Coming Home- Rock Bay 1 (11 page)

The restaurant was nice, wood paneled, dark, and candlelit, perfect for a date. Booths surrounded a thickly carpeted main dining area, and lush acoustic guitar was subtly piped in through hidden speakers.
Laying it on a bit thick, weren’t they?
The place practically screamed romance.

Lex squashed the picture his brain made of him and Tally sitting in the intimate darkness, sharing wine and trading bites of a dinner roll, kissing sauce from each other’s lips. Lex ground his nails into his palm.
Shit.
He knew he needed to stop making everything about Tally but, God, lately everything
was
about Tally. The way he felt when Tally was near, the way Tally’s voice sounded in the morning, all gravelly and low.

The hostess led him to a table where an undeniably cute but very young-looking man sat waiting. He cringed inside, knowing it wasn’t right for him to be there, but he was determined to at least have a nice dinner and hopefully make a new friend.

“Hi, Mason. Lex.” He stuck out his hand as he was sitting down. “Hey, Lex. Amy’s told me a lot about you.”
Lex smiled his nicest smile and reached for the wine menu.

T
ALLY
ground the heels of his hands into the counter and tried not to scream. Lex had come, only a few minutes earlier, with a brand new copied key to the shop and told Tally he’d have to lock up on his own that evening. Tally was proud of Lex for taking a night off,
finally
, and doing something on his own, and happy that Lex trusted him enough to close up his precious shop all alone… until Tally found out why Lex was leaving early.
That
news had him grinding his teeth and wishing he could kick something. He had a blind date with some kid from the hospital that Amy had hooked him up with. A date? Fuck.

Tally’s mind went wild, picturing them at some intimate, expensive, candlelit table, the kind he used to serve fifty-dollar steaks at. They’d talk, they’d laugh, share funny anecdotes about Amy, bond over their love of French film or something. Maybe Lex would give the kid a kiss goodnight with those soft amazing lips. He pictured Lex’s hand coming up to cup the guy’s jaw, thumb running across a cheekbone before his lips settled in.

He made a retching sound in his throat. Tally didn’t want Lex kissing anyone else.
Kiss me instead! I’ll make us dinner, and then we can spend the night naked and touching and… and that kid can’t have you, you’re mine!
Tally did scream then, but quietly in his throat. It didn’t feel as good as letting a real one out, and he sure as hell knew he couldn’t kick anything, as much as he wanted to.

They worked together, yeah—Tally worked for Lex—but they were both adults and so completely hot for each other. Like “take my clothes off now” hot for each other. Tally felt it, and he knew damn well that Lex did too. It was so frustrating! Lex didn’t have any higher boss to answer to; he could make his own choices. Tally couldn’t believe he was choosing to go on a date with someone else, a damn kid for shit’s sake, when they could be eating dinner, kissing, taking every last stitch of their clothing off and fucking each other for hours,
days
, until neither one of them could breathe.

Lex had seemed hesitant to tell Tally about the date. He’d probably known it would sting. He was right. It did. And Tally hated it. If he’d known what that phone call was about on Monday, he’d have come up with some excuse to make Lex hang up. But he hadn’t, and because of that, Lex was out on a Friday-night date with someone else while he seethed in silence.

It was seven thirty. Tally had locked up the shop, cleaned all the machines, and was technically allowed to go home. He had no idea how he would stand it, though, sitting in his room or on his grandmother’s couch and pretending he wasn’t going insane. Pretending he wasn’t jealous as fucking hell. He picked up the shop’s phone and dialed his grandmother’s house.

