“We could do that,” David drawled, “but a shower and our clean bed would feel really good. I’d even promise to make sure you get nice and clean.”
Trace chuckled. “Sounds like an excuse to get your hands on my naked ass.” The smile on his face was clear. “But I suppose,” he drew out, “that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.” He knew David was taking it slow, and that had so far included staying at least minimally clothed. He tipped his head to one side and looked David up and down. It would be a lovely sight, he knew, and David’s toned body splattered with water…? Even more so.
David swallowed hard as he watched Trace unconsciously lick his lower lip. He knew that his growing feelings for Trace showed in his eyes—Matt had even commented on it—but he’d been careful to try to school his expression when Trace was actually looking, for fear of making him uncomfortable. But now, his barriers falling in the intimacy of the moment, he put everything he was feeling out for Trace to see.
And Trace didn’t look away.
Silently, David took Trace’s hand and led him down the hall. Walking into the bathroom, he flipped on the knobs, letting the water warm, and turned back to Trace. His hands played with the hem of Trace’s rumpled dress shirt, letting his fingers brush the sensitive skin before lifting it over his head. Trace’s thin undershirt soon followed. David’s hands explored the smooth skin stretched over hard muscle, his mouth dipping to taste one of the dusky pink nipples.
Trace sighed and slid his hand over David’s good shoulder, careful not to jar the other. Though it was well on its way to healing, Trace was always conscious of the injury and never did anything to hurt him. Unconsciously, he shifted to press up against David’s mouth as his eyes fell shut. With the unspoken encouragement, David opened his lips and sucked the tiny nub into his mouth, grazing it with his teeth. Trace made a sound of pleasure deep in his throat, shifting his hand to curl into David’s hair. His other hand wrapped around David’s waist. “Cleaning me up?” he asked faintly, though he didn’t object.
“Just getting started,” David rasped, sinking to his knees and pulling at Trace’s pants. Trace’s hands rose to help, but he batted them away. “I’m taking care of you, remember? Consider it repayment for the dozens of times you’ve unfastened my pants. You can help me take mine off in a minute.” His tongue trailed the line of soft hair down the center of Trace’s abdomen, plunging into his belly button playfully. Trace’s hand clenched on his good shoulder as David’s mouth went lower. Trace’s cock reacted by pulsing with heat and starting to harden.
David grazed his teeth against the hardening ridge, humming his pleasure at Trace’s reaction. He desperately wanted to strip the man naked and lick and suck him clean and then some, and the way Trace was reacting, he was ready for it. Getting to his feet, he pushed the pants past Trace’s hips and shifted toward the shower, adjusting the temperature of the water as Trace stepped out of his trousers and boxers.
After another moment of fabric moving, Trace stood before him, unabashedly nude. He’d never been ashamed of his body, and even if he were, Trace doubted he’d be hiding it under David’s obviously appreciative gaze.
David had to swallow hard. Taking Trace’s hands, he lifted them to his chest. “Undress me,” he whispered.
Trace had swallowed hard at the temptation of David’s mouth on his body, regaining his equilibrium when David didn’t go ahead. That would have been mind-blowing, Trace was sure, but he wasn’t sure how he would react afterward. Embarrassed, most likely, because he was sure he’d balk at returning the favor. He reached for the button on David’s jeans, sliding his fingers inside the waistband to pull it apart and then lower the zipper. This he could do: easy touching. He wouldn’t have hesitated to stroke a woman at this point. He rubbed his knuckles against David’s swollen flesh.
Unable to bite back the groan prompted by Trace’s touch, David leaned heavily against the wall, his knees shaking. Even the simplest of touches from Trace affected him more than the blatant sexual overtures of his past partners. Wrapping his fingers in the long dark hair, he pulled Trace close for a kiss. Sighing against David’s lips, Trace slid his hands over David’s hips to push the jeans down, then the warmed cotton underneath, down to his thighs where David could reach. He was faintly nervous about stepping forward. He’d lain all over David with them clothed. How would it feel with just heated skin? He wasn’t shy, but….
