“A little late for lunch, aren’t you?” Elliot remarked and the echo of Claire wondering why Drew was giving her lunch at almost dinner time served to remind him of his patterns and behavior too. Well, if Elliot could re-educate himself…

  “I’m so sorry.” Drew held up his hands in apology.

  “And that’s all you’ve got to say.” Elliot took a step back, preparing to go inside.

  “No. I have a lot to say.” But where to start? “Mainly that you were right—I live for work and everything else comes second. And I wish I’d met you today to talk about things. But I did it again, went off chasing after a lead. If you’re still mad at me, I don’t blame you. My life is either work or compartmentalized sex as stress relief second to that. It’s not about feeling or exploring, and it should be, with you. I want it to be, with you. If you’ll give me a chance to try.”

  “So this is the big romantic declaration?” Elliot glanced pointedly at Drew’s hands that were empty of candy or chocolates.

  “It’s the declaration of intent. Not so much chocolates and flowers as my heart on the line. On the starting line, actually—I want to start a relationship with you.” Yep, in the grand scheme of extravagant gestures and shout-it-from-the-rooftops announcements, it was hardly world-shattering, but…

  “Oh.” Elliot blinked. Did he realize how this was as big a step for Drew as some of the ones he’d taken? “But what about the case? Kislyak?”

  Despite the tension, Drew wanted to smile at how Elliot got him. “I found out more stuff today. The third painting’s in the SAPD, for one thing. You were right about another thing, that it’s time to bow out. To hand this over. But can we not talk about that now?”

  “Really?” Elliot looked pleased but wary. “So what do you want to talk about?”

  “I don’t really want to talk. What I’d like to do is be invited in, to start our relationship off properly by making love to you.” Drew gave him a crooked grin.

  “Make…” Elliot almost squeaked but stepped aside to allow Drew entrance.

  Drew pulled him into his arms and held him tight. “Yeah,” he said in Elliot’s ear, which he nipped, to make Elliot shudder. “Would you like that?” Elliot stirred a little and hesitated. Drew understood. “Oh, you thought I meant some bland, vanilla lovemaking?” He bit down a little harder on Elliot’s lobe and moved to look him in the face. “I know you crave it spicy…which suits me. I’ll give you all the spice you can handle, then a little more.”

  He loved how his words had Elliot huge-eyed and breathing fast. He slid his hands to the back of Elliot’s head, spearing his fingers into his temples and thrusting his tongue into his mouth. Elliot clung to him and kissed him just as fiercely, making Drew hard.

  He pulled away. “I want you to go on up first and get some toys ready for us to play with. Okay?” At Elliot’s nod, Drew turned him around and swatted his ass to get him moving. He gave Elliot thirty seconds, then followed him into his bedroom.

  “Still go, slow and stop and knocking your hands or feet twice?” Drew asked.

  Elliot nodded.

  “Good. Come here.” Drew stripped the gown from him. Elliot fresh from the shower smelled delicious and his cock was already standing tall, inviting Drew to make it glisten. Elliot was thick and his shaft had an intriguing curve to it that Drew intended to get to know with his tongue.

  “Can I undress you?” Elliot asked, making Drew recall he hadn’t really been naked in front of Elliot yet. He’d pulled his clothes off when Elliot was half asleep, but…

  “Yes. And next time you can explore me,” Drew promised, helping Elliot remove his clothes. Elliot’s hands on him made each patch of skin sensitized, as though Elliot were tonguing each centimeter. It reminded Drew that something he enjoyed was sitting at his ease while a sub at his feet licked and sucked his balls. The image of Elliot with his nose deep in Drew’s pubic hair as he took Drew’s sac into his hot mouth almost had his erect cock spurting.

  He backed Elliot to the bed, kissing him again, then gave him a gentle push onto the mattress and turned him onto his front. “Going to be good and take everything I give you?” he whispered in Elliot’s ear. “Or be a brat and force me to give you more? I’m good either way…and I bet you will be too.”

  Elliot hesitated, and Drew wanted to smile at the sub weighing up his options. “Both,” he said finally, making Drew smile into the nape of his neck.

  Drew nudged Elliot’s legs apart with one knee and sat between them to get a good look at Elliot. “You’re so hot,” he said. He leaned over him, pressing his groin into Elliot’s ass as if testing their fit—not that there was any need. Drew knew how well they fit together. “Let me see you?”

