by Shona Husk
Running did have a certain appeal. He was already holding his hands too close to the flames. But he was liking the burn. The simmering attraction, the way Ripley looked at him …
He’d regret it if he walked away. Ripley would move on and find someone else without blinking. ‘Do you bite?’
‘Sometimes.’ He winked. ‘Do you?’
The club hadn’t suddenly got warm, it just felt that way. His face was hot.
‘You want to go, we can go … but before I leave the state, you will owe me a dance.’
That was three weeks away. Plenty of time to either wriggle out or get drunk enough to make it happen. He nodded and started heading for the door, not sure if his night had been derailed or was going exactly to plan.
Chapter 4
The pulse of the club was still in Ripley’s ears as they walked down the block. There was no point in catching a cab when they only had a few short blocks to walk. Winter hadn’t hit yet and the air, while cool, lacked any bite.
He didn’t try and grab Pierce’s hand even though he wanted to. It was pretty clear that anything like that was going to freak the guy out.
It was easy to forget that not everyone was as open as he was. Living in San Francisco for the last seven years had made him forget how small-town Perth could be at times.
‘Is your family here too?’ It seemed like a safe topic and he’d already shared that he was a sandgroper.
‘Rural Victoria.’
‘Farming?’
‘No, that would involve work … I don’t want to talk about my family.’ He shoved his hands into his pockets. He glanced over. ‘Sorry … I feel like I’m being a bit of a pain.’
They stopped at the lights and Ripley jabbed the button several times for good measure—he knew it made no actual difference but it felt like he was doing something.
‘I’d have called you a cocktease if you’d taken off. You’re still here.’ Which was interesting. And kind of awkward if Pierce was still hiding behind the coats in the closet. Ripley had burned the closet down years ago.
‘Yeah …’ Pierce sounded as though he wasn’t sure why he was still here.
‘Why? Give me something. I like to know my lovers.’
‘Name, rank and number?’
‘Are you an officer?’
‘No, just a regular old stoker.’
The lights changed. The streets were empty and they could’ve crossed without waiting but going slowly might work to his advantage; besides, Pierce hadn’t been in a rush to cross either.
Ripley went out on a delicate limb. ‘No one at work knows?’
‘I told my family and it didn’t go down so well and I can’t bring myself to say anything. Anyway, it’s none of their business.’
Valid point.
‘I can be discreet.’
Pierce’s eyebrows lifted in obvious disbelief.
Ripley smiled. ‘Maybe I can’t be. I’m too used to performing.’
‘So you’re really a ballet dancer?’
‘Yep.’ He knew he was showing off but he did two jeté élancés, finishing with a double tour en l’air and dropped onto one knee. He didn’t offer Pierce his hand as he didn’t want that sting of rejection. He stood up and bowed instead.
‘You’re here for a show?’
He nodded. ‘Thus the hotel room.’
‘To yourself?’
‘I am the star.’ How much did he love saying that? Almost as much as he loved the extra money and the hotel room to himself.
They turned the corner and there was the hotel.
‘Wouldn’t it be easier to date other dancers instead of picking up?’
‘I tried it once, too hard. Schedules and drama …’ He wasn’t stupid. He needed someone with their feet firmly on the ground. ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to pick up in a gay club?’
Pierce glanced away. ‘I was supposed to meet someone but I didn’t like the vibe. I was hiding in the nightclub.’
‘Well that worked out well for both of us.’ Ripley gave him a nudge. Random hook-ups took some balls. That shit gave him the willies. He liked to know who he was sleeping with before he got naked.
The lobby door opened and they went in. There was only a few staff on and no one was really paying attention as they went to the elevator. As soon they got into the elevator he wanted to grab Pierce’s collar and kiss him. The way Pierce held back was like a drug. He was so temptingly innocent.
The elevator door finally opened and Ripley went in first. Pierce took a breath before stepping in.
It was enough of a pause to make Ripley face him and ask outright. ‘Tell me you have been with a man before.’
Pierce blinked. ‘Yeah.’
‘Good.’ Then Ripley did grab Pierce’s collar and kiss him.
