I Can See for Miles (16 page)

Josh groaned, and his hips rolled into Charlie’s as he slid his fingers beneath Charlie’s shirt. The air was still warm, and Josh grasped the hem of Charlie’s shirt, pulled it off and tossed it to the side in one motion. “Making you as crazy as you make me,” he whispered before nibbling at Charlie’s lips. “I’ve missed you these last few days. It’s been torture knowing you were so close but being unable to touch you. Catching your scent on the air as you walked past, wanting to surround myself with you….
God,
do you have any idea how much I—”

Charlie cut off the flow of Josh’s words with his mouth, kissing the very breath from Josh’s lungs until the other man panted helplessly against him. “Don’t… please,” Charlie whispered, knowing instinctively what Josh had been going to say because he felt it too, but he couldn’t let him say it… not yet… not until….

“Not saying it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it, Charlie,” Josh murmured against Charlie’s soft lips. He whimpered low in his throat when Charlie eased him down onto his back. Charlie trailed his fingers to the buttons of Josh’s shirt and undid each one slowly, bent forward to press soft biting kisses to each bit of skin he exposed. The sound of Josh’s moan filled Charlie with heat as he slid down his body and dealt swiftly with the loose cargo pants Josh was wearing by easing them down his legs and throwing them to join his own clothes that he’d quickly shucked out of.

“Just…,” Charlie murmured against the soft skin that covered the jut of bone on Josh’s hip. “Just not yet… just let me make you feel good… I want to make you feel so good…,” he trailed off and took the head of Josh’s hard cock into his mouth, collecting the steadily leaking precum on his tongue with tiny licks. Josh’s back arched into Charlie’s mouth, groans falling from his lips at every bob of Charlie’s head, his fingers scrabbling for purchase in the short strands of Charlie’s hair. Lavishing the shaft with steady swipes of his tongue and twists of the fingers that were curved around what he couldn’t manage, Charlie shifted from half-hard to diamond drill bit in three seconds flat. No one had ever made him this hard this fast… only Josh.

“Charlie, Charlie… I… God, your mouth… it’s too much. I can’t hold on… oh God, baby, I can’t hold—”

Charlie cut off Josh’s babbling with a firm grip on the base of his shaft, stilling the orgasm rushing through Josh in its tracks. He pulled off Josh’s cock with an obscene pop and licked at the head one more time before stating huskily, “You’re gonna have to. I’m not letting you come ’til I’m buried inside you.”

“Holy fuck…,” Josh breathed, practically biting through his lower lip. “Then you’d better stop talking like that, or it’s all over.”

Charlie chuckled as he instructed Josh to get on his knees and scrabbled in the backpack for the lube and condoms he’d seen in there when he was unloading the food. Hopefully Josh had put them in there. He didn’t want to think too much about Maggie giggling as she packed them into the bag. Mentally shaking his head, he turned quickly to Josh and drawled huskily into the shell of his ear, “I’m gonna open you up slow, baby, and I want you to keep those long fingers of yours wrapped around that gorgeous cock. You understand me, Josh?” Charlie sucked on Josh’s earlobe until he felt Josh’s breath hitching against his own chest. “That’s it, just like that,” he crooned. Licking a trail down the length of Josh’s back, he gently held open the cheeks of Josh’s firm ass, continuing his tongue’s journey until he felt the pulse of Josh’s hole against his flesh.

“
Charlie! Oh my God
!” Josh whined, his fingers tightening around what must be his painfully hard cock. “I gotta… you’re killing me, man… please….”

Josh babbled nonsense while Charlie’s slicked-up fingers joined his tongue, and he stretched Josh gently, scissoring slowly until he was satisfied he’d opened Josh as far as he could. Pressing kisses into Josh’s skin, he rolled the condom down his length and added more lube before positioning himself against Josh’s entrance. “Are you ready, Josh? How you doing? Don’t let go of that cock, baby… not until I say you can.”

“Fuck, Charlie, I’m so ready… please… inside me, now, please.”

