Page 79 of Fire & Ice

“There’s my good boy,” Leander croons, smoothing a hand over Tripp’s cheek, even as he chokes a little, the head of Leander’s cock bumping against his soft palate. Despite that, Tripp is still, he doesn’t pull away. “So good for me when he wants to be.” At that, Leander withdraws. He shifts backward on the mattress, creating room for him to bend down to Tripp’s eye level.

“Answer me, Tripp,” he demands softly. “Are you mine?”

Somewhat dazed, Tripp has to suck in a deep, steadying breath to even process the question. His eyes are suddenly exhausted and heavy, struggling to remain open as he stares back at Leander, knowing he must look exactly how he feels—completely undone.

“Yes, Sir,” he manages, the sound rough and used, even to Tripp’s own ears. For a minute, he thinks that Lee is going to close the distance between them and kiss his mouth, but he only dips his head to nose at the pulse point of Tripp’s throat before pulling away.

It’s a loss. Tripp’s close, he’sreallyclose, despite not having been fucked yet, despite the lack of consistent attention to his cock, despite alotof things. He’s so hard that it’s painful, so needy and desperate for Lee to take him over the edge that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stay silent.

Hewants,God, hewants.But, he also wants to begood.Heisgood, for Lee, Lee said so. Fixating on that thought instead of giving into his desire to break the rules and beg, Tripp exhales a stream of air from his lungs and tips his head back, very slowly counting to ten inside his head. Silently, Tripp does his best to center his mind and regain both a modicum of patience and some semblance of control over his body.

He’s so preoccupied with maintaining that control that healmostmisses Leander removing the vibrator and saying, “I think we’ve both earned this,” right before he spreads Tripp’s cheeks and slides home.

After so many hours of wearing a plug, stacked with the way Lee has played with, tortured, and toyed with his body all night long, there’s nothing but near-agonizing relief when Leander’s cock pushes inside. Tripp expects him to use the spreader bar for leverage, but he doesn’t—he grabs Tripp’s hips, gripshimtight,and fucks him mercilessly. Tripp’s hands flexin his restraints and his head falls back, eyes closed and mouth open, unable to even pretend that he has the strength to hold it up anymore.

AndLee—he’s an animal.

Suddenly, Tripp is flashing back to the Dom’s little speech about noises and wanting to hear them all, because Lee isloud.Not that he’s usually quiet, but this is next level. He growls and grunts, propping a foot on the bed so that he can thrust more forcefully. He moans and cries out, and Tripp isshaking,he’s so fucking overwhelmed, struggling to believe that he could really make someone—Lee—feelthis way, especially while tied up and doing virtually nothing except clenching his ass.

Seeing him unravel makes it so much easier for Tripp to let go, to return Lee's moans with his own. There’s nothing subtle or slow about his orgasm tonight—no, this one barrels down the track like a thundering freight train.

When Tripp comes, it’s with Leander’s fingers shoved down his throat, Leander’s hips grinding figure eights into his pelvis, and his own cock untouched. The sensation is so powerful that Tripp’s vision whites the fuck out, his legs are shaking relentlessly, and he feels like he actually stops breathing for a moment. By the time he sorts himself out, his ass feels warm and wetter than before, and Lee's thrusts are slow, lazy—he’s already done.

Holy fuck, did they finish at the same time?That’s a thought Tripp’s going to have to circle back to at a later date, when he can actually think, because—yeah. No oneactuallydoes that. Climaxing at the same time is for porn flicks and romance novels, but here Lee is, slipping out of him like that’s what the fuck happened here.

As Tripp dazedly muses over his mini-revelation, Leander gently lowers the rigging and starts undoing his bindings. Everything in reverse, and it takes longer than Tripp would like, considering how tired he is. Also, because Lee is Lee, he insists on working each of Tripp’s joints out individually, testing their range of motion and checking for any injury, tenderness, or other signs of a problem.

Thankfully—because Tripp just wants to go the fuck tosleep—he passes whatever tests Lee is giving and earns his reward of orange juice, a banana, and a warm washcloth to the groin, which for some reason feelsextraenjoyable tonight. He also gets Lee leaning up against the headboard and insisting Tripp lay back against his chest, for the sole purpose of continuing the massage Tripp grumbled his way out of after being initially released from his restraints.

It does not escape Tripp’s notice that he’s still covered in wax, but the patches that pull at hairs are easily picked off, and the rest aren’t terribly uncomfortable. Therefore, they can wait until a time when his eyes don’t have sandbags weighing them down to be dealt with.

