Page 43 of Throw Down

Desire was already surging through Briar's belly and drawing his balls up tight.He wasn’t going to last. It was all happening too quickly, and he realized with horror that he was mere seconds away from spilling all over himself like a virgin.

“Stop, stop,” he warned, suddenly panicked.“I’m going to come—”

“Then come.” Derek grabbed him by the pelvis and lifted him, grinding down against Briar’s cock as it lay trapped between their bellies.The pressure was so intense Briar’s eyes rolled back in his head.

He whimpered. “No, I can’t—”

“You will,” Derek growled.

“Not yet—”

“Now.”

A loud, keening cry ripped from Briar’s throat.He clenched his teeth, muscles freezing, as his body locked up and braced for the full-body spasm that rolled through him.His vision flashed. His mind went blank with pleasure.The world went spinning away, and so did his breath, his mind, his heart.Everything obliterated in a single white-hot blast that spilled all over his stomach in sticky fluid.

Derek let out a feral snarl. He had one hand planted firmly on the ground, the other arm around Briar's waist as he thrust once—twice—and bathed Briar’s fluttering hole in spurt after spurt of molten fluid.

They remained pressed together, frozen, for what seemed like aneternity.Derek’s hands still cradled Briar’s hips, and Briar still clutched at his sweat-slick back until long after the combined pools of their come had chilled on hisskin.The night didn’t seem so warm now, but Briar just buried his face in Derek’s throat and snuggled closer, using his big body as a shield from the lakebreeze.

“Don’t tell me you regret it,” hemumbled, squeezing his eyes shut tight.

Derek was silent for so long that terror began to creep backin.Briar stiffened, but Derek stopped him the instant he tried to pull away.

“I’ll never regret it,” Derek said, rolling to his side and bringing Briar with him. He wrapped him in his arms and dropped a quick kiss to the top of Briar’shead.“But someday…youwill.”

Chapter Sixteen

DEREK

Derek had never been much of a snuggler, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go of Briar.There was something so open and trusting about the way he wrapped his arms around Derek’s waist and rested his cheek over his heart.As if what had just happened between them meant as much to him as it did to Derek.But that couldn’t be true, because Briar wasn’t the one who’d just lost the only virginity that had ever mattered.

Derek lay flat on his back, staring blankly up at the sky, dreading whatever Briar was about to say next.It would kill him if he was flippant…but it would be infinitely worse if he asked him how he was feeling.

Briar surprised him by saying nothing at all.For the first time since they’d met, he seemed content to keep his mouth shut and just enjoy the moment.His fingers trailed aimlessly over Derek’s chest, fluttering like the wings of a curious bird.It tickled, so Derek covered his hand with his own and twined their fingers together to stop him.

Charmed, Briar dropped a kiss against the side of his throat.

They stayed together, just like that, for so long that Briar’s skin began to prickle with goosebumps.Derek ran his hand up and down his back to soothe them away, but when that didn’t work, he reached for the edge of the blanket and flicked it up over his exposed skin.

He instantly regretted it. Briar’s body was a masterpiece of pale, slender limbs.His hair, now wildly tousled, gleamed silver in the moonlight, and his lips were flushed and swollen.Every time Derek glanced at them, he felt an almost irresistible compulsion to kiss him.Briar was beautiful in a way Derek had never known men could be: soft and strong and real.Not primped and plastic like the urban men Derek saw online.No fillers, no filters, no veneers.Nothing artificial about him at all, but still delicate and graceful in a way that Derek found enthralling after spending all his life with cowboys and roughnecks.

He was a treasure, and now that Derek had touched him, he didn’t know how he’d ever give him up again.

Sighing happily, Briar said, “I never knew there were so many stars.”

It wasn’t the after-talk Derek had expected.“Hm?”

“The stars.” Briar held a hand above their heads and waggled his fingers in a gesture that encompassed the night sky.“It’s even better than what you’d see in a planetarium.Is that Cassiopeia?”

Derek tracked the direction from his fingertip and shook his head.“Nah. She’s on the other side of the north star.”

Briar frowned, scanning the sky aimlessly.“Where’s the north star?”

There was something so innocent and endearing about his eagerness.He acted like he’d never learned about the natural world.Then again, he'd grown up in a concrete maze, where the only wildlife was the kind that required an exterminator.

Biting back a smile, he cupped Briar’s face and turned it north.“Follow the line past the big dipper.There’s the north star. That bright one, see?Now follow it yonder, off to the right.”

“The one that looks like a sideways W?”

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