sheets creaked under my free hand, balled into a tight fist, but I focused on not pulling Rowan's hair, not pushing him down.
Not doing anything that might make this stop.
Heat pooled in the pit of my stomach as Rowan swallowed around me, and I remembered him drinking that bottle of water earlier, the way his throat bobbed. Letting go of the sheets, I reached out, hesitated a moment, and then ran my fingers along his throat, feeling it work around me.
Rowan moaned around my cock and I could feel myself spilling precome into his mouth, which only made him swallow harder, throat bobbing under my fingers as he kept up the same pace. Not too fast, not too slow, the kind of rhythm that could have driven me insane if he didn’t let me come.
My legs parted by themselves, giving Rowan more room to work even as he slid a hand up my thigh, pushing it further out of the way, a surge of pleasure-pain as his fingertips dug deep into it. Deep enough that if I could get him to tense a little harder I’d have a bruise that matched his hand there in the morning, something to jerk off over in the shower.
But I didn’t need that. I’d still have Rowan in the morning. I could jerk off on him in the shower.
A shudder ran through me at the thought. Even while I was having sex with him I wanted to do it again. And again. And again.
He’d said I was different. So was he.
Another shudder ran through me as he tightened his grip on my thigh, this one a warning that I wouldn't last much longer.
“Rowan,” I gasped, urgency welling up in the pit of my stomach. Was he about to let me come in his mouth? Did he know how close I was?
“Rowan, fuck, please, I’m gonna…”
If that didn’t get the message across, nothing would.
Rowan didn’t miss a beat, sliding his free hand under me, rolling my balls in his palm as I gasped and panted for breath. This was too much, too good, and I couldn’t take it anymore.
He pressed his finger against that spot behind my balls like it was a goddamn joy buzzer, and that was it. The white-hot jolt of pleasure made me bang my head again as my orgasm hit, fingers
tightening in Rowan's hair, my vision whiting out as I crested the wave, holding there for one heartbeat, two…
And then crashing, falling hard and fast, thighs trembling and stomach tense with the effort of not jerking into the heat of his mouth. Fuck.
Rowan swallowed around me, wringing a strangled moan from the depths of my chest as another spike of pleasure made the hollow, spent feeling in my belly tighten again.
I could have slept for a hundred years.
The sound of Rowan's belt opening—fuck, he never even got undressed—caught my attention. I opened my eyes just in time to look down my own body and find him resting his head against my thigh, licking a final drop of come from his lips, hand skimming down his stomach and diving deep into his underwear.
A soft, breathy moan made me want to do it all again, my chest swelling with some combination of lust and affection as I watched his face go slack with pleasure.
I wanted to do more than watch.
“Come up here,” I said, voice wrecked. Had I been moaning that hard?
Rowan opened his eyes, almost pitch black and lust-glazed, and licked his swollen, bruised lips, looking up at me lazily.
A shiver of lust ran down my spine and pooled in the pit of my stomach.
“Come on,” I shifted positions, leaning up against the headboard so he could sit in my lap this time.
Rowan settled like a nervous cat, so lightly I barely felt his weight on me.
“You’re so pretty like this,” I murmured, still catching my breath as I took him in, flushed and needy and sleepy-eyed, his cock dark at the head and leaking precome, still half-tangled in his underwear.
He gasped as I pushed it the rest of the way down, putting him on display. I hadn’t had a chance to look before now, but he was just as perfect here as everywhere else.
“C’mere.” I reached out, fingers threading through his hair again, pulling him close to kiss him even as my free hand curled around his cock. Rowan gasped into my mouth, hips bucking as I stroked him, another thrill of pleasure running through me as I realized how close he was to coming just from sucking me off.
“You taste of me,” I whispered against his lips, tilting my head to kiss him deeper, lick the last traces off his palate, sink into the warm, happy feeling of a partner who wanted me so much I could taste myself in his mouth.
Rowan nodded, pulling back so his forehead rested against mine and gasping for breath, precome pouring out of him now, his thighs tightening around me. Right on the edge.
One part of me wanted to hold him there until he whimpered and begged, but the rest of me just wanted to watch him come.
“It’s okay,” I breathed, still catching my own breath. “Come for me.”
Rowan nodded, bucking his hips into my hands once, twice, three times, and then gripping my shoulder as he came, a cut-off cry and a sudden flood of warmth the only signs it’d happened. He collapsed against me, warm and solid, panting for breath and making a mess of both of us.
I grinned against his neck, nuzzling happily, my heart so full it was threatening to burst.
So perfect.
I didn’t deserve this, but I was sure as hell enjoying it.
While we both caught our breath, I slid a hand under Rowan's shirt to stroke up and down his back, humming as he snuggled closer.
“I’ll get off you in a minute,” he promised, voice already sleepy.
I’d let him nap before round two. We’d both had a long day.
“No rush. Kinda like you on top,” I teased.
“Actually,” Rowan pulled back to look me in the eyes. “I was wondering if…”
He paused, biting his lip and shifting his weight.
“Could I… do you think… I’ve never, umm, I mean… and I trust you, and I’ve always been so curious and—”
“Shh,” I interrupted, brushing a kiss over his jaw. “You wanna bottom?”