Their lips crashed together. He’d wanted to do this in the club but had held back. He’d been worried the chemistry would vanish in a touch. It didn’t. It sparked and burned and grew. Consuming him. The buzz rushed through him as the kiss deepened. Pierce opened his mouth …
The door opened and Ripley pulled back and let his hands fall to his side. If it had been someone more open he wouldn’t have minded doing the slow and fumbling walk to his room—this late at night no one was wandering the corridors.
He gave Pierce a sideways glance. He was staring straight ahead as if nothing had happened, then his tongue darted over his lip as though reliving the moment.
That was sexy.
Somehow he managed to walk, not run, to his room. He didn’t drop the key and he managed to get the lights on. Looking suave while wanting to do nothing more than pull off clothes was a definite skill.
Pierce closed the door and added the privacy lock. He lingered by the door, as though checking out the room.
Ripley made himself busy, adjusting the lights and kicking his clothes under the table and out of the way. Condoms and lube were in the bedside table—he’d put them there when he’d first settled into the room. This would be the first time they’d get taken out.
‘I don’t do this as often as you.’
‘I don’t do this that often … I prefer serial monogamy. One guy per city, not one every night.’ He was going to have to lead this dance. Sometimes it was fun to hand over control, but he was actually enjoying this. He stalked a little closer. ‘How safe do you play?’
‘Always use a condom.’
Good. He doubted Pierce was lying. He was blushing just talking about it.
‘Oral?’ Ripley was weighing up how much risk he was prepared to take. If Pierce was a safe player and didn’t pick up often, then he was quite happy to skip the condom when going down.
Pierce paused. ‘I don’t.’
‘Don’t? Don’t what? Give or receive?’
‘Either.’
Ripley stopped two feet from him. ‘You’ve never had head?’
‘I didn’t say that.’ He gave Ripley a small smile. ‘I dated a few girls in school.’
‘Well … I can honestly say I’ve never done that.’ He ran his hand down Pierce’s chest, slowing as he reached his belt. Without breaking eye contact, he undid it. ‘You can say stop if you want.’
‘I’m good.’
Ripley grinned and tugged open the sailor’s jeans, yanking them over his hips. He gave the hard ridge in his briefs a slow stroke, more than happy with what he found there. Pierce had no reason to be shy.
‘I’m not.’ Ripley dropped to his knees.
‘You want to do this here?’
‘Yep.’ He looked up at the man with his back against the door. ‘We can move later.’ He freed Pierce’s dick and ran his fingers over the hot skin, giving it a quick check before giving him a lick.
Pierce sucked in a sharp breath.
This was going to be fun. Ripley made sure to tease him nice and slow, loving the feel of the smooth hot skin on his tongue, and the taste. His own dick was rock-hard. As tempting as it was to keep going, he wanted more, and he wasn’t going to be getting it from Pi
erce … not tonight anyway. A lot could happen in three weeks.
He intended to make sure Pierce got everything he was missing out on.
If he wasn’t giving head, Ripley was damn sure Pierce wasn’t bending over either. He shivered as he stood. There was a mirror in front of the desk that was begging to witness some action—why else would hotels put it there?
Pierce probably wouldn’t be up for that either, in any position.
He moved in close and kissed the other man, deeper this time. Pierce lifted his hands and touched him, tentatively at first, then sliding his hand under Ripley’s shirt.
‘Go a little lower, Lover,’ he murmured.
Pierce obliged, running his hand up the fly of Ripley’s jeans.
He wanted to be naked in the next thirty seconds, but he had to handle Pierce carefully, not scare him off. Inexperience wasn’t a sin; it was a flaw that was easily fixed with a bit of time and a lot of lube.
A few more kisses and Ripley could feel Pierce start to loosen up. The undoing of his shirt was another step in the right direction. He helped when Pierce started to remove it, shrugging out of it and letting it drop to the floor. As he rolled his shoulder it gave a twinge. Nothing he was worried about. A few stretches tomorrow and it would be fine.
