by Chris T. Kat
“I didn’t really listen. I only registered what he and you were yelling when I was already inside. There was so much blood, Paul, and the cubs…. Didn’t you hear them crying?”
Noah trembled, as did I, though I doubt for the same reasons. I reached for the tap and shut it off.
With the exhaustion of the day sapping my strength, I told him, “As much as I like your impulsiveness in certain areas of our lives, I hate it when you act on it at work. I can’t take this shit anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” Noah whispered.
“That won’t cut it this time. I’ll move you to another habitat, one without potentially dangerous animals, since I can’t trust you enough.” I silenced Noah’s cry of protest by laying a finger on his lips. “That is, if I can convince the zoo management not to fire you.”
Loosening my embrace, I turned Noah around. He stared up at me from large, frightened gray-green eyes. Water trickled down his pale face in small rivulets as the impact of my words hit home.
“They won’t do that, right? Fire me, I mean? I rescued those two cubs!” His voice rose.
“Noah, any of us could have saved these two cubs after the compartment door was closed,” I said.
I was doing my best to be gentle and understanding, but at some point, he would have to accept the truth. His behavior hadn’t only been unprofessional but also irresponsible and extremely dangerous. I wondered if the management would give Noah another chance. If I was honest with myself, I wouldn’t.
Noah’s eyes filled with tears. He hastily averted his eyes and looked down at his feet, shivering uncontrollably. Suppressing a sigh, I ushered him out of the shower stall and helped him undress. After toweling off, we walked into our bedroom where we both slipped into sweatpants and long-sleeved shirts.
Noah sank down on the edge of our bed with his elbows on his knees and his face hidden behind his palms. Droplets of water trickled from his hair down his neck. I went back into the bathroom, fetched a small towel, and walked back to him. While I briskly rubbed his hair dry, Noah’s arms came up around my waist, holding on tightly.
I threw the towel on the floor, clasped one hand around Noah’s neck, and with the other one stroked his still damp hair. His voice was muffled as he talked into my shirt. “I don’t want to lose my job. I want to work with you. I only came to Philadelphia because of you.”
I smiled. His confession about the crush he’d had on me even as a teenager always did that to me. Who would have thought we’d end up as a couple? Feeling rather mellow all of a sudden, I said, “We’ll talk to them tomorrow. Maybe we can convince them you didn’t hear Trent calling you back.”
“Thanks, Paul.”
“And I’ll see to it you transfer as quickly as possible.”
I felt Noah swallowing. “Where to?”
“Maybe you can take care of some of the smaller mammals, the ones that can’t kill you if your brain suffers from another short-circuit,” I replied. Noah didn’t protest, which set all my alarm bells off. I added suspiciously, “You’re surprisingly docile.”
“I’m still freezing, thanks to you, and I’m also scared of losing my job. Takes all the fight out of me.”
“Hey, but look at it like this—the good thing about the cold shower is that it leaves you with your neck intact.”
Noah pushed away from me. “So that shower was for your benefit and not mine?”
I crouched down in front of Noah, both my hands resting on his thighs, and answered, “No, it’s also for you to cool down your temper. Works like a charm every time.”
Noah snorted. “I haven’t taken so many cold showers or stood in the rain—with all my clothes on—in my entire life as I have since I met you.”
I grinned, then slowly rubbed my hands up and down his thighs.
“You’re not mad at me anymore?”
I stopped and looked up at him. Noah had sounded insecure only seconds ago. “Insecure” wasn’t a word I normally associated with my cheeky lover. Not at all.
“Don’t bring up the topic again, and don’t ever tell me I’m a nitpicker again when it’s about your safety. Got it?”
Noah’s lips curved into a tentative smile. “Caveman.”
“I’ll take that as an agreement.”
“Only if you warm me up now.”
I lifted an eyebrow. Color rose in Noah’s cheeks and he scooted closer to me. He wrapped his arms around my neck before he nipped at my earlobe. Right away he soothed the sting with a lick of his tongue, eliciting a pleasant tingle everywhere inside me.
