Burning Bright (12 page)

The big cat’s head bumped him in the chest and knocked him flat on his ass. Neal walked over to straddle him and bent down until they were eye to eye.

Then, Neal licked him from chin to forehead. No different than any other cat’s rough, wet tongue, it tickled and burned at the same time.

“Neal.”

Neal shifted back, still crouched over him. Sasha arched up and rubbed their chests together. He slipped his arms around Neal’s neck. “See? That wasn’t hard, was it?”

Dropping his head against Sasha’s shoulder, Neal sighed. “I need a vacation.”

“Come up to my farm.”

Neal turned his head toward Sasha. “What?”

Sasha kissed his nose. “Come up to my dairy farm. You’d love it. I don’t have animals anymore, since I knew I was moving, but it’s peaceful. I have a big farmhouse, lots of places to have sex.”

Neal gaped at him. “What?”

“Oh, come on. You haven’t lived until you’ve fucked on an industrial laundry unit, or had your dick milked by a milking machine.”

Neal pulled back to stare at him. “You didn’t.”

Sasha grinned. “No, but it’s a fantasy.”

Neal laughed. “You are something else.”

“All part of my charm.” He paused. “We cool?”

He shook his head. “Just like that?”

“Yeah. If you’d learn to open your mouth more, maybe you’d have fewer problems.”

“Now you see why Felipe did what he did.”

Sasha’s stomach clenched, a chill going through him. “No.”

Neal cocked his head. “He’s a jaguar. He got confused, because of your scent and your…whatever it is.”

“Empathy,” Sasha grunted. “You mean, he really wanted to smell me or something?”

“Or something,” Neal growled. “Jaguars show dominance by mounting, same as tigers.”

“I can’t go jogging without getting my ass drilled by every lycanthrope in town?”

“Calm down. It’s not that bad. But at least now you know what you’re dealing with.”

“I’m buying a gun.”

“No need, I have several.” Neal cocked his head. “You’d really shoot someone? Kill them?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never had to. I’m part of the Guardian Circle back home, but they need my magic to help keep up the wards. I mean, I’ve had martial arts training, we all have, but I haven’t used it for real. At least, not ’til I moved here.”

Neal ruffled his hair. “You’re plenty fierce. Felipe didn’t
let
you kick him or break his nose. Steve told me what happened.” Neal stood and slipped his robe on. “Come on, let’s go talk to the guys before they hand me my ass in a sling.”

Paul sat at the table, a cup of coffee and a half-eaten bagel next to him. Steve sprawled on the couch, thumbing through channels on the TV, and Carlos stretched out next to him with his head in the big black man’s lap as he watched the television.

Neal and Paul gazed at each other.

“You tell him?” Paul asked finally.

“Yeah.”

“He run off somewhere? Move away and hire a therapist?”

Steve made an odd snuffling noise that Sasha suspected was an aborted laugh.

“Funny.”

“You pull that shit again, we’re gonna have a problem.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Neal said wearily. “That’s what you say every time we argue.”

“Are you
trying
to get me to ass fuck you?” Paul snapped.

“I am,” Carlos chirped, raising his hand from the couch.

“Can I watch?” Sasha blurted.

Neal and Paul both stared at him with identical expressions of shock on their faces.

Sasha grinned at them and then slapped Neal’s ass. “Where are those bagels?”

Paul rose, his chair creaking, and got the bagels out of a cabinet. “You
are
a little perv.”

Neal got down plates and drawled over one shoulder, “That’s why I like him.”

Sasha got some hummus from the fridge to put on his bagel and went over to the toaster to watch them cook. The banter reminded Sasha of his coven back in Madison and he smiled with contentment.

Chapter Thirteen

Circle of Friends

The apartment, quiet after the guys left, lulled Sasha to nap on Neal’s couch. He woke to find Neal puttering around in the kitchen.

“What do you feel like for dinner?” Neal called over his shoulder.

“I don’t know. Nothing super heavy,” Sasha responded, still full from the huge brunch earlier.

He sat up on the couch and picked up a USB photo frame from the side table. He advanced through several pictures of Steve at the park, of the big man photographing something else. Steve’s camera was huge and looked professional in the pic.

“Do you and Steve shoot as a hobby?”

Neal looked up and stared at him.

Sasha laughed and clarified, holding up the frame. “With cameras, I meant.”

Neal waved a spatula at the walls. “All the photos here are his.”

