He turns his head and opens his eyes, bringing our mouths so close together I can feel his hot breath. It tickles my skin, sending sparks all across me.
“I was waiting for you,” he says, the reflection of the strip of light along the ceiling shimmering in his brown depths. “I like to watch you and make sure you are asleep before I let myself rest.”
My heart skips a beat. Then it tries to jump out of my chest, euphoric and happy. I’m flooded with so much love for this man, I don’t know what to do with it or how to contain it. I want to shout from the rooftops that he’s mine, I want the world to know just how perfect for me he is.
“Don’t look at me like this,” he mutters, stroking my cheek with his hand.
“Like what?”
“Like I am some deity gifting you a star from the night sky.”
He tries to hide it, and he does a decent job of succeeding, but Aran is a romantic. He loves to spoil and do the things that would make you happy. He’d do anything for his person, go far and beyond. Ask me how I know. He says it’s because of his duty toward my dad, but like I keep telling him, he’s long fulfilled that promise. Since the moment I turned eighteen, he was no longer expected to take care of me. But he refused to leave, just like I refuse to give up on our love.
“You are not just some deity to me, Aran. You are the god I want to worship, the man I want to be with.”
He nuzzles his nose against mine and kisses me. Slowly, softly, like I am the most precious treasure in the entire world. Then it deepens gradually, turning into something hungry and desperate like I have become the air he needs in order to breathe.
It’s how I feel about him most days. If I don’t see him or hear his voice, it’s like the sun never rose that morning. He’s been avoiding me in the time leading up to this cruise, and those were the most torturous few weeks of my life. I never want to experience that again and the only way to ensure that is by getting him to accept that the stars, the Earth, the gods and the universe itself want us to be together.
Our tongues tangle in a frantic chase. I let him lead it, trying to keep up as his taste surrounds me. It’s dark, masculine, and there is something smoky about it, even though he’s not touched a cigarette since we boarded the ship. He knows I hate it, so he never allows himself to smoke around me.
As we continue to kiss, other parts of me take interest in what is happening. A hum of electricity lives just under my skin, bringing with it a sense of anticipation that twists my already nervous stomach. It’s the good kind of nervous, the one you get when you learn that a limited exhibition of lizards is coming to town and your man has already booked tickets for it. It’s like when you are feeling a little down and he shows up with five tubs of your favorite ice-cream flavors, waffles and chocolate sauce.
“Up,” he says, pausing the kiss so we can get some much-needed air.
I am a little unsure what he means at first, but then he manhandles me on top of himself and shuffles up the bed until his back is comfortably leaning against the headboard. The change of position is plainly unfair for my self-control as my pajama-clad cock brushes against his erection. He’s got his briefs on and we need them, and my pajamas, off ASAP.
I whimper in protest, but I don’t get to voice my dissatisfaction with our clothed states as he dives in for my mouth again. It’s almost as if something has possessed him and he’s realized that he needs me or a calamity will descend upon the entirety of humankind.
I can work with that, definitely. I volunteer as a sacrifice to this starved man so that our planet can remain safe. I’m selfless and altruistic like that.
Aran’s hands roam all over my body, rubbing my arms, my back, my waist. When his fingers reach my ass, he gropes it and kneads it greedily, shooting more pleasure through my entire nervous system.
It’s really hard to think and part of me doesn’t even want to. This just feels too good and we haven’t even gotten to the best part yet. I got a taste of what being with Aran is like and since then I’ve been craving it every day while all he’s done is to cockblock me by keeping himself preoccupied with the mission.
It’s the most important thing, I know. It’s why we are here, and I don’t intend to sabotage it just because I want to blow Aran’s mind with my sex skills. But we can afford a few hours at night for each other. In fact, I’d argue we need to do that so we can both let off the accumulated stress and work more effectively on the next morning. And no, I’m not making that up just because I want to get into his pants—I read on a forum somewhere on the internet that sex is recommended as a way to maintain an active and aware mind. So it must be true and one hundred percent scientifically proven.
But anyway, I decide researching can wait until later as Aran’s right hand moves from my ass to my hip and then between us. He teases me through my clothes, wrapping those elegant fingers around me, then dragging them up and down. Just as I try to fuck into his hand, he lets go and repeats the same with his own dick before pressing it firmer against mine.
My eyes roll back, fire and arousal overtaking my body.
“You are so gorgeous, Tien,” he whispers in my ear. His bass is raspy in the sexiest way, enveloping me like luxurious silk.
“Took you long enough to realize that,” I pant back, doing my best not to come before we’ve even gotten naked.
I managed to hold out long enough last time so we could have some fun, but tonight, somehow, the stimulation is more aggressive. Stronger. It leaves me breathless and turned on like never before. I don’t know what’s different, but maybe, just maybe, Aran is not fighting with himself on the inside. He’s here with me fully, wanting this as much as I do and not holding back.
“You can be such a brat,” he says, kissing the dip in my top lip and then the corners.
“But you love it. Or you wouldn’t be letting me act like one,” I point out since his comment sounded like a complaint.
He hums, kissing his way from my mouth to my jaw and then down my neck. “Maybe.”
“I think we need to be naked,” I suggest, laughing when his lips suck on a spot just above my collarbone and make me ticklish.
“I still can’t believe sometimes that you went and got a tattoo, even though I told you not to do it.”
I lift my hand to the area just above my pajama’s collar. “I really wanted one.”
