Windows in the Mist

by Trina Lane

  “Holy fucking shit,” Javier whispered.

  Malaki was in the process of releasing the closure of his pants when Javier placed his hands on top, halting him.

  “Let me.”

  Mal panted with each brush of Javier’s fingers against his skin. He was just evil enough to tease the larger man with a lighter touch than they both craved, but the devil turned against him when Malaki tightened his abs and several hundred synapses in Javier’s brain exploded at the sight of the muscles that Malaki could easily have used to overpower him, but instead remained cemented in front of him.

  His fingers shook while he fumbled with the button and zipper of Malaki’s pants, but finally the stubborn fasteners gave way and the slacks dropped to the floor. All that hid the full glory of Malaki’s body from him was a tight pair of boxer briefs.

  “What in the hell is that?”

  Malaki kicked off his pants, socks and shoes then stood facing Javier with his hands on his hips. “What?”

  Javier pointed at the briefs. “That.”

  “If you have to ask, then you’re rustier at this then I thought.”

  He jerked his head up, tearing his gaze away from the spectacle in front of him. Malaki’s smile lit up the room, but still wasn’t as bright as the glowing images decorating his underwear.

  “Haven’t you ever seen a cat riding a rainbow unicorn through outer space before?”

  “Sorry, LSD is not on my list of medications. Those are ridiculous. You know that, right?”

  “Sadly, they were a gag gift from my sister. I tried to hate them, but the damn things are just so comfortable. Now, are you going to keep asking questions about my underwear or can we move on to what’s beneath them?”

  Malaki started towards him and Javier became the prey in their little game. He took several steps back, thankful that Malaki kept an uncluttered home. He couldn’t seem to look away from Malaki’s eyes. It was so easy to visualize the primitive warriors of his lineage simmering beneath the surface of his cosmopolitan veneer. It wasn’t until he saw the doorframe out of the corner of his eyes that he realized Malaki had herded him into the bedroom.

  He shook off the lustful hypnosis and started to undo the buttons of his polo. He went to lift off his shirt, but stopped. A clammy sweat beaded on his body where moments ago he’d been about to burn up from desire.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I just realized that I’m about to be naked.”

  “That’s generally how this works. I’ve done it quick and dirty a few times in my life when only the necessary bits were exposed, but that’s not where I thought we wanted to take this.”

  “No, it’s just that nobody’s seen me naked since… I have scars. Lots of them. And not all of them are surgical.”

  Malaki froze. “What do you need?”

  That was a question he didn’t know how to answer. His scars didn’t bother him, not really. Not in a way that many would assume. He didn’t see them as weakness or badges of honor. They didn’t make him feel particularly ugly, but he also knew they weren’t exactly nice to look at. Some of them were still sensitive and irritating, but touching them didn’t send him into a tailspin of flashbacks featuring how they’d been made. They were just there. But would they turn Malaki off? Would all their talk of being equal change once the other man was faced with the reality of Javier’s imprisonment?

  “I need them not to matter to you. But I have no right to ask that. And you really have no control over your thoughts and feelings.”

  “I can’t say they won’t matter to me, because you matter to me. But I will say that scars in any form will not define you in my eyes.”

  “Fair enough.”

  He whipped off his clothes as quickly as possible, stripping down to nothing, and presented himself for inspection. He stood tall, but couldn’t help closing his eyes. His remaining senses told him that Malaki was near. The scent of his aftershave, the sound of his steps on the floor—the hairs on Javier’s body stood up as he detected Malaki’s approach.

  “Can I touch you?”

  He nodded, unsure of his voice

  “Do you want me to keep the lights off?”

  “I don’t care.”

  Seconds of silence almost had him opening his eyes.

  “Yes, you do. You’re standing here waiting to hear my verdict, but hiding from me at the same time.”

  He’s right, damn him. Javier swallowed and let Malaki in. All the way in.

  “There you are,” Malaki said, as he cupped Javier’s face. “Eyes on me. See what I see. Hear what I say.”