Rowan nodded, biting his lip again.
How could I say no to that?
“And you’ve never done it before?”
He shook his head this time, eyes soft and trusting.
I kept thinking he was exactly the man I’d described to Craig on that first day, but Rowan was so much more than that. I couldn’t have dreamed him up in a million years. My imagination just wasn’t this good.
“Not tonight,” I said. “Wait for tomorrow, before a cruising day. Okay?”
“I don’t mind—”
I cut him off again with a soft kiss, trailing the hand on his back down to his ass, pushing his tangled underwear out of the way and running the tip of a finger along the crease of his cheeks. Rowan gasped, hips bucking toward me, and I smiled into his mouth.
This was going to be perfect for him. Whatever it took.
“Trust me,” I said. “You’ll understand in the morning.”
“I do trust you,” Rowan said, his eyes bright blue again, wide and soft. I could see trust written all over his face.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever had that before, but I really liked it.
“I’ll take care of you,” I promised, cupping Rowan's chin for another kiss and wondering how the hell I got so lucky.
17
Rowan
My throat hurt.
My throat hurt, specifically, because Lee had insisted on sucking me off in the shower this morning and he was really good at it.
The whole deck we were on must’ve heard me. Judging by the smirk our neighbors—an older couple of bears who seemed to be deeply in love with each other—gave us, it’d definitely travelled.
He’d whispered in my ear that he loved how vocal I was and he couldn’t wait for tonight when he could fuck me slow and sweet, and I wasn’t sure I’d stopped blushing yet.
Tyler had asked me at breakfast if I’d gotten a little sunburned across the cheeks and I couldn’t tell whether or not he was joking.
“That building is so pink,” Lee said, waving at it. We’d seen a lot of buildings in various pastel shades yesterday, but Lee clearly wasn’t over them yet. “And it should stand out but there’s so many bright colors that it doesn’t. Why can’t New York be like this?”
“I don’t know,” I said, too busy watching him walk toward it with awe written all over his face to think of a serious answer.
“I went to Greece for a business retreat once. Santorini. There’s… you might have seen, all the houses are white, but there’s one or two in different colors. I ate at a restaurant that was a beautiful salmon pink.”
“Always wanted to see Greece,” Lee said, still looking up at the building in front of us. “You’ve been and you still don’t own shorts?”
“It was a business retreat,” I pointed out, when what I really wanted to say was come with me and we’ll see it together.
I didn’t like travel and I liked company on my travels even less, but Lee…
Lee wasn’t like other people. At least, I didn’t react to him the way I did to other people. One part of me constantly felt like I was drowning, treading water and being sucked under with every new wave, but the rest of me…
The rest of me floated calm above it all when Lee smiled at me. All my worries, all my anxieties faded back, and there was only Lee, and I could so easily have gotten addicted to that feeling.
I was afraid I already had.
“You’re a strange man, Rowan,” Lee said, turning to smile at me.
And there it was, that sense of calm. The certainty that everything was right in the world as long as he was doing that.
“But I like you anyway,” he added, wandering back over to me and taking my hand. “Come on. We’ve got buried treasure to look for.”
Spaans Lagoen wasn’t the prettiest part of Aruba, but by the time we got there I wasn’t looking at the view so much as I was the light in Lee's eyes. Childlike excitement rolled off him as we walked down to the beach—what little there was of it between the grassy dunes and the sea.
He’d told me the local legend of a man named Perucho discove
ring a hidden pirate treasure on the beach here, led to the site by the ghost of the murdered pirate who’d dug the hole under his captain’s orders.
“We’re looking for something… triangle shaped,” Lee said, scanning the beach with a hand over his eyes like he was Indiana Jones searching for some long-lost cultural treasure.
He didn’t seriously expect to find anything. This was an excuse to get away from everyone else—even the people we liked.
Lee knew this voyage was bound to come to an end sooner rather than later, and I was feeling it, too. The sense that we didn’t have much time.
A vacation fling was one thing, but soon enough we’d have to go back to the real world.
With that thought still playing through my head, I took out my phone and pointed the camera at him, a few steps ahead.
“Lee,” I called, taking the photo as soon as he turned.
The expression I’d captured made my heart skip a beat. A half-smile, the sparkle of excitement in his eyes, but his face soft, brows raised, eyes open wide.
For that split second I’d had all of Lee's attention and now I had a record of it.
“It’s not a candid shot if you warn me first,” he pointed out, coming over to look at the photo I was still staring at.
“I need a hair cut,” he said immediately, running his fingers through his hair.
“You’re perfect,” I responded, only half-thinking, still looking at the photo.
Love, I thought. Or the closest thing I’d ever seen to it on the face of someone who was looking at me.
I closed the app and shoved my phone back in my pocket, tucking the thought away with it. I couldn’t afford to think that.
“I know,” Lee laughed, pecking me on the cheek and grabbing my hand again.
Not for the sake of possessiveness or for anyone else’s benefit. We were alone.
Holding my hand because he wanted to, even if no one could see it.
“Triangle shaped, did you say?” I asked, catching sight of a pile of boulders on a bluff up ahead.
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