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  Just like this.

  Cobalt spread his knees wide and draped a leg over Preston’s hip to roll his own up, offering better exposure.

  “Eager?”

  Cobalt said nothing. He was too busy watching Preston’s slow, methodical motions as he spread lube over his cock and stroked himself. He used his other hand, warm and strong, to smooth down from Cobalt’s knee to his inner thigh and pushed his leg yet wider.

  And he didn’t stop there. Finally, finally, he reached Cobalt’s groin and lifted his balls with a thumb, sliding his fingers up from the base of Cobalt’s dick with a hellishly soft caress.

  Cobalt groaned, a loud, lurid sound, and banged his head into the pillow. His pulse fluttered, making his balls throb and his cock ache. Something in him longed to take flight. To flee or rejoice, he wasn’t sure. He just knew he wanted to let it go, to stop holding so tight.

  Preston flicked fingers up his cock again, nails prominent this time, and the wild thing in Cobalt battered to be free. He heard a sound—a cry of need and frustration—leak from his lips.

  Preston smirked. “Like that?” He did it again, just his fingertip along the side of Cobalt’s cock and oh so lightly over the tip as he lifted and pressed his thumb between Cobalt’s balls, driving an even louder grunt from his core and a harder thrash through his limbs.

  Desperate not to give in, Cobalt gripped the iron tighter, digging his nails into his palms, forearms aching with the strain as Preston’s thumb ghosted over his hole.

  He tried to curl his ass up to meet the touch, but it was already gone and Preston removed his hand.

  “No!”

  “Stay. Still.”

  Cobalt glared at him, pursing his lips in a tight line.

  “You can do that?”

  Swallowing a nasty retort, Cobalt clamped his jaw firmly shut.

  “Good boy.”

  Cobalt snarled and opened his mouth to snark at him, and then Preston’s thumb was back at his entrance, not just ghosting with a breeze of a touch but pushing at him, kneading, forcing his way between Cobalt’s cheeks and threatening to breach his body.

  A long, laden mewl of need was all Cobalt managed, and the small fluttery thing grew to batter at him with insistent wings. His thighs trembled with the effort not to push himself onto Preston’s thumb as Preston closed slicked fingers around his dick. He did cry out, then, sharp and eager. His hips bucked.

  Preston let him go.

  “Please,” Cobalt whispered.

  Preston’s mouth was on his, and he realized he’d closed his eyes. Preston’s warm and weighty body felt wonderful as Preston sank him into the mattress. His slick dick pressed against Cobalt’s stomach, and Cobalt lifted both legs to wrap around Preston’s body.

  The kiss was pure demand. The feel of Preston’s cock against his body maddening. Preston’s weight pushed the breath from him. So much force, so much demand. And yet Cobalt felt protected and wanted, and the wings fluttered and stilled for a moment. He kissed back with all the need coursing through him, wanting desperately to touch, and at the same time desperate to please, and so he clung to the bars and let Preston have what he’d so patiently waited years for.

  “You want me in you?” Preston growled at him, the refinement of years of practiced respect ground away under the rough desire in his eyes.

  “So much. Please.”

  Preston licked the plea from Cobalt’s lips and sat back up, hoisting Cobalt’s body into a position that would let him push at his hole with the broad tip of his dick. “You need prep?”

  Cobalt thrashed his head side to side. Maybe he should, but God, right now, he just wanted more of Preston. Wanted to fly. Wanted his freedom. “Don’t need it.” He grunted, tensing as the pressure increased, until every muscle in his body strained and he couldn’t breathe.

  “EASY.” PRESTON stroked a hand over Cobalt’s abdomen, backing off his hole and leaning forward again. “Hey.”

  “Don’t.” Cobalt spit the word through clenched teeth, glared through slitted eyes. “Don’t coddle me.”

  “Relax.” Carefully Preston shifted his weight. The oversensitive tip of his cock bumped at Cobalt’s balls, and he sucked in a breath. “I’m not going to hurt you.” And God, he wanted in so bad, he’d waited so long, but Cobalt would allow more than he should in this state, and Preston was not going to take more than he should. He reached for the lube again and used his thumbs to open Cobalt up, prying as gently as his own impatience would allow.

  Cobalt curled a lip. “I’m not a fragile flower.”

