by L. A. Witt
He tilted his head, slid a hand around the back of my neck and kissed me. The instant our lips met, every bit of tension in my body melted away. He’d said last night that he still wanted to see me, and I’d hoped to God he wasn’t all talk, but kissing was believing. He was here, and this was real. My father’s intrusion had given us some speed bumps and some reasons to watch our backs, but at the end of the day, Aiden was here, gently parting my lips and deepening a kiss that was turning my knees to water.
This wasn’t the frantic kiss we’d shared at the library or just before my dad crashed our party, but it was hot. Jesus Christ. His tongue gently nudged my lips apart, and he held me close to him as we slowly, lazily explored each other’s mouths.
Pulling back, I met his eyes. I reached for his face, but he flinched a little. “Uh. Sorry. I’m—”
“No, it’s okay.” He gestured at the healing cut above his eyebrow. “It’s still tender.”
“I wasn’t going to touch that part. Promise.”
He hesitated but then relaxed. I hesitated too, but when I was sure he was really okay with it, I reached up again. He closed his eyes as my hand drifted across his cheek. The hint of stubble darkening his jaw was rough against my fingertips. His hair was cool under my fingers, and when I curled them slightly, he leaned in and kissed me again.
Fuck, now we were back to where we’d left off last night. Our erections rubbed together through our shorts, and even the humid, tropical air seemed cool compared to the heat of Aiden’s body against mine.
Now let’s see where this would’ve gone if we hadn’t been interrupted…
My father’s intrusion flickered through my mind, and I couldn’t help tensing.
“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked, barely breaking the kiss.
I pulled back enough to see his eyes. “Are you sure about this?”
“Absolutely.” His brow furrowed, and as he touched my face, he whispered, “Are you?”
My mouth had gone dry, so I just nodded.
He inclined his head. “Are you?”
“I…” I chewed my lip. “I want to. Bad. But after what happened last night…”
He touched my face. “We both know this won’t be easy, and we’ll have to lay low, but I don’t want to stop. I can deal with your dad. Yeah, he’s made some threats to my career, but—”
“What?” My heart dropped. “Shit, I don’t want to put your career—”
“He won’t know.” Aiden ran his fingers through my hair. “But what about you? Will you be okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll… He won’t kick me out. He knows the only option for me is to go home and live with my mother, and he’d let me hold all-male orgies in our living room before he sent me back to her.”
Aiden’s eyebrows jumped. “That bad?”
“That bad.” I made a gesture like I was tilting a bottle into my mouth.
Aiden grimaced. “Oh. Yeah. Not good.”
“No, definitely not.”
“He won’t kick you out, though, thank God.” He took my hand in his and held it between our chests. “As long as you’ll be okay, then—”
“But what about you?” I squeezed his hand because I was afraid he was going to get smart and let mine go at any moment. “You said my dad has already threatened you.”
Aiden nodded. “Yeah, he did. He threatened to send me to Bahrain or Diego Garcia.” He met my eyes. “Let him blow all the smoke he wants.” He cupped my cheek with his free hand. “I want to see where this goes. I’m not going anywhere.”
“But is he blowing smoke?”
Aiden shrugged. “I hope so.”
“And if he’s not?”
Aiden broke eye contact and didn’t speak.
“If you can’t do this, I understand.” I ran my fingers along his forearm.
“I probably shouldn’t.” He brought my hand up to his lips. “But I want to. We’ll just have to be discreet.”
I nodded. “We can do that. There’s plenty of places we can go on this island.”
For the first time since we’d started this uncomfortable conversation, Aiden smiled. “You’d know better than I would, but I do know there are resorts and hotels all over the island. Hell, there are military lodges on the other bases. Whatever we have to do.” He pressed his lips to mine. “We don’t even have to sleep together. Just…just for some privacy.” Another kiss, longer this time. “So I can have you all to myself for a night.”
I shivered. “You have me all to yourself now.”
Aiden held me tighter. “And there’s always places like this.”
I glanced around, wondering when I’d completely forgotten we were standing on a beach with the tide lapping at the sand a few feet away. “This is as good a place as any, isn’t it?”
Aiden kissed my forehead. “It’s perfect. And there are so many things I want to do with you now that we’re here.”
“Such as?”
He met my eyes. “How much can you handle?”
“I…” I had no idea. None. Even last night, I hadn’t been sure where things would go, only that I didn’t want to stop.
“There’s no rush.” He ran his fingers through my hair. “We can do this a little at a time.”
“I have no idea what we’re doing,” I said. “I just know I don’t want to stop.”
Aiden leaned in closer. “Then we won’t.”
Jesus. His kiss. His fucking kiss. Nothing in the world fucked with my ability to think rationally like Aiden’s gentle, insistent kiss.
“Why the hell are we standing?” he whispered. “So much more I can do if we’re…” He took both my hands, and as he lowered himself onto the sand, he gently tugged me down with him. As he lay back, I started to lie down beside him, but he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me on top of him. The sand was coarse and hot under my knees, but I wouldn’t have cared if I were kneeling on pavement. Not with the way Aiden held me close to him and kissed me. One taste of him, and I was too far gone to care about consequences.
