But when Julian remembered their evening together, when he bought into the decision they had made, Julian’s logical approach to their relationship, his almost pathological need to be perfect, scared the living hell out of Cody.
Being with Julian had been perfect. Too perfect.
That was why he’d changed after moving in. How could he invest himself in perfection? If he was going to commit to Julian, he needed a hard dose of reality, and that was partly what he’d been given tonight. Julian had finally let down his guard and let Cody see his flaws and his anger, shattering the ideal that had wedged between them.
Cody still had more to learn about Julian, and he would get to the bottom of it. Later.
All Cody wanted right now was to embrace the potential they could create together as unreservedly as he yanked Julian’s shirt from his body and fumbled open the button of his trousers.
Julian clearly felt the same. He quickly unfastened the clasps of Cody’s shirt before running his palms across Cody’s sizzling flesh. He followed the curve of Cody’s muscles to the boundary between skin and fabric. Julian quickly unbuckled the belt and ripped it free of Cody’s waist.
They stood in the bedroom, where their passionate kisses had led them, in only their underwear. Cody crawled his gaze over Julian’s mocha flesh, around the small bronzed nipples, and down to the dark hair that dusted his flat belly before disappearing beneath the bulging fabric.
Just where was he going to start? There was too much to touch and to taste.
“I need you to make love to me,” Julian said, slipping his fingers between the waistband of Cody’s briefs and his hot, flushed skin. Cody whimpered as Julian slid the remaining clothing from his hips and placed his palms on Julian’s chest. “With your hands.”
Oh God. Julian felt amazing. Cody coasted his hands up and down Julian’s warm flesh, kneading and clawing at his skin. Why hadn’t they been doing this from day one? He’d been a fool for suggesting they wait this long.
Julian gazed up at him with those big, beautiful eyes that made Cody want to risk everything. “With your mouth.” Julian stood on his tiptoes, brushing his lips across Cody’s in a long, sensual kiss.
No. He hadn’t been a fool at all. He’d been the biggest dumbass in the world. Julian had been there by his side all these months, ready to begin their life together, and he’d been too busy being afraid to simply take what Julian had already said was his. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“But more importantly.” Julian pulled out of the kiss, pushed down his underwear, and linked his hands around Cody’s neck. A short hop later, he flung his legs around Cody’s waist and held himself firmly in place. “With your body.”
Cody loved the way Julian took control and told him what he wanted. It was hot as hell, and he couldn’t take it anymore. With Julian wrapped around him and Cody’s hands cradling Julian’s bare ass, he walked toward the bed, their chests touching, their tongues dancing between them. Then he gently lowered Julian onto the bed they would at long last share as husbands.
Julian crawled backward onto the mattress before parting his legs for Cody and opening his hands wide to receive him, but Cody couldn’t move. The sight of Julian’s naked body, the erection throbbing in want against his taut stomach, and the look of unquenchable desire burning in his eyes overwhelmed Cody with a flood of emotions. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
A seductive grin slid across Julian’s sultry lips as he sat up. He guided Cody onto the bed and between Julian’s parted legs. “Please. I need you so bad.”
Cody bent forward and swabbed his tongue over Julian’s stomach. He lounged upon the muscled ridges of his abdomen before trailing wet circles around and into his belly button. He delivered feathery, breathy kisses across Julian’s groin, through the patch of dark hair that tickled his nose, and finally onto the pulsing cock that lurched to meet his lips.
As he lapped the underside of Julian’s shaft, Cody fluttered his hands down Julian’s inner thighs and surfed his flesh to his knees. He grabbed Julian’s legs and hoisted them over his shoulders and then swallowed Julian’s prick.
“Holy shit,” Julian moaned as Cody slid up and down Julian’s length. He wrapped his tongue around the head at the same time as he increased the suction. Julian responded by arching his back off the mattress and twirling his fingers through Cody’s hair. “That feels so good.”
