A Walk Through Fire (22 page)

The intense look on Ash’s face caused a bead of precum to leak out of Drew’s cock. He struggled for breath and his sanity.

“You’re sure about this, right? Because I know once I taste you this time, I’m not stopping until I make you mine.” Ash leaned over and swiped his tongue along the head of Drew’s cock, licking up the wetness. The move was so erotic, so intimate Drew almost came right then.

“You know if you keep this up, you’re going to ruin your rep as a ruthless bastard.” Drew watched Ash’s lips, wet and gleaming, curve in a wicked smile.

“Then we’ll have to keep it our secret, won’t we?” Ash slid his bulk over Drew until their lips were almost touching. The smell of sex and man created a heady perfume. Without thinking, Drew wound his arms around Ash’s neck and kissed him, the salty-sweet taste bursting on his tongue as Ash groaned into his mouth.

Their cocks bumped and slid even as their mouths devoured each other. Drew felt a heavy, muscular thigh push between his legs. “Want you, baby.” Ash’s heavy pants matched the throbbing of Drew’s cock. “I want to be inside you so bad.”

Drew opened his legs wide. “Take me. Fuck me already. You have to know how much I want this, want you.”

Ash dropped his head back down for a quick kiss, then reached for the lotion. Drew couldn’t help but tense as Ash’s cool, slicked fingers touched his ass, then breached his hole. Everything faded away, all fear and hesitation, at the touch of Ash’s finger sliding inside Drew for the first time. He gasped as it sank in slowly past the first ring of muscle, then reached farther until it was settled to the hilt.

“Okay, baby?” Ash’s eyes glimmered with concern.

“It feels strange, but yeah, I’m fine.” Drew smiled, then groaned when Ash inserted another finger to join the other already inside and curled them upward. “Oh damn, that’s strange.” It burned a bit and stretched, but no pain.

Ash continued to twist his wicked fingers inside him when he hit something. His prostate, Drew thought, and every nerve ending burst into flames. He cried out, sliding down on the bed, pushing against those fingers as they continued to thrust in and out of his willing body. Pleasure rolled through Drew so intense and raw he wondered how he’d lived without it all these years.

“Oh God. Ash, please. Now.”

He heard the foil tear on the condom wrapper and the slick sliding as Ash rolled it on and lubricated himself.

“Pick up your legs, baby, and put them on my shoulders.” The thick wide head of Ash’s cock nudged his entrance, and he tensed for a moment. “Ssh. I’ll be gentle with you. It’s my first time too. I’ve never been with a virgin, so we’ll learn together.”

Drew bit his lip hard as Ash reached down to guide himself inside. The sting and burn were much stronger than with Ash’s fingers, but he knew to relax and keep breathing. Once the head passed through that tight ring of muscle, it was done, and Drew struggled to breathe from the overwhelming sensation of having a part of Ash inside him.

“You okay, baby?” The strain and need in Ash’s hoarse voice caused a pang in Drew’s heart. No one had ever shown him such tenderness and care. Most of the blowjobs he’d received from women were merely a means to an end for them, though they seemed to enjoy when he returned the favor.

“I’m good. Now move.”

“Oh, giving orders, Doctor? I’ll see what I can do.” Starting with short thrusts, Ash began to push deeper and deeper into his body until Drew knew by the feel of Ash’s balls against his ass that Ash was firmly slotted inside of him.

And then Ash began to slide in and out, and the push-pull of their bodies moved in pace with the frenzied beating of Drew’s heart. Drew shifted, picking up his legs, and once again, that blinding streak of pleasure-pain overtook his body as Ash’s cock hit his sweet spot.

This time, Ash continued to stroke that spot over and over again, and he battered him, thrusting deeper and deeper until Drew thought his very soul was touched. He grabbed his own cock and stroked it in time with Ash’s movement, and the need built, twisting, burning through his blood to pool in his cock.

“Ash, my God, what the hell.” His moans echoed off the bedroom walls as Ash continued thrusting his thick cock over and over inside him.

“Don’t hold back, baby.” Ash changed his angle and pushed in even higher and deeper, causing white spots to dance before Drew’s eyes. The streaking electricity building within his balls alerted Drew he was close to coming. Ash continued his torment. “Need you so much. Give it all to me. Give me everything.”

Ash gave two hard, almost brutal thrusts, and Drew lost his mind. “Ash,” he yelled out as his cock jerked and he began to come in great spurts across his stomach and chest. It seemed to go on forever until finally his cock gave one last twitch, and he shivered. His ass clenched, and Ash stiffened and groaned as he climaxed inside of him, then carefully pulled out and took care of disposing of the condom, then crawled back into bed.