  Malaki kissed him briefly, the touch so fleeting Javier would almost say it hadn’t happened, but every time their lips touched, Javier was one hundred and ten percent aware of it. Malaki ’s gaze zeroed in on the brand Luca had burned into his flesh over his left ribcage. He traced the raised lines then covered the scar tissue with his palm. The warmth of Malaki’s hand soothed Javier like a heat pad on aching muscles. Mal gave the same treatment to the lines that crisscrossed his chest, abdomen and back from the whips. Javier gasped as Mal kissed the points where he’d been connected to electrocution cables.

  “I’m glad the fucker is dead. The how and why each one happened doesn’t matter. I’ll listen if you want or need to talk about it, but all that really matters to me is that you’re here, you’re mine and we’re looking toward the future together.”

  Whoa, that sounds really permanent, but not necessarily wrong.

  “Get those stupid shorts off and get on the bed.”

  Malaki smiled. “Yes, sir.”

  That sounded so wrong coming from him, and Javier loved it because he still wanted Mal with every fiber of his being. It was freeing in a way, because in that moment he knew they could do this. He could be this man, the man for Malaki, without the fear that his old life was lurking in the background, whispering in his ear.

  Chapter Ten

  “Hand me two of those pillows then lift your ass.”

  He admired the glute bridge move that Malaki showed off then shoved the pillows beneath his hips, elevating his backside off the mattress.

  “Now, spread your legs.”

  Javier heard the steel in his voice and took stock of the situation. He didn’t think Malaki would mind him getting a little toppy. In fact, the man had said some aggressiveness turned him on. Javier smiled at the little hitch he heard in Malaki’s breath. Smiling during sex was new to him and he found that he liked it. Mal bent his knees then spread his thighs, exposing himself.

  “Where’s your slick?”

  “Where else would it be?”

  Javier headed for the bedside, but stopped when he saw Mal holding up the tube.

  “Stashed under the pillow from the last time I jacked off thinking about you.”

  He grabbed the lube and climbed onto the bed next to Malaki.

  “Did you play with your ass, or just stroke your cock till you cried my name?” A sense of satisfaction overcame him when Mal’s ass clenched. He got a good amount of lube on a couple of his fingers then circled the small opening that beckoned to him. “God, that’s beautiful. I can’t wait to get inside you.”

  “Then stop talking and—”

  He plunged two fingers into Mal’s channel, then stilled. Malaki’s groan vibrated from deep within his body and up through Javier where they connected. Malaki bucked his hips, trying to achieve deeper penetration, but Javier held his hips still. The scowl that marred his man’s expressive face made Javier’s smile bigger.

  “What’s the matter, beautiful?”

  “Your fingers are buried in my ass, and I thought we were finally getting somewhere, but now you’ve developed some kind of fuckalysis.”

  “Fuckalysis? Can you tell me what the ICD-10 code would be for that?”

  “Are you kidding me?”

  “What’s the rush? Do you have someplace else to be?”

  Javier pressed the bundle of nerves inside, and Mal’s cry made Javier realize this wa
s a level of control that he still relished.

  “Fuck me, Javi,” Malaki whispered.

  He stroked the silky inner walls of Mal’s channel, stretching him slowly. He continued to move his fingers, enjoying the heat and his quiet, needy sounds. Malaki’s large form took over the entire center of the bed. Javier had just enough space next to him to get an up-close inspection of the cut muscles Mal worked so hard to maintain. The pillows beneath Mal’s hips tilted his pelvis, allowing Javier easy access to his ass. Javier licked his lips at the sight of Mal’s dick pointed toward the ceiling. The dark flesh was thick, just like the rest of him, and Javier swallowed the saliva that pooled with his anticipation of taking that cock deep in his throat. Mal didn’t have much body hair, and Javier didn’t know if that was by choice or due to his Polynesian ancestry. Either way, there was little to obscure his view of Mal’s body with his legs spread wide and his knees slightly bent.

  There was nothing delicate or slender in any strong swell or curve. Malaki was a modern-day warrior whose blood ran with the lineage of chiefs, but right then all that strength was laid out before Javier in supplication. Javier scissored his fingers, and Mal lifted his hips a fraction while his toes curled.

