Passing Time Read online

  “Breathe slow and deep. In through your nose out through your mouth.” If Louis hadn’t quite understood, Jake demonstrated with a few exaggerated breaths of his own.

  “I should have kicked you out an hour ago,” Louis muttered, settling his cheek against the pillow.

  “I only arrived an hour ago.”

  Exactly. “Do you really get off on rolling the bones of an old wreck like me?”

  “I get off on good-looking guys.” Jake shifted his weight forward. A moment later his hot breath tickled the back of Louis’s neck. “This is as much for me as for you.”

  He wasn’t sure exactly what Jake was expecting, but a massage wasn’t going to turn Louis into a handsome stud anytime soon. Still, as Jake’s thumbs worked at the tension in his shoulders, something deep inside him began to unfurl.

  “You’re tense in all the wrong places.” Jake kneaded Louis’s flesh, focusing on the knots across his shoulders. “I can loosen you up, but it’ll take a bit of time. While we’re waiting, why don’t I tell you a bit about myself?”

  Louis groaned inwardly and was reminded of another reason why he used whores for sex. The last thing he wanted was the guy’s life story.

  “Where should I start? Um, I’m twenty-two and I’m at uni, as you know. My degree is in Sports Scie—”

  Louis let out another groan, half frustration and half the sensation of Jake’s fingers teasing the tension from his body.

  “Do you like that?”

  “It’s not unpleasant,” he said. Indeed, it was the most pleasant experience that had happened to him in quite a while.

  “Good.” He did the same again, and a jolt of pleasure surged to Louis’s dick. Maybe there was something to this relaxation shit after all.

  “Anyway, after I get my degree, what I’d like to do is own a gym. A string of gyms eventually. I’ll add to the family dynasty that way, because I’m not exactly going to give my parents grandkids like my sister has. She has two, one of each. Um…oh, I lived with a guy once. Thought it was going okay until I came back early from a lecture one day and found him in bed with a girl.”

  “Ouch.” Louis lifted his head as Jake’s thumbs bit deep into his shoulders. Jake shoved him back down with his palm and carried on reciting his autobiography.

  “Yeah. It did sting a bit. Afterwards, when I was packing my stuff, he said I shouldn’t take it badly. I was only a phase. A yearlong fucking phase, which I still don’t understand. He was gay with me, Louis. We fucked almost every night, and he almost never topped.” Jake sniffed. “I went a bit crazy for a few months. I slept around with random guys. But I didn’t enjoy it. So I stopped. I’ve been celibate almost eight weeks. Then this hot American guy shows up and orders a large bourbon, and all my celibacy plans go out the window.”

  “I’m not American,” Louis said into the pillow.

  “Okay, so this guy with a sexy American accent shows up and orders a large bourbon.” Jake shifted his weight to Louis’s thighs and ran his thumbs up the ridge of his spine.

  “After a couple of nights of making small talk, I begin to realize something,” Jake’s hot breath puffed against Louis’s tailbone. “The reason he comes to the bar is because he enjoys my company, I mean, talking and stuff. I don’t think he has friends or family around, only his mother. He told me she’s in the hospital. He’s having a tough time, but all I want is to get to know him better. What I’d really like to do is make him smile. I try dropping some clumsy hints, but this guy, he’s kind of shy and reserved, but I know he’s gay. I know he’s into me because I’ve caught him looking.”

  “You must be used to guys looking at you.”

  “Well, yeah. But I haven’t looked back in months. Not until you.”

  “Ah well, at least you’ve stopped referring to me in the third person.”

  “Huh?”

  Jake might not be much in the brain department, but as those talented hands eased the weary ache in his bones, much of Louis’s stress seeped away. For the first time, in a long time, he felt able to drift off to sleep without the aid of the bourbon. He was on the verge of it too when Jake’s fingers dug sharply into his ribs.

  “I’m done here,” he announced, climbing off. “You’re about as relaxed as you’re going to get.”

  “Too relaxed.” Louis buried his face in the pillow, hoping Jake would take the hint and let him sleep. A sharp, stinging slap landed across his ass, instantly put paid to the idea.

  “What the fuck?” Louis lifted his head.

  “Roll over.” Jake tugged on his shoulder.

  Louis did so, though he wasn’t particularly happy. Still, his cock—when he cared to follow the line of Jake’s triumphant gaze—teetered at half-mast.

  “Now that,” Jake said, wiping his oily hands on the sheet, “I can work with.” He leaned over and feathered his tongue up the underside of Louis’s shaft. Much to Louis’s surprise a rush of heat flooded to his groin, and his cock rose to greet those wispy caresses. Drawing in a sharp breath, he curled his fingers into his palms and bit down on the small but determined protest building in the back of his throat. Even now, he couldn’t quite figure out how he’d managed to get here, flat on his back with an enthusiastic barman desperate to stoke his dwindling fire.

  He laid his closed hand on Jake’s head and forced his fingers to flex. The last thing he wanted was to be compared, once again, to a corpse.

