Page 35 of Not Your Golden Boy

He must have hit exactly the right spot, because Nikky let out a sound that Harry would remember for the rest of his life as he pumped harder, letting go of his last inhibition and throwing everything he had into fucking.

It was so much hotter and better than he ever could have expected, especially when Nikky’s panting turned pitched and his body tensed as he came. Hands free. That pushed Harry right over the edge. He thrust harder as his orgasm built and exploded, making him dizzy with pleasure.

Those intense moments of climax completely disoriented him for a second. When his brain started to come back online, he lay tangled up with Nikky, still inside him. He probably should have pulled out, but for just a moment, he wanted to live in the heady pleasure of being one with his naughty angel.

“That was amazing,” he praised Nikky, stroking his body and kissing the back of his neck like the man needed aftercare following a particularly intense scene. “You’re amazing.”

Nikky answered with a satisfied hum and squeezed around Harry, like he was saying he liked Harry right where he was and not to move.

Harry would move eventually, but for the moment, he was happy right where he was. He was happy for what might have been the first time in years.

eleven

​. . .​

It was ridiculously cliché, but Nikky slept better naked in Harry’s arms that night than he’d slept since arriving in London. Possibly since his star had started its dizzying ascent to the top of the Hollywood constellation. It wasn’t just the sex and how loose and worn out he’d felt after, though there was something to be said for that, too. Harry was an amazing lover who knew when to be tender and when to give Nikky what he really needed.

That was the point, though. Harry somehow just knew what he needed. He knew without Nikky having to say anything that a big part of him was terrified by the way the Hollywood machine had swallowed him whole. He knew that despite his age, Nikky had far too many gaps in his knowledge of the world and his experience that he needed someone to help him fill.

He knew that it was about more than paying for a fake boyfriend to ruin his reputation so the world would turn down the intensity of its gaze on him.

Harry sucked in a deep breath and stretched his firm, fit body against Nikky’s back as they lay together in the dawn light. He then slung an arm around Nikky’s side to reach a hand up and squeeze his pec.

“Good morning,” he said, groggy and content. “You must be awake. You’re too tense to still be sleeping.”

Nikky let out a breath and as much tension as he could with it. He hadn’t realized he’d been clenched, but Harry was right. For Nikky, being awake meant being constantly on the alert.

“I was just thinking about things,” he said, muscling himself to roll over and face Harry.

It was the right thing to do. Their bodies fit together perfectly. They were close to the same height, but Nikky was lean whereas Harry had more muscle. Harry’s torso was a bit longer, but that just meant when Nikky lifted his leg over Harry’s hip, everything lined up perfectly. He was already half hard with morning wood, and as the two of them moved together, ostensibly getting comfortable, things perked up even more for both of them.

Harry grinned heatedly, his gaze sweeping over Nikky’s face, which was probably puffy and pink from sleep. “You think too much,” he said, stroking his fingers over Nikky’s cheek, then scratching his fingernails gently over his scalp. “Stop it.”

Nikky huffed out a bashful laugh and lowered his eyes.

“I love your eyelashes,” Harry went on, his voice as gentle as mist rising on a pond in the early sunlight. “You really are beautiful.” He played the pads of his fingers over Nikky’s brow and cheekbones.

Nikky glanced up at him, heart pounding. “No one has ever called me beautiful,” he practically whispered. When Harry’s face pinched in disbelief, Nikky rushed on with, “I mean, the media and producers and things call me beautiful all the time, but that doesn’t mean much. When they say it, it’s like they’re listing my assets. When you say it⁠—”

He didn’t know how to put the depth of his feelings into words.

“I mean it,” Harry finished for him, brushing his fingertips across Nikky’s cheek and down to trace his lips.

It was the sexiest and most intimate thing anyone had ever done to him, and the focus was miles above his waistline. That didn’t mean that his dick didn’t appreciate every touch and hungry look Harry gave him. The attention was extra potent because it wasn’t a front for more.

“So what were you thinking about that had you all clenched up first thing in the morning?” Harry asked when the silence between them and his touch threatened to put Nikky back to sleep.

The question woke him right up, and his eyes widened a bit before he forced himself not to tense up all over again. “Just…everything,” he said on a sigh.

Harry laughed low in his chest. The sound was amazing, and the vibrations it sent through Nikky were intoxicating. “Everything, eh?”

“Not everything everything,” Nikky said, heat flooding his face. He felt about ten years younger than he was, stuck in the age when pleasing the people around him and praying that someone might love him someday, despite his faults and perversions—Brad’s words, not his own feelings—was constantly at the forefront of his mind. “Just⁠—”

He paused again, mind suddenly racing over the mountain of problems he faced, Albion and the image the man wanted to create for him, the fans, Hollywood, Holberg…especially Holberg.

Harry brushed his face again as he went silent and looked down. The tenderness of that touch kept Nikky from falling into anxiety and despair. It gave him courage.

“I’m starting to feel like a coward for pushing away from all the luck and good fortune that’s come my way instead of embracing it,” he confessed. It might not have meant much to literally anyone else, but saying those words felt like a colossal step for Nikky. “Maybe this whole thing was a stupid idea. Maybe I should learn how to engage with the public eye instead of running from it.”