  “Ice petals, baby,” Preston muttered, repositioning himself and using two fingers to ensure the slick coated his lover well. “Don’t cut me with them.”

  Some of the tension leached out of Cobalt, and a sound too close to a whimper escaped. “Sorry.”

  “Just relax.” Once more, Preston nudged his cock against Cobalt’s opening, feeling the slight flex and give of ass muscles around him. He wiggled and his cock, slick with lube, danced over the pucker. “This is happening.”

  “Of course it’s happening. If you back out now—”

  Preston smacked Cobalt’s thigh hard, almost reflexively, eliciting a sharp intake of breath and a deep red stain over Cobalt’s face. “I won’t hurt you. Now shut your pretty mouth and be patient.”

  “Or you’ll spank me?”

  “If I have to.” He put a lot of frustrated force behind the words and instantly worried he’d gone too far.

  Cobalt stilled. He eased back into the mattress, and his jaw loosened. The tight slant to his features softened, and the flush in his cheeks deepened. His eyes were suddenly very wide and his breathing quick and sharp.

  He liked the idea.

  Excited by the realization that here was a lover who wasn’t afraid to dish out sass and fire, even when he was pinned, Preston ground his hips forward, slow but relentless, until his cock spread Cobalt open and popped inside.

  Cobalt hissed. A heavy groan wound up from his chest, and he dropped his head back, pushing into the pillow as the burn of stretching with little prep hit him.

  Instinct and his innate need to dominate drove Preston to keep going. Years of deferring to this man and his family had an apology on the tip of his tongue. The dichotomy froze him in place.

  Then an allover shudder shook Cobalt, and he gasped, arched, and heaved at the headboard. He lifted his legs, spreading them wider, offering more. The strength it took to hold them up and out like that, no hands to assist, reminded Preston who he was dealing with. What it was they were doing. How much Cobalt could handle and still persevere.

  The silent offer of his body for Preston’s pleasure, along with the heaving of his chest, the sweat slicking his torso, the quiet keening now coming from him, broke the stalemate holding Preston in limbo. Methodical but uncompromising, he pushed forward, holding Cobalt still. He took what was being offered, what he’d asked for and been granted, without any further quibbling.

  “Oh fucking hell.” He stopped to breathe once he was inside. Cobalt was tight. Hot. Fucking perfect. And his. There was no going back from here.

  Cobalt gazed up at him, eyes shimmering, breath coming fast. “Move,” he demanded.

  Preston eased some weight off one of his hands and laid it out, flat and heavy, on Cobalt’s chest. Cobalt’s heart fluttered beneath his palm, belying the fierce light in his eyes and the determined set of his jaw.

  “Quiet,” Preston ordered. “Wait.”

  Cobalt’s jaw clenched and a muscle on the side popped.

  Preston reached for his face and ran the pad of his thumb over Cobalt’s lips. “I’m torn between gagging you to keep you quiet and letting you have your tongue, just to see what kind of trouble you can get yourself into.”

  Cobalt’s eyes darkened, his pupils dilating. His cheeks flushed, and he trembled.

  Preston drew his hips back and thrust hard, jerking Cobalt’s entire body.

  The breath rushed from Cobalt in a grunt, and his grip on t
he headboard tightened. The veins in his arms stood out, and the hold must have been making his arms ache by now. And still he hung on, complying as he stared mutely up at Preston.

  Preston fucked again, harder, watching Cobalt’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed his sounds and whatever retort had flashed through his eyes, unsaid.

  “I like your sass,” Preston assured him, thrusting into him as he spoke. “Mouth off all you want.” He eased his weight back a bit so he could splay both hands over Cobalt’s chest and give himself better leverage to fuck harder. The position pinned Cobalt with just enough of Preston’s weight to establish who had the physical power, but not so much that Cobalt would feel like he didn’t have a choice. “You’re still on the bottom.” He drove his cock deep to make his point.

  Cobalt’s breath wheezed out of him, and he relaxed. All the tension left his arms, though his fingers remained wrapped around the headboard. He rolled his hips up and braced his heels in the small of Preston’s back. “Harder,” he whispered. “Please.” He swallowed again, almost masking the tiny mewl of need. “More, please.”

