Behind Iron Lace (13 page)

“What do you want to do? I’ve never known because you never had a backbone long enough to tell me what you want. We eat where I want. We see movies I pick. You let me pick your damned apartment.”

“Because I didn’t want to move here in the first place. I don’t like living in this bug-infested hellhole of a city. I don’t like the heat or the smell or the accent.” He was lying; it hit him square in the chest. He loved the accent, Caleb’s accent. The way he spoke turned him to mush. He could tolerate the heat, and the bugs. It was the loneliness he hated. He hated watching his life crumble around him because he let some woman string him along with the promise of… he couldn’t even remember after all these years. His heart hurt. He was tired of hurting. “And sometimes, when I’m drunk enough, Bailey, I don’t even like you.”

She reacted almost as if Darcy had slapped her, her head snapped up, her eyes became wild, desperate, and her body shook.

“You don’t mean that! Come on, baby, don’t say that. I’ll go down on you. I’ll do whatever you want me to.” She came back to the sofa and straddled his legs. She rubbed her breasts against his chest as she opened his shirt. Her eyes grew round at the marks she found beneath, the teeth imprints, the bruises. He laughed again and before he could stop himself, he flipped her onto her back on the sofa and ground his cock between her legs.

“You’ll let me fuck you hard and fill you full of cum? You’ll let me bite your tits? You’ll let me fuck you from behind? You’ll let me do all of the things you’ve denied me in the past?” He rocked against her stiff body as she moaned and bucked and said yes to everything. “You’re lying, Bailey. You don’t want me like this. This scares the hell out of you, doesn’t it?”

“I’m not frigid, if that’s what you’re implying.” She humped him, moaning prettily. “Fuck me, Darcy, right now, stick it in me and fill me full, baby, I want you so much.”

“I’m not your baby. I’ve never been your baby. There is nothing left for us, Bailey.” He crawled off her and tugged his shirt off. Caleb’s scent was all over it, driving him crazy. He went to his room and pulled out a clean shirt. When he came back she stood in front of the fireplace, her hands on the mantle.

“Marry me anyway. I won’t care if you have sex outside our marriage. I’d always planned to be your wife.” She didn’t turn to look at him. Her voice was calm, too calm, almost dead.

“Whose baby are you carrying, Bai?” He asked and she ducked her head. Suddenly everything made sense. “Is it Chester’s?”

“I don’t know. It could be Chester’s. It should be yours, the last one was yours.”

He froze to the spot almost as if he were paralyzed. “What did you just say?”

“I miscarried your child last summer. I never told you because I was ashamed of what I’d done.”

“You were pregnant, by me, how? We used condoms and I don’t remember one ever breaking.”

“I pierced the packets with a needle, so I would get pregnant, so we could get married, so you would come with me down here. I’m sorry, Darcy.”

“And that’s what this is all about? You wanted to have sex so you could claim this baby is mine? Do I even know you? Ten years, ten years and I thought I knew you. I didn’t notice you’re a scheming, lying little, little…
MERDE
! Jesus, fuck, you need to leave, Bailey. Now, before you regret even coming here.”

“Darcy? Don’t do this. I know you’re angry. Please just let me explain.” The tears she’d been holding back suddenly flowed freely. “I love you. I didn’t plan any of this. Please, sweetheart, just listen to me.”

“Get out, now. I’m close to doing something stupid. And right now, Bailey, I would enjoy the hell out of hurting you. Get out. Go tell Chester you screwed around on him. Go see if he wants to marry you, because I sure as fuck do not ever want to be in the same room with you again.”

With fear in her eyes she raced to the door and let herself out, slamming it behind her.

When he knew she wouldn’t come back, he sat down and cried.

It was late; Caleb sat behind the wheel of his car staring up at the building with longing. He could see him in the window on the third floor. He paced restlessly, coming back and looking out every so often almost as if he were waiting for someone. Caleb wondered if he could sense him sitting down here, wanting him.

Mon Dieu
, but he wanted him, like a drug. He couldn’t get Darcy’s scent out of his memory, the feel of his skin so warm and soft against his was burned forever in his brain. The incredible sounds he made when Caleb made love to him, the way he completely butchered the French language made Caleb laugh. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had made him laugh so much.

