Moments in Time (8 page)

I caught the hint of a smile before his mouth moved over mine again. Tanner shifted, making room for his other hand to slip between us. He stroked with one while the other patted the bed in search of whatever he’d tossed aside. The snapping sound of a lid popping open made me suck in my breath.

“You ever used lube before?”

“No.”

The grin returned to his face. “Never too soon to start.”

Cold liquid rained down on my cock, heating almost instantly under the stroke of his hand. “Fuck.”

Tanner chuckled, continuing to drizzle it over me. It dripped into the crease of my thigh, tickling its way over my balls. I shuddered as he slicked it over my skin, kneading and caressing. He leaned forward and gave me a kiss, long and deep, then sat up.

“If you don’t like something, tell me and I’ll stop. Okay?”

My hair rustled against the pillow as I nodded. I couldn’t imagine anything he’d do to me that I wouldn’t like. I tingled from head to toe and tried not to quiver with anticipation. It didn’t work. I shook as if I had a fever.

Tanner straddled my thigh, and I focused on the weight of him. His balls rested against my skin, plump and full. His thick cock jutted straight up, hard and shiny. Firm hands massaged up to my rib cage, then back down, trailing around hips before they settled back between my legs. He pumped slow and steady and rolled his palm around my head on each upstroke until I thought I might pass out.

Remembering that not long before Tim had been in the hall and we’d been able to hear every word he was saying, I tried to keep quiet, but whimpers hummed out of me. Tanner’s other hand rubbed across my balls, then below. He pressed a finger firmly against me, then slid it along my ass crack.

My stomach clenched, lifting my ass up off the bed.
Jesus God
. Every nerve ending in my body lit on fire. Tanner swirled his finger in the crease of my thigh, coating it in the now warm lube, then slipped it between the cheeks of my ass, running his fingertip right past my hole.

“Nuh.”

A smile lifted the corner of his perfect lips, and he bent forward, pressing his dick into my hip as he kissed my chest. Hot breath eased over me as he nipped at my ribs, his finger still circling.

“Good?”

“Yuh-huh.” I clutched at the sheets, my ass tensed so tight I thought it might cramp, but Tanner managed to keep moving, pressing in a little more with each pass. Shimmering waves of pleasure raced up my cock, and he kneaded them deep into me with every stroke.

He’s inside me. His finger’s inside me. Nothing’s ever been inside me. Nothing
. I wanted to fight it. Wanted to push him away or hold myself tight enough to make it impossible, but it felt so good all I could do was spread my legs wider, opening to him.

“Good,” he said, easing his finger in so far I yelped. Pressure and a faint burn were replaced by… by…. Stars swam before my eyes as his fingertip stroked and massaged a spot inside me.
Holy fuck.
No words. Just sensations. Fullness. Like my entire body was about to burst.

I managed a fleeting glance at Tanner. His eyes were narrowed, focused on my cock. His lower lip hung open, his breaths came fast. The intensity of his expression heightened all the things I felt—the need, the desire, the pleasure. All of it doubled and tripled as he worked me over. I didn’t want to come, but I couldn’t wait a second longer.

The first blast of wetness hit my chest before I even realized I was coming, then the full impact washed over me. Come pulsed out of me as Tanner continued to stroke in and outside my body, drawing out every drop. My head pressed into the pillow so hard it muffled my moans.

Tanner eased out of me and continued to massage my balls and shaft. My eyes fluttered open just in time to see him stroking himself, his hand still coated white from my load. The wet slapping sound made my cock twitch as I realized he was jerking off with my come as lube. He came hard and fast, shooting onto my stomach, then collapsed alongside me, panting.

The air in the room seemed to settle over us, cool and welcoming. I still felt like I was set to vibrate. Tanner pulled up the edge of the towel and wiped his hand, but quickly gave up and let it drop.

“That’s not gonna cut it. You wanna take a shower?”

With him? Hell yeah.
I wanted to do everything with him. I answered the only way I could, with a kiss.