Charlie slowly slid into Josh up to the hilt. The growl that fell from his lips was almost feral as he felt himself surrounded by nothing but Josh, and he closed his eyes, breathing deeply and trying to hang onto the orgasm already tingling in his spine. The noises Josh made beneath him and the feel of being sheathed in tight heat were already pushing him to the edge. Reaching around with a strong, muscled forearm, Charlie held Josh across his chest and lifted him so he was raised on his knees, his back against Charlie’s chest. He lifted Josh’s free hand and wrapped it around the back of his neck, kissing the curve of Josh’s jaw when his head fell onto Charlie’s shoulder, his eyes tightly closed. Sliding a hand up Josh’s chest and closing his fingers around Josh’s chin, Charlie turned him to kiss Josh’s parted lips and slip his tongue into Josh’s mouth at the same pace as he was rolling his hips up into Josh’s hot channel. It wasn’t the most coordinated kiss he’d ever had, but it was wonderful. “Fuck, Josh,” he breathed against Josh’s lips. “You’re so fucking tight… feels so good.” Josh’s back arched against Charlie as he pounded into him relentlessly, knowing he was hitting that sweet spot deep inside when the timbre of Josh’s voice changed.

“Charlie… deeper… harder… oh fuck,” he babbled, dragging his lips from Charlie’s to bury his face in the crook of Charlie’s neck. “I gotta come… please, baby… tell me I can come….”

Charlie was so close. The effect Josh had on him was something he had never experienced with anyone, including Brian. Josh made him lose control almost from the first moment he buried himself inside him. He was overwhelmed with the desire to reduce Josh to a babbling, incoherent mess of passion and lust and need. A need only Charlie could satisfy… as only Josh could satisfy the need deep inside him. “Okay, baby,” he hissed into Josh’s ear, his hips still thrusting deep and hard. “Let go, Josh… let go…. I’m gonna make you come. Just feel my cock riding you hard and fast, baby. Can you feel it? Dragging over that sweet spot… making you see sparks… can you see them, Josh… can you see them?”

“Oh fuck, Charlie… I can see them. With you inside me, I can see everything,” Josh whimpered. Lifting his other hand, he clasped both of them around the back of Charlie’s neck and hung on for dear life as Charlie thrust relentlessly. “Charlie… I’m gonna come… holy fuckin’ shit… I’m falling, baby… I’m falling.”

“Do it, Josh… do it… wanna feel you come… wanna hear you… oh shit, Josh,” Charlie groaned harshly into Josh’s hair, his hips stuttering as the wave of his orgasm lifted him high. Charlie cried out when he felt Josh’s ass clamp down on him as the other man’s orgasm hit him, fast and hard. Pulsing hot bursts as his release flowed from him into Josh, Charlie’s breath fell from his lips in harsh gasps as Josh’s seed hit his forearms where they were wrapped around Josh’s chest. “Fuck, Josh… oh my God….” Charlie kept his face buried in Josh’s hair as the aftershocks of his orgasm flowed through him. He didn’t think he had ever come so hard or so long in his life. The emotions washing over him were so overwhelming he didn’t know what to think or how to feel. It was too much all at once for his brain to process.

“Charlie,” Josh panted, “oxygen kinda important.”

“God… sorry, baby,” Charlie apologized and with gentle hands eased Josh forward so he could withdraw. He pressed kisses in between Josh’s shoulder blades at the other man’s hiss when he pulled out, and Josh collapsed forward onto his hands, lowered himself down onto the blanket, and buried his face in the crook of his elbow.

Quickly dealing with the condom, Charlie grabbed some napkins out of the backpack and urged Josh to turn over so he could clean him off. He looked down at Josh, noting the twitching of his abs as if his orgasm was still pulsing through him gently, and frowned slightly at the arm hiding Josh’s face from him. “Josh? Are you okay?” he whispered, lying down beside Josh and resting his head on his hand. Josh nodded, but Charlie’s concern deepened. “Josh… gonna need words, baby.”

“I’m okay,” Josh rasped in a voice that didn’t even sound like his own. “It was just so much… you know. I can’t explain it.”

“I know, baby, I know.” Charlie smiled softly and leaned down to kiss Josh tenderly. “I felt it too.” He sighed and brushed Josh’s hair from his eyes. “Where the hell did you come from?” His voice was filled with awe.

“Texas,” Josh deadpanned, chuckling when Charlie grabbed his hand and nipped at the pad of his thumb.

“Very funny, dumbass.” Stretching, Charlie picked up his glasses and pushed them onto the bridge of his nose. “We’d better get you back to the cabin. The temperature’s starting to drop.” He handed Josh his clothes and quickly got into his own before packing everything back into the backpack. After padding across the grass, he hooked the bag over Dottie’s saddle and then folded up the blanket and laid it across the horse’s neck.

“Hold on… I need to take a piss,” Josh said, holding his arms above his head and stretching with a loud groan. “Can you give me a hand?”

“Oh… sure,” Charlie said, walking over to him to pop the button on Josh’s jeans.