  He gave Elliot no time to refuse or even ask what he meant, instead moving Elliot’s bent leg up higher to spread his ass cheeks and part them. “Beautiful,” Drew told him. Elliot shivered, and Drew gave him a moment to get used to that position, using the time to snag a pillow and ease it under Elliot’s hips then angle the bedside lamp so it cast light on Elliot’s hole and threw bars of shadow down his spine.

  Drew used the trails as a guide to kiss down, right to the base, loving how Elliot clutched his fingers tightly into the sheet below him when Drew reached the top of his cleft. “Make all the noise you like,” Drew invited, going onto his knees to lick down Elliot’s crease. Beneath him, Elliot whimpered.

  Drew pulled Elliot’s cheeks apart and nosed his hole, then kissed it. Although he’d showered and that sandalwood scent clung to him, Elliot smelled musky and raw there, and Drew liked that better. He licked over Elliot’s pucker, a long, slow swipe at first, then again, a little rougher and quicker, curious how Elliot would react.

  Elliot’s breath caught and he let out a gasp, but the best was his muscles fluttering under Drew’s tongue when he traced its tip in a tight circle around Elliot’s hole, testing and seeking. “Oh, you like this,” Drew surmised.

  If the noise Elliot made wasn’t him begging for more, the undulation of his body beneath Drew was. Drew had to tighten his grip on Elliot’s cheeks and, when he shifted his thumbs, deep white indents showed. Drew widened Elliot’s legs farther until he must have been feeling the stretch and burn…and very exposed. “Okay?” Drew asked, blowing gently onto the wetness.

  The yes Elliot gave in answer became a long hiss due to Drew pressing his tongue into Elliot at the same time as he rubbed his thumbs along the outside of his rim. Elliot cried out and froze, as if shocked, but then his hips rocked and the cry turned pleading—he wanted more.

  “But do you deserve more?” Drew asked.

  “Yes!” Elliot shouted, arching his butt into Drew’s face.

  “Sure?” Drew queried, sadistically, and before Elliot could answer, gave it to him, forcing his tongue deep inside Elliot’s channel to fuck him with it. It only took half a minute until Elliot’s hole was softened and dripping wet, and Drew he could slip a thumb in beside his tongue easily.

  Drew raised his head. “I wish you could see how fucking slutty you look,” he murmured. “Next time we’ll film this.” How would Elliot react to the sight Drew was almost climaxing at now, the string of saliva dripping from Drew’s mouth to Elliot’s hole and trickling down to his balls?

  Drew sat back, working Elliot open with his thumb and forefinger, using saliva for lubrication, rather than stop and grab the lube, for all Elliot had left it on the bed. He liked the slightly rough clutch of Elliot’s passage like this, without the extra silky glide the lube added.

  “Yeah, I wish you could see what I see, you taking this. We’re definitely videoing this. Now, you do know I’m going to rim until you’re begging me to let you come? And Elliot, you’re so sensitive—you’ll be begging hard.”

  Elliot grinding his hips into the pillow, trying to get friction on his aching cock, earned him a ringing slap on one butt cheek. Drew eased his hips back…so he could push his tongue in farther and at the same time, half roll Elliot over to get a hand under him. He used it to grip the base of Elliot’s dick, ringing it tightly to stop him coming. Elliot was thrashing too much for Drew to continue eating him out, making him stop. “Should have put you in a cock ring,” he mused. “Well, it’s not too late. And next time I’m strapping you down. Or up—on a St. Andrew’s cross.”

  Elliot did the freeze then thrust thing again, meaning he was considering it…and liked the idea. Which reminded Drew that he’d promised Elliot playtime with toys. “I know you want my dick spearing into you and stuffing you, but all in good time,” he said huskily, sliding free of Elliot. He glanced over at the toys Elliot had waiting and his lips curled.

  “We can do better than that,” he said and leaned back to open the top drawer of Elliot’s nightstand, where he did a double-take at the anal beads. No tiny spheres on a string, this was a twelve-inch row of black silicone bumps with no gaps in between, growing in size from the smallest at the tip to the fattest, largest end bead before the stopper. Even the handle looked massive…which would make grasping and wielding them easy…and pleasurable.

