Falling In (Only You Book 2)

by J. S. Finley

  Clay searched Thomas’ eyes, trying to find something to hang on to. Everything had changed in his world, and he needed Thomas now more than ever. There was no way he could walk away from this man. It pained him that he would be leaving the next day.

  “No, but it did hurt. I’ll be sore for a while.”

  Thomas leaned in and brushed his lips sweetly over Clay’s. His heart stuttered. If he could stay exactly like this, spend the rest of his life in Thomas’ arms, he would. But he would be leaving Florida. It wasn’t fair.

  “I wish it didn’t hurt,” Thomas whispered. “Thank you for giving me that huge gift.”

  Clay chuckled. “I think you’re the one who gave me the huge gift. It also felt really good.”

  Thomas pulled away a little and slid his lips over Clay’s cheeks, then he kissed his nose and grabbed his phone. “Oh, we only have forty minutes before our reservation. I arranged for a driver. Let me make sure he’s on his way.”

  Thomas sat up, his back on full display for Clay to stare at. He had scratch marks across his shoulders and lower. Clay’s heart twisted as he thought about how he’d marked his man. He felt a little bad about leaving marks but proud too.

  Thomas ended the call and turned. “What’s that look on your face?”

  “Your back, it’s scratched.”

  Thomas’ eyes went wide. “Really?”

  “Yeah, looks like you had some awesome sex.”

  Thomas turned and went up on his hands and knees, straddling Clay. Heat smoldered in his gaze. “Well, I did.”

  Clay laughed and pushed at his shoulder. Thomas dropped to the bed beside him. He sat up, wincing as he moved. “Let’s get dressed. When is the guy picking us up?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “Wow, not much time.”

  “Let’s wash then pull on anything,” Thomas said.

  He stood and winced again. Thomas jump up and tugged him into a hug, his hands smoothing over Clay’s back and shoulders. “You’re the best, you know, don’t you? Thank you. It was amazing.”

  “I wanted you,” Clay whispered.

  Thomas’ eyes narrowed as he leaned in and brushed his lips over Clay’s. They needed to shower and get dressed, but he could ditch the restaurant and spend the rest of the night in Thomas’ arms and never leave this room.

  11

  Thomas didn’t know how to hang onto Clay and convince him to stay. When he’d slid into Clay, whatever he’d felt before was blown away. No other person in his life had ever been as important to him as Clay was. There had to be a way to make this work.

  Dinner had been fun, but none of them had wanted to stay out late and party. The sun had set for the last time on this vacation, and he was feeling a little melancholy. They were relaxing in the hot tub, the guys talking about their favorite part of the trip as they tossed out plans for another vacation together. He met Clay’s gaze, and panic swept through him. His man would be gone tomorrow night. He’d be forced to say goodbye, and he wasn’t sure he could let him leave.

  Clay had been sitting next to Jake and moved close to Thomas, settling on his lap. He brushed his lips over Clay’s and held him tight.

  “Hey, babe, you look sad,” Clay said.

  “I’m going to miss you.”

  Mike climbed out of the tub and grabbed a towel. “I’m headed up to bed. Our flight is way too early in the morning. This has been a great vacation. Lane, thanks for arranging the location. Once again, you picked the perfect place.”

  “Thanks. I know we were talking about California, but the travel expense will be huge. I was thinking about the mountains again.”

  “How about we do something closer to you Lane?” Jake asked.

  “Um, I guess it would be cool. Maybe we could do something in September or so,” Lane said.

  “Sure. We’ll chat about the details on Skype. All I know is, we need a private place where we can have fun,” Brent said.

  “This has been great.” Jake stood and climbed out of the hot tub. “We have an early flight too.”

  “I’m going to miss you all,” Clay said.

  “We know you’ll miss us,” Mike moved around the tub and patted Thomas on the back. “I’ll miss you both. God, we need to see each other more often. I’m glad we’re getting together for vacations. I can’t stand not seeing you all.”

  Thomas missed the contact as Clay climbed off his lap and got out of the tub, hugging Jake and Mike before turning to hug Lane. He watched as Lane held onto Clay and whispered something to him. He wished he knew what they were saying, but he guessed he would find out later if he needed to know at all.

