“I can think of a way to make it go back down again.”
“Yeah, I just bet you can.”
In spite of his annoyed muttering, Leon hooked between the buttons on Grady's fly, slipping rough fingers inside to scratch along his aching shaft. His breathing had quickened, faster and thicker clouds forming at his mouth before drifting away. Thomas would have bet his best pistol that the man was hard as a rock, too.
Thomas yanked his buttons free and pulled his pants open for Leon's searching fingers. The air was cold against his overheated skin, but not cold enough to make him lose his hard-on. It wouldn't be difficult to yank Leon's pants down, and then there would be nothing between Thomas and his ass.
Leon immediately fisted his length. He squeezed tight enough to draw a groan, then squeezed a little bit harder. His head turned, glancing back to meet Grady's eyes. The instant they did, his nostrils flared.
“I don't beg,” Leon said. “Not for you, not for anybody.”
“Don't worry.” Thomas yanked on Leon's pants, forcing them down his hips and exposing the curve of his ass. His cock jerked in Leon's hands at the thought of sinking into his heat. “I won't give you the chance to beg.”
Leon opened his hand and flattened it along the shaft, forcing it down to the swelter of his crack. Thomas rocked back and forth, while Leon kept his cock firmly in place, fucking flesh that should have been too soft to be a man's. It made him ache for how hot his ass was going to be, and pre-come collected visibly at the tip.
Leon caught the downward motion of his lashes and smirked when he noticed Grady's reaction. “I stand by calling you twisted. You're dripping for it.”
“I'm not alone here, though, am I?” Because he was convinced now that Leon very much wanted it. As much as he had wanted to suck Thomas off earlier. It would be easy to stand up. There was nothing holding him there. He could stand up, tuck himself back in his pants, and tell Leon to go back to sleep. Instead, he slid his fingers down Leon's crease, seeking out his hole. Without a word of warning, he pushed two fingers into Leon's clenched passage.
The man cried out, but his ass clamped down around the intrusion, refusing Thomas the space to pull away. Without holding Grady's cock anymore, his hands opened and closed, his arms wriggling as he obviously strove for some kind of comfortable position. He even attempted to lift his torso, to rest his weight on his shoulders, but Thomas put a hand between his shoulder blades and pushed him back down to the ground.
“So is this going to be another game of you getting off and I don't?” he spat.
Thomas worked his fingers deeper, trying to imagine what it would be like to feel this amazing heat wrapped around his cock. It would be better than Leon's mouth, which was more than a little difficult to comprehend.
“Yes. It's becoming my favorite game.”
A string of curses streamed from Leon's mouth. “What's it going to take to get you to change your mind on that?”
Thomas thought it wouldn't take much for him to change his mind at all, especially if he felt the same sort of guilt that he felt earlier that day. Considering the fact that he had no intention of stopping, he figured chances were good that Leon would get off, one way or the other.
He pulled his fingers free and wiped them across the tip of his cock, collecting the pre-come leaking from his slit. He smeared it over Leon's tight ring, pushing it against his skin. It might not have been enough to make Leon comfortable, but Thomas thought it had to be better than nothing.
“Do a better job than you did this afternoon.”
Leon's frustrated growl rattled through him, but he ceased his wriggling, clenching around Grady's fingers for the seconds Thomas bothered to take to stretch him. He rested his cheek on the saddle blanket, and his hands stretched once again to stroke along Grady's cock. He could protest all he wanted, but the near delicate caresses of his fingertips, skin rough and hardened, said otherwise. It was almost a shame he was on his stomach. It would have been nice to see him lose control from Thomas ploughing into his ass. But then Thomas would lose the delicious sight of his arms bowed, the chafing at his wrists, and he knew he didn't want to forsake seeing Leon helpless for him for anything.
Thomas licked his palm and smeared his hand over the damp crown. He didn't need help being slick for Leon, though the way Leon kept caressing him didn't hurt. He took an additional moment to study Leon's form, wondering what it was about the man that drove Thomas to such desire. Objectively, he wasn't anything special, but Thomas had never throbbed like this for anybody else.
With a grunt, he pulled his fingers out and aligned his cock with Leon's stretched opening. He wondered if Leon would try to resist him as he pushed for that first inch, but he remained frozen.