  Preston leaned, letting more of his weight rest on his arms and on Cobalt, freeing his hips to fuck harder and faster. Cobalt’s gaze never faltered from his, even when his body began to shake and judder and his arms trembled from the effort of holding on to the bed. His cock slapped against his stomach as Preston fucked him. His breath came fast, hitched and uneven. Under Preston’s palms, his heart thundered and lurched like it wanted to escape, and Preston felt like he held a terrified, desperate bird in his grasp. Easily broken. Fiercely independent. Sharp talons ready to tear at him.

  He thrust harder, dug his fingers into Cobalt’s pecs, actively holding him down. “Don’t flutter apart on me, little bird.”

  Cobalt blinked. His chest rose and fell, and he heaved upward, as if he would break free of Preston’s hold.

  Preston pushed down, pushed in, stilled, immobilizing Cobalt. “You want to fly?”

  Cobalt groaned and panted.

  “Trust me.” Adjusting his angle a tiny bit, Preston began again, moving inside Cobalt, pistoning fast and hard against his prostate.

  Cobalt keened and writhed as come shot from his dick to coat his stomach. He twitched and heaved under Preston, his orgasm pulsing, setting his body on fire. He clamped down so Preston almost couldn’t move. His breath came ragged and harsh as he sank into the bed, and Preston pulled out of his relaxing body.

  Quickly, Preston plucked the condom off, flinging it into the trash can with one hand as he stroked himself with the other. His own orgasm was heady, coming on swiftly and flying out of him on wings of white light and noise. His come mixed with Cobalt’s, slicking Cobalt’s body with streams of fluid that slid through the sweat and onto the sheets.

  Cobalt panted, eyes glued to Preston as orgasm threw Preston into the stratosphere, only Cobalt’s steady, still-hungry gaze to anchor him.

  Slowly Preston floated back down to the reality of Cobalt stroking up and down his trembling thighs. He was still kneeling between Cobalt’s thighs, Cobalt’s ass half lifted off the bed, his spine curled, stomach coated with mess. He looked fucked and tired and bemused.

  “You back?” Cobalt asked. His voice was floaty, detached, and Preston needed to touch him, hold on to the fluttery edges of his attention.

  Spreading a hand, fingers wide, over Cobalt’s chest, he edged back enough to let Cobalt’s ass and legs rest more comfortably on the bed. His own legs shook, and he didn’t trust them to hold his weight. “Move over.”

  Cobalt did, shifting from the middle of the bed to one side so Preston could ease down beside him.

  Cobalt instantly rolled to his side, snugging his ass into the crook of Preston’s groin. Preston was acutely aware of his paunch pressed to Cobalt’s bony spine and was about to maneuver away when Cobalt snagged his hand and laid it back against his chest.

  “Feels like my heart is trying to take off,” he whispered.

  Preston nuzzled at the back of his neck and pulled him in tight. “I always think you’re about to fly away on me.”

  “No.” Cobalt’s body was relaxing. His voice sounded less ethereal, more lethargic. “Not now. Not anymore.”

  Preston slipped his hand free only to find Cobalt’s, wrap his fingers around Cobalt’s wrist, and clutch him tight. He draped a leg over Cobalt’s and weighed him down. He could still feel Cobalt’s heart beating hard and steady now against his chest. It was the sound that lulled him into sleep.

  Chapter 18

  PRESTON’S STOMACH, achingly empty, urged him awake. He rolled onto his back, for a moment expecting small feline feet traversing his belly. There was no soft squeak, no rumbling purr or rough tongue on his chin. He yawned and stretched.

  The clack of claws and the jolt of the bed made him open his eyes.

  Chance’s chin rested on the bed, inches from his face. The dog huffed out a breath, and Preston grimaced. “Ugh. Chay.” He shoved Chance away. “Brush your teeth!”

  A soft chuckle alerted him to another presence in the room, and he eased onto his side, smiling at the pleasant ache in his body reminding him of why he was lounging naked in Cobalt’s bed. “What are you doing?”

  “Packing, sweetheart.” Cobalt’s voice, though cool, was soft, almost tentative.

  “Coby?”

  From where he stood in front of the closet, Cobalt glanced over his shoulder, a tunic-style shirt held high for inspection. “What do you think about this one? Too much?”

