Til Darkness Falls, page 18
“You’re really good at this, at teaching.” Brian heard the slight breathiness of his voice. He swallowed a groan as Alrick’s muscular arm bunched against his as the blond directed the movement of the bow. “How come you don’t do it for a living?” The sudden tension in Alrick’s body passed so quickly that Brian convinced himself that it was his imagination.
“My sister asked me the same question after I recovered from the accident. But like I told her, I wasn’t strong enough to watch others playing day in and day out, to see their joy from doing what I no longer could. I know that’s awful.”
“Not at all,” Brian said, shaking his head. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have such an incredible gift ripped away so tragically. He certainly couldn’t fault the other man’s feelings, not when it was that very humanity that he found so appealing.
“Besides, my father’s business left behind some debts that a teacher’s salary wouldn’t cover. Working for the magazine was a more lucrative proposition. Plus, it allows me to help my sister. She’s married with a small child, and her husband is self-employed. Sometimes it’s a struggle for them to manage, since she stays home with the baby.”
Alrick had stopped playing as he spoke. Brian took the bow from him and laid it and the cello carefully on the carpet. He turned and bent low as he met the other man’s questioning gaze. His chest ached with a suspicious tightness as he fell into an ocean of deep blue. “You’re a good man.”
The blond parted his lips to speak, but Brian captured them before he could make a sound.
ALRICK felt every nerve in his body spark as his senses focused on the warm press of Brian’s lips. The shorter man’s spicy, masculine scent filled his head, making him dizzy. Brian knelt in the chair, fitting his knees into the narrow space on either side of Alrick’s hips. He lowered himself so that they were fitted together from lips to groin. Alrick wrapped his arms around Brian, holding the other man tightly against him as their swollen arousals moved against each other. He met Brian’s excited groan with a deep growl and pulled the slighter man closer to him. Heat rose between them, bringing a flush of sweat to his skin even as an icy hand of fear gripped his heart.
Alrick was afraid that if he relaxed his hold even a little, Brian would be taken from him. Or worse, that he might run away on his own volition. He walked an extremely fine line with untold happiness on one side and unendurable anguish on the other. The slightest slip up on his part would bring all of his newfound bliss to a crashing end, for although Alrick had shared more of himself with Brian than he had with anyone besides his sister, those truths were tainted by lies. If even one of them came to light, Brian would surely leave him in a heartbeat.
Brian had called him a good man, but he was the one who was perfect. How could such a wonderful man ever love a killer?
Brian seemed oblivious to the desperation in his embrace. He thrust his tongue deep into Alrick’s mouth, all the while sliding his arousal maddeningly against the hard ridge beneath Alrick’s own zipper. Alrick groaned helplessly when Brian reached beneath his T-shirt and traced over the heated skin covering his abs and chest with eager fingers as he lifted the shirt upward. He protested when Brian released his lips to whisk his shirt off over his head, but the smaller man didn’t leave him wanting for long. Alrick tilted his head back, taking a deep breath as nimble thumbs caressed back and forth over his peaked nipples.
“Ja, keep doing that.”
Brian chuckled deeply as he ran his tongue up the long column of Alrick’s throat. “Oh, I intend to,” he warned.
Not content to remain a passive participant, Alrick made short work of the button at Brian’s waist. He slid the zipper down carefully, making sure his knuckles accidentally brushed against the other man’s arousal. Brian whimpered obligingly and sank his teeth into Alrick’s neck.
“Gott!” Alrick panted for breath when a soft, wet sucking replaced the sharp pain. He instantly went from comfortably aroused to painfully hard. Brian’s surprised exclamation barely registered as he thrust his hands down the back of his pants, got a solid grip, and lifted them both out of the chair.
“Holy shit! Don’t you dare drop me,” Brian threatened even as he tried to bury his tongue down Alrick’s throat.
That was the least of Alrick’s worries. All he cared about was getting them both to the bed before he came in his pants.