  Goodnights as well as goodbyes were said, though both he and Clay promised to wake up early enough to see them off. The guys said to sleep in, but he couldn’t let them go without one last goodbye.

  Clay held him tightly all night, not losing contact once. When his alarm rang early the next morning, he could hear their friends bumping around the house. Clay stretched and moaned but only sat up after Thomas left the bed.

  “I can’t believe it’s over.”

  Clay’s words filtered over his senses. He couldn’t believe it was over either. He wanted more time with Clay and the gang.

  “I know. It’s never long enough, is it?”

  He’d flipped on the light in the bathroom so he could see Clay’s face; desperation filled his lover’s eyes. They would be apart tonight, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

  Stay, please stay, he wanted to say, but it would be unfair for him to put that pressure on Clay. Life had changed, and there was no way he could pretend it hadn’t. He would miss Clay desperately.

  The other guys were headed downstairs, and Thomas wanted to say goodbye to them, but he wanted to spend every second he had with Clay. He turned away from Clay, though it was painful, and rinsed his mouth before pulling on his shorts. His heart was pounding with the idea that he couldn’t allow Clay to leave.

  “You going down?” Clay asked as he stepped up behind him.

  “Yeah,” he grunted.

  “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  “Okay.” Thomas felt like bricks were tied to his feet as he made his way downstairs. Mike and Lane were sitting at the table sipping coffee.

  “Hey, you two leaving soon?” Thomas poured himself a cup of coffee and moved to sit across from Mike.

  “Unfortunately,” Lane said.

  “I’m going to miss hanging out with you guys.” Mike toyed with a spoon sitting next to his coffee. “We took out the trash and unloaded the dishwasher. You two shouldn’t have too much to take care of.”

  “Thanks.” Thomas nodded as he thought about Clay leaving him today. The pain had already started building.

  “What are you going to do about Clay?” Lane asked.

  Clay stepped into the room and paused. “He’s not losing me.”

  The words confused Thomas. He had no clue how to make life with Clay work, but right now, it seemed totally hopeless.

  Lane stood and moved to Clay, pulling him into a tight hug. “Hey, Clay, I’m going to miss you.”

  “I’ll miss you too.”

  “Take care of my friend,” Lane said.

  Thomas watched as Clay held Lane close. His best friend and his lover, at least they got along. It would be impossible to have a relationship with anyone who wasn’t friendly with Lane.

  Clay stepped back and then leaned in and kissed Lane’s cheek. He wondered if he should worry, but pushed the thought aside. Lane wasn’t gay, and Clay wasn’t into Lane. They were good friends, and he imagined they’d talk about him eventually. Lane cared about him, and Clay was his man. Of course they would talk.

  Brent and Jake came down, their bags packed. The sun was starting to lighten the sky, and the birds had taken notice. It was nice being here on the water, but he did like his small house and wouldn’t trade it for something this big.

  Coffee and hugs were passed around as Jake and Brent said goodbye. They’d come
down to think about moving here, but the subject hadn’t come up in the group. Later, after the guys made it home, he would need to call and see what they thought.

  It was him, Clay, Lane, and Mike. Mike was upstairs getting his bag, and Lane was outside, putting his in the car. Thomas stared at Clay as sadness filled him.

  “Hey, this isn’t goodbye. I swear I’ll be back soon,” Clay said.

  Tears pricked the back of this eyes, and he swiped them away as Mike came downstairs. He would miss Mike and Lane, but God, he would never get over Clay leaving.

  “Hey, guys, we’re going to head out. We need to return the car before our planes take off.”

  “I’ll miss you two,” Clay said.

  Thomas reached for Mike and pulled him into a hug. Lane came in and joined them in the hugfest. Then Lane and Mike were walking out the door, waving ’bye. It was only him and Clay.

  “When does your flight leave?”

  “Three.”

  “God, I can’t say goodbye.” Tears flowed freely, and he didn’t even try to stop them. He was losing his heart.

  Clay stepped close and cupped his cheeks. “My love, this isn’t goodbye. I swear I’m not leaving for good.”