“Hey, Grams, Lex needs some help organizing the stock room. I’m going to get in late tonight, okay? Don’t wait up.”
She said something about how it was nice that he was getting overtime, and he agreed, not really listening, before he hung up the phone. Tally had no idea what he was going to do; he just knew he couldn’t stand to be sitting, making polite small talk with his grandmother.
So this is what jealousy feels like?
Tally had never felt it before, and he sure as shit didn’t like it. He’d felt
envy
, of someone’s nice apartment or swanky job, but never this possessive need to roar “He’s mine!” at whatever unassuming little boy had dared to try and take Lex away from him. And it seemed to come out of nowhere—yeah, he thought Lex was hot, and he wanted to get him naked like there was no tomorrow, but what the hell?
Tally stomped back to the stockroom, hoping that it was as big of a jumble as it usually was so he could spend some energy cleaning it and hopefully make himself feel the tiniest bit better. He wasn’t disappointed. Lex may have been a genius with the customers, but he was lucky the shop was small. His mess of a storeroom would never fly in a bigger restaurant. The flavored syrups were packed haphazardly onto shelves, neither organized alphabetically or by type. There were cups and plates and napkins shoved in every available nook, and sealed bags of beans were stacked in a tower that would only take a whisper of a breeze to tumble over.
Perfect, something to do.
Tally pushed his sleeves up and started to pull everything off the shelves. He knew he’d have to make a big mess before any organization could come out of it. He piled the stuff in the hallway in somewhat of an order so that he’d have a bit of a head start when he went to put it back.
At least two hours later, he’d gotten all of the syrups organized in alphabetical order, bottles lined up perfectly, jewel bright and shiny along two shelves. He was about to tackle the awkwardly shaped bags of cups and lids when he heard the back door squeak open. It was right about then that he started feeling nervous. It wasn’t as if he’d asked Lex if he wanted his entire stockroom rearranged.
“Tally?” Lex’s voice sounded perplexed but not angry. “What on earth are you doing?”
Tally stuck his head out of the stockroom into the hallway and tried his best to look sheepish.
“The stockroom needed to be organized. I needed to blow off some steam. Is that okay?”
Lex cocked his head and gave Tally an odd look. “Yeah, I guess. Is everything all right?”
“It’s fine,” Tally lied. “I can just finish up down here if you want to go to bed. It’s a late night for you.”
Lex rolled his eyes. “It’s nine. I’m not quite ready for the earlybird special yet.”
“How was your—” Tally couldn’t even say the word, although he was dying to find out.
“Fine. I’m going to the movies with him next weeken—”
That was it. Tally couldn’t hear another word.
“No!” He stalked over to Lex, grabbed him by the shoulders, and shoved him up against the wall. “No more dates with twenty-year-old kids. No more movies, no more dinners.
I
want you. And you want me too.” With that, he slammed his mouth against Lex’s, delving with his insistent tongue until Lex opened up and let him in.
Tally knew he was pushing it, that Lex could fire him, never talk to him again, pull an arm back and punch the shit out of him—but at that moment, he didn’t care. He was kissing Lex again, and it was
glorious
.

L
EX
was drowning in bliss. He was finally getting to do what he’d wanted to do for five long and torturous days. Days? Who was he kidding? It had been weeks since he started dreaming about Tally’s lips, years, if he were completely honest with himself. Even making that date on Monday hadn’t changed a thing. Fuck,
going
on the date hadn’t changed a thing. Every moment of the time he was with Tally, all he could think about was last Friday’s kiss. Most of the time when he wasn’t with Tally, it felt like his body was counting the minutes until it could be near Tally again. It was driving Lex out of his everloving mind.

He wrapped his arms around Tally’s neck and moaned his approval. Mistake or not, he’d never had anything in his entire life that lit him on fire the way Tallis Carrington could. He couldn’t make himself end it before it even had a chance to begin.