Even with his mouth full, Cody managed a devilish grin. He was only getting started. He allowed Julian to slip free of his throat and stroked the length of his cock. “You like that?”
Julian nodded vigorously as he sat up. “But I need to kiss you so bad.”
“Don’t worry.” He placed his hand on Julian’s chest and lovingly forced him back onto the mattress. “I’m gonna kiss you real good and with lots of tongue.”
In one swift motion, he hauled Julian’s legs forward, pining them against his chest as Cody dove straight between his cheeks.
“Fuck!” Julian yelped as Cody licked long, leisurely circles around Julian’s center. When Cody fluttered his tongue up and down Julian’s crevice, sensuous moans and breathless gasps exploded from his body.
The heady scent of musk and sweat drove Cody into a sexual frenzy. He had to taste more, so he spread Julian’s firm ass and slipped his wet, probing tongue past the first ridge of muscle. He wiggled and flattened it, grabbing a handful of Julian’s ass and shoving himself as far inside Julian as he could possibly get.
He shifted his hands from Julian’s ass and surfed them up his chest toward his nipples. Cody skirted his fingers along the edges, pebbling the flesh before taking the nipples between his thumbs and index fingers and gingerly rubbing them to hard nubs.
Julian shuddered underneath him. He tangled the fingers of one hand through Cody’s hair, using the handhold to back up onto Cody’s invading tongue while clutching at Cody’s right hand with the other. Julian plucked it from his chest and brought the hand to his lips. He slid one finger inside his hot, wet mouth, dancing his tongue around the digit and coating it with as much spit as Cody delivered onto his butt.
Cody slipped his finger from Julian’s mouth and brought it to his ass. He trailed the finger along the edges of the opening before sliding it inside.
Julian gasped as Cody pushed farther into Julian’s body. Cody slid his finger out of the muscled grip before slipping it all the way back in. After a few minutes, he coated a second digit with another generous helping of spit before sliding it inside with the first. He scissored his fingers inside Julian, opening him up for the grand event while gently rubbing the tender spot that made Julian squeal.
“Please,” Julian panted, almost completely out of breath. Sweat dripped down his face and coated his flesh. “I need you right now.”
Cody couldn’t wait any longer either. He had tortured the both of them long enough. He sat on his haunches and reached into the bedside table, where he knew Julian kept the condoms and lube. A few seconds later, he positioned himself between Julian’s legs and leaned over him.
Julian wrapped his arms around Cody’s neck, and they shared the taste of each other as they crushed their lips together. “I wanted this for so long. Claim me as your husband. Now.”
How could Cody say no? He’d waited forever for someone to want to be his and only his. It was what he had been searching for, even though he hadn’t realized that until this moment. Now that he’d found it, now that he held his reward in his arms, there was no going back.
He placed himself at Julian’s entrance and pressed himself inside.
Julian’s eyes went wide as his body tensed then relaxed to accommodate Cody’s girth. He cried out in pain, burying his head into Cody’s neck, but after a few moments, Julian’s body relaxed and his moans of discomfort gave way to grunts of pleasure.
Cody fell onto Julian’s lips, using his tongue to claim his mouth as his cock claimed Julian’s body. He thrust himself in and out of Julian in long, powerful strokes while their tongue
s wrestled.
“Oh Cody,” Julian said around their kiss. He grasped at Cody’s shoulders, using the leverage to force his hips upward to meet Cody’s downthrusts. Their bodies collided in moist explosions as the air around them filled with sex and sweat.
Cody increased his rhythm. “You feel so good.” He rested his forehead on Julian’s and gazed deep into the pools of brown that stared back at him.
Julian’s gorgeous mouth parted into a big smile. It made Cody’s already rapidly beating heart skip a beat. Julian reached between their sweat-soaked bodies and palmed his prick. “No more holding back, okay? For either of us. I want it all.”
