Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, he had delayed coming back to Liam at the party to add the announcement to his arm. It was necessary for him, but an unknown to Liam. He’d done what was right for his needs without a thought about Liam’s unfamiliarity with his culture.
I’m such an asshole.
The shower continued to run. Mike knelt and worked his boots off his feet. His socks followed, then his trousers and shorts.
Naked, he headed for the showers for an uncomfortable but healing conversation with his adnama.
The least he could do was wear his own vulnerability.
* * *
Liam loved one truth about showers on the Urilqii base. The fact that warm water flowed without cooling. He didn’t know how they did it, maybe he didn’t want to know, but damn it was good not to worry about the water going cold.
He stood beneath the showerhead and turned his face into the stream. He could stay there for as long as he wanted, using the water to warm his body and soul. It also washed away his tears. At the very least, it hid them. Not that it matters, he reminded himself.
He was alone.
Then he wasn’t.
A rush of heat rolled around him, heightening his senses, lighting sparklers across his skin and surrounding him with anticipation. Cinnamon wafted on the moistened air. He didn’t need to look. The way his heart leapt told him who arrived. Mike.
“Go away,” he ordered, without looking around.
Liam grabbed for the soap and began to lather himself. A wave of heat flowed through his veins and down into his cock. The unruly piece of himself twitched and lengthened, filling with what felt like lava.
It didn’t hurt, though, despite the intensity. In fact, it felt indecently good.
No.
He raised his face to the water again and let it patter against his face for a long moment. Then he shifted position so his face wasn’t under the stream and shook the water from his head, like a wet dog after a hosing. He glanced at his rampant cock and sighed his regret.
Helluva rager. Maybe the water could beat down his unwanted arousal? He dialed for cold. The temperature shifted, but the state of his dick didn’t.
Mike traced a fingertip along the line of his shoulder. Lightning sizzled at the touch, as it always did, and zapped along his nerves to lodge inside his mind and balls like a kernel of fire.
He swallowed a moan. Christ, how could this be wrong? But it was.
“Go away,” he repeated.
“Liam?”
Mike’s whiskey-dark voice tickled across his hearing and summoned a shiver. He gasped from the intense, mind-numbing tremble that wracked him. What did he feel? His hunger or Mike’s? No matter. It couldn’t happen again.
Liam pivoted, which put him back beneath the showerhead.
The water’s fall slewed onto his shoulders and traveled down his chest and back. Streams of soap streaked his chest like rivers of milk. He blinked the drops from his eyelashes and licked them from his lips.
Mike stood there, in all his glory, all his naked glory. Christ on whole wheat bread. Splashback from the shower damped his skin.
The alien camel spider on his right pectoral had darkened beneath the moistening.
Transparent drops of water eased down the pale skin on its journey across each plateau and valley of muscle that carved Mike’s torso. Some continued down those epic, outstanding legs.
Some vanished into the nest of hair that sprang from his crotch.
Those were the water drops that held his attention.
Okay, so it was the rod of sexual intention jutting from Mike’s groin that demanded Liam’s attention. So, sue him.
Wait…no. Dammit, no.
“Adnama, tell me why you hurt.”
Mike reached a hand to touch his face.
Liam slapped the hand away and shouted, “I told you to go away.”
Concern and confusion shifted between them, but Mike didn’t move. Ignored? Again? Goddammit!
“Get the fuck away from me!”
He stepped close to Mike and slammed his hands onto Mike’s shoulders to get him moving. Pain jolted through his elbows and deltoids. Mike was like a slab of sun-warmed marble.
Heavy-gravity native, he reminded himself too late. His palms stung with the same fire he’d felt that time he’d slipped in the kitchen and slapped the counter on the way down.
While it was true Liam couldn’t force a shift of position, Mike could move with uncanny speed when he chose it.
He chose to.
In the next heartbeat, Liam’s back thumped against the shower wall. Mike had manacled his wrists with his hands and pinned them against the same wet tile. Elbows bent, his knuckles smarting from the sudden contact, Liam glared into Mike’s eyes.