Both men let out a loud huff as they fell on top of the mattress, bouncing a few inches from the force of the impact. The lamp was already on, but for once, Brian was too distracted to complain about it. They toed off their shoes blindly, mouths melded together as their footwear hit the carpet with a muted thud.
Alrick pushed himself down so that his mouth was level with the gaping waistband of Brian’s pants. Taking the hem of Brian’s shirt in his teeth, he lifted it up, tugging when the shirt got caught beneath Brian’s back. Breathlessly, Brian took the hint and arched his lower back, allowing the shirt to be pulled up over his stomach. Alrick smiled when Brian tried to suck in his gut before Alrick could notice his lack of a six-pack. He attacked the warm brown flesh with his lips, kissing up the center of line of coarse, dark hair before licking his way back down.
“Ah, fuck me!” Brian groaned as his cock rose and tried to escape from the confinement of his boxers. He bit his lip in a vain attempt to stifle an unmanly cry when Alrick nuzzled at the rod of flesh poking him in the chin.
“In time, Liebling. Be patient.”
Brian reacted to the teasing with characteristic directness. Grabbing Alrick’s shoulders, he pulled him up and pushed him over onto his back. “You be patient. I’m about to go crazy.”
Alrick fully appreciated the sentiment. Brian kissed him savagely, and he shivered as a threatening growl resonated into his mouth. He offered no resistance as Brian laid siege, proclaiming with every sweep of his tongue his right to be exactly where he was. Laying his hands across Brian’s back, he stretched his fingers wide to cover as much skin as he could.
Restless and demanding, Brian feasted on Alrick like he was a long, tall, gorgeous banquet. He nibbled and licked his way down Alrick’s torso, lingering over the nubs that broke the broad expanse of his chest. “Anyone ever tell you how cute these are? Like little pink cherries.”
Alrick’s laugh turned into a needy moan as Brian worshiped the tender buds. He toyed with each one in turn, the encircling ring of colored flesh pebbling as he tried to discern if they tasted like the delicate pink fruit they resembled. Alrick’s cock throbbed low against Brian’s stomach as he worked over the heavy slabs of muscle covering his chest with biting kisses. It was leaking, weeping as his excitement grew. “Fuck, and you smell so good I want a taste.”
“Brian—” Alrick hissed, his stomach muscles jerking as sharp teeth worried the taut skin covering them. He heard himself murmur something and realized he was speaking in German, begging Brian to stop tormenting him. Knowing the other man wouldn’t understand, he rested his hand atop Brian’s head, hinting at what he wanted. He could feel Brian’s smile against his skin, but he graciously moved down to where Alrick so desperately wanted him to go.
Reciting a poem he’d learned as a child, Alrick hoped that the innocent verses would help him stem the rising pressure coiling between his legs. He wanted to wait, to enjoy this for as long as he could, but verdammt! Brian was taking his sweet time, meandering aimlessly as he pulled down Alrick’s boxers just past his hip bones and applied hot, wet kisses everywhere except where Alrick needed them.
“Brian, bitte. Please!”
His voice cracked, but he didn’t care that he sounded like an untried adolescent. Brian uttered an absent, questioning noise but didn’t stop running his tongue back and forth across the mark left by the elastic band of his boxers. When Brian opened his mouth and sucked at a circle of pale flesh, Alrick bucked up with a loud groan, wetness leaking from his cock in a steady stream. Finally, Brian pulled his boxers completely off, and Alrick cried out when the waistband scraped over the sensitive flesh of his hard cock. Soothing the hurt with a long swipe of his tongue, Brian grinned as the flushed rod bounced upward once it was free, leaving a trail of fluid as it landed against Alrick’s taut stomach.
“Scheisse! Brian, you are making me die!” His accent thickened as his command of English began to slip.
The other man laughed with a decided lack of sympathy. “Not so cocky now, are you?”
Alrick kicked his pants and boxers out of the way, paying little heed to the smug tone in the Brian’s voice. Clearly the other man was holding some sort of grudge for what Alrick had done to him their first night together, but he was beyond caring. “Whatever you say. Just, please, your mouth—”
“Hmmm? You mean like this?” Brian pressed a gentle kiss to the weeping tip, smearing the wetness over his lips.