Their mouths met over and over as they stroked one another, familiar enough with each other that every touch was a pleasure. David shook loose of his pants, his hand coming forward to rest on Trace’s bare hip, the pad of his thumb brushing the hollow in lazy circles. The kiss continued at a slow and easy pace that belied the pounding of the blood in his ears and various other parts of his body. Trace slowly relaxed, slightly humming against David’s lips in approval.
“Let’s get in the shower,” David urged. Before I suggest we skip it all together and just go to bed, he continued silently.
Trace opened his eyes and nodded, turning to push open the glass doors and step into the water. He could feel David’s eyes lingering on his broad tan back, which tapered down to narrow hips and the paler skin of his ass. Stepping into the shower, David ran his hand over the lighter skin, cupping the lower curve and squeezing. Trace couldn’t help but grin at the back wall. David was groping his ass. He reached up to change the shower massage setting to more of a gentle rain than the driving water now shooting out.
He had stopped under the water, but David kept moving forward until the front of his body was pressed to the back of Trace’s. Reaching around him with both arms, David grabbed the soap and a washcloth. Lathering the cloth, he set to work, running it up and down Trace’s chest as his lips trailed across Trace’s shoulder and up his neck. Shifting his weight, Trace simply relaxed back against David. It was sexy as hell, feeling David’s hard, muscled body against him, feeling David’s cock rubbing against him. Despite the warm water, he shivered as warm lips coasted across his skin, and he reached out to touch the tiled wall beside him.
“Turn,” David suggested as his hand guided Trace to stand with his back against the tile. Starting with his arms, David carefully washed every inch of Trace’s skin from his shoulders to his hands. Lifting the clean fingers to his mouth, he sucked at the water dropping from their tips, his eyes never leaving Trace’s.
Trace knew he had been right, as far back as three weeks ago at the poker game. He was being seduced, and he was loving it. He lifted his other hand to touch David’s lips with his fingers. This was getting so erotic he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to see straight. His body slowly reacted, recovering from before and getting really interested again. David’s touch spread like fire. It was addictive. Trace wanted more, and he tilted his hips to rub his cock lightly against David’s thigh.
David’s hands—one covered in a washcloth and one bare—skated up through the slippery suds, over Trace’s shoulders and down the hard planes of his chest, circling his nipples. He sank to his knees as he moved the washcloth lower on Trace’s body. Taking his time, he washed Trace’s swelling length until it stood out, proud and erect, from his body. Moving the soapy washcloth between Trace’s legs, David rolled the tender sac in his hand as he let the running water rinse the rest of him clean. Just like he had with Trace’s fingers, David’s tongue reached out and lapped at the drops of water running down Trace’s cock, blue eyes turned up and burning with hunger.
Already groaning with pleasure, Trace leaned his head back against the wall and watched the cloth move over his body. He tried to control how rapidly he was breathing, but any thought of control was shredded when he saw David lean forward and extend his tongue to slide lightly along his sensitive, aching cock. He choked on David’s name, and both hands flew to bury themselves in David’s hair, turned dark by the water. There was so much he wanted to gasp out, but it all sounded dirty in his head, and he didn’t want it to be that way. Trace just whispered, “Please,” with passion burning in his ey
es.
Letting the satiny head stroke his lips, David hummed, licked, and sucked Trace’s cock from tip to base. Dragging his tongue up the underside in a long, slow swipe, he flicked it rapidly at the juncture of the crown, sucking the length into his mouth when Trace’s hips bucked forward. Soap-slick fingers continued to explore and play with the heavy sac and all the sensitive skin they could reach.
“Oh sweet, sweet baby,” Trace breathed as he just slightly pushed in and pulled out of David’s mouth. He was afraid to do more—both because he’d never done this with David before, and because he was practically on the edge of coming already because it was happening at all.
David grinned, and Trace knew he’d been caught trembling. But he was no blushing little girl, even if it was his first time with a man, and he pulled David’s head slightly forward. David cupped Trace’s ass, pulling him forward with a hard, fast rhythm. David swallowed until Trace’s cock was moving past his lips and down his throat with each stroke.
