And Call Me in the Morning (24 page)

“Ahhhh,” Zane sighed, one long stream of air. He wavered and caught himself on Eli, who let Zane find his balance again before gently pushing him back. Pants. Those had to go. He went to his knees and reached for belt and zipper.

Zane didn't seem to know what to do with his hands before they settled on Eli's shoulders. Eli looked up at Zane, met and held his gaze rather than watching what he was doing. His hands had learned the skill by now, and he took his time. Dark slacks and formfitting boxer briefs skimmed down Zane's leg. No shoes or socks to get in the way, but Eli still rubbed his thumbs over the arches of Zane's feet.

Both were breathing a little faster and shaking a little harder when Eli rose to his feet. He smoothed the tremors away by kissing Zane and being kissed, until Zane clung to him, pliant.

They'd been headed here all along. It'd just taken some time.

He nudged Zane to the bed and guided him down. Zane improvised and slid backward on the rumpled sheets to prop himself on his elbows and watch Eli shed his own clothes. That he did with considerably less finesse, being otherwise distracted. As he watched, Zane stroked himself with the kind of motion Eli knew was meant to make it feel good but last.

There was an odd half second of embarrassment then, and then again when Eli stepped out of his jeans and stood naked before Zane. It passed when Zane beckoned, still silent, and Eli crawled onto the bed with him. Skin against skin made him hiss, and Zane too, a lusty breath that Eli swallowed up in a kiss.

Zane undulated beneath him. Eli got that, why he had to. Hot, hard, urgent—a man needed friction, and his body sought it no matter what the brain said. Not that he figured Zane was doing a lot of thinking right now. Hell, for that matter, Eli was receding into instinct, only hanging on enough to make sure Zane was still good.

He found a place for his thigh between Zane's, the crease of Zane's hip already glossy with sweat, a snug channel he could thrust up, made slicker by precum. That, he could have done for hours, if Zane hadn't made an impatient noise.

“Hey. I'm in charge.” Eli bit the tip of Zane's nose.

Zane grinned unrepentantly and nodded to his right, at the pillow they hadn't yet touched. Eli got the message:
look underneath
. He did and came up with a small, unopened bottle of lube and a condom. No, three condoms.

“Christ.” Eli had to laugh. “Been planning this all night, haven't you?”

Zane inclined his head, utterly satisfied with himself.

“Pretty sure of me, weren't you?”

Zane tilted his head to the left as if to say,
And your point is?

“Three condoms, though? Might be a little overambitious.”

At that, Zane shook his head and grew serious again. He took the condoms from Eli and tossed two aside. Tugged open the packet and reached for Eli in silent request.

He shrugged, unrepentant, when Eli tapped his cheek to remind him of their deal.
Together, idiot
, he shaped with his lips.

Eli pushed Zane's arms down to his sides and indulged in the longest, deepest kiss so far, not stopping until Zane was breathless. The goodness of it drove out the shreds of nightmare from the last time Eli had seen Zane falling apart and made this the best it could be. Better than.

He took the condom from Zane. “You and me?”

Zane closed his eyes.
You and me.

Eli knelt up to slide the condom on. Zane followed, slicking it down his length and following with a palm full of lube that he applied slowly, tantalizing Eli.

“Tease.” Eli pushed him away. The need to come was there on the horizon but rolling in slow. Still, he wanted this on his terms, and he knew Zane did too. For whatever reason. “Give me the bottle and lie on your side.”

Zane's forehead creased in silent question.

Eli stroked Zane's shoulder. “Trust me,” he said. The idea had come to him in a series of erratic flashes, no real start or stop that he could pinpoint, but they hung tight and he knew: this was the way. He helped Zane into position, then lay behind him, also on his side. They fit together like this.

Zane rasped out a breathless laugh. “Seriously? I'm the little spoon?”

“Shh.” Eli lifted Zane's knee. The angle was odd before they braced his foot on the mattress. The movement exposed him to Eli, whose heart stutter-stopped in three broken beats before he could move again. “If I hurt you,” he muttered, slicking his fingers, “you let me know. If you don't—”

“I will.” Zane arched back into the first press inside. “Promise.
Ahh
. No, don't stop. Good noise.”

“Glad to know.” Eli couldn't look. Urgency picked up speed, and it became more of a struggle to go slow, to take his time. He butted his forehead to Zane's back and closed his eyes, and let sensation be his guide. Stretching him open, taking his time, amazed at how the human body reacted.

Unable to resist, he wiped his hand on the sheets and reached around to stroke Zane's thigh, which shook with either nerves or impatience. Probably both. He ached to grasp Zane's cock and rub, to get him as hard again as he'd been before the intrusion of fingers. Natural, he knew, but he wanted that craving back.