Spreading his legs wide, Alrick moaned desperately as, at long last, Brian took pity on him. With devastating skill, he took Alrick all the way down his throat in one smooth motion. Unable to breathe, Alrick bowed his body upward as his hips pushed into the wet, engulfing heat. Sweat stung his eyes, and he shook his head to fling the beads of moisture from his hair. His hands gripped at the sheets, the distant sound of ripping fabric not even making an impression. All he heard was a cacophony of music playing in his head and a loud, shouting voice that he belatedly recognized as his own.
Brian worked him with a single-minded dedication that proved he really enjoyed sucking cock. Alrick would have been jealous of whoever else Brian might have done this with if he’d been able to think. As it was, he could only feel. Brian’s hot, wet tongue caressed up and down the underside of his shaft, the soft press of his lips surrounding him like a velvet glove. The thrilling scrape of his teeth was a delicious threat as Brian’s throat massaged the head of his cock with every descent. Caressing hands rubbed up his flanks and over his chest, blunt nails dragging tauntingly over his peaked nipples and down his stomach.
Alrick was certain he’d never felt more incredible than he did at that moment until Brian slipped his lips from around his cock and took a tight, swollen ball into his mouth. “Ungg, Brian, ja!” Chest heaving with hard, rasping gasps, he buried his fingers into Brian’s hair, trying not to pull at the thick curls as his body jerked uncontrollably. The other man subjected first one round sac, then the other, to his thorough attention, and then that beautiful mouth was back on his cock and a long, slick finger probed with gentle determination at his entrance. Alrick’s vision went white. His body loosened reluctantly as Brian eased his finger inside the passage. It had been a long time since someone had touched him like this, and the fact that it was the man he loved was almost too much to bear. The finger pulled out slowly, and he heard the squish of lube being squeezed from the bottle he’d started keeping conveniently in the nightstand drawer. This time, two fingers slid past the muscular ring, plunging deep inside. He felt a slight twinge of discomfort as the fingers eased apart, stretching him….
And then he was there, shouting fit to wake the dead as his body clenched and shuddered. The glorious feel of Brian’s mouth as his cock pumped out jets of white fire kept the sparks flying long after he was completely drained. He moaned plaintively, his throat raw from the force of his gasping breaths, and it was a few moments before he was able to form a coherent thought. When he was finally able to open his eyes, he saw Brian propped up on his arms, leaning over him with a satisfied grin. Alrick huffed in exhausted amusement when the other man licked his lips.
“Remember how to speak English now?”
Alrick smiled, reaching up to caress the other man’s cheek with a shaky hand. “Maybe. But I could be convinced to forget again.”
Brian’s green-hazel eyes darkened as his lips curved with a smirk. “I’m kinda rusty, but I’ll do my best.”
Brian reached over to the already-open drawer in the nightstand, and Alrick closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he heard the sound of tearing foil. He tensed nervously for a moment when Brian lifted one of his legs and draped it over his shoulder. Eight years had passed since he’d granted anyone this privilege, and he tried to force himself to relax. Before he could get too lost in his thoughts, however, a thumb brushing across his cheek prompted him to open his eyes, and the gentle expression on Brian’s face suddenly made all of his tension bleed away. He took a deep breath as the thick head of Brian’s cock pressed into him. Sweat beaded up on his brow, his body protesting the burning stretch. Brian’s hardness penetrated deeply with a long, slow slide, its passage eased by a lube-slick condom and Brian’s careful preparation. Alrick sighed at the incredible feeling of fullness when the other man’s balls finally came to rest against his ass. Warm lips pressed softly against his, and after a moment, he smiled.
“Okay,” he breathed.
It was many hours before he was able to say much of anything else.
BRIAN chuckled as a tired groan rumbled against his neck. He was just as exhausted, his body unused to the marathon session he’d just put it through. But still, he couldn’t stop smiling. His face actually hurt from it.
