by Sara Brookes
A hard, yearning ache he wanted to never end surged inside Marcus as he touched Enver’s collarbone, his jaw. Lifted Enver’s face so he could look into his eyes and feel the heat of the man he’d grown so close to. Saw that same heat glint in Enver’s gaze when Marcus stirred the challenge as he continued to touch Enver, trace his face. The relaxed curve of his mouth. The slope of cheekbone.
This close, he saw every illicit thought running through Enver’s mind. Thoughts that made Marcus glad he’d swallowed his pride and come back. He saw the fury still simmering under the surface. The barely restrained anger and violence. Perhaps he craved the fight and violence himself. It would give them an outlet for everything churning in the volatile air between them. All the unspoken things they hadn’t gotten around to saying to one another yet.
In a sudden explosion of movement, Enver clamped down on Marcus’s wrist, yanking it around behind him to pin it between his shoulder blades. Using the subservient position to his advantage, he used his leverage to shove Marcus to the floor.
Enver followed him to the ground, shoving his hand into Marcus’s underwear to wrap a possessive grip around Marcus’s cock. Enver immobilized him by thrusting one of his legs between Marcus’s and pushing his muscular thigh hard against the base of Marcus’s testicles.
His rough touch made it clear he intended to jerk Marcus off for no other reason than to prove that he could. He relentlessly fisted Marcus’s dick, the brutal touch rousing something primal inside Marcus. He released Marcus’s wrist, wrapping his hand around the back of Marcus’s neck and angling him backward.
Gazes locked together, Enver leaned forward to catch Marcus’s lips as he gripped hard and fast so Marcus wouldn’t move as Enver thrust his tongue deep inside. Marcus’s hips jerked in response to the bruising kiss, silently pleading for more.
A ripple of energy radiated through Marcus, wanting Enver to stop as much as he wanted him to continue. The possessive touch won, however, and Marcus relaxed against him, allowing the man the freedom to do whatever he wanted.
Enver paused, holding Marcus’s dick loosely against his fingers. “I need to know this is okay. After what you just told me happened with Davis—”
“You aren’t him,” Marcus interrupted. “Not in a million years. I need...we both need for you to be who you are, Enver.” To savagely take whatever it was that he sought from Marcus. In so many ways, Marcus needed it too. “Don’t let what he did change what you want to do.”
“Oh, I won’t. I just want to be clear about consent and safe words. Since I’ve got your permission, how about reminding me of that safe word so we’re clear there, too?”
“Fucknuggets.” Marcus barely managed to get the word out before Enver took full advantage of Marcus’s surrender by stroking his knuckles up and down Marcus’s length, down to the balls, gripping them firmly in his fist and squeezing a few times.
“Oh fuck,” Marcus whispered as he gripped Enver’s shoulder. “I didn’t come here for this. I came to apologize and see if we could work through things. See if I’d fucked things up beyond all recognition.”
“Since you’re seconds away from blowing your wad in my hand, I’d say things aren’t as fucked as you think.”
Marcus tried to catch his breath as the truth swirled in the charged air. The handful of orgasms he’d experience before with Enver had been through the virtual connection. Brain waves manipulated to make Marcus believe Enver touched him.
In the Keep, when Enver had jerked him off, he’d been too lost to focus on the sensation. Too caught up in the madness of desperation to fully appreciate the act. But now, in Enver’s overheated workshop, Marcus actually felt the frantic slide of flesh against flesh. Heard each of Enver’s ragged breaths. Smelled the rich, tempting aroma of Enver’s hard work and dedication to his craft.
“Your entire body is responding to my touch, my voice.” Enver rubbed his thumb against the crown of Marcus’s cock, slicking the fluid leaking from the tip as he rubbed the ridged head. Marcus swore quietly as he reached up and slapped a hand on the edge of the bench to keep from tearing off Enver’s clothes.
“I’d say you’re perilously close to begging me to fuck you, gorgeous.” Enver leaned closer, sliding his tongue over his lower lip.
God, Marcus wanted that mouth. That fucking glorious mouth just inches away from his.