  “Look, Elliot.” Drew made sure Elliot saw him take them. “Now why do I think you left these right at the front of your drawer, where they’d be easily found? Oh yes, because you’re a pushy sub.” He appreciated how wide Elliot’s eyes grew when Drew gripped the handle and slapped the beads against the palm of his other hand and how Elliot jumped at the meaty thwack.

  Drew squirted lube onto his palm to slick the toy up, taking care to coat the last, thickest bead and that Elliot watched him do it. He understood Elliot more now—anticipation and nervousness were a big part of things for him. “No talking now. No noise,” he ordered. Elliot would find that hard.

  He said nothing either as he bent and gave the tiniest rub of the toy at Elliot’s exposed asshole then penetrated him with the tip, sliding the first bead halfway inside.

  Elliot gasped. “Sorry,” burst from him.

  “You’re not sorry,” Drew surmised. “Not by the way you’re trying to push yourself back, to take more into that greedy hole of yours.” Judging Elliot’s body heat had spread the lube and his passage was slick enough, he gave Elliot what he wanted and pushed the silicone bead fully in. The gargled noise he heard was Elliot smothering his groan with his hand over his mouth.

  “Have you taken these before?” Drew asked, and Elliot nodded. “But not the whole length.” Elliot shook his head. “Well, you are now. Next one…” The third bead was about five centimeters in circumference he assessed, and it stretched Elliot’s rim wide. Drew left it in the hole for long seconds before using the handle to push it in.

  “You can take it.” Drew rubbed his back. “I’m proud of you. You should be proud of yourself. I don’t mean just of what your body can physically take…like the last one.” He used the toy’s handle to roll the beads in and out, just slightly, but the loud moan Elliot gave told Drew he’d stroked over the bump of Elliot’s prostate.

  “I said no noise!” Drew roared and slapped Elliot’s cheek…to make the beads rub over his gland again. This had Elliot burying his face in the sheets under him to absorb the sounds he let loose. “I like prostate play.” Drew kept his tone light. “Internal”—he pulled the toy so the bead that he’d just inserted popped out again…for Drew to thrust back in—“and external.”

  He gave Elliot a second to figure that out before he rubbed Elliot’s taint, hoping to stimulate the gland from the outside. He didn’t need to—the beads were doing all the work—but, well. “Final one,” he said, preparing Elliot.

  “No. Please. I can’t,” came from Elliot in a feeble gasp.

  Drew listened to his words…and the word he didn’t say—his safe word. He didn’t give any signal either. “Oh, I think you can,” he replied, “So you’re going to.” Elliot might not want to, but he needed to. “It’s wide and should stretch you, which is good because I’m going to fuck you after you’ve come.”

  He had to, or climax over Elliot’s ass. He almost was. The final bead of the toy looked obscenely big and fat. Drew judged it as being about seven and a half centimeters round. He kept his grip firm on both the handle of the beads and, reaching around, Elliot’s cock. As he’d expected, Elliot was almost coming. Without warning, he slid the final bump in, so the row was buried up to its hilt.

  Elliot hollered, and all it took was Drew pulling the toy free with one hand and stroking his other up Elliot’s dick and thumb his slit to make him scream—and come in a huge wave, jetting over Drew’s hand. His climax was one of the longest Drew had ever seen, pulse after pulse, spasm after spasm, and he spooned Elliot, bending over his curled-into-itself body to ride the waves with him.

  “You look so hot…you’re doing great,” Drew murmured, waiting for Elliot to come back to himself. Pressed so close to him, he felt Elliot’s hole flexing around emptiness, and he chuckled into Elliot’s damp neck. “Good thing you want more, because remember what I promised?” He didn’t know how he’d managed to keep from coming, but he had. “I said I was going to fuck you, and I am. Now.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Elliot, still panting, red and sweaty, stared at Drew. It was what they’d discussed, Drew forcing Elliot further and further out of his safe zone each time. Sex with a hook-up he’d had one drink with in a bar hadn’t been that big a step, but SM sex, Elliot getting his ass spanked hard then fucked harder? That was a giant step. And their next scene, Drew holding Elliot’s head so he could fuck his throat?

  Forcing me to deep throat him, to take his cock until I choked. Then swallow him, then take the rest to the face? Elliot still shivered at the memory of that, and Drew watching him jerk off after. And now this?