Sasha blinked, impressed. He looked back at the frame and advanced to the next one. There was a shot of Neal and Steve together, both shirtless, in front of the fence to one of the beaches. The look on Steve’s face downstairs floated to his mind, and the day before when he drove into the parking area. He flushed with arousal.

Neal seemed occupied with cooking. Sasha watched him, wondering how sensitive his sense of smell really was. If he was really a cat, or Siberian tiger, it would be several hundred times better than any human’s.

He could
smell
when Sasha got hot.

That gave him all sorts of ideas. He breathed deeply, his ribs hardly reacting, and stroked himself. Neal seemed intent on ignoring him, assuming he knew. Sasha moaned a little, getting into it, and then unzipped his jeans. He gripped his own shaft and started pumping smoothly.

That
got the big guy’s attention. Neal strode over and caught his hands. The top reached behind him, to the nearby coffee table and its many drawers, and retrieved a pair of fluffy-lined restraints. He locked Sasha into them, hands behind his back above the swell of his ass.

“What’s your safe word?” Neal murmured in his ear.

“Lemon, but you knew that.”

Neal’s hand closed on his jaw and lifted his face until they stared at each other. “I want you to give it to me every time.” He tightened his hand, threatening. “Every time.”

Oh, yeah.
This
was a top. Every fucking fantasy Sasha had, all wrapped up in a tight Marine body.

No wonder he fell head over heels for the big jerk.

“Yes, Boss.”

Neal chuckled. “Do you trust me?”

Sasha frowned. “Yes. Why do you ask?”

Neal kissed him. It caught him off guard and he didn’t react right away, then opened his mouth and let Neal taste every inch of him. Neal’s mouth moved sideways along Sasha’s jaw to his ear. “The boys have been begging me to let them taste you. And I can tell you want them. What do you think, should I be a generous top?”

Sasha’s heart sped up. “You’re serious? You’d let me? Who?”

“Steve, for one, and Carlos has had a hard-on for you since you got here, even all banged up. He’s got a serious thing for twinks.”

Sasha laughed, a puff of air from his nose. He bit Neal’s neck, since it was right there, and all. “Who says I’m a twink?”

“Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck…”

“Maybe I’m a duck, Boss.”

Neal’s hand closed on Sasha’s dick and his head fell back as the big fingers stroked him. “
I
say you’re a twink. What do you think about that?”

“Just fuck me. I don’t give a shit what you call me.”

Neal laughed and stood. “Be prepared. Carlos is well endowed.”

Sasha’s heart started to pound. “You mean it? You’ll let me play with them?”

“As long as you clear it with me first, and use barrier protection, I’m cool.
My
guys, though, not just anyone.”

“Fair enough.”

“No one else here, though, without clearing it with me first. And no customers, not ever. Especially the wannabe tops.”

Sasha nodded. “Yeah, I agree to let you pick. I trust
you
, but I’m not an idiot either. I’m not going looking for trouble.”

His lover hesitated. “We don’t have to do this right now…”

Sasha shook his head. “No, I’m game.”

“You sure you don’t want food first?”

“Yeah. What about you?”

Neal reached down and cupped his face in one big hand. “You are really something, you know that?”

“Fuck me already.”

“They’ll be ecstatic.” Neal strode over and pulled the skillet off the fire and turned off the stove. Sasha stood, excitement quickening his breathing. Neal led him into the bedroom, a warm large hand on the small of his back.

Stripped and waiting, a new fitted sheet covered the mattress but nothing else. Neal had him wait by the foot of the bed and undressed him, unbuttoning his shirt with gentle fingers and slipping it off around his restraints.

Sasha stood waiting, his cock aching, as Neal called Steve and Carlos. It only took a couple minutes for them to show up and then the door opened.

Carlos gasped when their eyes met and blushed. He moved further into the room to allow Steve to enter, but didn’t take his eyes off Sasha’s.

Honest-to-Gods, a blush. Sasha wanted to smirk, but didn’t want to embarrass the man. Instead, he put a little sway into his hips as he walked toward him and watched Carlos’s eyes lock on his cock.

Steve, standing behind them by the door, chuckled. “Where’d you find this one, Sarge?” He closed the door.

Neal grinned. “Start slow, he’s got history.”

Carlos’s shocked gaze met Sasha’s. “Bad?”

Sasha shrugged. “They’re not gonna be able to do it ever again.”

The Latino’s big brown eyes widened. “You’re not as soft as you look.”

“Fuck me and find out, then.”