  Jake’s hair was silky soft beneath his palm. Cut razor short at the nape, his hair there was a shade darker than the honey blond of the longer strands on top. Jake’s tongue flicked out to lap the head of Louis’s cock. The mattress gave beneath Louis’s back as he adjusted his weight. He fought to stifle a groan as he sank into the warm, silken tunnel of Jake Harvey’s throat. It wouldn’t have taken much more than a ripple or two from the tight walls to end things before they’d properly started. But, without warning, as quick as he’d sucked him down, Jake released him.

  Louis shuddered at the sudden cool air caressing his cock. “Hey!” He grabbed a handful of blond locks. “Why’d you stop?”

  “Because,” Jake said, brushing Louis’s hand aside as he sat up, “I’m not here just for the pleasure of sucking you off.”

  He grabbed a condom from the supply on the bedside table, tore the packet, and rolled the latex ever so carefully down Louis’s shaft as if afraid it might once again drop like a soufflé. He also took his time with the lube, warming the gel between his palms, spreading a liberal dollop over the latex before turning attention upon himself.

  “I should warn you,” he said, cupping his ball sac with one hand and sliding beneath to coat his hole with the other. “I don’t usually bottom. In fact the last time I did was a good few months ago with one of my dad’s barmen. We had this thing going… No. I’m not even sure it was a—”

  Louis reared up, grabbed Jake by the shoulders, and pushed him down onto the mattress hard enough to steal his breath and, thankfully, his chattering.

  “Are you sure you want this?” Louis asked as shock darkened the depths of Jake’s eyes.

  “I’m certain,” he replied somberly. To prove it, he curled his legs around Louis’s waist.

  Louis was fairly certain at that moment he wanted it too. He moved back to line his dick to Jake’s lubed hole. Jake immediately tensed, his upper lip drawing back over his teeth.

  “Louis…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “Slow works for me too.”

  Louis froze. Jake’s ass was a tight band of pressure gripping the head of his cock.

  Should he pull out? Jake hadn’t said so. Not to stop. Just to slow down. If that was what he wanted, Louis was more than happy to oblige. He’d treat Jake with the care he’d taken with Carter when their usual energetic routine became too much. Slow and easy. Louis’s favorite kind of sex. Not that he’d experienced it often. He’d berate himself for enjoying sex more with his sick lover than he had at the full peak of Carter’s health. Louis liked to take his time, to savor every thrust, every tremor.
To take pleasure from and in another man’s body. He could do that now, even with a stranger. Weird thing was, Jake didn’t seem like a stranger. More like a friend with whom he’d overstepped the mark. Of course, come morning, Jake would cease to be a friend. He’d have become an error in judgment, and Louis would have to find someplace else to take his evening drink. Until morning, though, Jake made for a thoroughly welcome distraction from yet another sleepless night.

  Louis slid in another inch. Jake tensed again. His lips drew back over his teeth. His breath grew short and rapid.

  “Hey.” He stroked Jake’s thigh with the fingers of his free hand. His cock throbbed with need, but he couldn’t think about that yet. There was a chance they’d get no further than this. Jake looked as though he might ask him to stop at any moment. “Tell me how it feels.”

  He opened his eyes and squinted through a mask of pain. “Keep going. It’ll get better.”

  “That is the intention.” Louis tightened his fingers around the base of his cock and pushed. Jake yielded another inch. And another. Like slipping into a too-tight leather glove. The wanting ache surging through Louis’s cock was exquisite. He released his shaft and closed his fingers around his balls. They contracted in his grip and he shuddered, bearing down as Jake swallowed the rest of his length. He let out a sharp breath at the heat pulsing around him and let go of his balls as he lowered himself on Jake’s body.

  Jake’s upper lip gradually descended once again over his teeth. His pale lashes flickered. His eyes opened and focused.

  “Are you in?” he asked, his voice thin with uncertainty.

  Louis claimed the final inch of moist heat. His balls brushed Jake’s ass cheeks. “All the way,” he whispered.

  “Wow.” Jake’s blue eyes searched his face with a new sense of wonder. “It almost feels…better than I remember.”

  Louis dipped down to kiss him. “I’ll see what I can do about that ‘almost.’” He flicked his tongue over Jake’s lips. Jake caught the tip between his teeth and snared it into the heat of his mouth. As they kissed Louis rocked into him in a slow, gentle rhythm. He held his weight on his hands, his palms flat to the mattress either side of Jake’s head, while Jake’s fingers branded the flesh of his back with their heat.

  “This is nice,” Jake said with a shudder, his voice little more than a breath.

  Nice? Louis froze. Even Carter at his most acidic had never described Louis’s bedroom prowess as nice. Although Jake had, in his way, paid a compliment, Louis would rather be remembered as a little bit more than nice, if he was to be remembered at all.

  “What’s wrong?” Jake asked as Louis stared down into his face.

  “I want to try something else.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “New position. I’ll show you.” Louis shifted, and Jake hissed out a pained breath.

  “Ouch. Careful!”

  “Sorry.” He ran a soothing finger down Jake’s breastbone. The tip came away damp with sweat. “Go with me. I won’t hurt you.”

  Jake gave a shaky, unconvinced smile. “I know.”

  Louis scooted back on his knees. Still locked inside Jake’s body, he raised Jake’s calves over his shoulders and gripped his thighs.