“Please?”
When had I ever been able to deny Noah anything?
Chapter Four
“GET out of those clothes,” I demanded as I stood up, already stripping out of my shirt.
“But I just put them on,” Noah protested with a mischievous smile on his face.
My shirt fluttered to the ground. Quirking an eyebrow, I put my hands on my hips, scrutinizing him. I shrugged, bent down to retrieve my shirt, and said, “Well, in that case… I’ll make you some tea.”
Before my hand touched my shirt, Noah jumped me. Literally. He jumped on my back, slinging his arms around my neck and his legs around my waist. If I hadn’t been so used to this by now I would have toppled over. As it was, I stood my ground and laughed.
“Bloody spoilsport,” Noah muttered against my neck.
“Me? You were the one complaining.”
“You never care about that,” Noah shot back.
Straightening up, I laid one hand on Noah’s interlaced hands around my throat and the other one on his crossed legs. “Does that bother you?”
“No! God, no! I love your whole Stone Age behavior; you should know that by now.”
“Stone Age behavior, eh?”
I felt Noah smiling against my neck. When I heard him stifling a laugh, I reached back and in one fluid movement pulled him around so we were face-to-face.
“Something funny?”
“You were worried. About your attitude. You. I have to mark today on the calendar.”
Instead of rising to the bait, I tightened my embrace, fencing him in. Noah gasped before he rested his head on my shoulder, shuddering. He’d never admit it aloud, but he craved to be touched, to be held, to feel protected. I didn’t mind giving it to him. Not one single bit.
I walked us the two steps to our bed, where I dropped Noah. He bounced on the mattress, his eyes glittering in anticipation.
I lowered my voice and commanded, “Strip.”
This time he didn’t stall or tease; he merely did as he was told. When he slipped his sweatpants over his hips, his cock jutted out and a pearl of precome shimmered on its tip, inviting me to lap it off.
I gave in to my desire, chucked my pants, and knelt between Noah’s thighs. He was propped up on his elbows, his eyes hooded as he stared down on me, waiting for me to do something, anything.
I hovered with my mouth next to his straining cock, rubbing my stubbled cheek against the sensitive flesh of his inner thigh. Noah gasped and opened his legs wide.
“What do you want, sweetheart?” I asked.
During sex was the only time I could safely use such an endearment. Coincidentally, it was the only time I ever felt like using this particular pet name. It just felt right in these moments.
“Paul, I don’t want to play this game,” Noah whined and pushed his hips closer to my mouth, his cock brushing along my cheek. We both shivered.
“Too bad for you. I like this game.”
Noah flopped down on his back with an agonized moan. “Paul!”
“Noah!”
I chuckled when he thumped his fists on the mattress in frustration. To soothe him, I licked from the base of his cock up to the tip, tasting the drop of precome.
“Better?” I asked.
“A little bit.”
Swirling my tongue around Noah’s cock several times, I relished the way Noah’s belly muscles contracted and flexed. He had a finely defined six-pack that
shone through his white skin. Before him, I had always preferred burly men with oversized six-packs. Since I had Noah for the first time, I couldn’t think of anything more erotic than the subtle movements of his muscles rippling just beneath his skin.
“Fuck me?” Noah asked, pulling me out of my admiring thoughts.
“You took another twenty years off my lifespan today, and now you think I’m up to fucking you?” I countered as I trailed my fingers from his collarbone downward, following the outlines of his ribs. It elicited another shiver from him.
Noah glanced down at me, his cheeks flushed and an assessing look on his face. When he was done with his assessment, he said smugly, “Yes, you are. From the look of it, you’re going to make sure I can still feel you tomorrow.”
My cock responded to his statement with almost embarrassing eagerness. I cleared my throat before I replied, “Damn right, I will.”
“Then get on with it, for fuck’s sake!”
