“Yes. See if you can get some sleep. We’ll be home in fifteen minutes,” Damian said soothingly.
Home. The words echoed in Nick’s groggy mind. It had a nice ring to it. He spent as little time in his flat as possible. He didn’t think of it as home; that was where his parents and his sister were, in the house where he grew up.
But if he wanted to study art he had to be in London, and his parents couldn’t afford to send him so finding this flat was actually a stroke of luck. It was cheap and it was close enough to school that he could walk, saving him the tube fare.
When Damian turned the car into the circular drive and slowed to a stop, Nick pried his eyes open to see a charming Tudor cottage, two stories with a garden that looked enchanting even under the moonlight.
Damian ran around the car, opening the door and extracting Nick from the seat. He pulled Nick’s arm over his shoulder and supported him to the door, unlocking it and kicking it open.
He guided Nick down a short hallway to a room with a fairly large bed. “I’m going to get you into bed. Let me do all the work, right?”
“Yeah.”
Damian lowered Nick down onto the bed and stripped him, making short work of it. He lifted the slight body to pull the covers out from under him and tucked him in. “I’ll be right back.”
He fetched a glass of water and sat on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. He raised Nick to lean him against his shoulder and gave him one tablet and the water.
Nick swallowed and let his head drop onto the comforting shoulder, nuzzling into Damian’s neck.
“Do you need two?” Damian questioned him.
“No,” Nick managed.
“Okay. I’m just going to lock up and I’ll be right back,” Damian said. He arranged Nick to recline comfortably and went to secure the car and house.
He grinned ruefully. He was about to violate one of his own rules—having someone sleep beside him in the same bed. He had taken Nick to his guest room; he hadn’t felt good about strong-arming him up the stairs to his own room, but he wanted to be sure that if the boy awoke in the night in pain, he was on hand to help.
Nick was asleep when Damian returned, only a faint line between his brows betraying the pain that still lingered. Damian wondered why he’d refused the second pill.
He undressed, slipping nude under the covers. Shifting in his sleep, Nick tried to get closer to the source of warmth. Carefully Damian pulled him closer, allowing the boy to nestle close and wrapping his arms around him.
Nick’s breathing slowed and Damian prepared for a very disturbing night.
Chapter 9
NICK SWAM to the surface with the typical hazy feeling he experienced after taking a painkiller. He also had to piss. Slowly, he pushed himself up to sit and squinted blearily. He didn’t recognize his surroundings, but dim light emanating from a partially open door reflected off a tile wall allowed him to deduce that was where the bathroom was. Nick slid out of bed cautiously and in stages, stretching his back with both hands clutching his hip, as if trying to hold himself together. He was a little stiff, but the pill had done its job.
He managed the short distance to the bathroom without trouble, and peed. While washing his hands, he looked at himself in the mirror; as was typical after a spasm attack he was pale, with purple shadows under his eyes. He lowered his head to drink directly from the faucet, and dried his hands and face on a towel when he was finished, still without recognizing his surroundings.
Walking a bit more easily now, he returned to the bed and slid under the covers, shivering a little from the cold air on his bare skin. The bed was nice and warm, and he snuggled closer to the center. He gasped with surprise when his hand brushed naked skin, and he sat up, his heart pounding in his chest.
In the gray light of dawn sneaking through the windows, he recognized that he was in bed with Damian. What had happened last night? Why was he in bed with the photographer? Self-consciously he tightened his arse, but nothing hurt so he concluded that they hadn’t fucked and Damian hadn’t spanked him either.
He sank down under the covers. It was chilly in the room and he had to assume, although he had no very clear remembrance of the night before, that Damian had gotten them both into the same bed and so presumably it would not surprise the older man to find him there.
