Ryder groaned loudly, making A.J. jump. He looked across the room just in time to see his friend shift around and throw the sheet aside, revealing deliciously hard muscles from waist to shoulders. His lower body was still covered, but now A.J. could see the telltale tenting around his crotch, indicating the guy was indeed having one of his goddamn wet dreams. A.J. shuddered, burying his face in his hands again, furiously suppressing the desire to stare and lick his lips hungrily.
Fuck, he had to get out of this room. There wasn’t enough air in here, not with Ryder and his gorgeous body taking up so much goddamn space. He pushed himself to his feet, fully intending to get dressed and get the fuck out of there. He’d sleep on the couch in the common room. Or crash in the backseat of his Mustang. Anywhere, as long as it wasn’t here. Feeling like he’d been dipped in liquid fire, A.J. took a shuddering breath and started looking around for his clothes.
Ryder shifted again, throwing one arm over his head. Now all those sexy muscles in his chest were pulled taut, simply begging to be touched and licked. A.J. cursed silently, viciously, but couldn’t make himself reach for his jeans. Instead, he found himself inching closer and closer to Ryder’s bed, his eyes cruising every inch of that gorgeous body.
Jesus, the guy was cut. His amazing chest was completely hairless, with small brown nipples that rode the lower edges of his pecs, just begging to be sucked. He was naked under that sheet, too. Holy Christ on a pogo stick, Ryder was laying there, completely naked. Panting, fighting himself every step of the way, A.J. drew closer. And closer. Until his shin hit the baseboard of Ryder’s bunk, and he could get no closer.
No, that wasn’t true. He could get closer. All he had to do was sit, just on the edge of the mattress. Which he found himself doing, despite furiously telling himself to back the fuck away. But it was like someone had attached magnets to Ryder’s impossibly smooth skin, magnets that were so strong, A.J. was helpless to resist. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and ran his fingers down the center of Ryder’s chest.
Ryder moved like a striking snake. One big hand wrapped around A.J.’s wrist, yanking him forward so his upper body canted over Ryder’s midriff, and pinned his hand to the bed on Ryder’s opposite side. A.J. gasped and looked up to find those amber eyes fastened on him, a frown on the gorgeous, too-masculine face.
“A.J.?” Ryder said sleepily. He reached up with his free hand, rubbed both eyes. “Is something wrong?”
A.J. pulled against Ryder’s hold, but the man refused to release him. Breathing hard, he licked his lips and stuttered, “N–n–no. Of c–c–course not.”
Ryder blinked, a frown of concern darkening his brow. “Are you sure? You look flushed.”
Shit. “I–I–I’m fine. Let me go.” A.J. tried to pull away, tried to get the fuck off Ryder’s bed, but the guy wouldn’t let him.
Ryder’s scowl darkened. “Dude, are you sick? You’re breathing hard, and you’re burning up. I can feel how hot you are from here.”
A.J. shuddered. “Seriously, I’m fine. Let go.”
Ryder studied him in silence for a long, long time. Then he rumbled, “No, I don’t think I will.”
A.J.’s mouth dropped open, stunned. Ryder just looked at him, those amber eyes glowing in the darkness, until A.J. was ready to crawl out of his skin. If he didn’t let go soon, if he didn’t give A.J. room to breathe again, he’d do something really, really stupid. A.J. bit the inside of his cheek, tried to force his breathing back to normal, but with his best friend watching him so closely, it was hard to get himself under control. They sat in silence for a time, the only sound A.J.’s labored breathing, while Ryder contemplated him thoughtfully.
Until, finally, Ryder broke the stalemate.
“You know, it’s funny,” he said in that deep, rumbly voice of his. “We’ve been friends for four years. Talked about just about everything together. But the one thing we never talk about, the one subject that never seems to get brought up…is sex.”
A.J. nearly swallowed his tongue.
“Kind of odd, don’t you think?” Ryder’s eyes slid down to A.J.’s lips as he licked them convulsively. “Seems to be the one thing guys like to talk about all the time. But not you and me. Why do you think that is?”
Holy fuck, this is not happening. A.J. cleared his throat, spoke through the gravel and lust coating his vocal chords. “We talk about it. All the time. Just the other day, Tony was telling us…”
Ryder shook his head, slowly, his eyes cruising over A.J.’s face as if looking for something in particular. “That’s with the guys. Their stories. Their brags. But not you and me. Never occurred to me, before. Now I’m starting to wonder why that is.”