This close to each other, intimate contact was inevitable.
Mike’s unbound erection brushed his. Apparently, the cold water spilling over them hadn’t abated his boner either. Something liquid and erotic shifted between them.
Hot, hot, hot!
He thrust the thought aside and evaluated the situation. A physical confrontation was moronic. Mike was simply too strong.
So, what was he supposed to do? Kick Mike’s tree trunk legs and knock him off balance? Maybe he could head-butt the guy? He’d end up with a busted skull if he did.
Not good.
Liam went for the one weapon he had at his disposal. His words.
“Don’t use your strength on me,” he snapped. “That’s not okay, you fucking bully.”
Mike’s eyes burned with a dark amusement. A slight smile edged up one corner of his mouth. Liam’s cheeks heated. Yeah, Mike had felt Liam’s first response, the one that spoke of sexual interest, and he probably knew—because of that damned mind-link thing—of Liam’s secret longing for light dominance.
“You’re in no danger,” Mike said.
The soothing tones did nothing but annoy Liam and burn away his embarrassment.
“That’s not the point,” he said crisply. Wait…wasn’t that what Dylan had said? Trust Mike to push boundaries. “Assclown.”
Mike tipped his head fractionally to the side. “It’s okay for you to use your hands on me, even though I’m in no physical danger?”
Ah, fuck. Liam’s temper drained away like a bucket with a hole that someone had filled with water. Christ, he’d put hard hands on his lover. What the fuck had he been thinking? Who was the boundary-pushing assclown now?
His gaze dropped from Mike’s to stare at the throat hollow beneath the whiskered chin. “No, it’s not. I’m sorry.”
“Look at me.”
Liam shook his head. He was too ashamed of himself.
“No secrets between us, adnama. Look at me,” Mike urged.
Mike didn’t sound angry. Nor did he sound amused. He sounded hella serious. The coaxing for visual contact pressed on Liam. He looked up and saw himself in Mike’s eyes. No condemnation, no judgment, only curiosity and concern.
“You’re upset,” Mike stated instead of asked. “What has hurt you?”
“You don’t know?”
Mike shook his head.
“You can tell I’m upset, but not why I’m upset?”
“I’m telepathic and empathic not clairvoyant and you’d shut yourself away,” said Mike. “Sure, I could feel your tension and unease, but I won’t disrespect your wishes and slam into your head when you’re wanting privacy. And if I did, that’s not only insulting, but it’s no replacement for communication. Why won’t you talk to me?”
Liam realized Mike sounded wounded. What the… “What are you talking about? I’m right here talking to you.”
Mike blinked, squinted, then stepped back and released Liam’s hands as he did. A look of understanding filled his expression.
“Ah, I get it.”
“You do?” Maybe Mike would fill him in?
“Culture clash.”
“Huh?”
“Your people are reliant on verbal communication, but mine a
re reliant on mental communication.” Mike rubbed his chin with knuckles, as if working out a problem in his mind.
“You wanted to hear from me. I waited for you to reach for me. We both, unwittingly, drove each other into a wall.”
Okay, yeah, that did make a cold sort of sense. Guilt and concern swept Liam, his and Mike’s, no doubt. He and Mike were in the same place and puzzled over a simple but critical question.
Was it possible to apologize and comfort at the same time?
It didn’t surprise him to realize Mike had a hard time doing both. Fortunately for them, Liam had the ability to bend into a relationship’s storm winds. He cupped Mike’s chin and slid his hand across the whiskers to his cheek.
Mike’s eyes darkened. He tensed.
Liam smiled. “I don’t want to be a psycho stalker.”
Confusion drifted into Mike’s expression again.
“My people are bonded by emotional ties,” he said. “Now, so are you. We do not feel shamed by the need that urges us to reach for comfort, passion, or confidence. As my adnama, it’s your right to reach for me. It’s my privilege to give. It’s—”
“So I’m the weaker partner?” Liam broke in.
Insulting, that’s what that was.
