Sailor Proof by Annabeth Albert

Chapter Seventeen

Derrick

“I’ve got you right where I want you.” Calder laughed wickedly as he set his beer aside.

“So you think,” I said mildly, not grabbing the bait. We’d been friends so many years that he undoubtedly thought he had all my tells memorized. Thus, I’d extra worked hard the whole evening to not reveal a damn thing about where I’d rather be.

Because Calder might be having the time of his life, playing cards and shooting the breeze with his friends and brothers, but I was most decidedly notwhere I wanted to be. Where I wanted to be was back in the cabin with Arthur, finally putting an end to all this teasing between us. And every time my mind wandered back to him and my endless fantasies, I lost another hand and ended up suckered into another game.

“Raise?” Calder pushed more chips into the pot.

“Yep.” I matched his call.

“I’m out.” Predictably, Max folded. He was the type of rock who only ever stayed in when his winning was almost assured. I’d played enough with Calder over the years to know that playing it safe seldom paid off, and sure enough, I won on a backdoor flush, turning my two hearts into a flush with a lucky deal.

“Damn it. How’d you do that?” Calder grimaced before taking another swig of beer. The tension in his shoulders and jaw said that he was about to ask for a rematch so I made a big show of yawning.

“Talent. Guess I’m just better.” I yawned and laughed more. “And I’m out now too.”

“Leaving? We’re just getting started!” Calder’s wheedling tone and determined grin made him look younger. And he was fun, as always, but I still pushed away from the table before he could talk me into staying.

“I’m tired and lord only knows what your family has planned for the morning.”

“Hiking. Five bucks says Arthur fakes an injury to get out of it.” Calder rolled his eyes. “But it’s a nice view. You should come.”

I was planning to come, very soon, but in a whole different context. And right then, faking something to get to sleep in with Arthur sounded amazing, not that I was telling the guys that.

“I’ll see you in the morning. Probably in better shape than you.” I gestured at the beer bottles and card table.

“F-off.” Motioning me toward the door, Calder gave a good-natured chuckle. “I don’t do hangovers.”

“Uh-huh. Night.” Free at last, I headed back to my cabin with Arthur at a fast clip. I hoped like hell he was still awake so I could make up the wait to him. But I pulled up short as I reached the porch. The front window was dark, no light peeking around the drawn curtains. Damn it. I let myself in, trying to be as quiet as possible in case he really was asleep. I toed off my shoes and crept into the room.

“Arthur? You awake?” I whispered at the lump in the bed.

“Yeah. Barely.” Rolling over, he held up his glowing tablet before flipping on the low light of the bedside lamp. “I’m almost out of battery power.”

I knelt by his side of the bed and brushed his floppy hair out of his eyes. “I’m sorry that took so long.”

“It’s okay.” Sighing softly, he stretched into my touch. “We’re getting enough teasing without adding Calder into the mix. I get not wanting him to know that we had...plans.”

“Trust me, I’ve still got plans.” I ghosted a kiss across his mouth, relieved at how he rolled toward me, not shutting me out despite me maybe deserving the cold shoulder. “I could barely focus on cards. All I could think about was earlier, how good you tasted.”

“Yeah?” Eyes warm, he leered at me.

“Yeah. And now you smell nice too.” Burying my face in his silky soft hair, I inhaled deeply. The sunscreen scent had been replaced by more of his usual mint and tea clean scent. He hadn’t totally shaved, but his scruff looked newly trimmed and his hair was still slightly damp. “Enjoy your shower?”

“Would have enjoyed it more with company.” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

“We’ll see what can be arranged for later in the week.” Kissing him again, I made this one longer, more of a promise that I could do better by him.

“Good. Get up here.” Tugging at my shoulders, he didn’t stop until I was wedged in next to him. “Tell me you’re going to do more than sniff my hair.”

“So bossy.” I nuzzled from his neck up to his temple simply for the joy of making him laugh.