Zane huffed, an impatient sound, and pulled clumsily away to rummage in his bedside drawer. He came back with a much smaller bottle that he shoved clumsily back at Eli. Eli snorted at the label when it came into focus. “Hand sanitizer,” he said, muffling his laughter in Zane's skin. “Christ, what a Boy Scout.”

“You love it,” Zane said, moving in a slow, steady sideways wave that brought him brushing deliciously against Eli. “Use it or don't, I don't care. Fuck me.”

Christ, it still wasn't familiar to hear, but the plaint went to Eli's head, his heart, and to points farther south. He caught and held Zane to keep him still. “Knee up. Like that.” He slicked his cock with lube, his hand with cleanser, and positioned himself where he wanted to be.

He had to ask. Just once more. “You're sure?”

Zane growled. “
Do it
.”

Eli dug his fingers into Zane's arm for balance, for control, and did what Zane wanted. What he wanted. He held Zane still, whispering, “Breathe, breathe,” when the push made Zane cry out sharply and stiffen. Soothed him with kisses over his nape and shoulders until Zane let out a long breath and nodded.

Seemed never-ending, going so slow, Zane adjusting an inch at a time. Sweat dripped into Eli's eyes when he was fully seated. He teased his way down to find Zane half-hard. “Still okay?”

Zane's muscles shivered, but the noise he made wasn't one of pain. “God, yes. Good. Move.”

Eli slipped his arm beneath Zane's and wrapped his cock in his fist again. He stroked once, up, and down again, slow and steady. Zane hardened for him, breathing quickening, and when he was fully rigid, Eli finally—finally—let himself move.

Holy Christ. He hadn't thought it would be like this. Nothing like a woman, even coming in this way. Zane's legs were strong, and his hips flat, his stomach hard, no curves to grasp but all the better for it, or maybe just because he was
Zane
. Eli gritted his teeth and fucked in a little deeper, a little faster, testing Zane's limits and his own. He soothed Zane with whispers and gentled down when he went too rough, but God help him and them both, it wasn't easy.

Zane growled again. “I won't break.”

“I know.” Eli bit his nape. “I want it like this.”

Zane groaned. He rolled his head on the pillow, and then on Eli's arm when Eli slipped it beneath his head. Eli rested his hand over Zane's heart and felt the hammering.

“I've got you,” Eli said, fucking with gradually less care and more abandon, a little bit at a time as he could handle it. Goddamn, Zane felt amazing around him, a smooth tunnel that grasped and clung. He withdrew only long enough to slick on more lube and to stare in amazement at where he'd been. “God.”

This time the slide in was effortless, but Zane's abrupt jerk and shout almost threw Eli. “What?”

Zane punched back at him, breathless in his laughter. “Prostate. Idiot. Do it again. That—there—
oh God
—”

Eli set his teeth into Zane's shoulder and grasped his hip. He'd leave a mark there. He wanted to see every mark when he woke. Gentleness was overrated sometimes. Faster and deeper, forgetting to stroke Zane's cock, stopping the one to remember the other until Zane knocked Eli's hand away and took over.

“Don't worry. Just keeping it warm for you.” Zane moaned. He arched, so close that Eli could see it rising as did the color in his skin. He bit his own lip, tasting blood, and when the shift of his hips hit that sweet spot again and Zane shouted, Eli couldn't take it anymore.

“Going to,” he huffed, hanging on to the edge. “Zane—”

“Do it, yeah. Do it.” Zane tried to crane his neck. “Want to see.”

“
Christ
.” Eli thought fast, clouded, and let his body do the work. He slid out, though the shock of cooler air and loss of friction made him groan. “On your back, move, hurry.” He shoved Zane into place and knelt above him, stripped the condom off, and pumped hard into the tunnel of his fist, fast, wrist burning and knees aching but not ready to end it—not yet—

His toes curled. Almost there.

Zane reached for Eli and brushed the flat of his hand over Eli's cockhead when it surged through his fist. “God, I love you,” he breathed.

Enough. Too much. Eli shouted and fell forward, catching his weight on one arm, and shot. He felt Zane sucking marks on his skin, and the push of Zane's cock against his stomach. Zane's body contracted, drawing up tight, and Eli knew what that meant. He knocked Zane's hand away from his cock and replaced it with his own, breathing heavily into Zane's ear and muttering sounds that weren't words, urging him on.

He'd never heard anything finer than Zane's keening cry when he came. Never seen or felt anything that could compare, and in the little bit of his head that could still think, knew he'd never find anything close to this good again.

Worn out, he draped himself atop Zane, heedless of the mess that would stick them together, and let the breath and shakes drain out of him. Zane moved clumsily to cup the back of his head and pull him into a haphazard kiss, mouths moving together without rhyme or reason, just the touching being enough.