He slid a hand over the front of my shorts, and my vision blurred.
“Like that?” he asked between kisses.
“Fuck yeah.”
His lips curved against mine. “Thought so.”
I might’ve had a witty response to that, but it disappeared when Aiden started on my zipper. I suddenly couldn’t even remember how to form words. Somehow my lips knew how to respond to his and kept moving and teasing him back when he teased me, but my brain went blank and the world spun around me as he undid my shorts.
And then his palm was against my dick. Even kissing went out the window right then.
“Shit…”
“You okay?” He sounded playful, like he knew damn well I was just fine.
“Uh-huh.”
He laughed softly. As he fidgeted under me, it took me a second to figure out what he was doing. Then I realized he was unbuttoning and unzipping his own shorts. Oh God. Oh my fucking God. Please, please, don’t let anything interrupt this…
Aiden wrapped his fingers around both our cocks and damn near blew my mind. The underside of his cock was against the underside of mine. It was weird, having another guy’s dick this close to mine. And, God, he was hard. Easily as hard as I was. Knowing I turned him on… Fuck, what a rush.
Without even thinking about it, I rubbed my cock against his.
Aiden’s breath caught. “Holy shit.”
I hesitated. “Is this okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah.” He put his other hand on my hips and encouraged me to move, pressing against me and stroking us both as I fucked his fist. “Keep…keep doing that.”
I kept doing that. I’d never felt anything like this. I had no idea what I was doing, only that my body wanted to move like this, and Aiden kept egging me on, and if we did this much longer I was going to come. Fuck, just being against Aiden was going to get me off, but the way we moved together, cocks rubbing against each other like this, I was going to lose my fucking mind.
“That feel good?” he
asked.
“Mm-hmm.” I kissed him but kept running out of air. I moved faster, and he moved too, and, Jesus, he knew exactly how to move to turn “feels good” into “oh my God”. I tried to imagine how this would feel if his cock were inside me—or mine were inside him—but I couldn’t hold on to any thoughts at all besides how good it felt right then, skin rubbing skin and bodies moving together like they knew how to do this even when my mind was completely useless.
Aiden broke the kiss with a gasp. His eyes flew open and his back arched. He thrust against me harder, the friction making my eyes water and pushing me closer and closer to what was absolutely going to be an amazing orgasm.
He groaned softly and shuddered. “Holy…fuck.”
And just like that, I came. I thrust hard against him, not even caring if it hurt, because, Jesus Christ, the only thing that mattered was fucking against him, thrusting, pumping, keeping my orgasm going as long as possible. Aiden whimpered, and he was fucking against me too, his semen mixed with mine between us.
I relaxed. Then he did. Our foreheads touched, and we both panted.
“That was hot,” he murmured.
“Mm-hmm.” I licked my lips, the tip of my tongue brushing his and making both of us shiver. “If it’s this good now…”
Aiden’s lips curved into a grin, and he kissed me. “Just say the word, and I will fuck you until you can’t walk.”
Another shudder went through me. “Promise?”
Aiden kissed me again. “Promise.”
Chapter Eleven
Aiden
I paced beside my car in the parking lot outside the shopping center down the street from my apartment.
This was a bad idea. A stupid one. Just like every time Connor and I had sneaked off to a beach or a restaurant or wherever over the last couple of weeks. We’d seen each other almost every day since we’d agreed to fly below his father’s radar, and I had the same ball of nerves in my gut every single time. The same certainty that we were going to get caught, that we were idiots, that I should really just tell him this was a bad idea and go our separate ways. Just call it quits before General Bradshaw made mincemeat of my career.
But that ball of nerves turned into something entirely different the instant Connor’s car came into view. As it always was, just seeing that brown Nissan was enough to make my heart flutter, and when he stepped out of the driver’s side, I couldn’t help smiling. What was left of my good sense went out the window as he came closer.
Yep, this was a bad idea. And nope, I wasn’t bailing on it. If anything, I was tempted to suggest we stay at my apartment for a few hours like we’d done a couple of times, but Connor had said he’d thought of a great place to spend this afternoon.
We exchanged glances as he stopped in front of me. Much as I wanted to kiss him, that wasn’t a good idea, and I at least had the presence of mind to not push my luck. For one, we’d never get out of this parking lot and neither of us had a backseat big enough to avoid some serious neck and back pain. For another, well, we were still a little too close to a base full of people who might recognize either of us.
Hooking my thumbs in my pockets to keep from reaching for him, I said, “So what adventure do you have planned for us today?”
Connor’s hands mirrored mine. “I was thinking we could check out Nakijin Castle.”
“Another castle?”
“There’s a bunch of them.”
“How long’s the drive?”
“Pretty long.”
“Awesome. Let’s go.”
I loved the long drives. We’d explored all kinds of places, and my favorites were the more remote ones. They were usually cool in their own right, but spending an hour or two in the car with Connor, just cruising through villages and winding coastal roads, was the best.
~*~
Nakijin Castle was on the west side of the island, half an hour or so east of Nago. We wound through some sugarcane fields, a couple of villages and some stretches that were shaded by a thick canopy of trees, before the signs finally guided us into a parking lot beside a small visitor center. We paid the entry fee—just a few bucks—and headed up to the castle.