“Hey, I’ve been waiting. Night’s a-wasting.” He yanked me more on top of him.

“Definitely don’t want to waste this.” The covers were tangled between us, but the luxury of having his firm, warm body underneath me was not something to squander. I kissed him more firmly now, thrilling to how eager he was, how he didn’t wait for me to deepen the kiss. It was rare to meet someone as enthusiastic as me about kissing, someone who could give as good as they got rather than a battle for control or the equally frustrating experience of a totally passive partner.

With Arthur, his happy noises in between kisses were enough to have me painfully hard. The need to touch him kept building with every pass of our lips until my whole body trembled.

“This okay?” I pushed the covers down to reveal his faded T-shirt and thin cotton pajama pants.

“More than.” He wriggled like a puppy as I swept my hand down his torso before claiming his mouth again. As I plundered his mouth, I wedged a hand under his shirt to explore all the warm skin waiting there for me.

Making a frustrated noise, Arthur plucked at my own tee. “You have on too many clothes.”

“You too.” I shoved his shirt farther up so I could trace the line of red fuzz heading from his navel to the waistband of his pants. “I had this fantasy of you waiting in nothing but a towel.”

“Mmm. Next time.” Pulling my shirt free from my jeans, he worked a hand under the fabric to stroke my bare back, and I had to inhale sharply from how good his touch felt.

“Good. I wanna unwrap you.” Sitting up, I tried to do exactly that. There was so much I wanted to do that my brain swam with all the possibilities, making my movements clumsy. My bumbling efforts ended up with us both tangled in fabric and chortling.

Finally, we untangled enough to both undress next to the bed. And damn, even in dim light, Arthur was spectacular. Lean, but wiry, with a smattering of freckles and chest fuzz as red as his hair. More ginger fuzz on that treasure trail I’d been playing with earlier and lower too, surrounding a tasty-looking cock. For a skinny guy, he was hung, long shaft and oval uncut tip that I couldn’t wait to have in my mouth.

But first I wanted another kiss and I pulled him back onto the bed, into my lap. The move put him at the perfect height for more making out, and one kiss turned into ten turned into both of us breathing hard and clutching at each other.

“Fuck. I like this,” he groaned as I moved to kiss his scruffy jaw.

“Good. Me too.” I trailed my tongue down his neck to nip at his well-defined collarbones. “So much.”

I kept reminding myself that Arthur was new to this and to not go too fast, but slowing down was near impossible with the sounds he made when I kissed and licked at his neck. I bit a little harder than I probably should have, and he shuddered in my arms.

“Oh, do that again.” Eyes closing, he tipped his head back, exposing even more creamy, freckled neck for me to feast on.

“This?” Trying to make sure I was below where his shirt collar hit, I sucked hard at the tender triangle where his neck and shoulder met, nibbling my way across those collarbones I couldn’t get enough of.

“More.” He arched his back, hard cock nudging my abs, making me be the one to shudder next. And I couldn’t ignore the unspoken invitation either. Keeping one hand on his back, I moved the other one between us.

“Okay to touch you here?”

“God, yes, please.” Canting his hips, he bumped my palm with his cock until I took it in my grip. “Fuck. That feels amazing.”

“Yeah, you do.” Still dropping random kisses on his neck, I stroked him slow, keeping my grasp loose, discovering what he liked. Judging by his steady stream of moans and curses, he liked it all, but it was fun teasing him, sweeping my thumb across his slick tip, dancing my fingers down the shaft before stroking again, a little firmer now.

“Can I play too?” He wormed his hand underneath mine to find my cock.

“Uh-huh.” Like I was going to deny him that. I was dying for his touch, and a sound like I’d taken a fist to the gut escaped my lungs as he explored and touched. He had calluses in different places than mine, a musician’s long elegant fingers, and each stroke made me groan anew.

I kept my grip on his cock, but we kept bumping wrists and laughing in between moans and more kissing and touching.