That was music to Cody’s ears, and his body responded. He thrust inside Julian one final time before Julian’s tight body ripped his orgasm from him in a loud moan of pleasure. As Cody flooded the condom, Julian threw his head back, bringing himself right over the edge and spraying his seed across both their stomachs.
Breathless, Cody collapsed on top of Julian. Although his body was heavy from exhaustion, his spirit soared. The fear that had wrung out his soul suddenly flew away, and the words Julian had last spoken filled the previous void.
Cody wouldn’t hold anything back from him anymore. He belonged to Julian, and Julian belonged to him.
Chapter Thirteen
THE low rumble of an approaching thunderstorm gently pulled Julian out of his deep slumber. He loved waking to the patter of rain on the roof. It always made him feel refreshed, like a flower after a spring cloudburst, but when Julian finally forced open his eyes, he didn’t discover an advancing storm but his husband snoring loudly on the pillow beside him.
Waking up like this, with the sheets barely covering Cody’s naked body and his arm draped over Julian’s shoulders, was a hundred times better than any rainstorm. Plus, Cody was fucking gorgeous, even with his mouth hanging open and his usually perfect hair a ratted mess. Why did seeing him like this turn him on more than when Cody dressed in his best for the many political dinners Julian dragged him to?
Careful not to disturb Cody’s slumber, Julian lightly trailed his touch over the curve of his cheeks and along the lines of his strong, stubbly jaw. The coarse hair tickled his fingertips, reminding him of how Cody’s scruff had scratched across his ass and then his lips. The memory stirred his cock from its slumber.
God, they’d been insatiable last night. Cody had made love to him in a way that nobody had ever done before. It had been urgent and primal at times, and at others slow and gentle. It was as if Cody had claimed his body the moment he entered Julian and marked him with each thrust.
When it was over, Julian craved for them to do it all over again, and they had—two more times—before they finally collapsed into a sweaty, exhausted heap.
More than anything, he wanted to feel Cody inside him again, to feel the thick head of his dick forge a path in his body, but one glance at the clock told Julian that wasn’t a good idea. He had to get up and get moving. He had campaign business to take care of before he hopped on a flight to DC that evening.
This would be their first time apart since Cody moved in. They had discussed this trip the week before, and Cody had decided to stay behind to work on his manuscript. Julian had been fine with that—he certainly didn’t expect Cody to go with him every time he had to fly to the capital—but they had made those plans before all of this happened. Now he wasn’t so sure he could leave Cody behind.
The idea unnerved him in a way it hadn’t before, and he wasn’t sure what had changed. The strange emotions made his upper lip curl, but simply dragging his gaze to the sexy blond hunk lying next to him quickly pressed his sneer into a smile and forced the unpleasantness from the pit of his stomach.
How had Julian gotten so damn lucky?
His husband was not only fine, but he was smart, funny, creative, independent, and he wanted everything out of life Julian did. He wanted commitment. He wanted a marriage. He wanted to devote his life to someone else, but most importantly, he didn’t want to fall in love.
That took so much pressure off Julian. He didn’t have to worry about breaking Cody’s heart or meeting the impossible expectations romance brought to a relationship.
All Julian had to be was himself, and Cody accepted him, his faults, and his insecurities without even batting an eye. He’d never been so safe or secure in his life.
It made him want this marriage even more today than yesterday. It also made him want to wake Cody with a long, hot kiss followed by Cody slipping his long, hot cock deep inside Julian’s butt. That would certainly make their two-day separation more palatable.
He just couldn’t bring himself to tear Cody from his deep sleep. After the marathon they enjoyed last night, he deserved his rest. Besides, once Cody agreed that this trial period was now officially over, they had a lifetime of toe-curling sex ahead of them.
If Julian got out of bed now, he could shower, make breakfast, and still arrive at the office in enough time to get most of his work done. He slipped out of Cody’s arms and scooted carefully to the edge of the bed.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Cody’s sleep-heavy voice asked before his arm wrapped around Julian’s midsection and dragged him back beneath the covers.
