Two fingers became three, and Thomas continued to nibble and kiss along Leon's thigh. When he twisted his fingers to add a fourth, Thomas looked up the length of Leon's body, pausing as if waiting for his consent.
“Do it,” Leon prompted. “I want all of you. You want you to shove your whole fist inside, I'll take it. Just for you.”
Thomas moaned and nipped at Leon's thigh. “Wait here. Don't move.” Like Leon would go anywhere.
Thomas crossed to where his coat hung on the back of a chair and rooted around in the pocket. He pulled out a small, glass jar with a label Leon couldn't read. “I bought it because I thought it might help your ankle ... but I think it'll work for other things.”
Leon beamed. Not just because Thomas had been considerate to think about his ankle ... well, actually, mostly because of just that. It was evidence that he'd cared all along, even before everything had happened at the Birdcage.
“I'm willing to let my ankle go another day until we get some more if you want to go ahead and use it tonight.” Leon braced his heels on the bed and wiggled his hips playfully. “We can use it all tonight, even.”
Thomas slapped Leon's thigh lightly “I'm willing to try.”
He opened the jar and dipped four fingers into the liniment, scooping out a healthy amount. Leon licked his lips with anticipation as Thomas spread it over his palm and his knuckles. But he started with only two fingers, easing them into Leon's waiting channel.
“You've done two already,” Leon said. “I can take more. Or your prick, if you don't want to wait.”
Thomas arched his brow and pushed in a third finger. “I'm going to let you get away with that, but only because you saved my life.” He added the fourth before he was finished speaking, pushing all the way to his knuckles.
The sense of fullness radiated through Leon, a blur of pain and pleasure that left his skin tingling. “Remind me to save your life every day then.” He pushed back against Thomas's hand, meeting him each time the man twisted his fingers into the tight channel. Nails scraped once, and he cried out, his eyes flying open when he realized Thomas had stopped moving as soon as he made the sound. “No, you don't have to do that,” he panted. “I can take it. More, even.” He smiled. “Don't you want to see just how much more is?”
Thomas eased his fingers out, and Leon immediately felt the disappointment of being abandoned. Thomas looked up, studying Leon's face for a moment before he felt the nudge of Grady's knuckles against his stretched hole.
“Stop me if it's too much,” Thomas said, his tone low. “I don't want to hurt you.”
Leon nodded. He held his breath, incapable of exhaling. For all his bravado, for all his need, he'd never taken this much before. It thrilled him that Thomas would be the one to give it to him, and even more that Thomas would stop the second he didn't want it.
His first thought was that it was too much. As Thomas pushed his fist into the channel, the unyielding muscle put a halt to his entry, prompting him to grasp one of Leon's thighs and force him even wider apart. Thomas twisted his wrist, grim determination setting his jaw, and Leon pushed back, hungry for all of it. He bore down. Rough knuckles scraped against his slick skin, the pressure mounting. It surged beneath his skin, ready to burst and shatter, but just as Leon was about to cry out in frustration, Thomas grunted and leaned forward.
A choked cry came from his throat as he felt the fist slide in. Both of them froze, Thomas in expectation, Leon in ecstasy. He'd been wrong earlier. This was the fullest he'd ever been.
Thomas rotated his wrist a few times, each movement slight, each movement enough to send endless vibrations of pleasure through his body. His cock throbbed, and if Thomas kept that up for long, he would come. He knew it. And while Thomas was technically inside of him, that wasn't quite what Leon had meant. Yet, somehow, he couldn't bring himself to say
stop
. Even if he wanted to form the word, he lacked the breath.
Before he had the chance to try, Thomas finally worked his fist free. He didn't speak. He didn't need to. He pushed himself to his knees, his cock jutting in front of him. Thomas pushed Leon's legs apart and out, his fingers gripping Leon's upper thighs. He thrust forward, filling Leon's ass with a single, smooth stroke.
Leon arched to meet him. This was what he wanted. This was what he craved. The joining of flesh to flesh, of the bruising grasp of rough fingers that could prove tender and gentle when he least expected it. Though he felt the shudders that wracked through Thomas at the new sensations, he was relieved when Thomas didn't use them as an excuse to hold back. He clutched at Grady's arms, silently willing him closer, and met him thrust for thrust as he started to shuttle in and out of his ass.
“Christ ... Christ ... Leon...”