  “But your job. And the other day, you said—” Thomas choked over a sob, cutting off his words.

  “What?”

  “You said it was too soon for me to say I wanted you here.”

  “Wait, no.” Clay shook his head. “You misunderstood. I—God, this is messed up. Honey, I want to be here, and I’m thinking—I didn’t say anything and maybe getting into it now is a mistake, but I can’t stay at the department.”

  Thomas’ heart sped up. “You can’t quit because of me.”

  “It’s not because of you.” Clay wrapped his arms around Thomas’ waist and pulled him close. “There are issues, and I didn’t want to bug you with all the details.”

  “You wouldn’t have been bugging me. Tell me, is it worse than we talked about earlier? We have time. Let’s refresh our coffee and go sit by the pool in the shade.” Excitement filled him. They might just have a chance yet. He didn’t want to press too hard, but he really needed Clay with him.

  “I like your back yard at your house better.”

  Thomas’ lips twitched as he poured some coffee. He opened the refrigerator, searching for food. They’d eaten almost everything, but he found two cinnamon rolls to warm in the microwave.

  Clay helped him get the coffee and food outside where a gentle breeze blew. Birds called to each other; otherwise, the area was silent. The table was in the shade and not too hot. His backyard didn’t have this much shade, and it was much smaller, but he agreed, he liked his place better.

  “Talk,” Thomas said.

  Clay set his cup of coffee down on the table then reached out and took Thomas’ hand. “I made an arrest a few weeks ago, and it seems that someone has turned me in to Internal Affairs.”

  He swallowed over his fear. “What happened?”

  “I got an email the other night—”

  “While you were here or before you came down?”

  “I was here.”

  “You should have told me.”

  “I didn’t want to bother you with it.”

  “Clay, it wouldn’t…I think of you as more than a friend. Hell, even if we were just friends, you can come to me with this stuff.”

  Clay nodded and took a bite of the cinnamon roll. “I should have.”

  They were silent for a moment, and he ate a little, trying to give Clay room to talk.

  “They want me to come in and talk about the arrest. I really think this is in retaliation of what I think happened.”

  Thomas sipped at his coffee and nodded. “Let me guess, the arrest was clean.”

  Clay stared out at the pool, his lips turning down in a frown. “Yeah, I don’t do dirty arrests.”

  His heart sped up, and he leaned close. “Clay, you need to be careful.”

  “I will. I’m supposed to go talk to IA when I get back. Of course I need to call my union rep and get stuff set up with them. Hell, this came at a bad time.”

  Thomas nodded, not liking this at all. “I’m sorry. This doesn’t sound good.”

  “If I—I don’t want to—” Clay hit him with a straight stare, and his eyes watered. Thomas took both of his hands, wishing he could keep Clay here.

  “What?”

  “If I turn in my badge—my apartment lease is up in—”

  “Move in with me.” The words spilled out of Thomas’ mouth without thought. He wanted Clay here, wanted to wake up to his man every day.

  “But I won’t have a job.”

  “Babe, there are a lot of jobs here. And maybe you could get on with the force down here.”

  Clay shook his head. “No, I don’t want to be a cop anymore. I can’t—I can’t do it again, not after this.”

  Thomas squeezed his hands. “Okay, but there are a lot of jobs you could do here. Think about it.”

  “I want to live with you, but—”

  “My door is open to you. I know it’s odd, we’ve only been together for a few days, but Clay, we’ve known each other for so long. We’ve been friends for years, and if you count our time in the military, we did kind of live together then.”

  Clay took his hand and squeezed. Thomas couldn’t believe his luck. Clay would be moving, at least he hoped he would. If it all came together, he would be living with Clay. He would be able to come home to Clay in his bed, and more importantly, in his life.

  He pulled his man close and brushed their lips together. Clay moaned and leaned in. His cock responded, getting hard fast.

  “We still have the house for another few hours, and the place is empty,” Thomas said.

  Clay lifted a brow, and he smiled. “We could go up to the bedroom.”

  “It would be criminal not to use the place since we’re here alone.”