Julian laughed but snuggled into the warm, muscled embrace that set his body on fire and made his insides tremble. “Just when I thought it was safe to get out of bed.”
“It’s never safe to get out of bed,” Cody grumbled into his back. He kissed along the curve of Julian’s upper spine and toward his nape. “It’s always safer in bed.” He nudged his hardness along Julian’s crevice.
“Is that because the Incredible Bulk is here to take care of me?”
Cody playfully nipped at his shoulder. “You bet your sweet ass he will.”
And boy did he ever.
CODY shut off his computer and got up from the chair. It was six thirty in California, which meant it was nine thirty for Julian in DC. Although Julian had texted him shortly after he landed in Dulles, they hadn’t spoken on the phone. Julian had two meetings lined up, so Cody expected they wouldn’t be talking until late, if at all.
That had been fine yesterday. Today, the lack of contact ate away at him.
He’d stayed behind to get work done, to knock out a good twenty pages in his manuscript. Staying home, which was what Julian’s house was becoming to him, had been something he’d been looking forward to when they discussed Julian’s travel plans the week before. Both of them had been fine with the arrangement, and he’d thought it would still be okay, even after last night. Once Julian left, though, loneliness crouched upon his shoulders like a lion waiting to consume him. It made concentrating difficult, and so far, he’d only managed to write four pages, which wasn’t all that great.
Being apart from him, especially today of all days, seemed like a cruel twist of fate. Although Julian and Cody had shared a bed the past few months, all they’d done was sleep in it with the occasional heavy petting Julian sometimes did “in his sleep.”
Yeah, right. Cody had bought that story along with the Golden Gate Bridge last month.
Still, their relationship had changed. The boundaries they had established had slowly retreated, and Cody enjoyed it more than he believed he would. He felt both drunk and sober at the same time. If this had happened a few weeks ago—hell, even a few days ago—he’d have seriously reconsidered this entire arrangement, but after last night, after Julian had asked Cody to claim him as his husband, any reservations he had about their relationship, about the feelings that welled up inside him no matter how hard he tried to fight them, vanished.
When he made love to Julian, Cody gave him more than just his body.
Did that terrify the ever-loving fool out of him? Oh hell to the yeah. It scared him more than finding a clown hiding underneath his bed, especially since Julian had yet to share his past with Blane. But the fear only exhilarated him more. It reminded him of that time he went skydiving. He hadn’t wanted to jump from the plane,
but he’d just closed his eyes and let himself go.
Except this time, a parachute wouldn’t keep him from slamming into the hard-packed ground. He had faith Julian would keep him safe.
WHEN Julian entered the apartment he rented in DC, he immediately regretted not asking Cody to come along. He’d grown accustomed to coming home to that beautiful smile and those strong arms that always greeted him with a hug whenever he walked through the door.
Cody had spoiled him with his presence, and right now, he missed that big, goofy lug something fierce. If he didn’t have another committee meeting tomorrow, he’d be catching the red-eye back to the West Coast.
God, what the hell was going on with him? Whatever it was, he had better keep it in check.
What he couldn’t rein in was his need to hear the velvety tones of Cody’s voice before going to sleep. If he couldn’t have his husband’s naked body pressed up against him as he drifted off, he could at least have the next best thing. He yanked his phone out of his pocket and dialed Cody’s cell.
He answered on the first ring. “Well, there you are. I’ve been worried sick for hours. You don’t call. You don’t text. I thought you’d forgotten all about me.”
Julian fell back on his bed. A huge grin spread across his features, and his stomach flip-flopped. How could he be hungry? He’d just eaten. “We’re going to have to discuss your nagging.”
Cody gasped. “I am not a nag.”
“Then you do a wonderful impression.”
“You, sir, are a butthead.”
Julian laughed. “A butthead? Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
Suddenly Yours Page 15