(Blue Notes 2)The Melody Thief (12 page)

That’s what you are, isn’t it?

“I didn’t want Connor Taylor. I wanted
you
, Cary. The real Cary Redding.”

“But—”

“I like you, Cary. How you live for your music. How you are around Massi. How you look at things like a child sometimes. How you seem so lost. I….” Antonio hesitated for the first time that evening. “I want to show you the way.”

“I lied to you. For almost a month. I told you I was something—
someone
I wasn’t.”

“You also showed me what’s inside of Cary. You pretended it wasn’t you, but I know it was.”

Cary said nothing. He was too stunned to speak.

“I
am
angry. I don’t like being lied to. And if you lie to me again….”

“I won’t,” Cary whispered. “I promise.” He meant it too.

“I never wanted Connor Taylor,” Antonio repeated. “Besides, you were trying too hard.”

“I wasn’t try—”

“Kiss me, Cary. And, how do you say it in English? ‘Cut the crap’?”

Cary should have had a smart comeback—he usually did—but how could he possibly resist the one thing he’d been obsessing over for the last few weeks? He did the only reasonable thing he could: he did exactly as he was told.

Antonio parted his lips to allow him entry, then teased him with a brief taste of his tongue until Cary had no choice but to lean against the taut body and pull that pale, beautiful face to his own with his one good arm. A moment later, Antonio lifted off Cary’s shirt and eased it gently over the cast. He wasted no time but found the hard nipples of Cary’s chest with his thumbs, rubbing in narrow circles until Cary growled and pressed his groin against Antonio’s muscled thigh.

No one had touched him like this in years. He had imagined the first time with Antonio would be rough and fast, but nothing in that gentle, insistent touch was anything like what he had imagined. It was
so
much better.

Antonio kissed a line from the base of his neck, over his Adam’s apple, and up to his right ear. “Oh fuck,” Cary moaned, not sure if he had spoken English or Italian or even if he had spoken at all. Antonio pulled at the lobe of Cary’s ear with his teeth and licked around the outside until Cary trembled.

“Come.” Antonio backed away from the couch with an outstretched arm. “There’s no need to rush this evening. I want you to be comfortable while I make love to you.”

Make love?
Cary wondered from a distance.
Is that what this is?
He didn’t like things slow and deliberate, did he? But even as those thoughts crossed his foggy brain, he knew he had no will to resist, and he’d be a fool if he did.

A moment later he was facedown on the bed as Antonio pulled down his jeans and briefs. He felt that hot mouth on his skin, the tongue licking and tasting, the teeth biting at his thighs and his ass until he cried out. “Fuck me,” he hissed. “Oh, please fuck me.”

But Antonio's mouth did not cease its insistent exploration, and his mouth was soon joined by his large hands as they ghosted over Cary’s skin with surprising gentleness. He wasn’t sure why he had expected them to be rough, but they weren’t. Powerful, yes, but smooth and oh so sensual.

“I’m not in a hurry,” Antonio whispered. “And we have the whole night.”

Cary wanted to protest, to tell Antonio he couldn’t wait, that he needed this
now
, but Antonio was feathering kisses up his spine, and his ability to speak seemed to dissolve somewhere between his brain and his mouth. And he loved it. Loved the tender touch of those lips upon his skin and the tickle of blond curls that followed close behind. Loved the attention he hadn’t even known he’d craved.

The bruises on his back had mostly faded, but Antonio found each and every one and licked the skin there as if to make him forget the pain. “You didn’t make it easy on me,” Antonio whispered as he came up for breath. “God. From that first night, when I saw you standing naked in this room, I wanted this. You don’t know how hard it was not to take you right there, bruises and all.”

Antonio’s words made Cary shiver.

He wanted me all along?
He felt dizzy, overwhelmed at the realization. And so,
so
turned on.

Cary tried to roll over, but Antonio stopped him. “So impatient,” he chuckled as he began to massage Cary’s tense shoulders.

“Oh fuck,” Cary moaned. This was torture, having the man so close and being unable to touch him. And yet, as he lay there, unable to do anything but feel those fingers and that mouth upon his skin, he felt as though the stress of the evening had been driven away, his guilt forgotten.