Carlos’s breath came out of him, his lips parted, and his tongue peeked out to moisten them. He lifted his shirt off in one quick movement and then slipped out of his pants, no underwear in the way. When Sasha looked over, Steve already stood next to the bed, naked. Hiding his disappointment, Sasha mentally promised himself to watch the other man next time, even if it meant making them take turns stripping so he didn’t miss anything.

Carlos had a smattering of body hair scattered over his chest and arrowing down his sternum. It circled around his naval before his treasure trail lead to a thatch of trimmed pubic hair. Neal’s earlier statement proved true. A long length thickened and curved up as Sasha watched.

Steve’s smooth skin and miles of chocolate-colored muscle contrasted with Carlos’s as they stood side by side. Sasha shivered in anticipation.

“What’s your safe word?” Steve asked him.

“Lemon.” He cleared his throat, voice breathy with excitement.

“We’re gonna play with restraints this time, you okay with that?” Steve asked him.

Sasha nodded. “As long as Neal’s in the room.”

Carlos walked over toward the bed and Sasha watched him. Steve came up behind Sasha and pressed himself along his back, except his wrist restraints interfered with Steve getting close. Of course, the big man’s thick cock was right there. Sasha grabbed it in both hands and squeezed.

Steve pulled back and unclipped the chain connecting his wrist restraints. He led Sasha over to what looked like a massage table but was actually bondage furniture like the one downstairs. His heart sped up as Steve clipped first one wrist, then the other, to rings on the side of the table. The large man’s hand cupped the back of his leg and squeezed.

Carlos watched them, stroking himself, and Sasha glanced over at Neal. He reclined on the bed, a proprietary expression on his face as he surveyed them. He’d left his clothing in a pile by the bed and lay back, utterly at home in his body. His presence turned Sasha on, as well as making him feel safe.

Carlos moved then, retrieving the lube from the bedside table, and snapped it open.

“Here,” Steve murmured.

He held out one hand so Carlos could squeeze lube into it. Steve turned and kneeled behind Sasha. He massaged both sides of Sasha’s ass, big round movements that bounced his cock and sent tingles up and down his body. Then Steve pressed Sasha forward, canting his ass to the room. He continued his steady massage, stroking around Sasha’s opening but not getting close.

Sasha, desperate now, moved to try and impale himself on those thick fingers, but the black man kept them out of reach. Sasha watched over his shoulder as Steve used the fingers of his left hand to squeeze his ass open, and squirted a thick layer of lube onto his opening. Steve’s other hand massaged it up and down, around and around, and then rimmed the edge with a firm finger. He kept up that smooth massage, pressing hard but not penetrating, until Sasha wanted to cry from need.

Carlos and Steve had a brief argument after that about who would get to be first, but Carlos promised a monster blow job to Steve later for the privilege. Smug pleasure warmed Sasha as they fought over him. Steve smoothed a condom, then lube, along the Latino’s length, squeezing hard enough that Carlos pumped his hips a couple time.

“Now, show our Sasha why you’re called the Steam Train, big boy.”

Carlos grinned and moved behind Sasha. His hands, hotter than Steve’s, stroked his skin gently. “How ready are you?”

“Gods, Carlos. Fuck me already, please. I want that inside me so bad I can taste it.”

Carlos leaned over him and brushed his ear with his lips. “Not yet, you can’t,” he murmured. He nudged himself into Sasha, not gentle but not enough to hurt, and rocked. Sasha pressed back, his body very ready, and Carlos hilted himself inside Sasha with a powerful thrust of his hips.

Sasha cried out and laid his face sideways on the table, surrendering to it. Steve’s warm hands circled his wrists and unclipped the restraints, and Sasha squeezed the sides of the table with both hands.

Thick enough to be almost painful, and certainly it would have hurt without all of Steve’s preparation. Carlos’s length pounded into Sasha like it touched every nerve center.

Including his prostate.

Carlos’s hands traveled all over Sasha’s body, stroking his hair, his back, then his front. They traveled lower and circled his cock, but didn’t touch it. Then as Sasha started to get close, Carlos grabbed him roughly and started pumping Sasha’s cock fast and hard. His knees buckled, but with Carlos so close to the table all it did was add weight to the man fucking him. It shifted the angle just right and the orgasm started. The noises, as they did with Neal earlier, started to echo in the room without Sasha’s conscious control. He came, shooting semen clear across the table and clenching Carlos’s dick inside him. Carlos pumped a few more times and then bounced him with a powerful thrust.