  “Please…”

  “Don’t worry. We’re getting there. Maybe a little reward is in order for being so good and letting me explore your tight ass.”

  Mal’s cock head gleamed with pre-cum, the tiny slit glinting with promise. Javier maneuvered himself up onto an elbow then bent over and took a taste. Just one flick of his tongue and Malaki’s flavor exploded across his taste buds. It had been so long since he’d tasted a man.

  “You’re delicious.”

  Mal dug his teeth into his lower lip and gripped the covers as if his life depended on it. Javier kissed the tight knuckles.

  “You know, I really like how you keep your sac hairless but allow some tantalizing curls to highlight your impressive cock? Right now, I can see just how flushed your skin is, stretched taut in need of my touch.”

  He withdrew his fingers and applied a fresh coating of lube. Malaki’s body sucked Javier in greedily as he pressed three fingers forward.

  “I can’t wait to feel this hot, tight ass clenching around my cock.”

  Mal’s abs rippled as he drew in a deep breath. Javier finally gave in to his urge to trace the ink that decorated his lover’s torso. He licked the intricate maze around Mal’s pectoral, biting down with slow firm pressure around the peaked nipple.

  “Javi… I’m…you’re gonna make me come!”

  “Not yet.”

  Mal’s channel grasped Javier’s fingers as he withdrew. Gloving up his cock took more concentration than ever before in his life. A good layer of slick and he knelt between Malaki’s spread legs.

  “You ready for this?”

  “Fuck, yes. Take me hard.”

  If Mal wanted it hard, Javier had no trouble with that. He hoisted one of the tree limbs that acted as Malaki’s legs onto his shoulder, twisting his body slightly to the side. Javier lined himself up and penetrated Mal’s ass with all the authority of days past. The tight heat that surrounded his cock had him gasping and clutching Malaki as their curses and praises mingled together. He thrust deep, then paused. He opened his eyes to see a distinct flush beneath Mal’s bronze skin.

  The effort he put into the snap of his hips had sweat trickling down his back and the muscles throughout his body screaming with exertion. He loved this. Fucking a man fed his soul in a way that he could never eloquently put into words. Fucking Malaki was unlike any previous experience. He drove his cock deep, pegging his lover’s gland with every thrust. Mal gasped and clawed at the sheets. He dug deep, too, for the willpower to hold back his own release, but the way Malaki was working his body in rhythm with Javier’s made it more difficult with every second. Malaki’s eyes flashed open and Javier was pulled into their hypnotic stare.

  “Please.”

  He grasped Mal’s dick and stroked with a grip that commanded without words. An anguished moan echoed throughout the room as though ripped from Malaki’s soul. His seed spilled over Javier’s hand in offering. His orgasm rushed through him and he came with a triumphant yell.

  He carefully withdrew from Malaki’s body and lowered his leg to the bed. He rolled to one side and collapsed, gasping to catch his breath.

  “That was…you are…fuck me.”

  “We’ll try that later. I think you wrung me dry.”

  “You know, that Fort Knox joke wasn’t too far from the truth. Nobody’s even touched my ass.”

  Malaki turned to face Javier. “Really? Not even a little?”

  He shook his head. “But we’ll figure it out together, right?”

  Malaki cupped Javier’s face and pulled him in for a kiss. “Right. Because I’m telling you right here and now…you are mine.”

  Malaki had claimed him and Javier’s heart throbbed with happiness. It was a whole new world for him, but he was looking forward to exploring every twist and turn.

  * * * *

  “Five… Four… Three… Two… One!”

  “Happy New Year!”

  Malaki’s ears rang with the cheers of fifty people. All around him, couples paired off for their first kiss of 2018. He looked around for Javier, but his lover had disappeared a while ago with Everett and Henry into the crowd filling the barn at the Brazos Walker Ranch. The party was the first of the kind he’d ever attended. Malaki typically celebrated the New Year quietly in his apartment in whatever city he’d landed in for the moment. The noise, the music, the crowd were one part overwhelming and one part contagious.

  “If I’d known you were such a dancing queen, I’d have been showing you off in the clubs.”