Enver’s eyes flashed, brilliant and bright in triumph as Marcus started bucking his hips, his eyes nearly rolling out of his head at the magnificent slide of Enver’s palm up and down his shaft. He wanted Enver to devour him. Eat him alive. Pin him to the floor and brand his ass with one of those irons hanging on the wall behind them. A hard shiver went through him, his blood hot and thick in his veins. His mind a jumble of thoughts as he tried to rationalize his need with the warped thoughts of being punished for his actions.
Enver twisted his wrist, sending a bolt of pleasure arcing through Marcus. Dark, humorless laughter sounded in Marcus’s ears as Enver sped his pace. With a few quick beats, Marcus was moving his hips rhythmically with Enver’s movements.
“Don’t come.” Enver nipped at Marcus’s collarbone, the bright splash of pain adding a layer to Marcus’s arousal. “Don’t you fucking come, you hear me?”
“Yeah,” Marcus managed to say around a few quick-fire breaths. There was more he needed to say, more he thought they needed to work out, but Enver was quickly stealing his ability to think rationally. Fuck it, they could talk later. Or not. He realized he didn’t care when Enver released his dick, slipped a hand lower between his thighs and slipped a slickly coated finger into his ass.
“I don’t—” Despite his words, he tightened his muscles, using what little leverage he’d been given to feel the glorious in and out slide of Enver’s finger. Enver snarled in warning, but Marcus kept moving, unable to stop himself. “I know you can’t...we can’t...”
“It’s all right, Marcus. I’m all right because you came back to me. We’ll work out the rest later. Right now, I need to be inside you.”
* * *
The violence that had saturated the air earlier had dissipated, leaving a naked hunger Enver wanted to take advantage of. His gaze roved over Marcus’s body stretched taut in the assisted backbend. He greedily took in all the exposed flesh, prickles of heat moving across his lower abdomen as he looked at Marcus’s cock, flushed dark red, jutting away from his body.
He’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life.
When Marcus began to tremble against him, Enver pressed his face into his hair, inhaling the fading scent of shampoo. He’d never felt this way before. Never wanted to drown in someone before, lose himself in the all-consuming power another person held over him.
Swamped with emotion, he released his hold, removed his finger and winced at Marcus’s whimper. “Shh, just a second.” With a few quick movements, he’d stripped them both and led Marcus to the cot still positioned near the stove. He was tempted to stand over Marcus’s nude form, drink in how the dying flames of his forging oven played over the perfect ridges of Marcus’s abdomen, the knot of scars across one pectoral muscle. But the pull to have all that hard flesh against his, unencumbered by clothing, was too much.
He settled his body over Marcus’s, capturing his mouth in a slow, languorous kiss as he used his tongue to pull forth a deep groan. Marcus shifted under him, pulling Enver’s hips down so they were groin-to-groin. Enver broke the kiss, trailing his lips along Marcus’s collarbone, up his neck, along the soft edge of his hair-covered jaw. He rubbed his cheek against it, loving the raspy sound of the short hairs against his own unshaven face.
Marcus lifted his hips, dragging the length of his cock against Enver’s. Enver took Marcus’s mouth again as they ground their hips together, fluid leaking from them both to lubricate the gentle friction the motion created. They rocked together, slow then fast, teasing and taunting one another with equal amounts of v
igor. Neither Enver nor Marcus were in control of the moment, their worlds in perfect balance and harmony.
Marcus gazed up at him through half-lidded eyes, lust burning between them that threatened to eviscerate rational thought. Enver was almost too dazed, too strung out on the power arcing between them to continue. He’d intended to keep this slow and easy, to make tender love to the man who had changed his world exponentially and convinced him love was possible. But Marcus was slowly peeling away each tenuous thread of control Enver had.
“Fuck me, Enver. Use me as hard as you need.” Marcus touched his shoulder as his gaze landed squarely on Enver, his naked yearning shining in his eyes. “I need you to.”
Enver hadn’t thought it was possible for his cock to get any harder, but those words, those four words—I need you to—impossibly stiffened his dick. But as much as he wanted—needed—to punish him, make him understand how devastating his choice to leave had been...he couldn’t give in to the request.
