Long Tall Drink

by L. C. Chase

  Travis was leaning against the door frame in silhouetted luminescence, clad only in an old pair of pajama bottoms, Ray’s old pajama bottoms. His arms were folded across his bare chest, one foot crossed over the other. His posture was relaxed, but his eyes were damn near glowing as bright as last night’s bonfire—and Ray was trapped under that intense gaze, rendered immobile. His heart sped up and banged around crazily in his chest, his pulse boomed in his ears, and he suddenly felt light-headed as his blood made a rapid charge to one central location.

  But he couldn’t move.

  Travis pushed off from the wall, their gazes locked as he stalked across the darkened room with that confident swagger of his. The linoleum floor looked like a chessboard under his bare feet. Pale blue-white light speared through the kitchen window and gave the white squares an ethereal glow.

  Sleek curves and angles of muscle caught in the lambent light created a beautiful display of motion and grace as Travis approached.

  Ray felt the soft material of his own cotton pants shift to accommodate his swelling cock.

  And still he couldn’t move.

  Travis didn’t slow as he closed in on his prey, intent and determined. Didn’t stop when he reached Ray and grabbed him roughly behind the neck. Even as he crushed his mouth to Ray’s in a demanding kiss, he continued to move forward. It was the small of Ray’s back slamming into the immovable counter that stopped the driving momentum.

  Ray’s paralysis broke and without even a second of internal argument, he wrapped his arms around Travis and returned the kiss with fervor. Their tongues fought for dominance; teeth ground together, and unshaven chins scraped. And it was like nothing Ray could remember experiencing. It screamed an angry roar of release, of banked desire and denied need, and the moan that rumbled up through his chest drew a match from Travis. The hand on Ray’s back seared into his flesh like a branding iron and pulled him into the solid blanket of heat that was Travis’s bare chest.

  And the fierce avarice of their joined mouths had yet to abate.

  Ray slid his hands down the smooth, hard expanse of Travis’s back until the pajamas waistband impeded his exploration. Undeterred, he dipped beneath the stretchy band and filled his palms with a firm ass. Ray squeezed, and Travis rocked his hips into him, the erotic flex of muscle drawing another rumbling moan from Ray. Travis ground into Ray while the edge of the counter gouged his back.

  And it wasn’t enough. It could never be enough.

  Ray let go of that incredible ass and pushed hard against Travis’s chest, finally breaking their frenzied kiss. Travis stumbled back a couple of steps, his expression dazed. Those captivating eyes were heavy-lidded, blazing with bronze fire and glazed with lust. Their heavy breaths echoed in the quiet kitchen, and chests heaved in rapid unison.

  Holy shit, had anyone ever looked at him like that before? Wanted him that much? Had he ever wanted someone that desperately? This enigmatic, carefree, dangerously handsome cowboy was going to be the end of him, and at the moment he really couldn’t find it in himself to care. Travis was the only thing he wanted.

  “God, Travis. I want to fuck you so bad.”

  Ray reached out and grabbed Travis by the hand and dragged him, just shy of a full-out gallop, to the downstairs bedroom.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Ray shut the door behind them and spun Travis around by the hand he still held until Travis’s back connected with the cool, painted surface of the wooden door. But Travis didn’t notice, because Ray was on him before he could take a breath. Mouth and tongue and teeth nipped and bit at his neck and shoulders and chest; sure hands ran down his sides, over his abdomen and back in a quest that felt as desperate as his own. Travis was lost in sensation. Lost in the heady scent of sandalwood and suede and their mingling arousal. Lost in the feel of Ray’s hot flesh against his.

  Travis pushed into Ray and walked him backward to the bed, mouths fused as they moved. Ray hit the mattress and fell back, and Travis didn’t waste the advantage. He leaned over Ray, grabbed his pajama bottoms by the waistband, and pulled them off. He stood back for a moment, the soft material slipping forgotten from his hand as he stared down at the most incredible man he’d ever known stretched out before him.

  Moonlight shone through the bare window and captured Ray’s strong body, encasing him in a soft ethereal glow. Skin lightly dampened with perspiration glistened like a million diamonds flickering in the sunlight as his chest rose and fell with each rapid breath. Travis’s gaze was riveted to the beautiful, fully erect cock that rested thick and rigid against Ray’s taut stomach. It was the most erotic thing he’d ever seen.