Fuck the consequences.
Lex slid his tongue along Tally’s, shivering at the silky wetness. Tally tugged at his shirt, and Lex reached down to help him, all of a sudden needing those big blunt fingers all over his skin.
“Upstairs,” he murmured and sighed when a finger trailed gently up his spine.
“What about the storeroom?”
Lex chuckled and nipped at Tally’s damp lower lip. “Screw the storeroom. You can fix it tomorrow. I want you.”
“You sure? I mean, we can forget that I just kissed you again.”
“Kiss? Is that what that was?” Lex huffed out a soft laugh. “Can you forget? I haven’t been able to.”
Tally shook his head. “No. I’ve thought about kissing you just about every second since last weekend.”
He grabbed Tally’s hand and pulled. “You want to come with me, then? Put ourselves out of our misery?”
Tally nodded and gripped his hand tightly. They tripped and ran up the stairs, Lex’s impatience and Tally’s excitement making their steps awkward and fumbling. Lex threw his door open and yanked Tally inside before slamming it shut again. Tally pulled him close, winding big strong arms around him.
Yes. That’s what I want.
“Nice place,” Tally murmured, his chin resting on Lex’s hair.
“Thanks. Bedroom’s that way.” He gestured behind him with his head.
Tally grinned. “No wine? No candlelight dinner? You’re gonna think I’m easy.”
Lex groaned into a laugh and started to walk them backward down the hallway.
“I sure as shit hope you’re easy. I’m going nuts here. You’re not allowed to throw a guy against the wall and ravish him if you’re not planning to put out.”
It was Tally’s turn to chuckle. He pulled off Lex’s shirt and tossed it on the floor of the hallway before crossing the threshold into Lex’s bedroom.
“Not a rule I was aware of, but I’ll be happy to follow it.”
He leaned over and kissed Lex, then trailed his lips downward, making short sucking stops at his neck, his nipples, his stomach. Lex squeezed his eyes shut and threw his head back.
When Lex opened his eyes and realized that Tally was on the floor and had Lex’s slacks unzipped and halfway down his thighs, he nearly choked on the lust that raged through him. He impatiently kicked out of his pants and kneeled down next to Tally, worming his hands under Tally’s soft black T-shirt. He peeled it up and off, then held the warm fabric to his face and inhaled.
“Smells like you,” he mumbled before dropping the shirt and leaning forward to suck on Tally’s bottom lip.
Tally’s hands were all over, running across the heated skin of Lex’s back, through his hair, slipping underneath his briefs to cup his ass. Lex wriggled his own fingers between them to work on the stubborn top button of Tally’s jeans. It seemed to evade his best efforts.
“C’mon. Off,” he whined against Tally’s mouth, tugging ineffectually.
Tally made a noise halfway between a groan and a chuckle, full of need and want, then he ripped his lips away from Lex’s and impatiently yanked the button and zipper down. He stood and pushed at the jeans until they, like Lex’s pants, were gone.
Lex tore back his covers and dove onto the bed, sprawling to reach across to the drawer on the other side that had everything they’d need. He was distracted by Tally crawling, hot, velvety skin writhing up his back. Tally ground his hips into the crack of Lex’s ass, the fabric that still covered it frustrating and way too thick. Lex wanted to spread his legs and beg Tally to claim him, he wanted to arch his back and let out primal cries of possession.
You’re mine. No one else again. Ever.
The urge scared him a little, but not enough that he didn’t rummage through his drawer and retrieve the condoms and lube with a triumphant grunt.
“Now, Tally. I can’t fucking wait.”
Tally paused. “Who’s going to…?”
“I don’t care, just… oh God, in me.”
Lex rolled out from under Tally and ripped his briefs down his legs, wriggling until he could kick them off his ankles. He worked at Tally’s too, until they were both naked and he could open his thighs and cradle Tally inside of them. He let out a satisfied sigh. Not satisfied enough, though. His hips wanted to grind, he wanted to feel that hardness slipping in and out between his cheeks, pushing into his body. He gripped Tally as hard as he could and pulled so he could feel the pressure he was so desperately craving.
“Lex, you’re killing me.” Tally’s voice was hot in his ear, only serving to make him want more.
“Then kill me back. I want to feel you everywhere.”
T
ALLY
took Lex at his word, slithering down and using his tongue to taste the man he’d wanted since the first second he saw him. He was warm and clean, and he smelled like heaven. Lex moaned and rolled his hips.
“What are you doing? I want you
now
.”
“Tasting. I like the way you taste.”