A.J. forced out a harsh laugh. “Come on, dude. Really, I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’ll let you get back to your—”
“Do you want me, A.J.?”
A.J. froze. Ryder’s expression remained inscrutable, his amber eyes twitching back and forth as he studied every tiny muscle movement in A.J.’s face. He’d already been having trouble breathing. Now, it felt like an elephant sat on his chest, it was so hard to suck air past the aching desire filling his whole body. He pulled against Ryder’s hold, desperately trying to break free, but the bigger man held him trapped effortlessly.
“Answer me,” Ryder whispered. “Do you want me?”
A.J. squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then turned away, hoping to appear nonchalant. “Dude, get real. That must’ve been a good dream. Seriously, I’m sorry I woke you.”
“I’m glad you did.”
That quiet assertion had him turning back to find Ryder regarding him steadily. He could do nothing but watch, mesmerized, as Ryder reached up with his free hand and slowly, slowly, wrapped it around the back of A.J.’s neck.
“One last time,” Ryder whispered. “Do you want me?”
A.J. licked his lips, did it again. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. He stared at Ryder helplessly, praying to every deity he could think of that his friend was still dreaming, that he couldn’t actually see A.J.’s lust right now. But he was so close, so impossible to hide from, those beautiful eyes never wavering in their intense scrutiny. The tension built, and built, and built some more, until A.J. was ready to scream from it. And when he finally couldn’t take it anymore, a single word strangled from his lips.
“Yes.”
Ryder’s eyes flashed like golden lanterns in the dark, his fingers tightening around A.J.’s neck. “Then I have to say I’m sorry, A.J.”
A.J. flinched, made yet another attempt to pull away. “God damn it, Ryder, let me go…”
“No.”
He gritted his teeth, turned back with the intent of screaming at the guy to let go of his fucking arm. He looked into Ryder’s amber eyes—and froze.
“I’m sorry,” Ryder said, slowly and deliberately running his thumb across A.J.’s lower lip, “because we’ll only get this one night together.”
A.J.’s heart stopped. “Say…say what?” he whispered, certain he had to have misheard. No way had Ryder St. Claire, the straightest guy he knew, just said…
“I’m sorry I didn’t notice before now,” Ryder apologized softly, sincerity coating his voice. “If I had, we could have had many, many nights to explore each other. But it looks like we’ll only have tonight.”
As A.J. stared at him, shocked into immobility, Ryder slowly sat up and brought his lips to within an inch of A.J.’s. “Guess we better make it count,” Ryder breathed.
Then he kissed him.
Chapter 3
Eight Years Ago
A.J.’s brain shut off. Short-circuited. Fried like a fork in an electrical socket.
The feel of those lips, achingly soft yet devastatingly hard, overtook every process in his entire body. Ryder let loose a rumble from deep in his chest, finally releasing A.J.’s wrist so he could cup his skull and angle his head the way he wanted. A.J. groaned as Ryder slowly rose to his knees, pulling A.J. with him until they both knelt on the bed
. His hands flew up to wrap around Ryder’s hard biceps.
The feel of Ryder’s tongue stroking his own was dizzyingly erotic. The taste of his mouth, the aggressive way he took over control of that kiss, made his head spin. Those big, hot hands slid slowly down A.J.’s neck, over his shoulders, and finally started drifting down his sides. A.J. was panting into that hot mouth, attention pulled in a million different directions at once, when he felt Ryder caress the waistband of his shorts.
A.J. gasped, shuddering convulsively as he yanked his mouth away and leaned his forehead against Ryder’s shoulder, desperately fighting back the urge to come, just from that one touch at his sides. Ryder’s fingers left trails of fire over his skin as the bigger man circled his waist with both hands.
“Okay?” Ryder whispered. “Change your mind?”
“I-I-I’m going to come,” he gasped. “I’m going to come if you touch me. The moment you touch me. And I don’t want this to be over that fast.”
“Over?” A chuckle vibrated out of Ryder’s body and into A.J.’s, making his cock jump. Ryder bent his head, pressed those hard lips right against A.J.’s ear. “Do you seriously think I’m going to stop after making you come just once?”