As he cuddled closer, he realized that Damian was naked. He had never seen the other man naked before and Nick couldn’t resist. He lifted the covers to look and his cock hardened immediately at the sight of the older man’s body. “Fuck,” he breathed. His sculptor’s eye was delighted with the outline of Damian’s form: completely masculine, hard muscle, not an excess ounce of fat. Every angle elegantly chiseled, every flat plane distinctly male, the carved abdominal ridges, hard pectorals, long firm thighs, all were more than he’d could have dreamt. For a man older than he (all of thirty-two, had he but known it) Damian was in phenomenal shape.
Cautiously Nick touched the light covering of hair on Damian’s chest; it felt so different from his own hairless skin and he liked it. He ran a finger around one nipple, enthralled when he felt it harden in response. Drawing the finger down the dip in the center of Damian’s body, he skirted the crisp curls to detour to the pronounced line between the torso and top of Damian’s thigh, stroking along it to feel the tendons tense under his caress.
He looked up to find Damian’s eyes were open, watching him as he explored. “You’re so beautiful,” Nick breathed, unable to stop the utterance but unsure as to whether his behavior was acceptable.
“Thank you,” Damian said softly. “How do you feel?”
“A little stiff, but all right,” Nick responded guiltily, taking his hand away.
“Do you want to touch me?” Damian asked, without moving.
“Oh, yes,” Nick whispered.
“Go ahead.”
Nick leaned forward eagerly; it hadn’t sounded like a command at all, more like a request. He could hardly believe he was being given free rein to discover the other man’s body.
He inhaled, sniffing the clean, natural scent of the older man; there was something about Damian’s essence that made him feel safe. The first thing he wanted to do was dip his tongue into the hollow at the base of Damian’s throat; it had fascinated him since he’d first been hired. From there he explored the photographer’s neck and chest with lips and tongue, tracing the swell of each pectoral.
Damian arched under the slow journey, taking in a sharp breath as Nick’s mouth closed over his nipple, teasing him instinctively with little nips and slow, torturous circles around the aureole. He suppressed his urge to grab Nick’s head and guide his tour, controlling his movements; for some reason, it just felt right to allow the younger man the freedom to find his hot spots.
Nick experienced taking the lead for the first time in their relationship and enjoyed the voyage, sensing that he held the power of arousing Damian in ways that he didn’t fully recognize as yet.
He ran his tongue over the soft hair on Damian’s chest, moving downward toward the rigid shaft that lay on the older man’s stomach. He licked over the head and felt strong hands stop him.
Damian rolled Nick onto his back and smiled at him. “My turn.”
Holding the younger man in place, Damian explored the pliant body that lay under him with his mouth. He licked over the marks he’d made on the previous evening, soothing away any lingering sting. He didn’t regret making them; in fact the sight of them filled him with pride.
“So beautiful and all mine,” he murmured. He looked up to see the curve of pink lips, and the heavily lidded eyes, soulful with arousal and some softer emotion.
“Yours,” Nick echoed. He gasped when Damian’s mouth found his cock and swallowed him whole. He’d never felt anything like that and that was the last coherent thought he had, bucking wildly into the wet heat surrounding him.
Ever since their first encounter together, Damian had yearned for the taste of his young lover and now he indulged himself,
licking, sucking, nibbling and nuzzling. He ran his tongue delicately along the underside of Nick’s cock, noting each spot that made the boy whimper and squirm. He sucked in his balls, one at a time, lavishing his tongue over each one until Nick couldn’t keep still. Finally Damian relaxed his throat and took the boy’s cock in to the root, his nose nuzzling the curls at the base. He allowed his throat muscles to work around the hard length, his hands holding the slim hips in place as Nick cried out and tried to thrust as he came, releasing himself into Damian’s mouth. At last Nick stopped moving, his chest heaving with exertion.
Damian smiled as he crawled up to take his lips in a tender kiss, sharing the flavor with his young lover. Nick opened his eyes and stroked Damian’s cheek.
“I want to be inside you, Nick, to take you completely and make you mine,” Damian whispered.
“Please… I want to feel you inside me,” Nick answered breathlessly.
Damian smiled to feel Nick widen his legs, welcoming him between them. “Your hip—are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I’m sure,” Nick said, although his voice quavered uncertainly. “I’m just stiff.”