Leon was tight, tighter than he'd imagined, tighter than he'd ever experienced. Thomas had had his share of ass before, but this surpassed all of them. He figured it was because he hadn't taken the time to stretch the man more, though it didn't hurt that Leon was squeezing around him, sucking him deeper, as if his very life depended on it.
“You're not stopping there,” Leon rasped. His hands tensed, reaching for any bit of Grady's skin that he could reach. “If you're going to do it, fucking do it, you son of a bitch.”
Thomas wanted to know if he could make Leon beg, despite Leon's insistence it wouldn't happen. Maybe if he stayed still long enough, throbbing and pulsing in Leon's tight body, the other man would break and beg him for more. The only problem was, Thomas was far more responsive to the anger in Leon's voice, the demand to just
fucking do it
.
He leaned forward, wrapping one arm around Leon's shoulders and chest. He eased out of Leon's channel, and then snapped forward again with enough force to make Leon shout.
The arms between them made it impossible to mold skin to skin, but the scratch of Leon's nails and the scrape of the rope against Grady's stomach was a more than adequate substitute. They made him shiver as much as the constricting heat around his cock, made even hotter by the tremors running through the smaller man's frame.
“Oh, yeah ... that's it.” Leon turned his head, his teeth sinking momentarily into Grady's forearm.
“Oh, God.”
Leon's teeth closed around his flesh again, and he shuddered from the pressure. His thick shirt protected his skin, but he still felt the sting and the flash of pain. He tried to find a regular rhythm, but it wasn't easy at first. Every time he thrust forward, he wanted to stay in that unbelievable heat for as long as he could, savoring each time Leon flexed around him. But he wanted the friction, too. He wanted to hear Leon shout again. He wanted to drive Leon into the ground.
The decision was made for him when Leon started to lift his hips to meet each thrust. Small groans came from his throat, dragged out into multiple syllables when Thomas drove into him. His hands kept fluttering and his shoulders constantly strained. Thomas had no idea why. Maybe he was trying to reach his own cock in order to jerk off. Maybe he was trying to grab Grady's ass to make him fuck harder.
Either way, Thomas wasn't about to let him go.
Thomas had tried to remain silent earlier, but now he didn't let anything block his grunts and audible gasps. He put his other hand on the ground to brace himself as he increased his tempo. The fact that Leon kept rising to meet him, kept moaning for more, just encouraged Thomas to continue. For a moment, he envisioned the hundreds of miles between them and San Francisco—a journey that would take no more than a day by train. In that moment, he didn't think he was willing to lose Leon so quickly.
He still wanted the money, but he didn't want to miss out on this, either. The train wasn't completely necessary.
“Want it, don't you, Grady?” Leon rolled his hips with each stroke. It had to be to add more friction to his cock, to get off when Thomas had denied him. “No more denying it after this. And I'm not going to let you forget it.” He twisted his neck to smile back at Thomas, his eyes glittering with more than hunger. “Better get used to my big mouth, then.”
Thomas responded without thought, clapping his hand over Leon's mouth. Leon didn't take that without protest, and his teeth closed on his palm. Thomas shouted, pain radiating up his arm and into the back of his neck. It just made him thrust harder, hating the way Leon's words echoed in his head. Hating the way Leon was right.
Pleasure wrapped around him, pulling tighter and tighter with each second. The wood on the fire cracked, sending sparks in the air, momentarily illuminating Leon's features. Their gazes locked for a moment, and then the satisfaction closed around him and he exploded in Leon's ass. He continued thrusting until his cock stopped jerking against Leon's tight walls.
With a groan, Thomas rolled off Leon's body and onto his side. He pulled Leon back against his chest, his mouth going to Leon's neck, his palm going to Leon's cock.
Shudders vibrated through Leon, his lungs heaving as he struggled to breathe. He thrust into Grady's hand, but it was the near soundless words tumbling from his lips that spurred Thomas on. He devoured the salty sinew of his neck, while he pulled on the man's prick, learning its shape, its texture. Pre-come leaked freely from the tip, so slick and so pungent Thomas could almost taste it. But not tonight. Not now. Now he stripped it raw until a scream ripped from Leon's throat, the ragged echoes splitting the night.