“Better?”

Cary watched as Antonio stepped back from the bed a few minutes later and began to unbutton his shirt. “Mmm.”

Antonio’s shirt fluttered to the ground.

Although Cary had traced the outline of that powerful chest the night before, seeing it now for the first time, the urge to touch it again proved too strong. He got up from the bed and ghosted his fingers over the pale, downy hair. He kissed one nipple and then the other, then licked a line down the center of his chest until he was on his knees and reaching for the buckle of Antonio’s belt.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he unfastened the belt and the pants, then pushed them down until Antonio stepped out of them. Now that Antonio was wearing only a pair of boxers—silk, of course—Cary really did feel like the proverbial kid at Christmas. He bit his lip and looked up at Antonio as he pulled the shimmering silk to the floor.

This night had reminded Cary of many things, and the fact that it had been years since he’d given another man a blow job was yet another. For as long as he could remember, sex had been uniquely about his own satisfaction. And while he still wanted that now, he also wanted to please Antonio.

He reached out with his good hand and cupped Antonio’s ass. He felt the firm muscle beneath the supple skin. He squeezed it and scraped it with his fingernails. He watched as Antonio’s cock responded and his body tensed at the touch. It was a beautiful cock, Cary thought with satisfaction. Long and thick and cut: just the way he liked it. And Antonio was as aroused as he.

Antonio reached out to rub his fingers over Cary’s face. Cary licked one of Antonio’s palms and heard his partner inhale sharply. Then he leaned in and flicked his tongue around the head of Antonio’s cock. Antonio snaked his fingers through his hair and urged him closer still.

“I thought you said we had all night,” Cary teased in a low voice.

“Damn Americans. Always pointing fingers.”

Cary responded by taking Antonio deep into his mouth, using his teeth to gently scrape the underside of his erection, then released him so he could probe the slit with his tongue and circle the head until he heard Antonio’s sharp intake of breath. With a quick glance upward and a grin for good measure, he swallowed Antonio to the hilt once more and held him prisoner there. He groaned with pleasure, and Antonio shivered in response to the vibrations from his mouth.

For Cary, the sensation of being in control was exhilarating and new. He pulled back and tasted a hint of precome on his tongue, then licked the crown again to coax a bit more.

Antonio growled and pushed him gently away. “You’ll make me come like that,” he warned, his pale cheeks flushed and his breath hitching as he spoke. “It’s been too long.”

Cary grinned as he allowed himself to be pushed back onto the bed. He wasn’t sure why it mattered, but the thought that he was Antonio’s first in a long time made him feel good. Special, even.

And then it was his own cock in Antonio’s willing mouth. He arched his body upward to meet the warmth as large hands slid underneath his ass, gripping and guiding him. He watched, mesmerized, as Antonio worked his way up and down his length, pulling and sucking. He cried out when Antonio found the tight ring of muscle between his cheeks and breached his opening with a finger while cupping his balls and rolling them around with his other hand.

“Fuck, oh, fuck,” Cary moaned as Antonio eased his finger inside and began to move it about in rhythm with his mouth. Cary hadn’t even noticed Antonio use the lube coating those big fingers; he had been too inwardly focused to appreciate anything beyond what he could touch or feel himself.

Antonio’s eyes reflected the dim light from the streetlamp outside, and something in his expression left Cary nearly breathless. He struggled to understand the emotion behind that glittering gaze. There was hunger there, certainly. And there was something else, something Cary wasn’t sure of but which both intrigued and frightened him. But when he felt another finger press inward, any coherent thought he had fled with the telltale tingle at the base of his spine.

“I’m going to come,” he panted. Antonio released Cary from his mouth, using his hand now to keep up the delicious pressure, and pressed a third finger inside Cary’s ass. The dual stimulation of Antonio’s hand on his cock and the probing of his fingers was too much for Cary. His balls drew up tight, and he came into Antonio’s hand, crying out so loudly he hardly recognized his own voice. He gripped Antonio’s arms, forgetting about the cast and not caring when he felt a twinge of pain in response.