F
OR
THE
past eight years, I’d spent most of my waking hours trying not to think about sex. The past few days, I’d been able to think about little else. Everything I heard, saw, smelled, or touched somehow reminded me of Tanner. And all it took was him passing through my mind for the rest of my body to respond with a vengeance. In less than one week, I’d had more orgasms with him than I’d ever had with any other person.

Daytime was pretty much as it always had been. I went to work. I went to class. Then I came home, and the second the door clicked shut, Tanner and I were in our own world. A world I liked. A lot.

When Tanner said he wanted to come with me to the Communion, I thought he was kidding. Why anyone would subject themselves to that was beyond me. I mean, being at the church would be awkward enough, given how Tanner and I had spent nearly every free moment of our time together. But my parents’ house? Full of relatives and neighbors? Everyone asking questions about who he was and when was I going to come home with a girlfriend? I wasn’t sure I could deal with that. I also wasn’t sure what it would be like to be around Tanner for that amount of time when we couldn’t touch one another. And touching was something that definitely couldn’t happen with anyone from my family around.

I still hadn’t given him an answer by Saturday night, so he asked again. While we were in bed. Foul play. There hadn’t been a single thing he’d asked with his hands on my body that I’d been able to say no to. Not one damned thing.

“Well,” he asked in between kisses, his breath warm as he nipped my neck, “are we both going?”

I closed my eyes, trying to think straight, but the rhythm of his hand rubbing back and forth against my arm made that impossible. “Do you have any clue how boring this will be? Not to mention that my family isn’t exactly laid-back. You’ll hate it.”

“So? You have to go.”

“Right. Have to. I don’t have a choice. You do.”

“Well, I choose to get to know your family better. Unless you don’t want that.”

The underlying hurt in his voice made my stomach roll. It was so much more complicated than he made it seem. “I just don’t want things to be….”

“What?” He slowed his hand and pulled back enough to look at me. Those dark eyes didn’t do anything to make it easier for me to focus. “What are you worried about?”

Loaded question. What wasn’t I worried about? “I don’t know. Questions. Them doing or saying something stupid. Arguing. Someone… noticing.”

“Noticing what?”

“You know. Us. The way we are now.”

Tanner grinned. “Don’t worry. I think I can play the role of roommate and manage to keep my hands off you for a few hours of a religious family event.”

My face tingled. “I know. I’m sorry. I just….”

“I know.” The stroking resumed, and this time he moved to my back. Kneading tension out of my shoulder as he spooned behind me. “I do get it, you know, but trust me. People can’t tell by looking. I’m your roommate. That’s all you need to tell anyone. I promise I won’t embarrass you.”

“I’m not worried about you doing anything. I’m worried about them. My mom may seem nice, but she can be a nutcase.”

“All moms can.”

“Maybe. But you have no idea what it was like growing up at our house. Do you know how it feels to explain to your friends why your parents don’t allow locks on the doors, even to the bathroom?”

“I can imagine. But look, I already know about that. And you know your mom likes me. I’d like to meet your brothers. See where you grew up. That’s all. If you don’t want me to, I’ll stay here.”

I knew he meant it. If I said no, he wouldn’t go. But he wanted to, and I didn’t want to say no to him. A part of me wanted him to meet my brothers. And an even bigger part of me didn’t want to be away from him even for a few hours. Shit. When had that happened? When had I become the type of person who couldn’t be away from their… my heart did a funny beat and seemed unable to get back on track. What was Tanner? Definitely more than a friend. The word “boyfriend” rolled around in my brain, but I couldn’t grab hold of it. Not yet. Besides, even if I thought of him that way, which I wasn’t sure I did, did he think of me the same way?

His lips were back on my neck, right below my ear, making my body press against his. “You can come if you want to,” I said, hoping that was the right decision.

I could feel him smiling against my skin. “I love it when you say those words.”

I laughed as he pulled me on top of him. “I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

He kissed me hard and deep. I didn’t care if we spent tomorrow in jail or on a trip to the moon. All I could think about was right now and getting more of Tanner.

