Page 17 of Set Fire to This Cardhouse

“No?” Mike straightens enough to look down at Toby. A sudden, feral grin blooms on his face. “What if that’s exactly what I want, though?”

“Try harder, then.” To emphasize his point, Toby clenches down on Mike’s finger, experiencing a dark thrill of satisfaction when Mike’s eyes widen. Point made, he lets his own mouth curve into a satisfied smirk.

“All right.” Mike swallows visibly, his voice husky. “All right,” he repeats, and then he pulls his finger out only to push back in with three—no warning, the stretch exquisite, a tiny bite of pain mixed with bright anticipation, just the way Toby wants it.

“Better,” he manages, barely, and doesn’t even resent the smug edge to Mike’s grin.

“Sorry, but...” Mike’s fingers still. “I don’t think I heard you. What was that?”

Toby didn’t expect Mike to be playful in bed.

The focus, sure, no surprise there. The need to dominate? That too, and Toby also expected Mike to be smooth, to be good, really fucking good. Not the playfulness, though. Especially not after a day like the one they’ve had, when Mike very nearly got himself shot—and forgetting about the day they’ve had is the whole fucking point of this.

It’s still a bad idea. Maybe it’s even worse now, with the easy way they connect, but when Toby meets Mike’s bright gaze, he can’t stop his lips from curving up.

To hell with consequences.

“You” —Toby bears down on Mike’s fingers, widens his smile when Mike’s eyes briefly lose focus— “are amazing in bed. Great rhythm, flexibility, best I’ve ever had—whatever you need to hear that will speed this up.”

Mike’s lips quirk into a full, bright grin. “Warmer.”

“You are a god of sex.” Toby widens his eyes. “Now would you please fuck me?”

“Since you said please…” Mike’s nonchalant tone is belied by how quickly he withdraws his fingers and releases Toby’s wrists so he can get up and shove down his pants. Gloriously naked, standing tall and proud in front of the bed, he’s just as gorgeous as Toby suspected. Mike’s cock is flushed and heavy, and Toby wants him so much he’s a little dizzy with it.

Mike keeps his gaze fixed on Toby as he blindly tears the foil packet open and rolls the condom down over his cock. He coats it with a liberal amount of lube, and Toby’s eyes keep flicking back and forth between Mike’s face and his hands.

“Turn around,” Mike tells him. His voice has lost all humor. “Hands and knees.”

Toby complies without thought. Tiny grains of sand scrape against his knees, and he focuses on the miniature bites of discomfort in an attempt to regain some sense of control over his body. It isn’t working—not when Mike settles behind him, the tip of his cock nudging against Toby’s balls. Jesus fucking Christ and all the Saints, Mother Mary, Saint Anne. Toby would like to thank them all for letting him have this moment.

Mike drapes himself over Toby’s back, nudging him further up the bed until Toby is leaning against the headboard. He’s grateful for the solid metal edge that cuts into his palms. “Ready?” Mike asks, the word an exhalation more than a question, and Toby is so, so ready. Feels like he’s been ready for hours.

He turns his head to catch Mike’s eyes. “Get on with it, will you?”

His challenge is met with a flash of Mike’s teeth. A beat later, Mike captures Toby’s wrists in one hand, guides the tip of his cock inside with the other. Toby welcomes the dull flare of pain: Mike’s cock is a bigger stretch than three fingers, and Toby relishes it, his entire concentration narrowing down to where Mike is working himself in with small, careful thrusts.

Toby puts an end to that by shoving his entire weight back against Mike.

Mike’s groan is beautiful, deeply satisfying. The strain has Toby shaking a little, his arms at an angle that will start to hurt very soon, but it’s just what he needs right now, is exactly what he needs—the perfect escape. He breathes through the discomfort and bites out, “Move already, or I swear I will—”

Mike pulls out almost all the way, only to slide back in with one smooth, hard thrust. Fuck. He stays right there, plastered to Toby’s back and hips moving in tiny circles that send sparks of heat up Toby’s spine. Each shift is brighter than the last, better. Toby relaxes into it, resting his forehead against Mike’s knuckles since Mike has yet to loosen his hold on Toby’s wrists.

When Mike pulls back and then shoves his hips forward hard, Toby’s head knocks against the headboard. Toby gasps, retaliates by sinking his teeth into Mike’s hand, just a quick, sharp nip. Mike responds with another hard thrust. He follows it up by biting down right at the joint of Toby’s neck and shoulder, sucking the skin into his mouth. It’s sure to leave a bruise, and the realization lets all of Toby’s blood rush south.

He meets Mike’s next thrust evenly, twisting his hips in a way that makes Mike gasp. Yes, yes. Mike’s mouth moves to the back of Toby’s neck for a quick, open-mouthed kiss. When Mike reaches down to wrap his fingers around Toby’s erection, Toby lets his head drop, sparks behind his lids that burn brighter, brighter.

Another harsh thrust. Mike’s thumb strokes over the crown of Toby’s cock, his fingers slippery around the ridge just below.

Toby trembles with his release.

He manages to push back against Mike one last time before he lets himself slump, held up only by Mike’s fingers around his wrist. Mike’s mouth presses damply to the back of Toby’s neck as he thrusts hard, and again, before Toby feels Mike’s cock twitch inside him. It’s too much, overstimulation with Toby’s nerves still raw and his control frayed. He wouldn’t change it if he could.

They stay like that for a minute, maybe more. Slowly, Toby regains enough of a grip on his surroundings to realize that he’s sweaty and sticky, that they both are. The room smells of sex and freshly laundered hotel sheets. A car honks outside.

When Toby shifts, it prompts Mike to loosen his hold on Toby’s wrists, letting go as he moves back. His softening cock slips out with a wet noise, and Toby has no clue what the protocol is. So far, he was too clever to tumble into bed with a partner.

His skin stings a little where Mike bit him. There’ll be a bruise.

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