As the warm haze of orgasm began to fade, Cary noticed Antonio watching him with a ghost of a smile. He drew Antonio down once more. He kissed Antonio’s lips, tasting himself there. Then, after pushing him so he lay with his back on the sheets, Cary began to bite and lick at the pale nipples, sucking until he was rewarded with a gasped “
Sì
!”

“Condom?” he asked, at which Antonio gestured to the nightstand. Cary leaned over and pulled one out, then proceeded to roll it over Antonio’s cock, stopping halfway through to bite a pebbled nipple and study the result with satisfaction. But when he tried to turn over to allow easy access to his ass, Antonio stopped him.

“No,” Antonio said. “I want to see your face.”

Cary couldn’t remember the last time he
hadn’t
gotten fucked from behind, and the thought made him uneasy.

Why? Afraid if he sees your face, he might see something that will frighten him away?

Antonio held out a hand, and in spite of himself, Cary took it. He straddled Antonio’s hard abdomen, then slicked up his fingers and rubbed Antonio’s erection, easing himself over it as Antonio’s hands found purchase on his hips. And—
oh God!
—as that hard cock pressed against his ass and the first set of muscles stretched to admit it, he felt that incredible burn.

“Oh… damn… oh fuck!” he cried out as Antonio filled him completely. Delicious pain melted into familiar warmth.

Antonio’s stuttering breaths of anticipation became groans of satisfaction as Cary began to move upward, then back down again. His movements were slow at first as he savored the sensation of that hard width inside of him. And even when he began to pick up his pace and felt his muscles clench around Antonio’s cock, it was nothing like the frenzied fucking he had always found so satisfying. It was better.
Much
better.

“Cary.
È così bello
. It’s so good….” He pushed Cary’s body up and down his shaft and leaned his head back on the pillows, his eyes closed.

Cary knew Antonio was close, and he slowed his movements to give him time to catch his breath. Had it been less than an hour ago that he had wanted it fast and hard? But now, seeing the look of hunger on Antonio’s face and realizing
he
was in control—that Antonio was
giving
him that control—he knew he didn’t want this to end too quickly.

Antonio opened his eyes as Cary stopped moving and teased Antonio’s nipples once more, then grazed his fingernails over skin and muscle. Their eyes met, and Cary understood Antonio had achieved a victory of sorts: they had been “making love,” and Cary was enjoying it. It was a battle Cary was happy to have lost.

We’ll do it your way
, Cary thought,
at least for now.

Antonio reached out to take Cary’s reawakening cock in his hand and began to stroke him. Cary, in turn, moved with slow deliberation, never taking his eyes off Antonio’s face. He was rewarded with a look of sheer bliss as he leaned back and ran a slicked finger between Antonio’s cheeks. The position was awkward, but it was more than worth it.

“Cary,” Antonio pleaded in a low, husky voice. “Caro… please….”

So
much better than “beanpole.”

Antonio did not move but let Cary take the lead, allowing him to move up and down on his hard cock, setting the tempo. Cary continued to tease Antonio’s opening with his fingers.

“Oh, caro…,” he moaned. “I can’t… even I have my limits….”

Cary laughed and moved faster, feeling the burn in his thighs and knowing his own release would follow soon. He couldn’t remember sex ever having been this incredible. “Oh fuck, yes!” he shouted as the thrusts became frenzied and demanding, and Antonio’s grip on his own erection grew tighter. “Feels so—”

His words were cut short by the powerful wave of his orgasm and by Antonio’s stuttered cries as he came too. Antonio reached around his body, gathering him close as he shook with release. The warm come on Cary’s belly seemed to forge a connection between them, and for a moment, Cary wasn’t sure where Antonio ended and he began.

“Caro,” Antonio rumbled as he kissed him on the lips.

What the fuck just happened here?
Cary wondered as he watched a naked Antonio return from the bathroom a few minutes later, washcloth in hand. The thought persisted as Antonio washed them both and then settled back into the bed and pulled the thick covers over them. And the thought still hung at the back of Cary’s exhausted, sated mind as he fell asleep on Antonio’s chest with the sound of his soft breaths in his ear.

Chapter 10