Damian groped and found the boy’s cock was more than half-hard again already, in spite of his release. “I guess you are,” he teased.
Nick laughed, and Damian delighted to hear the carefree sound.
Dropping a kiss on the laughing lips, he said, “It will be easier for the first time if you’re on your stomach. You can relax and let me do all the work.”
“Yes, sir,” Nick said acquiescently.
Damian kissed him one more time and carefully rolled him onto his stomach. He stroked the firm rounded buttocks with pleasure, enjoying the way his palms fit around the curved mounds. He tapped one gently, saying, “Lift up, babe.”
Nick raised his hips and Damian slid a pillow under him. “Okay?”
“Yeah,” came a sigh in response.
“I’ll go slow,” Damian promised, although the sight of the beautiful bottom just made him want to bury himself inside in one quick thrust. He pressed the base of his cock to slow himself down and resumed his sensuous massage.
He squeezed and molded the round globes, noting how Nick spread his legs wider in response, as if inviting him to have his way, which he fully intended to do. He allowed his thumbs to wander closer to the cleft with each pass, dipping further inside.
Nick moaned as Damian gently pulled his cheeks apart and brushed over his hole for the first time. He was grinding into the pillow beneath him and he felt his entrance throb with desperate anticipation, barely able to wait for a firmer touch.
Damian reached for the lube that he kept in every room of the house, chuckling inwardly at the forlorn hope that had led him to supply the drawer some years ago. His lack of sexual activity resulted in completely unused supplies; he just hoped condoms didn’t expire with age.
Slicking his fingers, he pressed one to the pulsing opening, feeling it yield to his pressure. He slowly slid his finger inside, feeling Nick spread his legs even wider to give him more access, lifting his bottom to meet his hand. He stroked the boy’s back with his other hand, soothing him through the first penetration.
Slowly thrusting his finger in and out, Damian bent to press his lips against the scar. “That’s right, open for me, baby. Open so you can take my cock inside your tight little hole. You look so beautiful, spread open for me, wanting me to take you.”
He withdrew to add another finger, easing inside as gently as he could. The boy was very tight and Damian knew that he was longer and thicker than average. His primal instincts had kicked in but he controlled them, not wanting to hurt Nick. He added yet another finger, twisting to find the sensitive center of the boy’s pleasure, stroking over it to see the slender body shudder in response to the delicate stimulation.
Damian pulled his fingers out and tore open the foil packet, smoothing the condom over his cock with trembling hands. He paused to squeeze the base again. The sight of Nick lying there spread open, his fists working in the sheets, his hole glistening from Damian’s preparation, was almost enough to make him come from his own touch. And he wanted to make this first time wonderful for both of them, to give Nick pleasure and to claim his mate.
Damian moved between Nick’s thighs, stroking the velvet skin as he bent to whisper again in his ear. “Submit to me, Nick. Take my cock deep inside you. Let me give you pleasure that you’ve never dreamed of. Let me claim you.”
Swept away with emotion and the physical sensations that only Damian could create with that commanding, husky voice, Nick gasped, “Take me, Damian… please… I want to feel you… claim me….”
Damian closed his eyes, almost overcome by the broken response. He claimed Nick’s lips with one last kiss and shifted to line himself up. Gripping the slender waist in his strong hands, he pushed, knowing that the first penetration of the head would be the hardest for the boy.
Nick cried out as he clenched automatically against the large intruder, and then surrendered to the older man’s greater strength. Finally the head popped inside and Damian paused, stroking his back soothingly.
It burned, and his guardian muscle cramped sharply as Nick struggled to relax.
“You’re so tight. So hot,” Damian crooned as he stroked the boy’s tense back. He could feel the moment of submission as he entered him, when Nick choked in a deep breath and forced himself to relax.
Damian started to rock his hips, slowly inching his cock into the hot, narrow sheath, holding onto his control by sheer willpower. “Talk to me, Nick. How does it feel?”
“So full,” Nick said in a tight voice. “There’s so much of you.”
