During halftime, I go outside with Shooter and Cope to smoke, but it’s freezing. I swear, it’s dropped like twenty degrees since getting here. Even with my coat on, I’m still shivering. Cope must notice, because he pulls me into him, his body heat doing wonders at warming me up.
He presses a kiss to the top of my head before bringing his lips to the shell of my ear. “Stay the night,” he tells more than asks me.
An icy-hot shiver rolls down my spine, and I don’t know if it’s from his hot breath against my cold skin or the idea of getting to spend another night next to him. Probably the latter.
I glance up at him, his brown eyes nearly black, and I nod slowly. “Okay.”
25
COPE MURPHY
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say my friends were purposely trying to cockblock me. It’s nearly nine o’clock by the time they all leave. The game ended hours ago, but we all got caught up in talking about this or that. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun evening, but I’m more than ready to get Xander alone. This is the first sleepover we’ve had since Vegas, and to say I’m antsy would be an understatement.
Whit and his man, Reggie, are the last to leave. Sliding the deadbolt into place, I turn, resting my back against the heavy wood door, and my eyes find Xander’s immediately. He’s at the end of the hall, butt propped against the entryway table, eyes filled with what can only be described as hunger. The air has shifted, becoming more tense. More supercharged. The chemistry between Xander and me still takes me by surprise. The way my body viscerally responds to him, the way it feels like I may actually die if I don’t touch him, kiss him, be near him.
My entire life, I’ve gone through the motions, thinking that everybody who explained a feeling like this was exaggerating or flat-out lying. That there’s no way the movies have it right. And then I meet Xander, and it’s like it all clicks. Mybody immediately recognized his, immediately wanted him even before I understood it.
My feet carry me down the narrow hallway as I stalk closer to Xander. His top teeth bite down on his bottom lip in a way that makes me want to replace his teeth with mine. By the time I close the distance between us, I can barely breathe. The energy between us is stifling. Neither of us makes any move for a few moments. Eyes taking each other in, I can feel his want. His need. It’s as potent as my own.
Xander moves first, but barely. His hand reaches out, gripping the hem of my shirt as he pulls me into him. His other hand comes up, knocking the hat off my head. We both breathe out a laugh when it hits the floor. Confident fingers thread through the hair atop my head as his baby blues alternate between my eyes and my lips. What feels like an eternity later, he takes my lips with his, and the whole world disappears. Our tongues meet in the middle. They dance and caress sensually. They taste greedily and explore wantonly.
“Take me to your bedroom, cowboy,” Xander says against my lips.
The request sounding so similar to what he said in Vegas sends a thrill down my spine. Lust dripping off of his every word is a shot of desire straight to my core. Taking him by the hand, I lead him down the hall, toward the staircase. With each step we take, nerves and anticipation clutch my insides. A warmth settles in my chest once we cross the threshold to my room. I don’t have any expectations, nor do I know what will or won’t happen tonight, but intuition and the way he was looking at me earlier tell me it’ll be more than we’ve done before.
That thought excites me and terrifies me in equal measures. Not only is he the first person I’ve hooked up with in quite a while, and not only is this brand-new territory for me with him being a man, but because of how deeply I care for him already,I want to make this good for him. I want it to be memorable in his eyes, and not because I was a fumbling, nervous moron. That fear takes me by surprise because it’s not one I’ve thought about until this very moment, but I realize how strongly I feel that way.
We stop right next to my bed, only the lights from outside illuminating the area. My heart is thrashing against my ribs as I turn to face him, and he’s looking at me like he can hear my every thought. I inhale a deep breath and decide to stick to what we’ve always done…honesty.
“I’m nervous.” The words come out hushed, but I know he heard them. One thing about Xander is that I’ve never, not even once, felt an ounce of judgement come from him. Through every step of the way with whatever this is between us, he’s been patient and sweet.