What would happen now? Drew wasn’t stupid enough to think a man like Ash would go for postcoital pillow talk and cuddling, yet still he hoped for the kindness and affection Ash had shown before they’d made love.

Because for him at least, it was making love, not fucking. He could hear Ash’s harsh breathing as they relaxed side by side. Strange that the man had been so intimate with him, more than anyone ever had been before, yet now, lying here next to him, with every passing minute Drew could sense not only a physical chasm but an emotional one as well, moving them further and further apart.

“Drew?”

He rolled over at Ash’s question but kept his eyes averted. “Yeah?” He couldn’t look him straight in the eye. The last thing he wanted was to be thought of as a pity fuck. Even remembering Ash’s gentleness, he couldn’t be sure that wasn’t a ploy by the silver-tongued attorney to get what he wanted, and now that he’d screwed him senseless, he needed to make his exit.

“Are you all right? I…I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Drew flashed an incredulous look upward at Ash’s concerned face. “You’re concerned about me?”

Now it was Ash’s turn to look surprised, while a kernel of hope built in Drew’s heart that Ash might want to stay. “How could you think otherwise?”

If Drew didn’t know better, he’d suspect the man’s feelings were hurt. “Well, after last time, I’m not quite sure how you feel or what to expect now.” He broke eye contact and looked toward the foot of the bed. Anywhere but at Ash.

To his surprise, Ash slid closer to him, hauling him in tight, pressing his face into Drew’s hair. “I feel like the luckiest fucking man alive, ’cause you’re so fucking perfect and for some reason you want me. That’s all I know.” Ash’s arms tightened around Drew. “You are with me, right?”

Once again, that vulnerable, uncertain tone of Ash’s did funny things to Drew. Like cause his heart to squeeze. Or his already labored breathing to catch. The magnitude of his feelings for this beautiful, damaged man went beyond anything he’d ever imagined possible.

“I wouldn’t want to be any other place in the world.” Drew turned in Ash’s arms to see his handsome face break out in a huge smile. On impulse he initiated a kiss, slipping his tongue in to tease with Ash’s. They spent several moments kissing until Drew realized how sticky and sweaty he was. “Ash, I’m gonna take a shower.” With a sleepy nod, Ash closed his eyes, and Drew climbed out of bed.

Upon entering the bathroom, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. With his jaw scraped almost raw by Ash’s beard, his chest all sticky and faint reddened marks on his neck and chest, Drew had to admit he looked thoroughly fucked. He grinned and turned on the shower.

Steam rose in the bathroom, and he entered the stall with a satisfied groan and closed his eyes. Almost too tired to move, he stretched out his hand, trying to reach the soap.

“Looking for this?” Hands slick from soap caressed his chest. “Let me wash you, baby. Take care of you. You had a rough night.”

For a brief moment, Drew opened his eyes, but the effort seemed almost too much to bear, and they slid closed as he nodded his head. “I’d love that.” Between the heat of the water, the sensuous stroking of his skin, and his overall fatigue from the scare with his grandmother, his legs nearly gave out. He could feel himself sliding down the tiled wall, only to be caught and pulled against Ash’s hot, wet body.

“Come on now, baby. Let’s get you dried off and ready for bed.” Ash reached up and turned off the water.

Like a child, he allowed himself to be led out of the shower stall, where Ash enveloped him in a large towel. After he was dried off, Ash wrapped a strong arm around him and guided him to the bed, where he was pushed down and tucked under the thin comforter.

“Ash.” He reached out and grasped Ash’s hand, lacing their fingers together. “You aren’t leaving, are you?” The silence stretched out until it became impossible not to speak. “Why do you want to leave?”

“I haven’t been asked to stay. But I’ve never wanted to stay.” The bed sagged under his weight as he perched on the edge. “That is, until now.”

Still holding on to Ash’s hand, Drew tugged him closer until he could rest his head on Ash’s shoulder. His presence gave Drew strength to face his guilt over his parents’ death and the worry from his grandmother’s illness. He flipped back the covers. “I want you to. Please stay with me.”