“It’s also,” Mike forged on, despite the interruption, “my right to reach for you. Hopefully, you feel it is an equal privilege to give to me.”
The lack of conviction in the last statement was minute but telling. Complex was his adnama, but sweet and vulnerable beneath his gruff exterior. Mike’s heart beat true.
Commitment radiated from him.
Liam offered the same. No hesitation. No timidity.
“Of course it is,” he said, then covered Mike’s mouth with his own.
The rush he always felt whenever they touch blazed through him. Passion roiled between them intense and bright. Mike went still, startled. Then he groaned and deepened the kiss, tugging Liam tight against him as he did.
Cinnamon and musk filled the air.
Liam was harder than he’d ever been in his life.
::Christ, you smell good.::
::For you.::
Their mouths merged, teased; their tongues twined, tasted. His heartbeat surged in his chest with a pagan tempo. Mike pulled his mouth from Liam’s and used the tip of his tongue to tickle one corner. A tug on his hair sent Mike’s mouth down the curve of Liam’s arched neck and bared throat.
Impatient and demanding, Liam moved closer until their bodies touched. He reached down with one hand and pressed his cock against Mike’s.
Dick to dick, Liam stroked both shafts with that one hand.
Mike’s dick sweated a lubricant. Liam played the moisture along their cocks. He pumped both, causing his breath to tangle in his throat and sparks to shimmer behind his eyes.
Pleasure zinged through Liam’s brain. He jerked his hips forward in an elemental demand. Mike’s hands swept down Liam’s back and ribs to his ass, which he clutched and kneaded with a wordless yearning.
::Ah, God, Mike…::
He wrapped his hand around Liam’s and followed Liam’s mental guidance and tempo as he, too, worked their cocks.
::You think of amazing things.::
::You’re amazing.::
Well, if Mike thought he was amazing with a hand job, Liam was willing to educate the guy about his blowjob skills. He released their cocks, tugged Mike’s hand away, and knelt.
Mike’s breath caught as he fluttered his hands alongside Liam.
Tentative, he rested one hand on Liam’s crown. With his other, he caught his straining dick. He worked his cock with slow, languid draws on the skin.
::I won’t break, babe. Don’t be shy about touching me.::
::It’s possible.::
::You can’t hurt me.::
::Yes, I can.::
Okay, yeah, Mike’s people were hella strong.
::Not unless you want to.::
“I don’t. Liam…”
The mouthwatering cock before Liam’s gaze mesmerized. He swallowed a mouthful of drool and thought about what it would be to suckle and tease that fuck-tool.
He would go down on that dick without a moment’s hesitation.
Would Mike ever go down on him?
“Later.”
::Really?::
::Anything for you, Liam.::
The promise, so honestly given, shook Liam to his core. With those words humming in his hearing, heart, and mind, he took Mike into his mouth.
CHAPTER 16
The pull of Liam’s mouth around his cock stole any semblance of thought from Mike’s mind. His heartbeat hesitated, then jumped into a quick tempo and pounded a wild beat inside his chest.
Liam’s tongue lapped his glans, tiny and delicate flickers that danced across Mike’s delicate skin and wove a gossamer web of exquisite decadence through Mike’s mind.
He cupped the crown of Liam’s skull.
Liam ringed his cock tip with his luscious lips and sucked.
Electricity sizzled along his cock and into his balls. They went tight and hot, like his chest as he panted for air.
Mike made a fist in the short hairs atop Liam’s head. He tugged. He pushed. He murmured and coaxed. Liam accommodated and moved his mouth down the turgid shaft with a powerful pull, sucked, then twirled his tongue along the rod as he pulled his mouth back to the tip…then repeated the journey down…and back up…
His legs trembled. His heart punched his ribs. The scent of Liam’s arousal spun through his mind. The spittle slick sound of Liam’s mouth enhanced the eroticism between them.
::So good.::
A tornado curled from his balls to his brain. Strong and thunderous, it knocked him out of himself and into a place where there was only a rising sensation. Sweat dampened his armpits, neck, and back.
::Yes. Yes;:.