A.J. went totally still. Ryder’s fiery touch drifted across his sides again, fingertips dipping inside the waistband of his shorts. He pulled down, gently but insistently, until A.J.’s aching cock popped free of the material and reached for his belly button.
Then he whispered, “Come,” and ran one fingertip down A.J.’s length.
A.J. detonated. A scream of ecstasy froze in his throat as the orgasm rolled through him, so intense it was a wonder his skin didn’t catch on fire. He panted against Ryder’s neck, shaking as his cock pulsed, spitting strings of hot, sticky seed all over his Ryder’s hand.
“Fuck, that is so fucking sexy,” Ryder growled against his lips. A.J. whimpered, reeling from sensory overload. Ryder shifted, and before A.J. could think what was happening, he found himself on his back in the center of the small bunk. Ryder quickly yanked A.J.’s shorts down and off his body, then straddled one of his thighs, his weight pressing A.J. deeper into the mattress, and proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of him.
When they finally came up for air, Ryder flashed him a little self-satisfied smirk, then slowly, deliberately, brought his hand—the one that was decorated with A.J.’s cum—to his lips.
Ryder’s tongue darted out, tasting A.J.’s essence. “Mmmm…” Ryder rumbled. He licked his lips. “You taste like…chocolate-covered pretzels.” He did it again, carefully sucking his finger into his mouth while keeping eye contact the entire time. Then he reached out and cupped A.J.’s chin, bringing his mouth in close.
“Salty and sweet,” Ryder breathed.
A.J. moaned.
Ryder claimed his lips in another scorching kiss. He brought his body in closer, sliding one knee over A.J.’s abdomen so he felt totally surrounded by Ryder’s intoxicating heat. A groan pulled up from A.J.’s toes as he wrapped both arms around Ryder’s shoulders, holding on for dear life as the man plundered his mouth with long, sure strokes of that amazing tongue. A.J. quickly lost himself, spinning in a sea of overwhelming desire.
This couldn’t be happening. No way was this real. A.J. was still asleep—that had to be it. He’d heard Ryder start having one of his wet dreams, then immediately slipped into one of his own, where Ryder had no problem making out with another guy. That was the only explanation for this entire scenario, the only thing that even remotely made this possible.
And yet it felt so real. Ryder’s body was rock-solid on top of him, radiating so much heat it was like the sun had chosen to lay down on A.J. tonight. He could detect the fine hairs on Ryder’s silky-smooth back, feel the caged power in the muscles clutched under his hands. And despite the many thousands of fantasies he’d had about the man, he never could have imagined just how good he was at kissing.
Nor had he ever come from a single touch, not even in his dreams.
Ryder finally released his lips, started kissing his way around A.J.’s jaw. A.J. moaned, digging his fingers into Ryder’s strong back, wrapping his free leg as far around the man on top of him as it would go. Ryder bit his neck, then soothed the teeth marks with his tongue, making A.J.’s body bow off the bed. He was panting, shaking uncontrollably, as those hard, hot lips started cruising down his sternum. His cock hardened again instantly.
“Fuck…fuck…fuck…” A.J. panted, clamping both hands around Ryder’s shoulders and desperately trying to drag the bigger man upward. “God, Ryder. Fuck me. Fuck me, please.”
Ryder let loose a sexy rumble as he slowly made his way back up A.J.’s chest, pausing to nip and suck both his aching nipples. A.J. threw back his head as a moan of pure bliss strangled out of him. Since he couldn’t force Ryder to move higher, he tried to shove himself further down the bed, tried to get himself as fully underneath the man as he could. His head spun as he fought to remember how to breathe through the lust soaking the atmosphere.
Ryder kissed his way up to A.J.’s neck, nibbled his earlobe. “Slow down, baby,” he whispered silkily. “We’ve got the whole rest of the night to play.”
A.J. let loose a strangled laugh. “No, we don’t.”
Ryder immediately drew back, making A.J. whimper and try to pull him down again. But the bigger man was having none of it. His eyes flashed dangerously as he growled, “Why not? Why don’t we have all night?”
A.J. looked up into those amber eyes pleadingly. “Because any minute now, I’m going to wake up, okay? And then all this will have been just another goddamn wet dream. And that is really…really…going to suck.”