Ignoring Noah’s last words, I stretched out on top of him, blanketing his body with mine. I loved the difference in our heights as much as the one in our physiques—probably due to my caveman heritage. What could I say? I simply liked that he was smaller, more slender than me. He hit all my buttons even though I didn’t even understand my strong urge to protect him. Possessiveness I could have understood, but oh well, it was what it was, right?
I cupped my hands around his face, keeping him immobile while I demanded entrance into his mouth. He granted it, his tongue sneaking out and slipping into my own mouth. For a long time we just kissed, allowing our tongues to explore and familiarize anew with already well-known territories.
For a brief moment, anguish swept through me. What if Trent hadn’t been there in time? What if he’d been only a split second too late to push the damn compartment door shut? At least for as long as it took for Noah to get out there. What if—
With great effort I stopped this unwelcome train of thought, shaking as I did so. Noah must have misinterpreted my shudder for rising arousal, because he bucked up against me. I pressed down on him, using my weight to pin him down, leaving him no chance to throw me off.
“If you ever jeopardize your safety again like this—” I started.
Noah huffed. “Do we have to have this kind of conversation now? I already apologized, you showed me the possible consequences and… and this is totally killing the mood, you know? I thought we were going to have steamy, life-affirming sex! It’s supposed to help with near-death experiences.”
I couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Noah smiled. It wasn’t his usual full-fledged smile; this one was much more tentative and subdued. He knew I wouldn’t forget about today, and more importantly, I wouldn’t let him forget about it either.
Noah slapped my shoulder hard when I couldn’t stop laughing. “What? Come on, Paul. Life-affirming sex to be had, remember?”
I sat up, pulled Noah onto my lap, and kissed him again. “I’m going to make you a promise, right here and now.”
Noah looked at me, his expression guarded.
“There will be no sex for a month if you ever do something that dangerous again. So, any time you sense your brain is close to short-circuiting—remember this threat.”
It was a stupid threat, but I couldn’t think of anything else. I didn’t want to bluff with leaving him if he pulled such a stunt again. I’d never follow through with it and Noah knew it. I hoped so, at least. Also, I would dare anyone to try thinking of anything except sex with Noah in his arms.
Noah blinked and swallowed several times. “I….” He trailed off before continuing in an exasperated voice, “All right. Now, can we please get to the fucking part?”
I nibbled a path along his jaw while at the same time pushing my thumb in his hole. Noah bucked against me, surprised by the sudden intrusion. A breathy moan tumbled from his lips as I found his prostate and tapped it once, twice, then withdrew my thumb.
He whimpered at the loss of my touch and scooted farther up on my lap. Our cocks rubbed against each other almost teasingly. I knee-walked us over to the nightstand where we stashed the lube, found it and flipped the lid open, squeezed a generous amount of lube on my hand, and applied it to Noah’s entrance.
“Geez! How about warming up the grease before smearing it all over me?”
“How about you shut up now?”
“Make me,” Noah challenged.
I grinned. The ferocious kind of grin. Noah’s eyes widened at that, and he licked his lips in a subconscious gesture of anticipation.
Locking my left arm around his torso, I left him no space to wiggle. With my right hand, I teased his entrance, sometimes slipping just one finger into his hole, sometimes three at once. Noah moaned and writhed on my lap, his forehead pressed firmly against my chest, which gave me free access to his neck. I made good use of it and nipped and kissed it. Goose bumps rose all over Noah’s body and his breathing quickened.
I pushed my thumb into Noah, occasionally massaging his gland while my other fingers lightly stroked his perineum and balls.
“Oh God, oh God,” Noah chanted when I tapped his gland several times in a row while at the same time firmly rubbing his perineum.
I couldn’t withstand the temptation and sing-songed, “Just me.”
Noah chuckled, almost chortled because he was so breathless. “That was bad! Really bad.”
“But it got you to take a deep breath, didn’t it?” I retorted as I massaged his gland.
Noah’s groan sounded strangled, more like a sob than a groan, actually. His fingers dug deep into my shoulders, and I felt some precome ooze out of his cock.