  “Very criminal,” Clay pressed his lips against Thomas’ again in an inviting kiss that left him needing more.

  His heart expanded, and he knew they were making the right decision to move in together. After the kiss, he stood and led Clay up to the bedroom they’d shared. They both stripped off their clothes, Thomas watching every move Clay made. The man was his. He couldn’t explain the complex emotions flowing through him, but having Clay agree to move in made everything feel better. He was on top of the world, and he had to physically express everything he felt.

  His cock was already hard, and he needed to sink into his man. It had felt so good the last time. Eventually, he’d want Clay to fuck him, but for now, he was more than willing to get Clay on his back and show him how wonderful he made him feel.

  Clay approached and ran one finger down Thomas’ chest to his abs. “I want you inside of me.”

  Thomas shivered as heat zipped through him. Clay dropped to his knees and grasped Thomas’ cock before sucking him down. He threw his head back and groaned as the heat of Clay’s mouth surrounded him. He loved this type of sex, where he was pleasured over and over again. He wanted to suck Clay, but he liked how his man was willing to give.

  His balls were starting to pull tight. He wanted the feeling to last, instead of their time ending too soon. This was why he needed Clay with him. The need was insatiable, his desire too much for just one session of sex.

  With a gentle tug, he lifted Clay to his feet then pushed him to the bed. Desire pumped through him, making everything on edge. Clay spread his legs, giving Thomas an awesome view of cock and balls and the round bubble of his ass cheeks. He shivered as he thought about sinking into his man. Clay’s tight ass had exactly the right amount of soft mixed with muscles, which clenched around him, holding him tight.

  His cock pulsed, and it was going to be over too soon if he didn’t rein back his thoughts. “I need you.”

  Clay reached for him, and he went, sinking down on the bed as their lips melded, their tongues tangoing in an erotic rhythm. Thomas explored Clay’s body, trying to remember
every dip, every bulge, and all the curves that blended together to make Clay so fucking sexy. He toyed with the hair below Clay’s bellybutton. Today would be the last time they came together for a while.

  His heart squeezed, and he rose up, pulling Clay’s leg higher so he could see his hole. Heat washed over him, even more intense than before. His lover was perfect, and he wanted all of him.

  “I need you in me,” Clay said.

  Thomas was ready, except for the lube. They’d already packed so he hopped off the bed.

  “Wait,” Clay called out.

  “Lube.” He ran out of the bedroom to his bags sitting at the top of the stairs and reached into the front pocket. When he wrapped his fingers around the tube, he shouted with triumph and headed back to the bed where Clay was spread out, his body inviting. Thomas stopped at the foot of the bed to enjoy the view. Clay ran one hand down his chest to his cock and wrapped his fingers around his length before pumping his hips. Thomas licked his lips, wanting to watch as much as he wanted to touch. They could do so much, and he wanted it all.

  Clay was the perfect man for him, and he was going to show his lover how much he needed him in his life. Maybe, if he played the right cards, Clay would come back quickly.

  Thomas dipped to the bed and kissed his way up Clay’s thigh, ignoring Clay’s cock, much to his lover’s displeasure, traveling to his abs, then his chest and finally his lips. He settled against Clay and sighed as the kiss went on. Clay arched against him, and he enjoyed the brush of his cock on his hip. Clay pressed harder against him, and he chuckled. His man was needy, and although he wanted to give Clay everything, he also wanted to hold back, to make this last.

  Clay grunted and pushed him off before straddling him. He grabbed the lube bottle, which was lying on the pillow, and pinned Thomas with a stare.

  “I want you. Now.”

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  Clay’s eyes narrowed, and his lips thinned. This was going to be fun. Thomas couldn’t wait to see what Clay had in store for him. Whatever little devious plans Clay had, he wanted to be a part of them.

  His lover lifted and scooted down his body, settling over his thighs. Clay shot him a cocky grin before flipping open the cap for the lube. He poured some into his hand then locked eyes with Thomas. The powerful love shining in Clay’s eyes made Thomas gasp. His heart sped up as Clay lifted and settled above his cock. Clay reached back and grasped Thomas’ dick as he slowly lowered.