A wave of possessiveness filled Neil. Rob looked so fucking gorgeous, lying there. How could Neil love someone so much? They never did say the three little words, despite knowing the truth for the longest time. Back then, Neil had been terrified of rejection. The world said this kind of love was forbidden and wrong. Neil remembered the day Clarissa found out.
After Don’s death, they took every opportunity to be together. Certain Clarissa would be gone for her weekly church meeting, they thought they’d had the house to themselves. Clarissa walked in on them, screwing each other on the kitchen counter. She hadn’t pulled a knife or torn them apart, but Neil remembered the fury that tore through her uptight features. Without another word, she headed up the stairs and locked her bedroom door.
They both knew something wasn’t right. Neil had called 911 while Rob had tried to reason with her.
It took the paramedics half an hour to arrive and break her door open. To Rob’s knowledge, Clarissa never bothered to fix the grotesque scars on her wrists. She wore them openly, flaunted them in their faces every day until something inside Neil broke. Neil left the moment they graduated. Rob was made of stronger stuff. He’d stayed, but neither of them came out right again, not since Don’s death.
With Clarissa now gone from their lives, Neil could breathe easier. This felt like the beginning of the rest of their lives. So this was what freedom tasted like. When Neil had left Rob, he hadn’t really been free, not without his soul mate by his side.
“I love you, Rob.”
****
For a second, all Rob could do was stare at Neil. Had he imagined Neil saying those three words?
“I love you too, Neil.”
Uttering those words felt like a gun had gone off inside him. They’d hidden their love so long from the world that it had begun to feel so natural, doing everything in the dark, when the world turned its eyes from them. With the weight in his soul freed, Rob felt like they could accomplish anything.
“Now,” Rob began, gaze settling on Neil’s thickening erection. “Fuck me like you mean it.”
“So crude, baby. I like it. Condoms and lube?”
“In the drawer.”
Rob watched Neil walk to the drawer by the side of the bed, practically yanking it open to get to his prize. Neil let out a curse.
“What’s wrong?”
“Lube,” Neil said, holding the tube up. “But no condoms. If you can wait, I’ll rush to the store.”
“There’s no need for that. I’m clean.”
“So am I.” Neil drew a shaky breath when Rob’s implication sunk. “Rob, think about this.”
“What’s there to think about? Neil, you’re the first man to take my virginity and you’ll be the last man I’ll ever be with, until death do us part.”
“You really mean that?”
“Come ride me.”
Neil took position between his legs. Heart thumping, Rob could hardly wait. Neil hefted his legs above his shoulder and uncapped the lube, applying a generous amount on his fingers and down Rob’s crack. Rob moaned at the feel of Neil’s finger, pushing into his opening. How many nights had he spent, alone in his bed, fucking his hand to the images of Neil doing exactly this?
“Be patient, baby. I don’t want this to hurt.”
“I want it to hurt, to feel you deep in me.”
Neil paused before sliding a second digit in, stretching Rob for his access. “I know.”
“You know everything about me then?” Rob teased, groaning when Neil lowered his body against his skin.
Neil kissed him, making his insides melt. He didn’t remember what he wanted to say.
“Not everything, but we have the rest of our lives to find out.”
Neil positioned his tip against Rob’s entrance. Groaning when Neil thrust his dick inside him, Rob kept his bound hands above his head. Needing something to hold onto, Rob fisted the sheet, moaning when Neil sheathed himself fully inside him.
“Breathe, Rob.”
Rob obeyed, forgetting how huge Neil was. He lifted his hands, putting them around Neil’s neck. The burn would fade away soon enough and pleasure would replace pain.
Neil’s breath was warm against his ear. “This first time I fuck you, it will be hard and fast so you’ll remember me and how perfect we are together.”
Beginning to move, Neil pumped in and out of him. Rob bit Neil’s shoulder, loving the taste of him on his lips. Finding a rhythm, Neil drove in and out of him, picking up speed. Neil fucked him deeper, the force of his thrusts making the bed underneath them vibrate. Groaning, Rob thrust his hips, eager to receive Neil’s cock.
Neil must have shifted his angle because his next entry sent Rob’s mind reeling and made him gasp in surprise. Grinning, Neil gripped his hips—hard enough to bruise, but Rob didn’t mind. He missed waking up in the morning and looking at the marks Neil left behind on his body. There was simply something primal and possessive about the gesture that stoked the fire inside.
All the years of misery and waiting had finally built up Rob’s longing into a crazy inferno that couldn’t be contained—not that Rob wanted the flames contained.
Neil aimed for his sweet spot repeatedly, driving Rob to the limits of his control. Balls drawn tight against his body, Rob sunk his nails into Neil’s muscled shoulder, but Neil didn’t seem to mind. If nothing else, Neil was spurred on, pushing in and out of him relentlessly and without mercy—just the way Rob wanted and had dreamt of for the longest time.
“Give it to me, Rob,” Neil ordered.