  Ray folded his hands behind his head and opened his knees.

  Travis groaned at the silent invitation and roughly shoved off his pajamas. He dropped to the bed on his hands and knees and crawled up Ray’s body, straddling him without touching. Finally he had the sexy rancher exactly where he wanted him, and he was going to savor every single inch of him as long as humanly possible. After this night, there wouldn’t be any part of Ray Ford he wouldn’t know intimately.

  Ray reached up as Travis lowered his head to take Ray’s mouth in an unhurried, sensual exploration. He slid his tongue against Ray’s in a slow undulating tease, traced the shape and smooth surface of each tooth, and sucked on the lower lip before gently releasing it. He nipped and licked and kissed his way down the strong, thick neck, over solid pectorals dusted with a downy layer of dark hair, and pulled a hard nipple into his mouth. Ray groaned a curse and clenched his hands in Travis’s hair, lifting his hips, but Travis kept himself just out of reach.

  Travis moved to the other nipple and shifted his weight to one arm. With his free hand, he swept an open palm over Ray’s torso, following ridges of abdominal muscle, plowing rows through soft hair with his fingertips, and stopping on the rise of hip. He kissed a path downward and dipped his tongue into an innie belly button that earned a sharp intake of breath from Ray.

  “Goddamn, Travis…” he panted.

  Travis smiled, pleased with his effect on the stoic, serious rancher, and continued his journey. He kissed and licked down into Ray’s inner thigh, avoiding the thick shaft but letting it slide against his cheek as he went straight for Ray’s sac. He sucked one ball into his mouth and rolled his tongue around it as Ray writhed and groaned and mumbled unintelligible words, the fingers in his hair twisting. Travis slid his hand down to cup and squeeze Ray’s balls, freeing his mouth so he could run his tongue up the length of Ray’s straining erection.

  His own body was coiled tight with need and desire, but he fought it back to give Ray everything he had. He would take what Ray gave, but right now he had to give Ray something to remember, had to leave his mark on this man somehow so he’d always be a part of him.

  He swirled his tongue around the head of Ray’s hard shaft and lapped at the escaping precum, swallowing with a purr that surprised him. He’d never purred for any man in his life. He closed his mouth around Ray and, with steady pressure of his lips, slid down the rigid length as deep as he could. Ray rocked his hips upward with a long growl, and Travis relaxed his throat, letting Ray take what he needed. Travis let go of the tightening ball sac and rested his hand on Ray’s stomach, feeling it rise and fall in rapid succession.

  And holy fucking hell, Travis was on the verge of his own orgasm without even being touched.

  Then Ray was pulling painfully on his hair, but Travis didn’t care. Ray could do anything he wanted to him. Anything.

  “Travis…” Ray pulled harder, forcing Travis to release him with a complaining groan.

  “I want…” His voice was a hoarse rasp. “I want to come inside you.”

  Travis trembled with anticipation, but all he could manage was, “God, yes.”

  Ray flipped him over so he was the one who was straddled, but Ray didn’t tease. He forced himself between Travis’s legs and lowered into the cradle they made. He rolled their hips together and took Travis’s engorged shaft in a firm hand. Now T
ravis was the one making incoherent sounds as lit nerves snapped up his spine and short-circuited his brain.

  “You have what we need?” Ray asked.

  “Shit,” Travis said as his heart plummeted. “The fire.”

  Ray dropped his forehead to Travis’s chest and groaned. After a second he took a deep breath and then lifted himself off Travis and jumped from the bed.

  “Don’t move,” he warned in an authoritative voice. He pulled on the closest pair of PJ bottoms, which weren’t the ones he’d been wearing before, and raced from the room.

  Without the heat of Ray’s body over his, Travis shivered as the cool air attacked his exposed skin. He pulled the bed sheets up to keep warm while he waited for the sexy rancher to return, praying he wouldn’t come to his senses now that their sexual momentum had been broken. He looked over at the night table, but there wasn’t a clock in Travis’s room; he didn’t even wear a watch. He had no idea how long Ray was gone.

  Though it seemed longer, probably less than a couple of minutes had passed before Ray came back into the room with more condoms than they’d need in one night—unless Ray was Superman—and a bottle of lube clutched against his chest with one hand. He shoved off the pants and said, “I told you not to move.”