  He would have spun around, but Javier locked his arms around his waist. He leaned back and moaned when Javier scraped his teeth on the back of his neck.

  “I didn’t know it myself. I’ve never had the desire to go deaf or get a blinding headache from swiveling lights until I had the opportunity to eye fuck you through a mass of gyrating bodies.”

  Javier came around and wrapped his arms around Malaki’s neck. “Thank you. I know you, Brandon and Tyler basically planned this party for me.”

  He grasped Javier’s hips and pulled him in closer. “I don’t know what you could possibly be talking about.”

  Javier’s eyes darkened and the lights cutting across the room highlighted the sharp angles of his cheekbones and jaw. His tawny beige skin glowed with a sheen of perspiration from dancing, and even through the sea of bodies engulfing them, Malaki was able to pick out his lover’s unique scent.

  “You know one of the things I love most about you?” Javier asked.

  “What’s that?”

  “The fact that you always seem to know what I need even before I do. Just like this whole holiday season. I’m quite sure you don’t typically build gingerbread houses, bake cookies, watch cheesy Christmas movies. And I know for damn sure that you’ve never played Elf on the Shelf before.”

  “Guilty. I had to Google that one, but hey, it was fun for the week. I think my favorite one was finding Edwin in the hot tub riding Ken.”

  Javier’s laughter was more musical than the most popular song and his smile brighter than the moon reflecting off snow-covered peaks. Malaki pulled Javier out of the crowd and over to one of the semi-private corners.

  “Look, all kidding aside. You’ve worked so hard to get your life back, but we haven’t really taken the time to celebrate yet. We all thought this could be your new year of life, so to speak.”

  “I think that’s one of the most sappily endearing and thoughtful things I’ve ever heard.”

  Javier fisted his shirt and tugged him till their chests collided. Malaki’s pulse pounded as Javier gripped his neck and brought their mouths together. He pulled their bodies into a deeper, slower kiss, and hooked his arms around Javier’s broad shoulders. Javier slid his hand down to grip Malaki’s ass, his desire and hunger urging Mal’s mouth
open again. Blood pulsated through his veins and heart in a way that only Javier had ever incited.

  “Let’s take a walk.”

  They snuck outside and even Mal shivered with the blast of cold air compared to the warmth of the barn. An unusual winter front had invaded since Christmas, and he looked over at Javier, who didn’t have as much muscle mass to generate heat. He wrapped his arm around his boyfriend and they meandered over towards one of the corrals. The horses were tucked away in their stables, no doubt under cozy blankets, knowing Tyler and way he spoiled those animals. Of course, if he had a cool million tied up in livestock, he’d probably treat them like babies too.

  Javier took a long breath and sighed. “You know, the first time I came here, I’d never really been around horses before. But it didn’t take me long to realize that these animals are special.”

  “I know. Today I kept looking at the stallions and thinking they’re kings of their realm. There’s just something that draws one’s gaze, with their compelling presence.”

  Javier nudged his shoulder and pointed out in the field. The nearly full moon highlighted two bodies locked together in an embrace.

  “Looks like we’re not the only ones who had this idea.”

  “It’s Brandon and Tyler. You know, when they first hooked up, I was a bit of a jack-off. I’d known both of them separately in the different phases of my life and, as selfish as it sounds, I was mad because it felt like the worlds that I’d worked so hard to put behind me were being shoved back in my face. But it wasn’t long before I recognized how perfect they are for each other. Brandon has this hardness that Tyler softens without smoothing out the edges to take away his personality and Tyler needed someone who could accept his need to be a caregiver without expecting him to be a sugar daddy.”

  He’d seen exactly what Javier was describing over the last several days they’d spent on the ranch. Brandon often wore a deadpan expression worthy of a poker championship finals, until the moment Tyler appeared, often carrying the scents of sun, horses and hay. Then the mask would crack and Brandon glowed from the inside out. Malaki’s people were not horsemen. He was a Pacific Islander to his soul. But even he could appreciate the rugged appeal of the man who’d spent countless hours and sweat molding this ranch and his horse breeding program into the success it had become. He looked down at Javier. Their gazes met and it felt as though their hearts collided, halting the progression of space and time.