He was funny. Caleb suspected he didn’t know it most of the time, he seemed genuinely surprised when Caleb laughed. He touched him in ways that made him feel precious. And curious, incredibly intelligent with an almost childlike sense of curiosity that drove Caleb nuts. He asked questions he shouldn’t. Caleb answered him, even though he hadn’t meant to either time it became too personal. The secrets of his past were dark enough to kill him, he didn’t want anyone knowing the things he’d done, especially Darcy.

His stomach grew tight when he thought about him, the goofy way Darcy looked at him when he finally got the courage to go down on him. The way his mouth had felt on him. He tingled all over just thinking about him. He wanted him so much. He was drawn to him, from the very first second he saw him sitting in his uncle’s bar, wilted from the heat. Caleb knew he had to have him. He wanted to make him his. He wanted to keep him forever.

Love.

This wasn’t love, it was infatuation. If he kept telling himself that, he might actually begin to believe it. It had been years since he allowed himself to follow his true nature. Too many years of denying the craving had led him to this point; sitting stalker-like outside an apartment building at midnight just to catch a glimpse of the object of his infatuation. He was out of his mind crazy. When Darcy came to the window again, he looked down, and this time Caleb opened his door, got down from the car, and just stood there looking up at him.

Darcy saw him, his face relaxed almost as if he was relieved to see him. He smiled, a shy smile, but still a smile and waved him to come up. The buzzer sounded as he got to the door and Caleb vaulted up the stairs to the third floor where he found Darcy waiting in the corridor for him. Out of breath, Caleb just stood there staring at him, drinking him in like water.

Darcy wore a plain white tank shirt over a pair of cotton shorts. His hair was still damp from a shower or a workout or a busted air conditioner, standing out in spikes that made Caleb’s fingers itch. Darcy returned his gaze, his eyes roaming him with the same intensity. Caleb’s knees threatened to go weak. Then they did when Darcy pulled him inside and slammed him against the wall, his mouth and the way he kissed him the only thing keeping him upright.

Strong determined fingers tugged at his shirt, pulling it from his pants. Darcy broke the kiss only long enough to drag it over his head. Caleb threaded his hands in his hair, holding him by the short strands. He took control of his mouth, turning the kiss into something primal. He stopped when Darcy snaked his pants down his hips and wrapped his fingers around him. Caleb trembled at the touch, he couldn’t catch his breath, and he bumped his head against the wall when Darcy moved lower.

Soft lips seared his neck. Sharp teeth scraped his shoulder, his nipples. He could find no words. He didn’t need any. Darcy wanted him and that’s all that mattered, that and the delicious sensation of being loved. He cried out when the slick heat of Darcy’s mouth closed over him, blue eyes stared up at him as he took him deep inside. God, nothing had ever felt like this, nothing.

Darcy used his hands the way he’d taught him, pumping him with one, using it as an extension of his mouth. He reached between his legs with the other to massage his balls, and then he eased a finger inside him, just inside the rim and flexed it. God, he hadn’t taught him that. It caught him off guard, made him quiver, the strong mouth suckled him, and the double sensation pushed him past the point of frenzy. Darcy’s eyes went wide in shock as Caleb came; he gagged then swallowed, drinking him down.

Unable to support himself a second longer, Caleb slid down the wall and collapsed against him. “I missed you so much.” Was all he could think to say before he clamped his mouth over Darcy’s.

“Me too,” he said, the look in his eyes shying away now. He sighed, and leaned his forehead against Caleb’s shoulder. “I want to take you to bed, make love to you, and hold you. I want to wake up in your arms. I think I’m going out of mind I want you so much.”

“I know. I get this swirling sensation in my stomach when I think about you. I’ve never felt like this before.” He wanted to tell him he loved him. After three days, he’d fallen in love with him. But his past stopped him. “Take me to bed, Darce. Please.”

His smile was slow, his face beamed a pretty shade of pink, but his eyes were troubled, uncertain. “I think I might be falling in love with you. Crazy, isn’t it?”

All the air in Caleb’s lungs rushed out and came back too quickly. He became lightheaded, almost faint. His heartbeat fluttered wildly, the strange sensation in the pit of his stomach swirled and leaped and did a double flip. “I might be falling with you. It scares me. I didn’t think anything could scare me. Not like this.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“It’s good, I hope. I need some good in my life. I need your cock inside me too. Here or your bed, just soon,
cher
, before I expire from want.”