Ripley took Pierce’s hand and led him toward the bed. Slowly. There was no hesitation in his green eyes though. Green. He hadn’t noticed that in the club. A kind of dirty green. Ripley bit back a smile.
‘You have ink.’ Pierce ran his fingers over the dragon.
‘Yeah. I have to cover it sometimes.’ If he made the jump to classical then most of it would be covered by costume. For his current role no one cared.
‘Dragons and burning towers and … I don’t know what that is.’ He touched the rune inked over Ripley’s heart.
That had been his first one. ‘Good fortune.’
He turned around so Pierce could see his shoulder with the naked woman and wheat. There was one other that would be revealed when he took his pants off. That one he usually lied about. The real meaning was far too personal.
‘A woman on your shoulder?’
‘Virgo. What about you?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Really? You’re in the navy and you have nothing?’ It was a wonderful excuse to get Pierce out of his shirt.
‘Nope. I never found anything I liked enough to get.’
‘Or nothing in your life made you want to mark that moment.’ That’s what his were. Marks of passage. The rune before he’d send out a pile of audition clips. The blasted tower for when his father had told him that he had Huntington’s and that there was a chance that he’d passed it on to his sons. Bend, don’t break.
The Virgo when he arrived in San Francisco. The dragon was after he’d had his heart torn up and smashed up for the first time. God, he’d bled for weeks. It had been brutal. Love was painful. He’d sworn off it. If Pierce looked closely, he’d see the dragon was chewing a human heart.
‘I hadn’t thought of it that way, but yeah.’ Pierce stepped out of his jeans and briefs.
Now he was completely naked, Ripley couldn’t resist touching him again. He moved things along by undoing his own jeans before Pierce took over. Naked, he pulled Pierce close and ground against him. Right now he wanted to fuck Pierce so bad, but he’d settle for getting fucked.
Pierce stroked him. ‘When you said you weren’t fussy …’
‘I meant exactly that.’ He pushed Pierce on to the bed. The other man’s eyes widened. ‘I am, however, desperately horny.’ Ripley kissed him, claiming his mouth and pressing hard against him. ‘Lube and condoms are in the top drawer, unless you want to keep going like this. I’m easy.’
***
Pierce wasn’t sure what he wanted at that moment. Ripley had him pinned to the bed, they were both naked and hard; moving didn’t seem like a good idea. Then Ripley started rocking his hips. He looked so good leaning over him like that. The dragon on his bicep in the light while the rest of him was in shadow.
Sex with lust was a hundred times better.
Ripley kissed his way down Pierce’s body, the lower. The wet heat engulfed him again and he groaned. Then it was gone and the drawer was opening.
He regretted the distance immediately. He should’ve said that he was happy to keep going. But he had no idea what they were going to keep doing. Compared to Ripley, his knowledge and experience was nothing.
He went to sit up.
Ripley pushed him back onto the bed. ‘I got this.’
It had never taken so long to put a condom on. Ripley made it into an art form. Part head job, part getting lubed up and dressed up.
Then he lay down next to him on the bed. ‘Come on, Lover. Don’t make me wait all night.’
Pierce moved over him, the way Ripley had done to him.
He wanted him, but like this … so they had to look at each other. He didn’t do that.
Ripley drew him down and kissed him. ‘Stop thinking about it so much.’ His fingers traced Pierce’s jaw. ‘Give me some lube and a tease and fuck me good.’
Pierce glanced away. That sounded easy. This whole thing wasn’t what he usually did. This was far better. However, for Ripley this was probably a bit of a letdown. Dud. Yet when he looked at Ripley his eyes were bright with desire.
He could do this.
And as he learned a little bit more of Ripley’s body, it wasn’t a struggle at all. He enjoyed the extra contact. When he pressed a slick finger in, Ripley groaned. It was a very sweet sound. He’d never wanted to be with someone quite as badly as he did right then.
Ripley was a very dangerous drug. One hit and he was hooked.
He knew this but he couldn’t stop.