Emotion clogged his throat, tightened a fist around his heart as though it was going to burst out of his chest as he spoke. “Monster.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Wha—what?” Marcus tensed beneath him, Enver’s safe word robbing the air of sexual tension. “Is something wrong?”
Enver sat back on his heels, listening to the cot groan in protest at the change. He slipped one leg to the side, bracing his foot on the floor and shifting his weight.
Marcus grabbed his shoulder, fingers tightening to the point of pain. “Don’t leave.”
“I’m not. Just don’t want to overbalance us.” Who was he kidding? The scales were tipped far out of balance already. Enver closed his eyes, unable to stand the way Marcus’s confused gaze lanced straight to his heart. Specters of anger and regret filled in the spaces where Marcus had laid him open with his quiet demand of surrender. He’d thought he’d understood the magnitude of his feelings for Marcus, but then he’d offered himself—shit.
Marcus laid his hands on either side of Enver’s jaw, angling his face. “Look at me.”
“Give me a minute.” Enver closed his eyes, counting every breath, every heartbeat of those sixty seconds. Finally, he met Marcus’s gaze. “Didn’t expect that.”
“Just tell me what’s wrong. Please.”
“I—” He fisted his hands, hating how torn up inside the situation made him feel. “I thought I could separate my anger at you from everything else. Just shove it to the side and deal with all of this later so we could be together. But it...hurt. Damn it, I’m hurt. Knowing you thought so little of what is between us tore me fucking apart.” He let out a harsh laugh that held no trace of amusement. “God, I want nothing more than to bind you in ropes and punish you right now for being so damn stupid.”
“Then do it,” Marcus blurted.
Enver closed his eyes again, unable to stand looking at the open surrender Marcus offered. “I could. Right now, I know you would let me bend you over, take my belt and stripe your ass raw. And then I would fuck you so hard you wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow. But I can’t. I don’t trust myself to not take my anger out on you and that is the wrong fucking time to exchange power. Bottom line...you didn’t trust me, Marcus,” he said quietly. “You didn’t believe me when I promised to keep you safe.”
Enver winced as the sensation of a knife twisting in his stomach assaulted him all over again as the truth spilled between them. None of what he’d just said changed the heart and personality of the man he had somehow fallen in love with.
“Meeting you has been the most incredible experience of my life,” Enver said slowly, hating the shaking tone of his voice. “You need to know that. I don’t... I don’t know what—for the first time, I don’t know how to handle what I’m feeling. Even with my addiction, I knew how to fix it. This... I—you own my heart and soul, Marcus, and I don’t fucking know what to do. I want you so much, but I can’t—I can’t survive having my heart ripped out by you a second time.”
Marcus’s face crumpled, his voice cracking. “I am so sorry I hurt you. I know however many times I say that it will never be enough.” He tugged on Enver’s fingers, linking their hands. “I ran because of you. Whatever else you want to think, you have to know that I needed to keep you safe. Keep all my drama away from you. Stupid as it sounds, running was the only way I could think of.” Marcus kissed his way up Enver’s neck, stopping with his mouth at his ear. “I love you.” His chest heaved unevenly as he said it. “I promise, and I don’t see that ever changing.” Husky thickness coated the words as he dragged Enver’s face close.
Marcus grazed his mouth across Enver’s, and then did it again and again. Enver squeezed the solid, warm flesh of Marcus’s arm, and moaned at the first flick of their tongues. He tunneled his fingers into Marcus’s hair and descended, taking his mouth roughly. What started with a nip increased in brutality as the deep kiss of complete ownership consumed Enver inside and out. Marcus kissed him back with equal fervor.
Finally, Enver drew back, his gaze coursing over Marcus’s face. He kept his hand curled tightly around Marcus’s nape, holding him in place. Marcus’s hair stood up in rakish angles, his breathing uneven, his lips red from kissing, and his pupils blown wide.
“Still the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. Christ, I love you, gorgeous.” Eyes open, Enver brushed his lips against Marcus’s. His heart fluttered. “I want you forever. And I’ll keep you safe forever.”
“I love it when you get all possessive.” Emotion shined in Marcus’s eyes.