Liam’s fingers dug into his ass. Mike cradled Liam’s head. He met and matched the suckling tempo with sharp thrusts of his hips.
A low purr rolled from Liam’s throat and danced across his cock on the way out.
::Shit-fuck::
His world became a blend of colors, the blazing brightness and mysterious darks of interstellar nebulae. So beautiful, so glorious, so perfect. This moment felt more like the bonding than last night’s ceremony.
This wasn’t simply moving parts. It was a meeting of hearts.
Mike stilled Liam’s head and pulled his dick out. A whimper and a hungry whine was the reaction from his adnama. Mike tipped Liam backward and eased him down the shower tiles and onto his back.
He followed him to the floor and knelt between Liam’s bent knees. Slippery with water droplets, the tiles pressed against his knees. If they were cool, he didn’t feel it. In fact, he was hot. Hot and sweating. Ravenous.
Reclined on his back, Liam smiled up at him, affection and adoration radiating from his passion-dark eyes. Mike covered him with a slow slide. Liam’s hands caught his hips, played up his back and circled his neck when Mike buried his head in the curve of Liam’s shoulder. He nipped.
A gasp and husky murmur shivered between them. Liam tightened his grip, but Mike pulled free. He set himself onto his knees and caught his breath when Liam wrapped his legs around his waist with a laugh.
His own amusement rumbled from his chest as he caught Liam’s knees in his hands and pried them apart with a careful but insistent grip. Liam’s breath hesitated, a sizzling sound of anticipation that pierced his heart.
“God, you’re gorgeous,” Liam said.
His hunger-roughened voice brought chill bumps to Mike’s skin. He shifted his grip, sliding his palms to Liam’s lower thighs.
Gently, he pushed Liam’s knees high, spreading him for his gaze.
The white of Liam’s upper teeth were barely visible as they fixed on his lower lip. His whispered pants hissed between his parted lips in time to each flex of his rippling abs. His agile fingers wrapped his own cock.
Mike watched Liam stroke his turgid shaft w
ith a lazy hand. He stroked the length, teased the glans, and dropped it onto the trail of hair that traced a path between his crotch and belly button. It landed with a light slap of skin against skin. Liam murmured hotly, his gaze locked on Mike’s face—who watched.
Liam liked being watched, and that was okay because Mike had no desire to close his eyes. Mesmerized, Mike absorbed the exquisite visual of Liam’s teeth on his lip, the drops of sweat across his flushed skin, the heaving chest and abdomen, and the glaze of pre-cum on his fingers as Liam worked it along his dick.
::And you call me gorgeous?::
“You have no idea.”
Mike’s hips jerked with an unconscious yearning he couldn’t suppress. His cock tip brushed the nest of hair at Liam’s crotch and the soft skin of his ball sac.
Liam’s free hand wrapped Mike’s cock. His stomach hollowed.
Blood blazed incandescent through his veins. He swallowed—or tried to—with his suddenly dry mouth and forced his hands not to clench.
Tension etched Liam’s face. His other hand had stilled and rested on the fierce erection that lay on his lower abdomen. Liam arched up, forcing contact between his ass and Mike’s cock. The request was unmistakable, as was the pressure point and contact between their bodies.
Mike shifted his gaze, fixing his attention where their bodies touched. He shifted his hips, tested his position, pushed forward.
The delicate muscles of Liam’s ass resisted for a heartbeat, then parted.
He pressed inside to the sound of Liam’s moan.
He rocked at the threshold, playing the liminal moment over and over, hearing Liam gasp and whimper, feeling the surging waves of delight that zapped between them with every tiny, teasing thrust.
He’d done this about six times before Liam closed his eyes and jerked his head from side-to-side. He grabbed at Mike’s hands and tugged impatiently.
“God, Mike…”
Liam’s voice rang through the bathroom, raw with greedy demand. Passion sizzled between them in a wide and wonderful band of light. Mike’s breath tangled in his throat and his blood surged in his veins.
“Fuck me.” Liam shouted. “Christ! Fuck me.”
Arrival Page 16