“Charlie… what are you doing?”

“Giving you a hand….” Charlie trailed off at the laughter in Josh’s eyes. “What?”

“I meant can you give me a hand behind a tree, numb-nuts. I can manage the peeing by myself. Besides, if you give me that kind of a hand, I don’t see us leaving any time soon.”

Charlie was glad Josh couldn’t see the particular shade of puce his face must be and gave Josh his elbow, guided him over to a set of bushes, and gave him quick instructions on the surrounding foliage. “Be careful, there’s some poison oak there. I don’t want you marking up that beautiful ass—that’s my job.”

“Ooh, kinky,” Josh scoffed, waiting until Charlie walked away.

Charlie leaned against Dottie’s warm body, feeling the chill in the air as the wind picked up, and waited for Josh to finish answering his call of nature. “Come on, Josh…. I think we’re in for a storm. Clouds are coming in, and the wind’s cutting through my shirt.”

“I’m coming…. First you’re afraid of a tiny Texan, now you’re complaining about a little breeze. Jeez, you sure you’re not the girl?” Josh drawled, his voice coming nearer.

“Very funny. You’re the one with girl hair.”

“How many steps to the left?” Josh called.

“Nine,” Charlie replied, raising his voice over the whistling wind. What?
Left
? “Wait, Josh…. RIGHT, not left… nine steps RIGHT!”

“Charlie!”

Charlie’s blood felt like ice water in his veins when he heard Josh shout his name on a gasped breath, followed by the sound of a loud splash as he fell in the river. “Josh!”

Chapter Eleven

F
INGERS
scrabbling for the pager in his pocket, Charlie ran to the riverbank screaming Josh’s name over and over again. After punching in 911, Charlie dropped the pager on the ground and looked helplessly into the black-as-pitch water of the river. He couldn’t see Josh. He couldn’t see anything. His diminishing vision combined with the darkness surrounding them meant he might as well be blind already.

“Josh!” he screamed, ripping off his boots and jacket and the stepping down into the rushing water. He knew when you got about three feet in, the riverbed dropped by about twelve feet. Once you hit that point in the river, the current picked up speed to carry you downstream. He just hoped Josh had managed to grab on to something before he got out that far. His mind was racing, and his fear was suffocating. He knew how scared of the water Josh was—knew the reason for his fear—knew how Josh had panicked at the mere thought of going near the water.

“
Jesus
,” he hissed as he peered into the darkness and felt the cold water plastering his jeans to his skin. “Josh, can you hear me!” Trying desperately to block out the pounding of his own heart, Charlie strained to listen for a response above the now howling wind whipping up the river around him. “Baby, please… where are you?” He startled as a rumble of thunder echoed around him, and he felt the first spatter of rain on his face. “Josh, please answer me!” he screamed, hearing the crack in his voice as he tried to hold it together and remember the training he’d had for an emergency such as this. But the only thing echoing in his brain was Josh’s name. “Please be on your way, guys. Please be on your way,” he whispered, wading further out into the water.

Each pager had a microscopic GPS chip inside, so whoever punched in 911, the location could be pinpointed by any one of the other guides. They were all fully trained, but it would take at least ten minutes for anyone to reach him, because they would have to come on the dirt bikes—it would take twenty by horseback. Charlie would have to find Josh and keep him alive until help got there.

Charlie squinted as a fork of lightning lit the sky and illuminated the water. “Josh!” He could just make out a shape hanging onto a fallen tree in the middle of the river, about two hundred yards. It wasn’t moving. Charlie could only pray it was Josh and hope he hadn’t responded because he couldn’t hear Charlie calling above the growling wind and not for any other reason. “Shit! Josh, hold on, baby…. I’m coming!” He tried to judge how far he was from the bank and when he would reach deeper water, but he was about a foot out, and he swallowed what felt like half the river as he slipped under the water.

When he resurfaced, his glasses were gone, and he pushed his hair from his eyes, whipping his head back and forth to try and gauge where he was. It was practically impossible. All he could see were shadows. He paddled in the water, feeling the current grabbing at his legs and praying there would be another flash of lightning to help him see more than the hand in front of his face.
You fucking idiot, Cooper! If anything happens to him, it’s your fault! How could you let him bring you out here in the dark? Why didn’t you tell him? Congratulations—your stupid fucking pride has finally gotten you something—it’s gotten Josh killed!
The thoughts chased each other around Charlie’s head as he swam a few feet in every direction, in the vain hope he would just bump into Josh.