  “Warm me up then,” Travis cajoled.

  Ray stalked across the room, tossed the paraphernalia carelessly on the nightstand, and ripped the sheets from the bed. Goose bumps charged across Travis’s skin from the sudden shock of chill air, and then Ray climbed onto the bed and covered him with his scorching heat and heady scent. Travis grabbed him behind the neck and pulled him down for a hard, passionate kiss.

  Strong hands moved reverently over his body, and fire burned a trail in their wake as their tongues dueled. And then a burning hand slid along the crease of his ass cheeks and over that one place so few had ever breached. Travis may have slept with a lot of men on his journeys, but he refused to bottom for one-nighters. He couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than accepting Ray inside his body, handing over the reins and trusting Ray to take him where he needed to go, to take and give what he wanted.

  Ray teased at his opening while he kissed down Travis’s chest and took his cock in his mouth and sucked hard. Travis bucked from the bed with a restrained shout. He couldn’t take any more. He needed Ray. Needed him now. Blindly he pawed at the night table until his hand landed on the bottle of lube. He tossed it at Ray’s head and growled, “Now, dammit!”

  “Bastard,” Ray muttered playfully as he paused his ministrations long enough to retrieve the bottle and slick up his fingers. Then he was back sucking on Travis’s cock and pushing one slippery finger inside. And it was like his entire body had suddenly been engulfed by raging wildfire.

  Ray worked him with mouth and tongue and fingers until Travis felt like a writhing, mindless bundle of nerves. Every touch was an explosion that drove him that much closer to completely losing his mind.

  And he wanted more.

  “Fuck, Ray,” he keened through gritted teeth. “Fuck me.”

  Ray released Travis’s cock from his mouth, pulled his fingers from Travis’s body, and Travis groaned in complaint at the loss. Ray stretched over him and fumbled for a condom, but hell, it was like the man was suddenly all thumbs and knocking them all to the floor.

  “Christ, Ray,” Travis groaned. His body cried out to be filled, possessed. Right. Fucking. Now. “What are you? Sixteen?”

  “Shut up.” Rapid breath fanned Travis’s heated skin in short, moist bursts. “My hands are so greased up it’s like I’m at a fucking rodeo pig scramble.”

  Travis chuckled and reached over to grab a packet from the nightstand before Ray could knock them all off. Good thing Ray brought two boxes’ worth downstairs. He pushed Ray back and tore the wrapper open with his teeth. Then he deftly rolled the latex over Ray’s thick erection. Ray followed Travis’s hands with his lubed ones and slicked himself up. Finally sheathed and positioned at Travis’s hole, the blunt head of Ray’s cock pressed at him but didn’t move forward. The man was determined to drive him completely insane.

  Travis looked up into Ray’s intense gaze, and in the bright light of the moon, he could see a war of concern and desire playing out in those dark, soulful eyes. Travis knew without asking or being told. This wasn’t just sex. This was the point of no return. Last chance, Charlie.

  Even knowing that he had so much more to lose and was poised on the literal cusp of taking that risk, Ray wouldn’t move forward unless Travis also willingly accepted. Which made Travis want him all the more.

  Travis nodded and whispered roughly, “I want you in me, Ray. I want to feel all of you.”

  Ray lowered his head and claimed Travis’s mouth with a bruising kiss so full of passion and adoration, it wrapped around his heart and threaded into his very soul. And then Ray began to push inside, slow and deliberate. The stretch and burn caused Travis’s body to tense, and he broke the kiss, sucking in a sharp breath. It had been so long since he’d taken another man into his body, but he’d never wanted one as badly as this sexy rancher.

  Ray stopped, and Travis knew how much control it was taking to hold himself suspended, allowing Travis’s body to relax and accept the beautiful invasion.

  “Okay?” Ray asked, his forehead resting against Travis’s.

  Travis nodded and gave his hips a little rock. Ray took the cue and continued in one long, steady stroke until he was fully seated. And he was deep. So. Fucking. Deep.

  “Fuck, yeah,” Travis panted. Every nerve in his body shot rockets of fire through his system. “Come on, Ray. Ride me hard.”