  He’d bought that toy, fantasizing about its girth, and had used it a little, getting as far as the third bump in solo play. And now he’d taken the entire thing! His ass ached and he squirmed at the memory, recalling Drew’s words that he should be proud of himself and not just for what his body could take.

  Drew was casting a quick look around the room then back at Elliot. As if reaching a decision, he moved the armchair more fully into the bay window…and opened the drapes. The window faced the street. It was unlikely anyone would be standing outside, peering in, or even looking from a neighboring window, but the public exposure of it stole Elliot’s breath.

  And Drew seemed to know it, going by the smirk on his face. When he sat in the big padded chair, his cock stood up proudly. He gestured at the condoms on the bed. “Cover me.”

  “I…”

  “Heard me. Now.”

  Barely able to walk, Elliot approached with the condom and, fingers shaking, opened the packet and rolled the latex onto Drew’s cock. “I didn’t bring the lube.” Elliot turned to go back to the bed but Drew’s grip on his arm stopped him.

  “It’s lubricated and so are you. You had plenty of prep, so hop on up.”

  Still not believing he was doing it, Elliot did, climbing to straddle Drew. Even after taking that toy to his ass, he thought Drew looked huge, sitting there, giving a lazy pull to his dick. Elliot tried to sink down on it, but his sweat-dewed body slipped, and he missed. Drew grabbed his face.

  “You’d better not be stalling.”

  Elliot gave the tiniest head-shake, all he could manage, and this time held Drew’s cock steady as he lowered over him again. He grunted when the head breached him, making sensitive tissues sting, and Drew’s hand round the back of his neck brought his mouth to Drew’s. Drew opened Elliot’s lips with his and took his agonized cry into his own lungs, sharing Elliot’s reaction to the penetration with him. It was shockingly intimate.

  Elliot’s hands flew out and landed on Drew’s shoulders. He pulled his head away a little to suck in a breath—Drew was pulsing in his ass in a way that a plug or beads or a dildo never could, warm and alive, and he moaned at the feel.

  “You can take me,” Drew told him.

  He moved a hand to Elliot’s pec, and Elliot didn’t understand why, until Drew closed his finger and thumb around Elliot’s nipple and squeezed. Again, Drew swallowed Elliot’s gasp.

  “And I want to see you take this,” Drew added, increasing the squeeze to a pinch. “Remind me to get you some clamps. Crocodile clips, I think.” He gave a hollow huff of a laugh. “Just be glad you’re facing me and not the street and all your nice neighbors when you ride my cock…this time. Now sit.”

  When Elliot, too startled by Drew’s words and too mindful of the stretch of his ass, didn’t comply, Drew tsked, brought his hands to Elliot’s shoulders—and pushed him down until he bottomed out. Elliot howled at the rub of Drew’s thick cock against his already overstimulated prostate. He closed his eyes tightly and bright white starbursts danced behind the lids.

  “No. Eyes on me,” Drew ordered and pinged them open. “Breathe with me.”

  Elliot tried and within a second the pain was bearable. Within two, it was shooting ecstasy through him.

  “Yeah.” Drew could read his body. Or face. Or maybe his eyes. Elliot didn’t know and couldn’t think, not poised like this, hovering on the brink of pleasure and pain and wanting both and so hot and tight he was about to shatter. “Yeah. Now ride me.”

  Drew helped him rise and sink, Elliot gasping as Drew’s cock dragged over each centimeter of his passage. He tried to keep his head forward to look Drew in the eye, as ordered, but it lolled back, and his eyes rolled.

  “I wonder how many of your neighbors can see you,” Drew whispered, his voice broken. “How many are watching nice respectable antiques trader Elliot Douglas riding my cock. Maybe I should turn you round, let them see you properly, let you see them.”

  He wouldn’t. No one was watching. But the thought, the idea… Elliot dripped with sweat from his hair down and had to fight to keep his grip on Drew’s shoulders. Each rub over his prostate was pure agony now.

  With an “I can’t last…” Drew fucked him with several hard thrusts that forced tears from Elliot’s eyes and had him clenching his teeth to keep in his screams. Moments later, Drew pulled Elliot to him and came with a low, guttural groan against his shoulder, his mouth hot on Elliot’s skin and his teeth pressing into his flesh.