Ash smiled and joined him underneath the comforter, holding him close. Drew closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Nineteen

Ash awoke slowly, cracking one eye open, an unfamiliar warmth snuggled into his chest. Soft puffs of breath wafted across his cheek, and one of Drew’s legs was slung over his thigh. Ash’s cock swelled full and heavy, pressing into Drew’s belly, but he made no move to initiate early morning sex. Drew had been so bone weary last night when they’d gone to bed, he wanted to give him a few more minutes before he’d have to wake up and jump into what promised to be another overwhelming and exhausting day.

Instead, he enjoyed holding his lover in his arms. The pads of Ash’s fingertips traced the smattering of freckles that dotted Drew’s fine, pale skin. Like a game of connect the dots, Ash followed his fingers with his tongue, as little dips and tastes of all that sweetness would have to be enough to hold him for another day. Drew shifted, mumbling in his sleep, and turned on his side, so now Ash’s cock nestled in the hot crease of his firm ass.

It would be too easy to slide between those tight cheeks, rocking himself to oblivion. But it wasn’t what Ash wanted anymore. What Ash did want was to see Drew’s face when he entered him and watch Drew’s eyes grow blind from lust when he came.

Shit, he sounded like a fucking cheesy Hallmark card. Easing out from underneath Drew’s body, he stood and gave a lingering look at the sleep-warmed man lying in the bed. For the first time Ash shared a bed with someone other than when he and his friends had huddled together in his bed back in their foster home. But that didn’t count. They’d come together then because they were scared of storms or when Munson was beating up his wife. Not the fondest of memories.

This was different. Drew sighed and cuddled the pillow, and an unfamiliar twist curled through Ash’s heart. He turned on his heel and, after finding a toothbrush and disposable razor in the bathroom, cleaned himself up. He picked up his wrinkled clothes from the floor with distaste. Shit, he couldn’t go to the office like this, but nothing Drew owned would fit him.

He wandered into the kitchen, determined to wake up and make himself some coffee. The sight of the large black-and-white cat sitting in the center of the kitchen floor, staring at him with those wide, unblinking eyes, unnerved him for a second. “Hello, kitty. Are you hungry too?”

No answer, merely a swish of the tail.

Hmm. He saw the cat bowl on the floor, but finding the food would require a search of the cabinets, which was kind of personal, but what the hell. After opening and closing several doors, he found a bag of dry food. Success. When he picked up the bag, the cat came to life, meowing and winding himself around Ash’s legs. After he filled the bowl with food, Ash replaced the water. The animal now taken care of, Ash discovered the coffee and set out to brew himself a cup.

Within moments he was sipping a sweet-smelling vanilla-bean coffee. He glanced at the kitchen clock and saw it was barely eight o’clock. Remembering he had a business to take care of, he picked up the phone and called the office.

“Davis and Frank. How may I help you?” The early morning, perky voice of Laura greeted him.

“Hello, Laura. Is Walker in yet?”

“Good morning, Mr. Davis. Yes, Mr. Walker is here, preparing for your ten o’clock.”

He sipped his coffee. Good. “Put him on, please.”

“Of course, sir. One moment.”

A click and then a nervous-sounding Walker came on. “Mr. Davis? Is everything okay?”

Walker had been with him for eight months now, but Ash still thought the man believed he’d be fired anytime they spoke.

“Everything’s fine. I’ve had a bit of a family emergency, so I won’t make the meeting.”

“I see.” A cautious tone crept into Walker’s voice. “I can reschedule them.”

“No, no.” Ash heard movement from the other room, and suddenly he was anxious to see Drew again. “I trust you to handle it.”

Silence for a moment. “You do?” Walker sounded so incredulous Ash had to laugh.

“Yes, I do, unless you think there’s a reason I shouldn’t?” Ash chuckled to himself as Walker stuttered in his ear.

“N-no. Of course not. Thank you, sir. I’ll make sure everything turns out the way you intended it to. You can count on me.”

“I know, Walker. I’ll talk to you later.” He clicked off and made another cup of coffee. He found bagels in a bag on the counter and had taken out a knife to slice them for toasting when a noise behind him caught his attention. He whirled around.

“Oh my God, Ash. No.” Drew stood at the doorway to the kitchen, naked except for a pair of boxers, a frightened expression on his pale face. “Put the knife down, please.”

What the fuck? Then he looked down and saw his hand still gripping the large serrated bread knife and knew immediately what Drew had thought. Embarrassed, he instinctively struck out. “What? Afraid I’m going to bleed all over your kitchen?” After that cruel jab, he couldn’t look at Drew, so he turned around, his entire body tight with shame, anger, and regret. His head remained bowed while he struggled to keep from howling his pain.