“Yield to me, baby. Let me inside,” Damian ordered and his voice seemed to soothe the boy. He could feel the inner muscles ripple around him, almost pulling him deeper inside. The blazing heat of the channel gripping his erection sent sparks of fire dancing up his spine. He looked down to see Nick’s pink hole stretch around his cock, accepting him inside, and growled with dominance.
Once Nick had surrendered to the inevitable, the burning invasion melted into pleasure. He’d never realized he would feel so full, so complete with Damian buried deep inside him. It was as if a missing piece of the puzzle had fallen into place and he knew what he’d been yearning for, without ever realizing it. He sighed and relaxed even further as the brush of Damian’s cock over his prostate sent shivers of bliss throughout his body, his consciousness centered on that point of contact. Heat blossomed within him with each thrust as Damian drove deep inside him. Nick felt claimed, valued, as if he was precious in Damian’s eyes.
Unconsciously he ground his own erection into the pillow beneath his hips, raising his arse to meet each thrust. With every stroke, Damian brought him nearer to release until at last he cried out, his orgasm rolling through him, curling his toes and fingers with ecstasy.
Damian smiled as he felt Nick clench around him. He gripped the slender hips and hauled the boy to his knees, holding him there as he pounded into him, chasing his own release. He uttered a wild cry as he spasmed into the condom, wishing that he could plant his seed deep within the boy, but even without that, he owned Nick now. He thrust one last time, freezing in place as the last ripple of pleasure rolled through him.
He sank down, pushing Nick flat beneath him, taking pleasure in covering the slender, pliant body with his own. “Mine,” he growled softly and bit the velvet shoulder, but not hard enough to leave a mark. He had claimed the boy as his own; his mark was indelible now. He was satisfied.
Both men drifted off to sleep, Damian still buried deep within his boy.
NICK WOKE and felt around the cold sheets before his eyes were open. He wondered if he’d dreamt it, but he thought he remembered that Damian had fucked him. He flexed his arse and the soreness told him it was no dream.
He shifted in bed, wanting to just lie there and let his mind drift. He stretched on the luxuriously soft bed, wondering if Damian expected him to get up.
>
“Hey, Nicky,” Damian said, calling him again by the diminutive that only his mother and sister ever used. He came in bearing a tray, which he set on the bedside table. “How are you feeling?” he asked, feeling Nick’s forehead as if he’d had a fever.
“I’m fine,” Nick answered nervously, unsure as to how things stood between them now.
Damian went to the closet and retrieved an old plaid flannel shirt. “Slip this on, so you don’t get chilled. I brought you breakfast.”
Obediently, Nick pulled the shirt over his shoulders. Damian fluffed pillows, placing them against the headboard for the boy to lean against.
“What did you bring me?” Nick asked expectantly.
Damian chuckled. “Only coffee and toast. I’m afraid I don’t eat here very often and there isn’t much in the house.”
“That’s okay,” Nick said, sniffing deeply at the steaming cup that Damian handed him. He was surprised at the first sip to see that Damian had remembered how he took his coffee. He raised glowing eyes to the older man and accepted a slice of buttered toast.
They ate the simple meal in silence and Nick yawned when he was done. Damian took the empty cup from his lax fingers.
“How’s your hip?”
“It’s fine, Damian, really,” Nick said with a smile.
“Tell me why you only wanted one pill.”
“Two knock me out forever. One doesn’t work on the pain quite as fast, but it doesn’t leave me so groggy,” Nick explained. “And you rubbing my back so quick helped me relax, so it didn’t get as bad as sometimes.”
“Why don’t you go back to sleep and take it easy today?” Damian asked.
Nick yawned but shook his head. “I don’t want to be in your way. You must have things to do.”
There was no way that Damian could tell Nick how empty it made him feel to think of taking him home. He couldn’t admit that he would miss the boy, even to himself. “No, I plan to take it easy myself. Can I get you anything from your apartment?”
Dreamspinner Press Year Three Greatest Hits Page 13