When he’s finally allowed to pass out, even half-asleep, Tripp has to admit that there’s nothing wrong with being pampered like this. As he’s drifting off with Lee surrounding him—Lee’s hands on his skin, Lee’s lips in his hair—it occurs to Tripp that there wassomethingLee wanted to talk to him about earlier. He can’t quite put his finger on it, he’ssofucking tired, but he could swear—they were definitely interrupted at some point, and there wassomethingLee wanted to say.

Oh, well. If it’s important, Lee will come back to it,he thinks sleepily. Lee is the responsible one, after all. If he’s got something to say, he’ll say it.

Right?

Chapter 10

When Leander wakes, he’s alone. That’s not entirely unusual—there’s no unspoken agreement regardingTrippremaining in the bed until both of them are fully conscious—it’s just that more often than not, Leander simply beats him to the punch. Out of the two of them, he’s also the least petulant about mornings, not that Tripp will ever admit to being such a bear. In fact, before Tripp began staying over regularly, Leander would frequently wake long before the sun in order to go down to his complex’s gym and knock out a treadmill session before work.

Speaking of which—Leander lifts his head, looking down guiltily as he pokes at his stomach in the dark. To anyone else, there would hardly be a difference to notice there, buthecan tell, and that’s what matters. Too many nights of extra drinks and decadent dishes, too many mornings spent stealing extra minutes with Tripp rather than doing the responsible thing and exercising. Still, Leander would be faking modesty if he claimed he thought he didn’t lookgood,despite all of the recent indulgences. He merely needs to phase regular workouts back into his routine, preferably before that actually changes.

Across the room, there’s light spilling from the cracked door leading to the attached bathroom. Through it, Leander can hear Tripp grumbling quietly about something, but he can’t make out any specific words. Lazily, he stretches, yawning dramatically while pressing both palms flat against the wall, in-between the intricately-carved twists of the headboard. With a sigh, Leander glances skeptically towards the drawn curtains. No light leaks out from around their edges, which means that it isfartoo soon for Tripp to be out of bed. Everything else aside, Leander wants him back.

They both have to work later tonight, which means there are approximately fourteen hours left for them to make the most of the remaining weekend. Thus far, it’s been one for the books, and Leander can’t remember a time in his life that he’s ever been happier.

Hewasfairly intoxicated at the reception the night before, though. Sober enough by the time they reached his apartment to not be wholly irresponsible in dominating Tripp, but perhaps notquiteas sober as would have been ideal. Not that he has any regrets—their scene was beautiful and intense, and Leander’s cock perks up at the barest thought of how Tripp responded so perfectly to everything he asked him to take. Trippisperfect, and the more Leander tastes of him, the hungrier he feels.

But did he almost ruin everything with that near-declaration of love? The mood had felt so right—the wedding, the music, the way their friends were unceremoniously shoving them together all night long. With the way the alcohol was flowing freely and clouding his mind, it’s hard for Leander to befullycertain now, looking back on it.

At the time, he’d beensosure that Tripp was right there with him, giving as much of a green light as Leander thinks he’ll ever get from the man. There was one moment in particular, after the garter ceremony—Tripp hadn’t shied away from acknowledging their friends’ scheming, and then thatkiss—even in the harsh light of day, that sequence of events is hard to paint as anything but tacit approval.

It’s just so hard to believe. Leander could, in theory, come to terms with the idea that Tripp’s feelingsmaybe changing. That theymayhave morphed into something more in his mind than simple friendship and lust. It’s certainly not that he doesn’twantto acknowledge it, to ask Tripp and find out for sure—no,that’s no longer the problem. Now, it’s that Leander just wantsto go about things the proper way, lest he move too quickly or sharply and scare Tripp off for good.

In truth, he has no idea what’s going on in that man’s head. Even if true feelings for Leander are rattling around in there somewhere,Tripphas yet to say so—and wouldn’t he?

Just as Leander decided that night after the rehearsal dinner, he must continue to tread lightly. There will always be more time. In fact, if there’s one important realization Leander has had, it’s that Tripp doesn’t seem interested in goinganywhere.It would appear that the two of them have all the time and space necessary to feel this thing out slowly and to work through it properly, whatever that might mean. Leander only has to be patient and let Tripp show him what he needs, just as they’ve been doing.

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