T
HE
SERVICE
was typically long, and it didn’t help that the sight of Tanner in his black suit and gray dress shirt had my body on high alert. It seemed like this idea was even worse than I’d anticipated. Even something as simple as standing up had become a danger—a challenge. I’d gotten boners in church before, but never like this. Never raging ones where my cock seemed to be attempting to do anything necessary to attract someone’s attention. Tanner’s attention. I shifted in my seat and saw the smirk play at Tanner’s mouth. He knew. That wasn’t helping. How would I make it through a few hours at my house?

“Doing okay?” he whispered into my ear, and every hair on my arms stood at attention, just like my cock.

“Sort of.” I could tell the priest was almost done. We’d be heading home soon.
Home. Not our home. My family home.
I must have lost my mind.

When everything wrapped up at the church, Tanner followed me out to my car. He swung into the passenger seat, as relaxed as if we were going on a goddamned picnic. “How long’s the ride to your mom’s place?”

“About two minutes. Mom always said that was her favorite thing about the house. Being able to be at the church any time you needed.”

I could tell Tanner had a wiseass comment, but he didn’t make it. “So, anything I need to know before we get there? I mean other than the obvious—knock before you enter the bathroom and if any animalistic urges hit, make tracks to the shed.”

I closed my eyes, not knowing if I should laugh or get annoyed or turn the car around, head back to our dorm, and make up some off-the-wall excuse about why we didn’t show up. Herd of escaped zoo animals? Extremely localized tornado? Cops locked down the street due to suspicion of alien invasion?

“That ought to do.”

Tanner put his hand on my leg, and I jumped.

“You have got to calm down. It’s just us in the car. Jesus, I really didn’t mean to make you this jumpy. You want me to call a cab or something and just go back to the dorm?”

My gut twisted. Because a part of me would have been relieved if he’d done just that. The rest of me would have felt like shit, though. “No. I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”

“I know you are. And it’ll get easier the more times we do shit.”

“I guess.”

Tanner shifted in his seat, and I had the feeling it wasn’t the suit that was making him uncomfortable. “Do you think you’ll ever tell them?”

My stomach had advanced from twisting to some form of elaborate knotting. Macrame. Sailing. Knots I wasn’t sure would ever come undone. “I don’t know.”

Tanner stayed quiet for what seemed like a long time but was probably only a few seconds. I glanced over but couldn’t read his face. Serious but not pissed. At least I hoped not. “Okay,” he said, “one thing at a time. One more question.”

“Shoot.”

“Is there cake at this thing?”

I managed a laugh as we pulled up to the house, and then nothing seemed funny anymore.

“Surreal” didn’t begin to describe what it was like to watch Tanner socializing with my family. I heard him talking baseball stats with Sean, which shouldn’t have surprised me. He charmed every woman in sight from my mother to my sister-in-law to my six-year-old niece. I don’t know why that surprised me either. It’s not like I hadn’t seen him do it before with every female student, teacher, cashier, or waitress we’d ever encountered. Whatever he had, he should try bottling it. He’d be rich. Particularly considering that it seemed to be equally enchanting to certain guys. Like me. Keeping a safe distance from him was making me crazy. More than anything, I wanted us to get home, close our door, and be alone. Together.

Sean handed me a piece of cake. Yellow with a thick layer of bright white frosting and a tiny white chocolate cross on the top. “It’s good. It’s from Carmine’s.”

We’d gotten all our cakes there since I could remember. They were amazing. But that didn’t make me feel any less weird about eating virginal white cake in a room with two priests, my entire family, and the guy I’d been naked with every day the past week.

“Thanks.”

“You’re still working at Gino’s, right?”

“Yep.” Gino was Carmine’s brother. That’s part of the reason I’d been able to get a job with him back in freshman year. They’d both gone to the same Catholic school as my family, although they lived on the Italian side of town, while we were on the Irish side. Didn’t matter. Loyalty to our small town was a big thing with the locals. My brothers had both worked at Carmine’s while they were in high school, so it only seemed fitting that I got a job at Gino’s when I moved three towns away for college. It also made it that much more important that I was a good employee. And that I kept my private life… private. Anything Gino knew would undoubtedly make it to my hometown in record time. My stomach twitched again. “The service was nice.”