“Oh fuck,” Trace swore as his fingers grasped about David’s skull and his hips started snapping forward. It was too, too incredible to resist, and Trace couldn’t stop. Dimly he had the thought that he’d never been able to fuck a woman’s mouth like this; the couple times he’d tried hadn’t gone well. But not only was it going well, David was driving it, encouraging it.
Trace’s uninhibited response was incredibly arousing. Reaching between his own legs, David formed a loose fist around his cock, pistoning his hips forward into the channel.
“Shit. David….” Trace gasped, feeling his balls draw up hard as he tingled all over. “David,” he mewled, turning his face up into the water. He’d been afraid of this, though he couldn’t for the life of him remember why.
Pulling back long enough to speak, David moved his hand from Trace’s ass to his cock, to continue the insistent pace. “Come for me, Trace,” he rasped, his abused lips swollen and red. “Let me taste you.” His fingers curled back around the swell of the tight ass, the tips grazing the deep cleft. One step at a time, Carmichael, he chided himself. On another day, he’d show Trace the wonders of pressure on his prostate. Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t…. His hand stroked down his own cock, already about to burst, cradled his balls, and probed a single finger against his own entrance. It’d been so long since he’d been fucked. He whimpered.
David’s hand on his ass didn’t even register as the pleasure bubbled over inside Trace, and he started to shake. Knowing it was important, he kept his eyes open, watching David. The sight hit him like a ton of bricks. David’s right hand pumping his own cock as his lips whispered over the swollen head of Trace’s, his eyes closed and face contorted with what looked like bliss; his left hand was down between his own legs, thrusting up into himself. Trace had an image of what David must be doing and just like that, he snapped and growled as he slammed into an intense orgasm, keeping glazed eyes on David the whole time.
David swallowed repeatedly, suckling and licking the pulsing length as Trace continued slow, shallow thrusts into his mouth. His own peak was really only a touch away, the steady, circling pressure he’d been teasing his prostate with keeping him just on the verge. Letting Trace slip from his mouth, David looked up, moving his good hand to his cock.
“Fuck,” Trace panted as David pulled back from sucking him.
“Now you’re relaxed,” David drawled as he lapped at the drops of water dripping from Trace’s cock.
“Relaxed….” Trace moaned as the fire faded.
“Watch me,” David rasped. “Watch what you do to me.”
When he reopened his eyes, it was to see David focused completely on him, one hand between his own legs, his other wrapped around his painfully hard cock. Eyes clouded with satiation and heat, Trace sagged against the tile to keep his balance as he kept watching David. If he could get hard again, he would, Trace thought a bit wildly as he lifted a shaking hand to wipe the water from his face. Just seeing David lick and lap up his come…. He twitched as another flash of heat tore through him. “Do it,” he said hoarsely. “I want to see.”
Trace watched David’s left hand twist as his body clenched down on his fingers, and several tight strokes on his cock later, David was coming, crying out Trace’s name before he collapsed forward, his forehead coming to rest on Trace’s thigh. His body shuddered around his fingers, increasing the intensity of his climax. “Oh, fuck. Trace!”
Watching him as his entire body shuddered in climax was one of the most erotic sights Trace had ever experienced. His breath hitched along with David’s, extending the orgasm’s high.
David gasped, trying to settle his breathing. “Damn. Damn,” he panted, pulling his fingers free and grabbing the soap, letting the cooling water carry away the traces of his climax.
Trace petted David’s hair, his shoulders, his back, the side of his face. He could feel the hot exhalation of breath on his thigh. He was amazed they could wring these types of reactions from each other. Leaning just enough to the side, he shut off the shower. He groaned as he straightened and slid a little against the wall. “I’m not sure my legs want to hold me up anymore,” he murmured, fingers still stroking David gently.
“Yeah, one of the advantages of being the one on your knees,” David said cheekily, attempting to get to his feet.
Snorting, Trace looked down at David. “So how are you going to get up off the shower floor?” he asked, eyes twinkling. It was a very nice view from his vantage point. Damn, but David was a fine-looking man.
“My friend with the shaky knees is going to give me a hand,” David said, reaching up with his good arm.