He thrust in and couldn’t stifle the groan. When he looked up, Ripley was watching him. Nerves threatened to resurface, but he squashed them away. Ripley wanted him. Right now that was all that mattered. Pierce started moving, slowly at first. He wanted Ripley to like it—he usually didn’t care. He usually didn’t want the other man so bad.
Lust was so good.
When Ripley’s hand wrapped around his own cock, Pierce lost all self-control. It was a very intimate performance just for him. Climax raced through him hot and unstoppable. Too quick, he was sure. But Ripley was there only seconds later, his breathing hard.
Neither of them moved. Pierce would have to in a moment. Usually he’d be halfway zipped by now.
Ripley smiled. ‘Stay the night.’
There were a hundred reasons why he shouldn’t. The most practical being that his car was in a car park overnight, that he had to be on board again by seven-thirty. The most personal that if he stayed it would be admitting this was something more than a fuck. It was already. It was more than he’d ever had with a man, or wanted.
Pierce pulled away and went into the bathroom. He washed his hands and face. What was he doing? Ripley was here for three weeks; he should take everything that was on offer and enjoy himself. Be himself.
He looked up and Ripley was in the doorway. He still had cum on his stomach. He didn’t appear to care. The man oozed confidence and some potent pheromone the way most men sweated.
‘I have to be at work early.’
‘I’ll set the alarm.’ Ripley walked in and turned on the shower and got in. ‘If you don’t want to just say so, no harm. I had a good time.’
‘I do want to.’
‘But?’ One eyebrow quirked up.
Not one of his reasons made sense. ‘I have to be out the door by six.’
‘I’ll set the alarm for five.’
Pierce opened his mouth to ask why and shut it again as he worked it out. There was no point in arguing with Ripley. He’d get what he wanted anyway and Pierce was inclined to give it him.
Ripley turned off the shower and dried off without the slightest bit of self-consciousness.
He should probably shower too. He got it going again, and stepped in.
Ripley did his teeth, leanin
g against the bathroom vanity and watching as though he was enjoying the entertainment. ‘So how old are you?’
‘Twenty-three.’ Old enough that he should be able to tick off a couple of semi-serious relationships. Ones that could be counted in months, not hours. There were guys in the navy who moved from woman to woman as though it was a buffet, they were still doing it at forty and it was sad. He didn’t want to be that person. He didn’t know how to be anything else. ‘I was in denial until I was twenty.’
Ripley frowned. ‘What was that like? Did you know you were in denial?’
‘No.’ He turned off the shower. ‘I just knew that it wasn’t working. I went out one night and accidentally kissed a guy.’
‘Accidentally?’
‘I was drunk, he came on to me …’
‘I can see why.’
Was that a compliment? Pierce shrugged it off. ‘It was another six months before I decided to do something about it. I wasn’t brave enough to go out with anyone.’
‘I think meeting someone anonymously is far braver. I couldn’t do it.’
He doubted Ripley ever had to worry about being alone. ‘What about you?’
‘Sixteen …’ he shook his head. ‘Kissing and hand jobs.’
‘Nothing wrong with kissing.’ He didn’t do it very often. It was going to be hard going back after this and it hadn’t even been one night yet.
‘Didn’t say there was.’ To prove the point he kissed Pierce, slowly. His mouth tasted like mint, making Pierce aware he needed to brush his teeth too. ‘I’ll set the alarm.’
For a few moments, Pierce was alone in the bright white of the hotel bathroom. He rummaged through the complimentary toiletries. No toothbrush.
Nice.
‘Use my toothpaste, but I’ll have to kill you if you use my toothbrush.’
Pierce shuddered. ‘Ew.’
‘You be surprised what people do. I’m sleeping on the left.’
Pierce really didn’t care. He didn’t have a side. He didn’t usually sleep over. This wasn’t going to be weird at all.
***
Four hours later the alarm went off. There was an arm wrapped around him and a body pressed against him. Pierce hadn’t expected to sleep, but he must have crashed. Now he didn’t want to move. He couldn’t call in sick. He had to turn up and prove he was sick to get the day off, which didn’t achieve anything. He closed his eyes again and tried not to enjoy the sensation of waking up with someone too much.