Take What You Want (19 page)

Alex felt Chase pulsing
between them and reached down to squeeze him. “You have no
idea what you do to me,” Alex said against Chase's partially
opened mouth.

Chase's eyelids slowly
raised and their gazes held. “Likewise,” he said. His
hand gripped Alex's hip and lightly pushed. Alex rolled onto his
back and Chase came up over him, settling between his legs.

Alex's
fingertips touched Chase's face, then slid around his neck and pulled
him down for another kiss. “I want you to fuck me,” Alex
said in a breathy voice. “Think you could handle that?”

Chase lifted himself and
stared down at Alex. “I don't know,” he said.

“
Have
you thought about it?” Alex asked.

Chase
shifted off Alex and laid on his side facing him on the extra wide
couch. His hands reached for Alex, always needing that connection of
touch with him. “Yeah, I've thought about it,

but …”

“
But,
what?”

“
I
don't know,” Chase said. “It makes me nervous.”

“
Why?”

“
Somehow
fucking you makes this very real,” Chase whispered.

“
This
is about as real as it gets, Chase. Haven't you figured that out
yet?”

“
What
exactly is
this
,
Alex? I mean, beyond a Summer fling for you, what are we doing? Are
you testing me to see how far I'll take it?”

Alex smiled. “I've
been wondering when you'd freak out,” he said. “But, I
actually expected it to happen the other night. Every time I touched
or tasted you, I hesitated, anticipating you'd be asking me to stop,
but you didn't.”

“
I
didn't want you to stop,” Chase said. He turned his head and
covered his face with his forearm. “I don't know what's
happening to me, but you …”

Alex
pressed himself against Chase's side. “What do I do?” he
asked, his fingers fanned on Chase's lower belly and sifted through
the soft hair. “Am I pressuring you into doing something you
don't want?”

“
Fuck,
no,” Chase said. “You're in my house because I want you
here.”

“
Then,
what is it?”

Chase shook his head and
looked up at the ceiling. “This is overwhelming.”

“
How
so?”

“
The
way everything feels, the way you feel. It's a lot for me, that's
all.”

Alex pressed two fingers
beneath Chase's chin and turned his face to his. “What if I
told you I was feeling the exact same thing?”

“
I
wouldn't believe you,” Chase said.

“
Why
not?” Alex asked.

“
Because
you're Zander Metcalf and you do this sort of shit all the time.”

“
First
off, when I'm with you I'm not Zander,” he said. “I'm
Alex, and I'm as surprised as you to be this overwhelmed with how
this feels, but it is what it is, and I think it's amazing. Meeting
you is definitely a positive in my life – not a negative.”

Chase opened his mouth to
say something and stopped.

“
Say
it, Chase. Say what's on your mind. Please.”

“
Meeting
you is a positive for me, too, and I'm grateful for … all the
rest of it, too.”

Alex
sighed loudly and pushed himself up against the back of the couch.
“Do you think I'm here merely for your sexual experimentation?”
Alex asked.

“
I
didn't mean to imply that,” Chase said.

Silence
blanketed them and Alex's gaze fell on a framed photograph sitting on
the table beside the couch. “Is that Danni?” Alex asked.

Chase followed Alex's line
of vision. “Yeah, that's her,” he said. “I took
that one on the beach a few days before she left.” He watched
Alex reach for the photograph and bring it closer to his face. Danni
was wearing a lime-green bikini, hamming it up for the camera by
taking a runway model pose with her hands on her hips. The three,
tiny triangles of material barely covered her breasts and pussy.
Chase could tell by the look on Alex's face, he approved.

“
Jesus,
she's gorgeous,” Alex sighed.

“
I
know,” Chase said. “I'm a lucky guy.”

Alex glanced up at Chase.
“Do you have any more photos?”

Chase
stood up from the couch and reached for an album sitting on the
bottom shelf of the coffee table, then returned to the couch and sat
down beside Alex. He handed Alex the album and watched him start to
flip through the pages.

“
How'd
you two meet?” Alex asked.

“
That's
actually a funny story,” Chase said. He leaned back against
the cushions and stretched out his long legs out on top of the coffee
table; his thigh brushing the side of Alex's. “Several years
ago, I hurt myself at work and my doctor recommended I give Pilates a
try as a form of physical therapy. Fate dropped Danni right into my
lap.”

Alex started laughing. “You
hit on your Pilates instructor?”

“
I
swear I was in love after that first class,” Chase said. “It
was that fast and intense.”

Alex turned another page in
the photo album and Chase caught a glimpse of the hard-on thickening
beneath the book.

“
Are
you getting hard looking at my girlfriend?” Chase teased.