With that Tally licked slowly, savoringly, up the length of Lex’s painfully hard erection, loving the whimper that his movement produced. Then he opened his mouth and took the tip in, suckling and reveling in the taste of Lex’s precome on his tongue.
“Ungh, when I said kill me back I didn’t
mean it
. Ah, fuck, that feels amazing.” Lex’s voice was panicked and sexy, and he arched his hips, pushing himself into the back of Tally’s throat. Tally was in heaven. “I’m gonna come if you don’t knock it off,” Lex grunted.
Tally released Lex’s cock with a satisfied pop and rolled him over. He kissed Lex’s spine, his lean muscled shoulders, the sensitive skin on the back of his neck. Lex groaned and pushed his ass right into Tally’s cock, grinding with all of his strength. Tally pushed right back, just to hear the satisfied groan he loved so much already, then he methodically worked his way down until he could taste the musky skin between Lex’s cheeks. The first tentative taste had Lex keening, the next had him scolding, begging, wanting more, harder, everything. It was the hottest thing Tally had ever heard in his life. By far.
After long hot minutes, Tally dragged himself up so he could reach the condom that was carelessly tossed on a pillow.
“Finally,” Lex breathed and rolled over so he could watch Tally put it on with hot eyes. Then he opened his thighs again, making room for Tally’s hips, and said: “Come here.”
Tally had no choice but to listen. Lex’s hand slipped around his erection, spreading the slippery lube he’d poured in his palm and guiding Tally closer to where they both wanted him to be. Then he lifted his hips and lined Tally up and pushed, and,
oh God
, there was nothing better in the whole world. Tally’s breath hitched, and he squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to scream out loud at the incomparable heat, the tightness, and how he felt so agonizingly close to Lex. It was new and scary and oh so consuming. Lex’s legs wrapped around Tally’s hips, and strong fingers threaded through his hair, gripping.
“Open your eyes.” Tally did what he was told, opening his eyes until he was focused on Lex’s golden-green stare. Lex shifted his hips experimentally. “Mmmm… amazing. I want more.” Lex’s soft murmur was punctuated by a lusty but tender kiss and another roll of his hips.
Tally kissed him again and again as he started to move, watching Lex’s face as he moaned and threw his arm back to grab onto the headboard.
“Harder,” Lex whispered.
“Hmm?” Tally was too busy spinning in sensation to hear.
“Do it harder. Ugh. Please?” Lex lifted his hips impatiently, panting, mouth open to drag in air.
Tally grinned. He should have known he had a bossy one on his hands. He lifted Lex’s hips from the bed and angled his own so he’d rub over Lex’s sensitive prostate. Then he withdrew slowly, torturing the keening Lex, and slammed his hips back in until he was buried completely. Lex tipped his head back and groaned guttural and low, his knuckles white from the grip he had on his headboard.
“Like that?” Tally huffed, barely able to speak from the force of the lust that made his head spin.
“
Fuck
… yes. Again.”
Tally did it again. And again. And again. Driving into Lex and running his hands all over that smooth peaches-and-cream skin. God, he’d never get tired of touching. Tally felt the tightening start, an orgasm that pulsed down his spine and threatened to explode him into pieces.
“
Lex
. I want….”
Lex gripped Tally’s hips with the strength of his thighs. Tally reached between them to palm Lex’s erection, finding it hard and slick.
“I know, Tal. Me too. So close. You feel so,
ahhhhh
.”
Tally felt it then, the pulsing, Lex’s muscles tightening and gripping him until he choked on a wail and came himself, massive waves of pleasure bottlenecking through one intense point of release, continuing until it felt like there wouldn’t be anything left of him to let go by the end of it. In shock, he flopped down on Lex’s sweaty chest, breathing hard and head spinning.
“Holy shit, that was intense,” Lex finally whispered.
“No kidding,” he replied.
Tally rolled off of Lex eventually and cleaned up with some tissues from the side table. He was about to turn and ask Lex if he needed a shower when he heard a soft, huffing snore. Lex was passed completely and nearly instantly out, hand over his eyes, legs sprawled on top of the comforter. Tally chuckled and tugged gently until the comforter came loose from under Lex’s legs. Lex moaned a little and turned over but didn’t wake. Tally simply slid into the bed next to him and reached over to make sure Lex’s alarm was set. Then he dragged the covers over his shoulders, tugged the sleeping Lex into his arms, and closed his eyes.