  Ray obeyed and began to thrust in, slow and measured at first, almost fully out and then all the way in, with such devotion Travis felt like his chest would explode from the sheer pleasure of it. Travis took himself in hand and pulled in long slow strokes, matching Ray’s pace.

  “Sweet. Fucking. Mercy.” Ray groaned. “Oh God, Travis…”

  Ray began to rock faster, harder, and Travis bucked his hips to meet each thrust, take him deeper. And then it was as if the levee broke, and Ray burst from his tightly held control in a tidal wave of lust and need and desire. He became a fathomless, swift-moving rapid that pulled Travis under as it flooded over him, into him. He was completely surrounded by Ray. Absorbed. Joined. One. Cleansed in a river of rapture. What he had been was gone. Now he was something new, something different—a part of another. And he never wanted to be anywhere else.

  Keep me.

  Ray’s pounding rhythm grew erratic, frantic, until he froze, impossibly deep, incredibly perfect, and Travis felt Ray begin to pulse inside. Then Ray roared out his name on a curse as he came, and Travis dived over the edge of the waterfall right behind him. Hot threads of exquisite release that went on forever painted his stomach in beautiful, abstract designs. Ray collapsed and rolled beside him, and the raging rapids emptied into peaceful hot springs that soothed his spent body.

  Travis lay beside Ray in contented silence, staring up at the ceiling while his harsh, rapid breath and pounding heart gradually slowed. Ray’s shoulder pressed lightly against his—the only point of contact. It was such a small touch, but to Travis it was the world.

  “If you cold-shoulder me again tomorrow, I’m going to kick your ass,” Travis teased but kept his gaze trained on the ceiling. He didn’t feel as light as his tone, knowing already he wouldn’t be able to handle Ray shutting him out again.

  Travis felt Ray’s hand search his out in the dark, grasp it, and thread their fingers together, then give him a reassuring squeeze.

  “Won’t happen,” he said in a self-depreciating tone. “I’m a stuck pig now.”

  Even during that odd neither-here-nor-there moment when consciousness crept unrelentingly forward but hadn’t yet taken hold, Travis knew he was alone. It was one of those things people instinctively knew—some innate awareness of living energy. He didn’t need to turn around, didn’t need to open his eyes to know the space behind him was empty
, the sheets cold where the heat of Ray’s body had been.

  He swallowed back a wave of building apprehension that today would be a repeat of the past few. It wouldn’t, because if anything, Ray Ford was a man of his word.

  Warm sheets pooled in his lap as he sat up and looked toward the window. He hadn’t drawn the curtains the night before, and soft, pink-hued light peeked through unfettered, letting him know the day was about to begin. The mouthwatering smell of maple bacon drifting under the door confirmed it. He ran his fingers through his hair and just as he was about to get up, the door opened slowly with a quiet creak. Yellow light from the hall spilled in to silhouette a familiar form in its frame.

  “You’re up,” Ray said, his voice soft. He stepped into the room and gently closed the door.

  “Morning,” Travis said in a sleep-roughened voice.

  Ray stood by the door for a moment, in an apparent debate with himself. A large brown paper bag was clutched in his hand. Debate settled, he walked the few feet to the bed and sat on the edge with his back to Travis. Ray seemed uneasy, and a cold shiver raced across Travis’s bare skin.

  Ray sighed and looked over his shoulder, meeting Travis’s gaze. Travis felt his body tense, preparing for the worst, but relaxed when Ray flashed a quick, sheepish smile. He angled his body toward Travis and looked down at the paper bag in his lap for another moment. Then Ray abruptly held the package out to him. Travis took it while watching Ray for an explanation, but the man just shook his head and turned away from him again. Whatever was in the bag, it was clear Ray was nervous about giving it to him.

  Which only piqued his curiosity.

  The bag wasn’t overly heavy nor hard edged, which told him there was material of some kind inside: clothing, most likely, too heavy to be a shirt but too light to be jeans. He carefully opened the bag and pulled out its contents. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at, had to stare at it a moment longer to be certain. His breath hitched, his mouth went dry, and his heart sped up. In his hands he held a brand-new pair of rich, chocolate brown suede show chaps, with matching fringe. The belt and side yokes were smooth tan leather with intricate flower filigree, and the matching leg trim was adorned with three silver moon conchas.