Xander gives me a sweet smile. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“No, I want to,” I hurry and say, probably much more enthusiastically than I should’ve. Clearing my throat, I add, “I want to…to do it all, but I’m just nervous. This is uncharted territory, and I don’t quite know how to lead here.”
Pulling me in for a kiss that steals my breath away, he cups the side of my face in his soft, warm palm as he holds my gaze. “You’ve spent the last couple months teaching me,” he says, his voice taking on a husky tone. “Showing me how to look after my aunt’s farm, teaching me about the rodeo, showing me how I should be treated by a man. It’s my turn to show you a thing or two, cowboy.”
My cheeks flame, and I know without even looking, a flush spreads from my neck, to my face, all the way to the tips of my ears. My cock throbs behind my jeans, and I reach down to adjust myself, Xander’s eyes tracking the movement, a smirk ticking up on his lips.
“First thing’s first…” The hand cupping my face moves down to my shoulder, applying the smallest bit of pressure as he continues. “I’m gonna need you to drop to your knees, open that pretty mouth, and show me that tongue.”
Fire shoots through my veins at his demand. At the hunger in his gaze as he steps back the slightest amount to give me room to obey. And I do. Without any hesitation, as if my body is moving of its own accord, my knees collide with the soft carpet, I tilt my head back slightly to look up at him, and I relax my jaw, sticking my tongue out exactly the way he asked. My flesh prickles with arousal, my body flushed hot, and my dick aches where it’s still confined behind too many clothes.
The pleased grin that slides onto Xander’s face fills me with a sense of pride, knowing I did that. I put that smile there. One handedly, he flicks open the button on his jeans, dragging the zipper down, the sound audible in the quiet room, and he pulls himself out. Suddenly, I’m face to face with the very appendage I’ve fantasized about since the first and only time I got to see it. It’s even more beautiful than I remember. My mouth waters at the sight of the slightly pulled back foreskin, the glistening tip poking out from beneath it, and the thick veins running along the shaft. A dot of pre-cum beads at the slit, and I’ve never wanted to taste anything more than I do right now.
Glancing up from beneath my lashes, I lock eyes with Xander, and as if he can read my mind tonight, he steps forward, placing only the tip of his cock right on my tongue. My taste buds awaken, taking in the salty flavor of his arousal, and before I can even stop myself, a groan rips from my throat. His blue eyes darken at the sound, and I watch as his jaw clenches tightly, like he’s trying to restrain himself.
I want to reach down and pull myself out. Stroke it. But I don’t.
Xander then slides the underside of his shaft along the flat of my tongue. I don’t wrap my lips around him yet. Instead, I let him use my tongue for a moment. He drags it up and down the length, his lips parted with pleasure, as my body comes alive under his watchful gaze.
“Fuck, that feels good,” he breathes out. His eyes are hooded, cheeks pink, and from all the way down here, he already looks so beautifully wrecked. He reaches up, working his fingers through my strands again, gripping them at the scalp. The pinch of pain only adds to the arousal bubbling inside of me. “Close your lips,” he instructs me hoarsely.
Doing as he asks, I let my tongue swirl around the tip, dipping underneath the foreskin too, before I hollow my cheeks and suck. He groans before thrusting a little more of his length into my mouth. After a few inches, my gag reflex kicks in, and tears spring to my eyes. Xander backs off for a moment, letting me focus once again on the tip. We do this back-and-forth game for a while, and eventually, I’m able to take more of his length into my mouth. Every once in a while, a salty burst of flavor will drop onto my tongue, right around the time his eyes will roll back and he lets out a groan. The sound is music to my ears, and I desperately want to hear more of it.
Xander works himself in and out of my mouth, the pleasure screwing up his face. I feel him swell slightly, and I know he has to be getting close, but before he can finish, he pulls out. His chest is heaving with heavy breaths, as is mine, and he wraps a tight fist around the base of his dick.
“Take your clothes off and get on the bed,” he orders, reaching behind his head and pulling off his shirt. With his pants already undone, he shoves them the rest of the way down until they pool around his ankles.