“Tsk, no getting off before I’m inside you,” I chided.
“Then get the hell on with it!”
“So impatient.”
“Paul, please.”
“Since you’re asking so nicely.”
I turned and grabbed a condom. After rolling it over my cock—and seeing stars while doing so—I lathered my cock with more lube. Noah quivered in my arms while I prepared myself to plunge deep into his thrumming body.
“Want you to ride me,” I said.
Noah nodded. I lay down on my back, gripped his hips, and positioned him over my crotch. For a short moment, I stared at my thumb resting on his left hip bone, where a large bite mark stood out visibly. It was one of the scars that hadn’t healed well. The scar was puckered, the skin around it very thin, and when the weather turned cold and rainy I often saw Noah rub that patch of skin, even though he winced every time he did.
Noah interrupted me by gripping my cock to slowly sink down on it. I moaned as I watched my cock vanish into his body, the heat and tightness around me threatening to push me over the edge in an instant.
I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see the enraptured expression on Noah’s face because I wouldn’t be able to keep it together if I did. When I was completely sheathed inside Noah, he rested his hands on my belly, panting.
“So, how long will it take you to shoot? Thirty seconds? One minute?”
I opened my eyes and scowled at him. Noah feigned innocence. “What? Lost your capability of speech? I heard somewhere it happens to those caveman-like—”
I flipped us around without losing our connection. Noah gasped, the sudden change in position obviously doing something for him. I grinned down at him, proud of having taken him by surprise.
“Hey,” he protested. “How am I supposed to ride you like this?”
“Change of plans. That impudent behavior of yours calls for a severe pounding.”
“And how long will this pounding take? Thirty seconds? One—”
I pulled almost all the way out of Noah before slamming back into him, cutting his teasing remark off midway. He cried out, and I felt more precome spill between us.
“How long will it take for you before you come? Twenty seconds?”
“Not fair! You already teased me before and—fuck!” he shouted as I set up a steady pace, thrusting in and out of him f
orcefully. Noah whimpered and clutched my shoulders again.
He crossed his legs behind my back, his heels pushing into my buttocks, urging me on to go faster, harder. I complied. Snapping my hips back and forth, I plunged into him, using all my strength to give him the pounding he desired. I loved that he could take me completely, that I could let go with him without having to worry about hurting him. Hell, he even pushed back as much as possible.
A constant litany of words streamed from Noah’s mouth, most of them unintelligible. Or maybe I didn’t understand him because the blood surging through my veins, the exquisite feeling of Noah’s channel massaging my erection, sometimes clenching around me, had me preoccupied.
Noah’s cock was trapped between our bellies, but in no way was I able to help him out there.
“Paul,” Noah keened. “I wanna come! I need to come! Please!”
Wordlessly, I tapped his left leg with my hand, beckoning him to lose the death-grip he had on my waist. He uncrossed his legs immediately, and I pushed my shoulders under his ankles. I pressed his knees to his chest, almost bending him in half.
Noah looked up at me with unfocused eyes glazed over with lust and trust, the combination sending another shock of desire through me. Feeling my neck muscles cording and my arm muscles straining, I ordered my climax to wait.
To wait until Noah lost it. I thrust into him relentlessly, the force of my movements pushing Noah against the headboard. With each snap of my hips, the headboard bumped against the wall. We’d receive knowing glances from elderly Miss Malings when we saw her the next time, but no way in hell could I hold back now.
I could barely keep it together anymore—the heat, the delicious friction on my cock was too much—when Noah’s whole body stiffened. He clamped around my cock, the vise-like grip tripping me over the edge just when I felt him spill his seed between us. I gave in to the inevitable and rode out my climax.
Chapter Five
IT TOOK us both a while to stop trembling and gasping for air. It took me even longer to realize I was sprawled on top of Noah, in all likelihood smothering him. With great effort, I hoisted myself up on my elbows, reducing the pressure on Noah’s chest.