Hot come spilled over Grady's fingers, but he continued stroking the pulsing length, even after Leon collapsed in his arms. Leon cried out, trying to wrest away, but his bound wrists and Thomas's unyielding grip made it impossible.
“Stop, stop,” he panted. “It's too fucking much.”
Thomas didn't stop. Not until he felt Leon shudder again. He ceased stroking, but he kept his fingers wrapped around the shaft, squeezing gently in response to each thud of Leon's pulse.
“Is that better?” Thomas murmured without lifting his head.
“Yeah...” The answer was so swift, it could be nothing but genuine. “Better than an extra blanket any day of the week.”
Thomas didn't want to move, but he knew he couldn't leave Leon half-naked. He squeezed Leon's length once more before releasing him, then tugged his pants up until the material covered his cock again.
“I lied earlier.”
Leon had been squirming at the casual glances over his softening prick, but he stilled at Grady's statement. “About which?”
“About the whore in Denver.”
“Oh.” His breathing slowed, and he rested his head on Thomas's muscled forearm. “I knew that.”
Thomas smiled. “Of course, you did.”
“Since we're being honest, then ... I lied, too.”
Thomas lifted his head and pulled Leon backward so he could see the other man's face. “About which?”
The dark eyes gazing up at him were inscrutable, but his mouth was twisted in amusement. “I wouldn't bite it off if you wanted me to suck you again.”
Thomas licked his bottom lip. “I'll keep that in mind, then. You should go back to sleep. We're setting out early.”
For a moment, Leon's lashes ducked. “Yeah,” he finally said. “Early.” He didn't roll away from Thomas like he expected. Instead, he sighed and closed his eyes, burrowing even closer.
Thomas briefly considered pulling away, but he didn't have the energy or the desire. He pressed his mouth to Leon's neck again, enjoying the scent of his skin. This didn't make any sense to Thomas, but at least Leon was quiet and they could both have a few hours of peace and warmth.
CHAPTER 5
Leon could count on one hand how many times he'd been fucked. He'd been nineteen the first time it had happened, and he'd so hated it, he'd refused to do it again for three years. His first partner, a rancher who'd let him and Kenneth bunk in his barn for a few weeks one winter, didn't care too much about anybody's pleasure but his own. It was nothing like the delights he'd learned from his infrequent encounters with Kenneth—because that was just about letting go of some of the tension, that was just two friends seeing to the other, like he'd said to Kenneth to try and explain away his own deviancy. Even if Kenneth was the best friend he'd ever had, Leon had never admitted to even him he preferred a man's touch to a woman's, though he could certainly appreciate a female form and get off on it. So when he couldn't get it with Kenneth, he sought it out elsewhere.
But after that first time, he was almost always the one in control.
This thing with Grady wasn't like anything he'd ever known before. He'd been pissed about sucking him off, but that was as much about not getting to finish himself as it was knowing he wanted Thomas to do it to him. Having the man buried inside his ass was another matter entirely. He'd wanted it. Craved it. With his erection trapped between his stomach and the saddle blanket, all Leon could think about was how he was completely at Grady's mercy.
And about how exciting it was, more exciting even than the first time he'd touched a man's cock.
By the light of day, however, Leon had the sore reminder of what it felt like to be well and thoroughly pounded into the ground. Since Bullet never returned, Thomas insisted Leon ride with him, lashing his wrists to the saddle horn so that he could sit behind Grady without getting free. It was nice to get off his ankle, but the constant jarring against his backside kept the memory of the night before fresh and vivid in Leon's head.
He was hard before they'd cleared the trees. If Thomas felt his erection, he never said a word.
It turned out Thomas didn't say much about anything. Leon's attempts to pass the time with conversation were either roundly ignored or Thomas responded in only the most superficial way—an occasional grunt or monosyllabic answer. He was a marked contrast to Kenneth, who could talk Leon's ear off when the mood struck him.
Despite Thomas's silence while they rode, Leon knew that the other man wasn't entirely indifferent to him. Occasionally, he would grip the reins with just one hand, and rest the other on Leon's thigh, or lower on his leg. The contact was never accompanied with commentary, but it was enough to remind Leon how rough Thomas's palm felt when he stroked Leon's cock, or pressed his body to the ground.