Alex lifted his head and
looked at Chase. The smile he had turned serious. “No, I'm
hard because you're leaning against me.”

Their eyes held another
minute and Chase licked his lips. “That's all it takes?”
Chase asked in a husky voice.

“
With
you, yes,” Alex said. “You really don't see it, do you?”

“
See
what?” Chase asked.

“
You're
seriously sexy,” Alex said, and brushed the back of his fingers
across Chase's cheek. “A guy looking as good as you typically
knows it and knows how to work it, too, but you seem oblivious to
your appeal. I bet you have girls – and guys, falling at your
feet on a constant basis.”

Chase
laughed loudly and sat back. “Definitely no guys, and if a
girl has been interested – which I doubt, it's not something
I've noticed.”

“
Only
have eyes for Danni?”

“
Yeah,
something like that,” Chase said. He leaned forward and
continued to watch Alex looking at the photographs in the album.
“How about you?” Chase asked. “Ever been married?”

“
Me?
Hell, no,” Alex said.

“
Have
you come close?” Chase asked.

Alex drew in a long breath
and thought about his answer. “I've been in a few committed
relationships.”

“
With
men or women?”

“
Both,”
Alex said.

“
Ever
been in love?” Chase asked.

Alex seemed to tense at the
question. He shut the album and handed it back to Chase. “You
want to know about my past, is that it?” he asked.

“
I'm
not trying to pry,” Chase said. “Just curious.”
He set the album on the top of the coffee table and turned back to
Alex.

“
My
past was … unconventional,” Alex said.

“
I'm
guessing that's an understatement,” Chase said with a chuckle.

“
I've
been in love with both men and women,” Alex said. “Sometimes
both at the same time.”

“
What
do you mean?”

“
The
relationships I've had where I've been the happiest, is when I'm in a
tripod,” Alex said.

“
What
the hell is that?”

“
That's
my slang term for it,” Alex said. “I'm sure the experts
would have some other clinical word for it, but in the end it's a
committed, three-way relationship. The dynamic that works best for
me is another man and a woman – at the same time, long term,
committed solely to the three in the relationship.”

“
And,
that works?” Chase asked.

Alex nodded. “It
definitely can,” Alex said. “If all three are honest
with what they want and everyone's on the same page, it works like a
charm.”

“
Is
that what you had with Mia?” Chase asked.

“
Mia
and I were a committed
couple
that occasionally hooked up with a third; which was typically a guy,”
Alex said. “She enjoyed watching me with another dude.”

“
I
bet,” Chase grinned. “Did you love her?”

“
I
thought I did,” Alex said. “Like I said, her walking
away was for the best. And, as for a committed three-way, I haven't
been in one for quite a while.”

“
On
purpose, or has the opportunity not presented itself?” Chase
asked.

“
The
last time ended badly,” Alex said, “But, not for the
reasons you are probably assuming.”

“
How
so?” Chase asked. He watched the expression on Alex's handsome
face tense, his eyes take on a distant look, and wondered if he was
asking too many questions.

“
It's
funny we're talking about this today,” Alex said, “Because
my friend Wheland came here with some news about the guy from my last
serious relationship.” Alex turned onto his back and pressed
his fingers into his eyes. “When I met Adam he had broken up
with his on-and-off-again girlfriend. I loved everything about him
and we were a couple for quite a while. I even got the apple tattoo
on my inner thigh for him: Adam's Apple.”

“
That's
what that is?” Chase asked. “I wanted to ask what the
hell it was, but wasn't sure you'd want to answer. All your other
tattoos made sense, except that one … I figured it had to have
some deeper significance than the others.”

Alex tipped his head back
and sighed. “I don't mind answering your questions, Chase, and
I trust you enough to know you won't sell my stories to the
tabloids.”

“
Yeah,
that's not my style,” Chase said.

A
long moment passed and Alex remained silent, his head still tipped
back on the pillows at the end of the couch. Chase touched his chest
and spread his fingers, then Alex set his hand on top of Chase's and
held on to it. The warmth that spread through Chase from that one
simple touch was intense. The level of intimacy was equally intense
and Chase felt his chest tighten. It swept over him like a dust
storm, leaving him hot and his throat dry.

That
nagging knot in his gut was back, too, taking Chase's brain to places
he shouldn't allow it to go, making him feel things that were
irrational. Alex was a brief blip in Chase's life. He had no
business developing feelings for him beyond lust. His life and
future was with Danni. There would be no room for Alex in that plan
and he certainly doubted Alex would have an interest to be part of
his future, so why was he allowing himself to linger on thoughts
outside the bounds of a quick fling?