  “Okay?”

  “Yes. Ah. No.” He winced as Louis bore down.

  “Which is it? Yes or no?”

  “Not sure. Do it again.”

  Louis obliged, moved back on his knees. He pushed into Jake’s body, instantly rewarded by sparks of smoldering pleasure deep in his balls.

  “You sure now?”

  “No.”

  Louis repeated the move with a little more vigor.

  “No.”

  “You…need to make up…your mind.” Louis was pretty sure by now that the string of no added up to a thorough yes. “Now?”

  Jake’s brow creased; his eyes narrowed to slits. Moisture beaded his upper lip, and when Louis bent to lick the sweat away, Jake’s breath smelled thickly of Indian spices.

  “Not…quite yet,” he said, clutching the sheet.

  Louis paused. “Want to stop?”

  “No.” Jake squirmed beneath him. “No way.”

  Louis did his best to oblige, resuming long, languid thrusts as Jake shuddered beneath him. The room filled with the scent of sex and the sounds of Jake’s harsh little breaths. Louis heard his own labored gasps, his heart thudding hard in the hollow pit of his chest.

  Jake cracked opened his eyes and wrapped his fingers around his shaft. “Louis.” He gasped. “I need to… I have to… Do you mind if I…?”

  He was asking permission to come. Darling boy, Louis imagined Carter saying, to quote from all those 1950s romance movies he once so adored.

  “Go ahead,” Louis said and plunged deep as the heat from Jake’s body coiled around his shaft. He held himself still even as the walls of Jake’s ass coaxed him to surrender.

  Instead, Jake’s pupils dilated; his nostrils flared. A low cry sang out from between his parted lips. He arched his back as he came onto his chest in thick, glistening strings.

  The intoxicating scent of Jake’s arousal flooded Louis’s nostrils. He closed his eyes and shuddered, surrendering to the sweet fire surging the length of his shaft. His orgasm exploded from his body. Shot after shot of pure white heat poured out of him in a long, heady wave of relief and regret. Regret it was over, and relief because he’d not shamed himself too badly in the process. Afterward, when Louis had withdrawn from Jake’s body and dealt with the condom, Jake wiped his chest with the sheet, then brought it up to cover them. He made as if he wanted to snuggle, so Louis rolled over and searched for the cigarettes he kept on the bedside table.

  “That was pretty good once we got going,” Jake said, taking the hint and settling over on his own side of the bed.

  “It wasn’t bad.” Louis lit up a cigarette. Good, he supposed, was a stronger adjective than nice.

  “I haven’t tried that position before. Not as bottom. I didn’t think I could take so much…penetration.” He yawned. “Thanks, Louis.”

  “For what?”

  “For taking your time. For making it good for me.” He gazed at Louis as if waiting for a reply.

  “You’re welcome,” Louis said before closing his eyes. He hoped Jake was done talking, because he’d much rather enjoy his cigarette in silence.

  “How long has it been since you were last with someone?” Jake asked, shattering any possibility of a quiet few minutes.

  Louis opened his eyes and exhaled a stream of smoke. “About a year.” He couldn’t tell Jake that the last time he shared his bed, the guy took his payment in cash. Jake wouldn’t understand.

  “A year?” Jake peered up at Louis as if searching for the lie. He wouldn’t find one. “I couldn’t imagine going without for that long.”

  “You’re young yet.” Give it a few years and the loss of the one man who’d ever have meaning in your life.

  “So are you. You’re no more than forty.” He sounded as though his intention was to flatter.

  Louis stared at the tip of his cigarette before stubbing it out in the ashtray. “I’m thirty-five.”

  Silence. Then, “See, like I said. No more than forty.”

  Louis gave a dry laugh, impressed Jake hadn’t tried to bluff his way through a bumbling apology. He slipped the ashtray onto the bedside table and eased himself down into the bed. “Where did you learn those massage techniques?” he asked, the imprints of Jake’s hands still tingling his flesh.

  “At uni. I did a module on sports injuries,” Jake said through a half yawn. “I adapted what I’d learned. Effective, though.” He grinned, and Louis found himself doing the same.

  Louis tucked an arm around Jake’s shoulder and pulled him close.

  “I’m glad we got together tonight,” Jake said, settling against Louis’s chest. “Aren’t you?”

  “Hmm.”

  Thankfully Jake didn’t demand more. Instead, his breaths gradually deepened and evened out, and L
ouis realized he was getting a little too comfortable lying in his bed with a virtual stranger in his arms. He did indeed reek like a fast-food outlet. He should get up, shower in the guest bathroom, and spend the night on the couch, seeing as the sheets were stained with vegetable oil and sweat and other bodily fluids.

  “Where are you going?” Jake mumbled as Louis slipped out of his embrace.

  “Thought I’d take a shower.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m covered in oil.”

  “Shower in the morning. Don’t be so uptight, and come back to bed.”

  Uptight? Was that fair? Probably. He didn’t take offense. Instead, his dick began to nag at him in a change from its previous reluctance. When he glanced down, it stared back with a hopeful slant to the right, in the direction of the bed.