  Preston eyed the flowing sky-blue fabric. It was sheer and the garment simply cut to fall straight from Cobalt’s broad shoulders almost to his knees. Cobalt’s nipples would show through that veil of color, and the image made Preston’s mouth water. He propped his head on one hand and ran his other over the dog’s back. “That color is good on you. Brings out your eyes.”

  Cobalt’s arms wavered, then fell as he sighed. “Yes. You’re right.” He balled the top up and tossed it back into the closet. “Too much.”

  “Coby.” Preston forced some command past his sleepy brain into his voice. “Didn’t I just say I like that color on you?”

  “It’s practically a dress.”

  “It would look good with those gray skinny jeans you had on the other day.”

  Cobalt plopped onto the edge of the bed, kicking at something that Preston couldn’t see. “Cal hates those jeans.” The clothing in question tumbled in a crumpled ball across the floor.

  “Who gives a flying fuck what Cal likes or doesn’t like?” Shoving the dog out of the way, Preston wiggled closer to his lover—and didn’t that thought make him grin like a loon—and grabbed his hand. “For that matter, why does it matter what I think? When have you ever stopped to worry about what people think? That isn’t you.”

  Another deep sigh, and Cobalt’s shoulders sagged. “When I was twentysomething and owned the stage—”

  “Hey. You don’t have to own the stage. You only have to own your own choices, and we’ve already been over that.”

  Cobalt studied him a long time. “It doesn’t bother you?”

  Bother me? Preston tipped his head to one side. “What?”

  “I’m about as girly as you are butch.” Cobalt ran a lascivious gaze down what was visible of Preston’s fuzzy, scarred, slightly soft and expansive torso. “And honey, you are butch.”

  Preston grinned. “You’ve been this”—he waved their joined hands up and down to indicate the tank top covered in miniscule daisies and the worn-at-the-knees jeans he had on—“since I’ve known you. Have I ever indicated it bothered me?”

  “Well—”

  “Have I?” Preston snapped.

  Cobalt’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “No.” The word was a mere breath and shape of lips.

  “Trust me.” Kissing Cobalt’s knuckles, Preston made sure Cobalt was focused on him before he spoke again. “Because if this topic comes up one more time, I really will take you over my knee. I love you. Wear a dress or a
tux or—”

  “Nothing at all?”

  Preston grinned. “Maybe. You. Your skin. A cock ring. I could get behind that.”

  “And into it?”

  “That’s it.” Preston yanked and Cobalt squealed as he toppled across his chest. “Punishment for bad puns is a thorough fucking. On your hands and knees.”

  Trembling but grinning, Cobalt complied, and Preston proceeded to peel his ass-hugging jeans away and fuck them both into a panting heap on the bed.

  Chance was long gone.

  COBALT EASED a curl into his spine, testing for soreness. His ass twinged and the muscles of his back groaned softly at him. Nothing major complained, and he marveled at the complete lethargy without all the usual accompanying aches and pains.

  Behind him, Preston almost purred as he rolled to his side and smoothed a hand down Cobalt’s side. “Sorry if that was a little rough.”

  “Mmmm.” Cobalt snuggled back into his warmth. “It was a little rough, a lot perfect. Are we going back to sleep?”

  Preston chuckled, the sound nearly lost under the growl of his stomach.

  “Oh dear God, what was that?” Cobalt spun onto his back, eyes wide in mock horror.

  “That, my sweet, sweet man, is what happens when you tempt a big, butch man into making love to you for days at a time without feeding him in between.” He gripped Cobalt’s chin and turned his face for a devouring kiss, which Cobalt easily gave in to. He had no defense for this gentle but all-consuming power Preston exhibited.

  “God, you are delicious like this, and I could eat you up,” Preston said, a growl in his voice. “But I fear I would miss the company, so.” He gave Cobalt’s thigh a swift, firm smack and rolled away and out of bed. “Come on. Feed me.”

  “Demanding, much?” Rubbing at his ass and trying hard to tame the jolt of excitement the contact set off in his body, Cobalt followed Preston’s progress as he stood. He was so big. Padded and bulky, but not flabby, and furry in all the right places.

  Preston grinned. “Oh yes. You know I am.” He rubbed his belly, and Cobalt was gripped by the almost overwhelming desire to pull him back onto the bed and rub his cheek over the light mat of hair all over his gorgeous body. Preston winked and grinned wider. “Just wait to see what I want from you after I’ve eaten.”