Trace grinned and leaned down a bit to grasp David’s arm and help him stand, and when they both shifted to regain balance, they ended up right against each other. Thinking about it for only a couple of heartbeats, Trace leaned to brush his lips against David’s.
David grinned against Trace’s mouth, sucking the moisture off his lips. “You taste as good up here as you did down there. I should take showers with you more often.” Pushing open the door, he stepped out, yanking a towel off the bar and tossing it backward at Trace. “Let’s get dry and go lay down. I’m getting cold, and the clean sheets I saw you putting on the bed earlier are calling me.”
The intimate words still threw Trace for a loop, but he liked them and the way they made him feel. He caught the towel and started drying off. After tonight, he was wiped out as well. “That was incredible,” he murmured, leaning over to kiss David gently. Although he knew it was silly, he was a little edgy about how David might react. Deciding not to worry, he hung up the towel and kissed David’s cheek as he walked by to go out to the bedroom.
David watched him walk past, biting his lip. There were so many things he wanted to say to Trace, but he just didn’t think the other man was ready to hear them yet, if ever. Walking toward the bed, he didn’t bother with boxers or pajamas, sliding between the sheets, moving his legs over the cool, crisp cotton. “Mmmm,” he hummed sleepily, automatically scooting toward Trace’s warmth. Of all the things he would miss when Trace went home, the cuddling would be missed most.
Trace always started out on his side when he slept, though invariably he ended up on his belly half-across David. He shifted his arm to let David scoot over close and then hugged him as he yawned sleepily.
“Night,” David mumbled, burrowing into Trace’s chest.
“Night,” Trace murmured, warm, sated, drowsy and comfortable. Even the fact that this was the first time they’d slept together nude didn’t faze him. His fingers stroked David’s shoulder erratically, and he drifted to sleep with his lips curved in a satisfied smile.
Chapter 13
“C’MON, DAVID. Poker is tonight, and the guys decided on casual instead of work clothes, but your idea of casual might get you mistaken for homeless,” Trace called out from the bedroom. “Don’t you have one pair of jeans that are still intact? Or maybe a pair of khakis?”
“Oh, and what are you going to wear,
fashion plate? I will not let you out of the bedroom in the one pair of jeans I’ve seen you wear,” David yelled back from the living room. Hell, no. Those jeans showed off far, far too much of Trace’s seriously sweet ass.
“I’ve got khakis and a T-shirt,” Trace claimed, distracted as he dug through another drawer of folded clothes.
“Well, I’ve got jeans,” David stubbornly called back, not budging from his comfortable spot on the couch, Mabel curled up happily in his lap.
“I can’t find one clean pair, and dirt may be all that is holding some of these threads together. If I wash them again, they may disintegrate!”
“Will you quit yelling and come in here?” David shouted in the general direction of the hall. “And what are you doing going through my clothes, anyway?”
Trace appeared at the end of the hallway. “Trying to put away the laundry I did last night. I swear I have no idea how a man who is supposed to be at home healing up goes through so many clothes.” He pointed an accusing finger at David. “And you never put them in the hamper. If you did, I’d have washed them with the other clothes last night. So you have nothing but suits hanging in your closet, gym clothes in your dresser, and a couple of drawers of stuff Goodwill wouldn’t even take at this point. You’ve got nothing casual to wear, and I didn’t find any clean jeans.”
David scrunched up his nose. “Try the third drawer down in the bureau.”
“That’s where the sheets are,” Trace replied, frowning. Why would he look there?
“Yeah, well, check in between the sheets, then.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, David started laughing.
Trace crossed his arms, shook his head, and sighed, aggrieved. He was going to get David dressed nicely in something besides an off-the-rack suit for work if it killed him. A smirk escaped as he ran his hand over the gathered hair at his neck and disappeared back down the hall.
David wondered all of a sudden why his cheeks were aching. Then he realized he was smiling so widely it was a wonder he didn’t strain something. They sounded like a serious couple, lovers committed through and through. He bit his bottom lip. That’s what I want. Just a week ago, on his knees in the shower, he’d found out just how much he wanted Trace, and the intimacy between them was growing every day.
Dreamspinner Press Year Three Greatest Hits Page 126