A surprise bark of laughter shot from Ryder’s mouth. He grinned. “Another wet dream, huh?” He bent his head, started kissing around A.J.’s jawline. “You have wet dreams about me often?”
A.J. groaned. “Yes. God, yes. Every goddamn day.”
Ryder rumbled, started nipping the soft skin under A.J.’s jaw. “Would it surprise you to know I’ve been having wet dreams about you, too?”
“God, Ryder,” A.J. groaned, hands closing convulsively around those immense shoulders. “Don’t fucking tease me.”
Another rumbly chuckle. “I’m not,” Ryder assured him. “In fact, I was having a particularly good one about you when you woke me up.”
“You…you were?” A.J. squeezed his eyes shut, lifting his chin to give the other man better access as he remembered Ryder’s groans, his heavy breathing. He was dreaming about A.J.? A wet dream about A.J. made him moan like that?
“Mmm,” Ryder agreed, pausing to lick A.J.’s Adam’s apple. His voice went deep and lusty as he whispered, “If I recall correctly, I was buried balls-deep in your ass when I woke and felt you—the real you—touching me.”
A.J. cursed, little skitters of lightning zipping through his balls. “Please,” he panted against Ryder’s lips. “Please.”
Ryder’s eyes flashed like garnets catching sunlight. Never taking his eyes off A.J., he reached toward his tiny bedside table, pulled open a drawer, and removed a string of condoms and a squeeze bottle of lube. A.J.’s jaw dropped, his whole body seizing with overwhelming lust as Ryder set both on the mattress beside them, licked his lips, and went back to kissing A.J. hungrily.
Ryder ran one big hand down his chest, lifting himself up so he had access, and palmed A.J.’s cock. A.J. shouted into that hot mouth, earning an approving rumble from Ryder. He stroked A.J. slowly, lazily, making him shudder and lift his hips. Then he dipped his fingers below A.J.’s balls, started stroking his perineum—and then lower, touching a place A.J. had never allowed anyone to go before.
A.J. yanked his mouth away, desperate for air, and bit back a scream of pure ecstasy. It felt so fucking good, those big, thick fingers pressing against the striated muscle, making his ass pulse with forbidden lust. God, he’d never wanted anything so much as he wanted those fingers in his ass, stroking him, making him insane with the desire to be filled by this
one man.
Ryder cupped the back of A.J.’s neck, made him rest is forehead in the curve of Ryder’s shoulder as he slowly, slowly, slipped one finger inside him. A.J. nearly shrieked when an unexpected wave of pain washed through him, but it was gone in a heartbeat, leaving behind the most exquisite, overwhelming pleasure he’d ever felt. Ryder started stroking that one long finger in and out of A.J.’s chute slowly, deliberately driving him out of his mind, rumbling deep in his chest the entire time.
“Fuck, A.J.,” Ryder breathed, his voice reverent, “you’re so fucking hot inside. You’re going to scorch my cock when I shove it deep inside you. Is that what you want? To have my cock in your ass?”
“God, yes,” A.J. groaned. “Please…Ryder…I…”
“Shh,” Ryder admonished. He pulled his finger out of A.J.’s body, making him whimper in protest—but he stopped immediately when he realized Ryder was only reaching for the lube. Ryder lifted off him, sat on his haunches between A.J.’s knees, and squeezed a generous dollop onto his fingers. He closed the lid, tossed the bottle back down onto the bed, and used his other hand to pull A.J.’s leg up and out, spreading him wide open.
The first cold touch of those fingers against A.J.’s fluttering ring made him moan, gripping the mattress so hard his knuckles turned white. His mouth dropped open as he tried to suck in air, tried to hang on against the pleasure inundating him from head to toe. He had no idea why such a thing as Ryder’s finger slipping into his ass would feel so fucking good, but it did. God help him, it felt so fucking good.
Ryder was deep inside him now, thrusting gently, stretching muscles that had never been used this way before. He added a second digit, making A.J. cry out as another there-and-gone wash of pain went through him, followed by a blaze of overwhelming heat. His body felt twitchy, heavy, burning hot. Before long he was panting, moaning, saying Ryder’s name in a continuous mantra as he started raising his hips in time with Ryder’s thrusts.
Saints United [For Love of Authority 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3