The castle was high up on a hill overlooking the East China Sea. I wasn’t sure if the walls had been rebuilt or if they were still intact from the fourteenth century, but the structure was pretty fucking impressive. I’d only seen two other castles so far—Katsuren with Connor earlier this week and Nakagusuku from a distance—and they were all pretty cool. Huge stone walls, foundations from buildings that were there in the fourteenth century—they were so fascinating I almost ran into three spiderwebs. Which wouldn’t have been all that unusual or startling if not for the fact that the webs were bigger than bicycle wheels and their occupants the size of my hand.
“Jesus Christ.” I stumbled back from damn near getting acquainted with one of the black-and-yellow spiders. “Those things are huge!”
Connor laughed. “Just be glad they’re not poisonous. They’re about the only thing on this island that aren’t.”
“Well. That’s good.” I eyed the thing, trying not to think about how many I’d passed without even knowing it, especially en route to Hiji Falls. “Looks like they can still bite, though.”
“Of course they can. And it’d probably hurt like hell.”
“Ya think? I’ll keep my hands—holy fuck. Does that one have a cicada in its web?”
Connor craned his neck. “Yeah, looks like it does.”
“Oh my God.” The insect was the size of my thumb and was probably little more than an appetizer for that…that…thing.
Something brushed the back of my neck, and I made a sound I’m not even a little bit proud of as I tried to smack the thing away.
Connor laughed so hard he doubled over.
Still swiping at my neck, I glared at him. “Asshole.”
He batted his eyes. “What? I didn’t know you were an arachnophobe.”
“You learn something new every day,” I grumbled.
Resting a hand on my hip, he kissed me. “You’re adorable when you’re—”
“Shut up.” I laughed, playfully pushing him away. He chuckled, and I drew him back in for a longer kiss. “You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“Are you complaining?”
“Not at all.”
We wandered around the castle for a while, checking out the walls and gardens. There weren’t a lot of people around, fortunately. Just a few Japanese tourists. Not a single American in sight, which meant not a single person who might recognize either of us. The more we walked around, the more I relaxed, letting myself enjoy being with Connor and not sweating bullets over getting caught.
Down below the castle was a big enclosure that resembled a horse pasture. Just some grass on a slope surrounded by the high rock wall. As we walked around that enclosure along the foot of the castle, I said, “Think your dad suspects anything? That you’re out with me?”
Connor laughed. “Nah. He’s used to me taking off for hours at a time. Especially when I’m pissed off, and believe me, he knows I’m pissed off.”
“I assume that means he hasn’t followed you again?”
“Not that I know of. I think he fully expects me to go behind his back and see you, but he’s probably pretty sure he scared you enough you’ll avoid me like the plague.”
My stomach started to knot again. If I had an ounce of common sense, I would avoid Connor like the plague, but all that common sense went straight out the window any time he looked at me or touched me.
Connor stopped walking. I did too, and as I faced him, he touched my arm.
“I don’t want to fuck up your career,” he said. “If you can’t do this, just say so.”
“As long as we’re discreet, we’ll be okay.” I brought his hand up to my lips. “Don’t sweat it.”
“But you have to work with my dad.”
“And you have to live with him.”
He grimaced. “Don’t remind me.�
�
I kissed his forehead. “We’ll be fine. We can do this without him catching on.”
“Just say so if you don’t think—”
I stopped him with a soft kiss. “Let’s not go there. I want to be here with you, and I couldn’t care less what your dad thinks.”
He searched my eyes for a moment, then smiled. “I couldn’t care less either.”
“Good.”
We continued wandering around the enclosure and then headed back up into the castle and all the way to the uppermost enclosure. From here, there was a 360-degree view of this part of the island—clusters of concrete houses, huge expanses of green forests, a patchwork of farms, highways and, of course, the ocean. I could imagine a king standing up here centuries ago, looking out at the land and the ocean.
“Can you imagine living in this place?” I mused. “Back when it was an actual castle, I mean.”
“Hell yeah.” With a smirk, he stretched out his arms. “Everything the light touches would be mine!”
I laughed. “It’d all be yours. The entire tree-covered rock.”
He shrugged. “Shit, I’d take it.”
“You and me both. Not sure I’d want the mortgage, though.”
“If you’re a king, you don’t have a mortgage. You just take it from the other guy.”
“Good point.” Craning my neck, I leaned out to look down at the forest below. A stone shifted under my foot. I flailed and instinctively reached for Connor, and he caught my arm.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” I regained my footing without losing too much more of my dignity. “Just need to watch where I’m putting my feet, apparently.”
“Good idea.” He loosened his grasp on my arm, and let his hand slide down until it found mine. Our fingers slipped between each other’s, and it felt perfectly normal.
As we walked on, he glanced at the sky. “We probably should make our way back to the parking lot. The sun’ll be going down soon.”
I shrugged. “We’ve got time.”
He glanced at me, and I stopped. “I’m not in any hurry,” I said. “Not unless you are.”
“Absolutely not. Just don’t want you to get bored when we can’t actually see anything.”