Gideon nodded.“I trust those instincts,” he said softly.“I’m glad you’re home.”
“Mm….”Joey snuggled in closer, and the battered mink coat?Blanket?Fell from his shoulders as he thrust one hand under Gideon’s coat, his warm hand welcome as it spanned Gideon’s stomach.“Still flat,” he said, patting it.“Not enough red meat.”
Gideon smiled even as he shuddered at the touch.“Plenty.Trish is a good cook.Ispent my Christmas eating and sleeping.Maybe next year you can come with me.”
Joey grunted and moved to pull his hand back, but Gideon trapped it there.“Nobody said to stop,” he grumbled.“And Trish wants to meet you.It’s going to be weird but pleasant, I warn you.She’ll try to mother you.I suggest you let her.”
Joey let out another little grunt, and started to feel Gideon up in earnest.“A thing we can discuss later,” he said, and Gideon wanted to protest.He’d just sat down.He felt travel-worn and a little ragged, but there was something… necessary in Joey’s touch.
He kissed Joey hard, like he meant it, tasting sleep on Joey’s breath but not much else, and bore him back against the cushions.Joey went pliant, needy, almost immediately, and his breath when Gideon pulled back shook hard.
“Please…,” he whispered, then swallowed, looking dismayed and a little wild.
“In the bed,” Gideon whispered back.“Come on, baby.”
“I prefer ‘fuck off,’” he grumbled, but he stood and followed Gideon through the doorway.
“Tomorrow,” Gideon promised.“Tonight you’ll get ‘baby’ and like it.”God, those kisses had been so desperate.For a moment as they moved through the dimly lit apartment, Gideon felt… unworthy.Inadequate.Joey was a wild creature, and tonight he was nearly feral, and the things he needed from Gideon demanded passion and fire.Until this moment, until thisrelationship, passion and fire had not been his forte.
Joey hesitated, though, as they entered the darkened bedroom, and Gideon, turning to see his face silhouetted against the faint glow of the living room, saw a primal need for warmth, for comfort, for possession.
Gideon turned on the lamp by the bed on instinct and turned toward his lover with intent, taking Joey’s chin between his two fingers and tilting his face up so Gideon could take his mouth, hard, no hesitation, no overthinking.
Joey sighed and shuddered, melting into Gideon’s arms.His hand shook as he cupped Gideon’s cheek, and Gideon pulled him tight, so tight, their bodies aligning perfectly.He continued the kiss, some of his travel exhaustion falling away as desire swept him.This.This.There he’d been, in his parents’ fortress of kindness, of warmth, and he’d been cold, alone, missing his mate.
His mate washere, and heneeded, and Gideon had no choice and no desire to turn him away.
He made quick work of Joey’s clothes—Gideon’sclothes, hanging from Joey’s smaller frame.And Gideon saw it now, the claiming, the nesting behavior, knew it for what it was.That shirt in the bottom of his duffel was no more an accident than the one being used as a runner on the back of his stuffed chair, or the remains of the white tank currently hanging on his stove so they could dry their hands on it.
This was Joey’s home.Gideonwas Joey’s home, whether there were signed papers or declarations of love or rings or never would be.
Joey scrambled under the covers, naked, while Gideon toed off his shoes and shucked his overcoat, pulling his sweater and henley over his head in one motion before letting them all fall where they landed.
Joey made a forlorn sound, huddling under the comforter, and Gideon finished undressing and crawled in, surrounding Joey with his heat, his bare skin, his animal presence, a thing Joey seemed to crave as much as Gideon needed to give.
“Shh…,” Gideon murmured, taking his mouth again, running his hands along Joey’s shoulders, his biceps, down to the ends of his fingers.Joey grabbed one hand and clasped it, a shudder racking his body, and Gideon soothed him again.
“Please…,” Joey whispered, and Gideon went to work, lowering his head to Joey’s nipple to pull.
“Harder!”he cried, but Gideon released him and kissed down to his naked groin.
“I will not hurt you,” he said with certainty, knowing that, of all things, that needed to be the lesson here.
“Gid!”he pleaded, but Gideon had reached his cock, and he swallowed it down with one motion.“Gideon!”he gasped, and that was better, but not enough.
Gideon kept his hand stroking and repositioned himself between Joey’s thighs, knowing he felt vulnerable but unable to do this any other way.
He shoved Joey’s legs up, spreading them, and spat on his hole.Crude, yes, but Joey’s harsh breath told Gideon he’d needed that, the animal, the visceral.As he rose up and swallowed Joey’s cock down, he thrust a spit-slick finger up Joey’s tunnel, and Joey’s next cry was shattered, close to climax, every barrier between need and oblivion blown apart by Gideon’s aggressiveness.
“More…,” he moaned.
Gideon fumbled for the lube they kept under the pillow now, breathing a sigh of relief when he found it.He clicked it open and dumped slick on his fingers, his stomach shuddering at Joey’s breathless prayer of protest.
“No… no, don’t… don’t stop….Gid… I need—ah!”
Covered in slick, this time Gideon thrust three fingers in, and Joey cried out again, holding his thighs out, spreading himself for Gideon’s invasion while Gideon bottomed Joey’s cock out in his throat.
“Yes, please!”Joey cried, and Gideon added more lube and one more finger, curling the front two up, finding the sweet spot while Joey clutched at his hair and screamed.