Enver lost himself completely in the younger man’s sincere eyes and sexy mouth, capturing Marcus’s lips again as a bone-deep love he’d never thought he’d have flourished. As their bodies came together again there was nothing to mute the sharp sensation of contact between their cocks.
He pushed Marcus’s knees apart, hooking one leg over his hip. “Call me old-fashioned—”
“Well, you are old.”
Enver nipped at Marcus’s bottom lip. “Hush. As I was saying, call me old-fashioned, but I want to take you the first time face-to-face.” As he ran his hand down Marcus’s spine, the man trembled and his opening contracted against Enver’s finger when he touched it. “You good with that?”
“Yeah.” Marcus made a needy little noise as Enver traced the pucker, toying with it and enjoying the sounds. Early ejaculate beaded up the tip of Marcus’s cock, sliding down the side of the crown.
Unable to stop himself, Enver palmed the head, dragging his fist up and down the shaft. Marcus looked up at him, his stare filled with raw need. As Marcus tensed beneath him, his dick spit out another fat pearl of fluid. The salty essence filled Enver’s senses as he swiped it up, rubbing it against the tip of a single finger. A deep, base hunger coiled around his cock, straining it toward the man whimpering underneath him.
Marcus shivered as one lubricated finger dipped inside his anus. “Jesus.” Ragged desperation filled his voice, touching off new fires of need deep inside Enver. “Fuck.”
“Always so eloquent with your language, aren’t you, baby?”
As desperate as Enver was to get inside Marcus and put them both out of their misery, this was more than just slipping on a condom and pounding away the need. He took his time, circling his finger around the opening. Teasing. Dipping inside so he could watch the expression of sheer joy wash over Marcus’s face. He added a second finger, watching in fascination as Marcus’s mouth went slack. The voice, the body, the eyes...the entire presence of this man lured Enver as if it were just the two of them in the world.
It was perfect, and nothing else mattered.
As he continued to use shallow strokes, never removing his fingers, but never burying them fully, Marcus gave a frustrated growl. The noise made Enver smile as he pressed a gentle kiss against Marcus’s shoulder.
He wrapped his free hand around the back of Marcus’s neck again, plunging his tongu
e between Marcus’s lips to delve deep, their tongues sliding against one another. Christ, he’d forgotten how delectable Marcus’s mouth was. How much he liked kissing him. How spectacular that skilled mouth felt wrapped around his cock.
When Marcus’s muscles clenched around his fingers, Enver knew he was overwhelming him. Knew Marcus had to be screaming inside his head for Enver to just put him out of his misery. He understood that frustration well.
“That’s it, gorgeous, take it.” Enver slid deeper, using long, slow strokes with his fingers. He brushed Marcus’s prostate and held him tighter as his entire body seized.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
Enver chose that moment to add another finger. A few seconds later, another. When Marcus went lax, Enver was dizzy as hell, spun up in the headiness of the moment. Of feeling Marcus under him and so fucking responsive.
Suddenly, Marcus clamped around his fingers, his hips bucking wildly out of control as though someone had sent a shot of pure adrenaline straight to his cock.
Enver set a steadying hand on his hip. “Easy, I can go all night.”
“Not sure I can if you keep this up.” Marcus trembled, letting out a breath.
“Yeah...you can. Relax for me,” Enver said as he nudged the tip of his now condom-covered penis oh-so-carefully against Marcus’s pucker. He spread Marcus’s cheeks, the charged atmosphere snapping as he held himself poised at Marcus’s entrance. He eased in, taking his time to enjoy the slowness.
They both sighed loudly as Enver’s cock fully breeched Marcus’s ass.
As he rocked deeper, Marcus started to chant, “Shit. Damn. Motherfucker.”
Enver went still as unfathomable pleasure ripped through him in one fiery swoop and then raced back to his dick buried in Marcus ass. He set his face in the crook of Marcus’s neck, his own chant of singular words flashing in his head.
Hot. Tight. More. Hot. Tight. More.
He obeyed his need, driving his length forward and didn’t stop until he buried himself balls-deep. Scorching heat and clenching walls surrounded every inch of his cock, killing him with mind-altering pleasure. He pulled all the way out and thrust back into the heaven of Marcus’s ass again, needing to move.