Hearing the firm authority in Neil’s voice had been enough to push Rob over the edge. Head reeling, heart hammering against his chest, Rob exploded. Every muscle in his body relaxed and he coated Neil’s ribs and chest with cum. Neil pushed into him several times before letting out a triumphant growl and shooting his load inside Rob’s waiting ass.
“Fuck,” Neil whispered.
“Fuck,” Rob agreed with a shaky laugh.
He managed to tug the end of the tie loose with his fingers. The fabric fluttered onto Neil’s back. With his hands free, Rob stroked Neil’s back. Pressed together like this, Rob could hear Neil’s heart beating calm and steady. For the next few sweet seconds, they said nothing.
They didn’t need to.
Epilogue
Two Months Later
“Looks like you hit your sales target this month, Neil. Good job,” Gordon said, nodding to him from the far end of the conference table.
Relieved his boss had shifted to a new target, Neil checked his phone under the table. No new messages from Rob. A little worrying, but given the circumstances—reasonable. Neil had stayed two more weeks, helping Rob with Clarissa’s arrangements, before returning to his apartment in the city. They met often. Rob would drive out on Friday evening and arrive at his doorstep Saturday morning.
The arrangement would be temporary. Last night, Rob told him the sale of their old house had gone through. By the end of this week, Rob would be moving in. Neil’s lips curved into a smile. After all they’d been through, it was finally happening. They were going to live together. The calendar on his phone confirmed the date—Monday. Four days of hell, of waiting until Saturday arrived.
Neil could do this. Hell, he’d waited for years for Rob. He’d wait an entire lifetime if need be, but time seemed to drag on.
Someone gave him a shake on the shoulder. Neil looked up, blinking at Ken, one of his close friends at the office. “Neil, the meeting’s ended.”
“Right, thanks,” Neil answered, feeling sheepish. He closed his tablet with the note taking app absent of anything written and followed Ken out.
“Good thing the meeting ended on time. The guys and I plan to hit the usual bar. Want to come?” Ken asked.
They walked out of the conference room and neared their cubicles, but something—a familiar figure—caught Neil’s eye. A man stood by the reception table and the sound of his laugh jolted Neil awake. It couldn’t be, but he met Rob’s amused eyes and g
rin across the cubicles.
Neil halted in his footsteps. Ken followed his gaze and let out a whistle.
“That your boyfriend, Neil?” Ken teased, looking stumped when Neil met his gaze evenly.
“No,” Neil said in a quiet voice. “That’s the man about to become my husband.”
Ken let out a whoop, thumped him on the back, and sent him stumbling.
“Neil, this nice young lady’s been keeping me company,” Rob said, beaming at him.
“Young lady? My word,” Linda, the forty-three-year old widow who’d been at the firm for a decade, gushed.
Rob always had a way with people, Neil remembered.
“Neil, introduce me to your fiancée,” Ken said, coming by his elbow.
Neil groaned. Ken practically announced the fact to everyone there.
“Fiancée?” Rob asked.
A mischievous glint appeared in his eyes. Neil was tempted to walk up to him and shut Rob up with a rough and bruising kiss. So tempting, but Neil had some measure of self-control. Some days, Neil still couldn’t believe this was all real, that both of them were finally free from the past and free to live life any way they chose.
“Wrong word?” Ken asked. The tease.
To Neil’s surprise, Rob didn’t bite. He looked at Neil for a couple of thoughtful seconds. When Neil crooked a finger, Rob approached him, sinking into his embrace like he knew he’d belonged there all along.
“Are you denying we’re engaged?” Neil asked, no longer caring where they were. He pulled out Rob’s finger, the one with the wedding band, and sucked on it. Someone gasped, probably Ken, because he’d never seen Neil so forward in his relationships.
“We’re more than friends, lovers, or husbands.” Rob didn’t add the last word. Brothers. The rest of the world didn’t need to know. The day Clarissa had been laid to rest, they’d ceased being step-brothers. They were reborn as simply two men who loved each other.
“What then?” Neil asked.
“Soul mates,” Rob finished, locking his arms around Neil’s neck and pulling him in for a kiss. Ken whistled, but he didn’t matter, neither did the rest of the world. Whenever Rob and he were together, only they existed.
They parted. Neil cleared his throat and extended his hand. His mind took him to a time, not long ago, when Rob and he were first introduced by his father. Rob spat in his face, tried to run away, but tripped instead. That twelve-year-old Rob looked so startled when Neil offered him a hand up. Rob reached out, hesitation written on his face back then.
In the present, Rob laced their fingers together without hesitation. Unable to help himself, Neil tugged him close for another kiss. Rob’s familiar taste and heat—Neil could never get enough of it. He pushed his tongue between Rob’s lips and Rob let him deepen the kiss.
“Ready to start our new lives?” Rob asked, panting when Neil pulled away.
They’d given Neil’s office plenty of things to gossip about.
Neil didn’t answer, merely pulled him close and they exited the office together, hands still linked.
The End
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Other Books by Angelique Voisen:
www.evernightpublishing.com/angelique-voisen
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