“Here, let me show you something...” Gently, I moved his hand aside so I could take both our cocks in my grasp.

“Fuck.” His back bowed against my other hand, the tension in his muscles as sexy as the feel of his cock against mine. “That. Oh.”

The note of wonder in his voice thrilled something primal in me. “Something new?”

“Yeah.” A shudder rippled through his torso before he rocked up into my grip. “So much better than my imagination.”

“Mine too. Kiss me again.” Using my free hand, I hauled him in for another kiss, delving deeply as I stroked us both. He braced his hands against my shoulders, keeping me close, like there was any chance of me escaping. Kissing me back, he made needy little noises that went straight to my cock.

“Wait.” Breaking free, he panted against my cheek.

“What?” I stilled my hand as he made a pained grunt.

“Too close.” A tremor raced up his back, right under my palm. Seeing him right on the edge like that had my own muscles trembling.

“It’s okay.” Kissing his cheek softly, I made a soothing noise. Honestly, I was surprised we’d both lasted this long considering all the build-up we’d had. “I wanna make you come.”

“Not yet. Not ready for it to be over.” Even as he shook his head, his body kept surging up to meet my fist. “There’s so much more I want to try.”

Lord, he was going to kill me. Or get me off first, simply from thinking about his wish list.

“We’ve got time,” I promised. “Trust me that I’m way too worked up to do anything else justice right now.”

He felt too damn good in my arms to think about letting go. It was self-indulgent of me, but I desperately wanted to get him off like this where I could watch his face when he came. Also, simply touching him was so intense that I was a little worried that anything more might ruin me for all future sex. Hell, this might be enough to do the job on its own. No other kisses could live up to these.

“Want you to go too. This does it for you?” Eyes drifting shut again, he tensed as I sped up my hand.

“You do it for me.” This time when I tried to kiss him, he let me, meeting me eagerly.

“Fuck. That feels...”

“So good.” I wanted to watch him, but my own eyes kept closing from how damn good this felt.

“Think I’m gonna...” That awe was back in his voice and it was almost enough to push me over first, but I clenched my back muscles, holding it off even as I urged him on.

“Do it.”

“Want you to come too. Please.”

“I will. Promise.” So many promises, both silent and spoken, ones I couldn’t seem to help from offering up. Each promise added up, pulled me further down the path to a dangerous entanglement, but hell if I could stop. Not right then especially, as my hand had stopped listening to my brain, moving faster and faster.

“Oh. That.” His moan was part surprise, part surrender, and utterly intoxicating as he came all over my fist. The first spurt hit my stomach, the warmth all it took to shred the last of my control.

“Fuck.” My hips bucked as all that tension I’d been holding back released, the wave of relief so intense I forgot to watch his face, so caught up in my own pleasure. And his. I reveled in the way he clung to me, the way he panted and laughed softly as we both drifted back down. I kissed him over and over because I couldn’t not, because sharing this felt so good.

“How do you do that?” He shook his head when I finally slowed the kissing. “You practically came on command. Damn. That’s impressive.”

“Practice.” I chuckled.

“Well, duh.” A blush spread across his cheeks.

“I didn’t mean with another person. More like I’ve spent so much time with my right hand that I’m pretty good at timing it.”

“You are good at waiting.” Groaning, he grabbed his discarded shirt to wipe both our hands and stomachs.

“But it was worth it?” Tilting my head, I considered him carefully. I didn’t only mean how I’d kept him waiting the last two days. If that was his first time coming with someone else, I hoped it was at least as memorable for him as it was for me.

“Yeah, it was.” Cleanup done, he graced me with a gentle kiss on the mouth. “Now, tell me we get to do that again.”

“Hell yes we do.” And there it was, that entanglement that came with continuing to make promises to Arthur, the risks in keeping this thing going. A smarter guy would put an end to this, but not me. All I could do was hope that the next time came quickly, before common sense caught up with me.