Page 19 of Stopped

“Come on, let’s take this inside.” He nudged my nose with a grin. “I want to hit the bathroom… if you know what I mean.”

Oh, shit.My mind immediately filled in the blanks, and I nudged him toward the door with my body to acknowledge his vague confirmation. We stumbled up the steps and into his house with a flurry of eager groping and stolen kisses before he finally pushed himself away with a laugh.

“I still have those beers in the fridge. Relax, get comfy, I’ll only be a minute.”

“I’ll be waiting,” I replied with a wink, opportunely swatting at his ass as he turned to move deeper into the house.

Filled with anticipation, I didn’t even attempt to sit down on the couch, and it didn’t feel right inviting myself into his bedroom, so I occupied my time poking around the living space. EJ’s home was so him, I could have picked it out of a line-up, and I’d only ever been as far as the kitchen. It was exactly what I would have assumed he’d choose, but the reminders of all the time that had passed gnawed at the still-healing parts of my heart. The walls were adorned with framed pictures of him and his friends on Spring Break or celebrating birthdays, events I would have been a part of if I hadn’t messed it all up so badly. Books from his college courses that we never got to talk about lined the shelves in the living room. Knickknacks and souvenirsamid the stacks spoke of a decade’s worth of experiences I’d spend the rest of my life learning about—if he chose to tell me.

The combination of remorse and mourning and nostalgia tempered my carnal appetite. I got so lost in my head staring at a photo of him and Lionel at a ritzy New Year’s Eve party I didn’t hear the shower turn off, nor did I hear his bare feet cross the living room. His hand against my lower back startled me from my daze with a jump.

“Hey, you okay?” He slipped around to stand beside me, reaching out to grab the frame from the shelf.

“Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t snooping… not intentionally.” I passed a hand over my mouth and jaw with a muffled sigh. “Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Three years ago.” He waved the picture in explanation. “We had already decided we made better friends than boyfriends.”

“No, it’s not—you don’t have to explain. I was just thinking about all the time that has passed. About everything that I’ve missed.” I let my fingertip trace over a fake ceramic cactus with the Texas flag painted on the pot. “We went from doing everything together all the time to not speaking, and it was all my fault.”

“I still struggle with it too. And we’ll probably always struggle with it to a degree. I’m not completely without fault here, either. I never stopped to think about the timing or your situation. I just ran with the hurt and made it my armor.” He gently pulled me away from the bookcase and positioned us face to face. “I’m sorry. And I know you are too. We’re here now. Maybe it’s fast, maybe it’s a recipe for disaster, but I missed you, Will. I missed my best friend, and now that you’re here, I don’t want to waste any more time.”

I searched his face, ignoring the fresh shower smell and the vision of his naked torso and baggy sweatpants as best as I couldto avoid lust taking over again. The honesty and sincerity in his gaze were reassuring and comforting. “More than friends?”

“Definitely. Would it make you feel better if we made this official? It makes no difference to me. If we’re doing this, I’m definitely not looking for anyone else.”

I blinked in surprise. Despite telling myself to play it cool, I felt the smile spread over my cheeks. “Do you want to be my boyfriend, Elijah?”

“Duh. I’ve only been waiting for, like, a decade.” He grinned and pinched my nipple through my shirt.

“Ouch! Low blow, on both counts.” I leaned forward and nipped at his nose. “Be mine, EJ.”

The shift from playful banter to sensual and serious was subtle but noticeable nonetheless as he stepped into my space and brought his fingertips to the buttons of my shirt. “Gladly, Will. You’ll be mine?”

“Completely and utterly.” My hands cupped his jaw as I danced tiny kisses over his features. I paid no attention at all as he finished unbuttoning my shirt and moved toward my trousers.

“Then it’s time to stop overthinking it and get in my bed,” he teased, slipping his hand into my pants to coax a firm palm along my cock. “We have much better things to do with our time.”

I muffled a groan with his mouth, delving into a kiss that quickly became heated as our breath mingled and our tongues began an intricate dance. The minty essence of toothpaste taunted me as I deepened the connection to chase the flavor. EJ was intoxicating. Everything about him spoke to something I once thought long lost, and within moments, an inferno burned at my core.

Matching my intense need, he pushed me backward, blindly navigating the house with a series of bumps and bounces off walls and door frames. I didn't have time to explore the bedroomonce we crossed the threshold—EJ’s frantic movements were too distracting as he pushed my shirt from my shoulders and wrestled the waistband of my pants over my hips.

With my skin buzzing and my breath quickening, I tore myself from his lips and pulled my undershirt over my head to send it flying. His sweatpants joined it shortly thereafter and my breath caught in my throat as I got to drink my fill of his naked body. Lean, firm muscle covered his frame. Miles of pale, creamy skin begged my fingers to touch it. A whisper of soft chest hair narrowed into a trail that led to a nest of dense curls around the base of his straining cock. Breathtaking. Elijah was utterly breathtaking. The best part of it all was that he said he was mine. Elijah Thompson, the man I thought I would never again have in my life, was all mine and I planned to take full advantage of that.

“On the bed. On your knees.” My voice came out all gravel and need as I palmed my dick with a shaky hand. “I need to taste you.”

“Oh… oh shit,” he mumbled, scrambling across the mattress on all fours with a breath of a laugh. “Jesus, I thought letting off some steam would help, but I'm so fucking hard for you right now.”

“Mn. Just wait,” I replied with a soft chuckle of my own. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the globes of his ass as he widened his knees and arched his back. “God, I need this.”

I shifted closer, kneeling between his legs as I spread his cheeks with my palms. Like a heat-seeking missile, my mouth landed on the puckered skin of his hole seconds later, earning me a filthy moan and a full-body shudder. Once, twice, three times I swept my tongue over it before pushing in. If I thought his previous groan was filthy, this one was downright criminal for how sexy it was.

I probed his hole with my tongue as if he were the last meal I would ever eat, driving as deep as I could until spit coated usboth. The babbling nonsense that fell from his lips was music to my ears, inspiring the reckless, lust-driven need to keep going. When I carefully added a finger alongside my tongue, his hands flew to the headboard to deepen the arch of his back as he rocked into my face, fucking himself amid a flurry of muffled curses and wanton groans.

Breathless and spit-soaked, I sat back on my heels and wiped a shaking hand over my chin. “Roll over.”

“Fuck yes,” he gasped, flopping to his back so fast, the mattress bounced us both. “Nightstand.”

His hands roved over my torso in aimless patterns as I stretched over his body to reach for the drawer. Laughter filled the room as I rummaged through the contents in a futile effort to find the supplies I needed.

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