“You are in a good mood.”
Brian turned to bury his face in his pillow, but Alrick stalled him with a kiss. He gazed at the blond for a long moment, still not quite able to believe how fortunate he was. Maybe it was time to ’fess up. “I am, and it’s because of you, really.”
Alrick’s smirk was justifiably smug. “Well, I hope so.”
Brian’s toes curled when the other man sucked on his neck. “No, not like that. Well okay, not only like that.” He tunneled his fingers into the blond’s thick hair. “I had a good day at work, and it’s thanks to you. If you hadn’t asked me to go to the opera, I wouldn’t have thought to question people at the college, which gave me a break in the case I was working on. Well, it was really Angie’s idea, but I did the leg work.”
Brian knew he was babbling. Alrick lifted his head and looked at him, his brow furrowed in confusion. “Case? What do you mean?”
“I’m a cop.” Brian bit his lip nervously. “A homicide detective, to be more exact.”
Alrick blinked at him as though unsure what to say. Brian felt his stomach flutter with nerves. He knew that it was stupid to feel anxious, but he couldn’t help it.
“Ah, I see. That sounds like a dangerous but very important job. I’ll bet you’re very good at it.” Alrick brushed his thumb over Brian’s lower lip. “Do you enjoy it?”
“Usually, although my captain can be a real bitch sometimes.”
“The Queen of the Night?”
Brian grinned ruefully. “Exactly. Anyway, I was working a case of a dead girl, the councilwoman’s daughter who was killed?”
Alrick nodded, indicating that he’d heard the news.
“She went to school at the college where we saw the performance, and when Angie knew I was looking for an excuse to leave work and meet you there, she suggested I question some of the victim’s friends. It turned out to be just the break we needed.”
“Who is Angie?”
“Angela Lovell. My partner of six years and my sometimes work mother.”
Alrick’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Don’t you mean work wife?”
Brian rolled his eyes. “No, trust me. It’s like the two sons she gave birth to aren’t enough for her. My folks and I aren’t all that close, so she thinks I’m deprived. She enjoys sharing her family with me, and truth be told, I love her for it.”
“She sounds like a special person.”
Brian laughed. “Let’s see if you say that after she’s convinced you to come to pizza night. She’s dying to meet you, you know?”
“Is she now?” Alrick’s smile was subdued, but Brian put it down to him being tired after three straight hours of torrid sex.
“Yeah. Anyway, I wish all my cases could go so smoothly.” Brian stretched, his muscles feeling like jelly as his limbs flopped back down to the bed. Alrick gathered him in his arms, and Brian grew even sleepier as the other man’s body heat wrapped around him. “This one I’ve been working on for a while now has me stumped. A bunch of mobsters have been getting killed by a hired gun. The guy’s a pro. Hasn’t made a single false step. But I’ll get him—”
ALRICK watched Brian closely as he fell asleep, a bone-deep cold invading his body in spite of the duvet and the warm body lying against him. He didn’t know whether it was consideration or shock that kept him immobile. A police officer? A detective? This had to be some cruel cosmic joke. He couldn’t believe the universe hated him this much, no matter how much he deserved it.
He should get out now, just slip away and disappear. Although he hadn’t made as much from Rivella as he’d planned, it would have to be enough. There would be other opportunities, other ways for him to make enough to clear his father’s debts. The situation had suddenly become far too dangerous. It was madness to remain in the city when the very man hunting him was the one lying right next to him. Was the one he wanted more than anything.
Alrick remained still as he gazed into Brian’s face, marveling at how beautiful he was. He pressed his lips against Brian’s forehead and closed his eyes, his lover’s heat pressed against his side eventually allowing him to drift off to sleep despite the crushing weight of inevitability bearing down on him.
Chapter 8
“MERY! Please do not leave me!”
“All will be well, Pa’sheri.”
Sounds of battle clashed outside the door of their sanctuary. The boy pressed his thin body against it, trying to bar his lover from going out into the madness.
“No, I am afraid for you.”
“Do not fear. I will never leave you.”