“I love the way you talk, it drives the English major in me nuts but it makes me horny. Shit, I don’t think I can make it to the bedroom.” The wet spot on the front of his shorts agreed with him. Caleb snagged the waistband and tugged. Freeing his cock, he stroked it with the tips of his fingers. Darcy held him tight, leaning back he bit his lip trying to hold back a moan. “Keep on doing what you are doing and we won’t need to find a bed.”

“I love how you want me.” Caleb watched his face as he fought for control. “You make me tremble.”

“Take your pants off, Caleb, God, now, please, hurry.” He dragged in a ragged breath and Caleb couldn’t resist, he licked the head of his cock making him groan. “That works too.”

Caleb laughed, he couldn’t help it. It had been such a long time since he felt this free. “I stopped at the hospital pharmacy and picked up a couple of items.” He dug in the pocket on the side of his cargo pants leg and dragged out a tube of lubricant and a package of condoms. “In case you are interested.”

“Very interested,” Darcy said as he pushed him onto the floor, straddled him and dragged his pants down. When Darcy had him naked and panting on the floor, he took the lube and before he could blink, Caleb found himself filled and groaning.

“I think I like this side of you, Darcy.” He looked into Darcy’s eyes. The passion he saw there had him sweating. Caleb lifted his legs and propped them on his shoulders. Darcy used the backs of his thighs to brace himself as he rocked into him. “That’s it, baby, just like that, just like that, Darce. God, I love you so much.
Mon amour doux
.
Je t’aime
. Jesus, just like that.”

“Caleb, Jesus, you’re so tight, feels so good,” he could hear the orgasm building in Darcy’s voice, he was so hot inside him, so hard, he knew it wouldn’t be long.

“Kiss me,
bebe
, come down here and kiss me. I want to hold you when you come. I want to taste my name on your sweet lips.” He lowered his legs only to ease them around Darcy’s hips when he lay over him. There was a softness in Darcy’s eyes when he touched his lips with his tongue. “I love you, Darcy, you make me feel so nice. Fuck me baby, just like that.”

He rocked his hips into him so slowly, Caleb thought he would swoon from the pleasure. Darcy kissed just as slowly. Wanting more, Caleb caught his bottom lip between his teeth and tugged gently with each thrust. “Caleb, Caleb, oh God, it’s too much.”

“Come for me, baby. Shit, you are so fucking hot inside me,” Caleb couldn’t stop the cry from escaping when Darcy slammed into him filling him with sticky heat. He humped into him his cries of pain turned to pleasure as he went over a second time.

For a long time after, Caleb lay holding Darcy against his chest as his breathing returned to normal. When he was ready, Caleb rolled him onto his side and braced his head on his arm. “You know,
cher
, you have a beautiful foyer. How’s the rest of your place in comparison?”

Caleb could feel Darcy’s chest vibrate with laughter. “Considerably smaller than yours, either of yours, but it’s kind of nice, you want to see it?”

“Maybe later, right now I’m enjoying holding a hot man on a cold floor.
Merde
, Darcy, I could get used to this. It would be too easy to become addicted to you.”

“Feels like I’m already there. I missed you so much this evening. Shit. That sounds so fucking pathetic.” Agitated now, Darcy sat up. And in one swift motion, he pulled his shirt over his head and wiped them both clean with it. “This has been the strangest day.”

He climbed to his feet and straightened his shorts, his movements jerky, almost frantic. Something had changed, just that quickly, and Caleb had no idea what.

Awkward in his nudity, Caleb found his pants, shaking his shoes free of the legs he pulled them on and followed Darcy into the small living area. Darcy went to the fireplace and leaned against it. Caleb dropped onto the sectional sofa and stretched out. “Come lay with me baby, let me hold you.”

Darcy let go of the mantle quickly, too quickly, almost as if he’d been burned and turned to face him. He didn’t come, instead he seemed to retreat into himself. “What’s wrong?” Caleb felt compelled to ask but he wasn’t sure he really wanted an answer.

“This is happening way too fast. Yesterday I was a happy, functioning heterosexual. Okay so, I was a dysfunctional heterosexual in some twisted messed up holding pattern waiting for Bailey to figure out what she wanted from me. And now…” He swept his hand through his hair in a gesture of despair, obviously second-guessing his feelings now that shock was beginning to set in.