Thomas dropped his head back, his eyes closed, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed. He looked like nothing could please him more in that moment, like he had everything he wanted. Until he opened his eyes and leaned forward, bracing himself on his hands without slowing the rhythm of his hips. He took a deep breath before claiming Leon's mouth, muffling his own moan when their lips met.
Leon moved to wrap his arms around Thomas's back, but without breaking the seal of the kiss, Thomas grabbed his wrists and twisted them over his head in a single hand. It didn't hurt. It wasn't even that forceful of a hold. His weight did more to pin Leon than anything else, but the moment Leon felt the bond, something in him unlocked. He whimpered into Thomas's mouth, using his legs instead of his arms to keep their bodies together, and the moment Thomas gave him room to breathe, the words came tumbling out.
“I love you, sir. So much. You've no notion how much, what you do to me...”
“Good...” Thomas kept his mouth against Leon's, his kisses a little harder. “Stay with me, Leon. I need you to stay with me. Don't...” His voice faltered, though nothing else did. “Just don't ... forget that.”
“I won't,” he promised. It felt like the easiest thing in the world to. It was exactly what he wanted most. “Won't forget, won't go. Just you and me.”
“Just you and me,” Thomas echoed, his fingers tightening on Leon's wrists. He slid his other hand down Leon's body until he reached his cock. The grip around Leon's shaft was just as firm as the grip on his wrists, and he began stroking in time with his hips.
It didn't take much. One pull, and everything balled into a tight knot in the pit of his stomach. The second, Leon bit at Thomas's lower lip, unwilling to lose the seal of their mouths for anything. The third, Thomas slammed into his ass with an ounce more force, driving against his sweet spot and making the world crumble around them.
Thomas swallowed Leon's scream, locking him down even when every muscle in his body rebelled. He flailed against his restraints, trembling and breathless, and though he felt the mattress under his back at all times, Leon would have sworn to God above that he was falling. Except he'd fallen already, hard, for this man who needed him as much as the other way around. And he knew he'd likely fall every day they spent together, and do so gladly.
Thomas only thrust forward once more before his body stiffened and his cock jerked against Leon's stretched walls. Each twitch and jerk sent an aftershock of pleasure through Leon, drawing moan after moan from him. After what seemed like an endless moment, Thomas collapsed on Leon's chest, holding him and gasping for breath.
“Say it again,” Thomas murmured.
He didn't have to be told. Now that he'd said it once, Leon knew it was going to be next to impossible to keep it back.
“I love you.” He rained kisses over Thomas's sweaty brow, down his cheeks, running his tongue along the edge of his beard. “I've loved you ever since Sacramento. Probably since you chased me down before, even.”
Thomas smiled down at him. “It sounds like you're a glutton for punishment.”
“Maybe.” Though the corner of his mouth lifted in matched amusement, he knew every feeling coursing through him shone in his eyes. “Or maybe I just know a good thing when I see it.”
“Let's stay in San Francisco for a few weeks. I don't need to go looking for trouble, and I like having you in a bed.”
“Sounds good to me.” It would also mean he'd have a chance to get word to Kenneth, let him know that he was all right. Kenneth would worry, otherwise. Leon wasn't sure how he would explain hooking up with Grady after everything, but maybe some sort of wisdom would make itself known. “Are you sure having me around isn't going to be a problem for you? Someone, eventually, might recognize me or my name.”
“I'll take care of it. I know some people who owe some favors. I can give you a clean slate. Absolution, I suppose. You can have a chance to start over.”
Leon stared at him in awe. “You'd do that for me?”
“Yeah, I would. I want to be with you, Leon. I want you to have a chance.” Thomas glanced away. “I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but I do want to believe in second chances.”
Leon caught his face and pulled him back, meeting his eyes with everything he had. “You should. And I won't let you ever regret it. Ever. You have my word on that.”
Before Thomas could say anything, Leon tilted his head upward to press another kiss to the other man's mouth, holding him as close as their bodies would allow him. Kenneth wasn't the only one who had found a fresh start.
It was a new beginning for all of them.
Jamie Craig
Jamie Craig is the collaborative efforts of Pepper Espinoza and Vivien Dean. Both successful authors on their own, they began working together in early 2006. Pepper lives with her husband and cats in Utah, where she attends graduate school, and Vivien resides in northern California with her husband and two children.
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