Page 4 of Falling for Mr. Corporate

“Oh.” I did the quick calculation in my head before I realized what I was doing and turned my face away from him so he didn’t see my flushed cheeks. Why was I calculating his age to find out how much apart we are in age? It wasn’t like anything was going to happen between us, but if it did, ten years wasn’t so bad.

“We’ll have to wait out the worst of this rain,” he stated. “Sometimes it lasts for hours and another time it can last just a few minutes.”

I shifted and gasped at the pain in my ankle. “I should have never come up here,” I grumbled. “This has got to be the worst experience of my life. And I’ve had to come out of the closet.” The latter wasn’t necessary which had me wondering why I was giving him that tidbit of information. Perhaps hoping he’d share the same with me?

“It’s obvious you’re not the hiking type,” he remarked, disappointing me by not commenting on my suspicion of his sexual preference.

“No, I’m not,” I agreed. “Someone asked me to go along. I thought I’d be safe with the group.”

“Hmm.” He grunted then, and we settled in silence, me being conscious of him and the raw masculine energy flowing from his very pores. I couldn’t wait for the rain to cease so we could get out of this confined space. Being so close to him, feeling the muscles in his body, was messing with my head. And the last thing I needed was a rebound with a man like him.

“I’m Bryan,” I told him, realizing we hadn’t exchanged names.

“Tate,” was all he said which told me all I needed to know. He didn’t want to talk. I wanted to stay away from him, but I was soaked and cold. His body heat drew me in more ways than one. With a mind of its own, my body leaned even closer towards him.

Chapter Four

“Take off your clothes.”

Well, that was fast, I thought staring at Tate in surprise at his order. I’d suspected the chemistry between us but when he had trekked with me back to his cabin, after the storm, he had remained aloof. Even when he had carried me in his arms a part of the way, he hadn’t given me the feeling he was interested. Contrary to what many people believed, a gay man didn’t just sleep with another gay man. I may not be his type and I still didn’t know for certain he was gay.

“Excuse me?” I gaped at him as he reached for his sodden shirt and pulled it over his head. He reached for the button at the front of his jeans and started working on it too.

“Get out of your wet clothes or you may get sick,” he explained. “What did you think I was talking about?”

Blushing, I refused to comment but reached for my own shirt and took it off. I stared at his chest, noting how different we were in size. Tate was a huge man. He had arms like limbs and feet like trunks. Damn, he was hot. I stifled a groan at my interest, always in these men who were physically more powerful.

When he was down to his underwear, he walked from the bedroom which made me comfortable enough to take off my shorts. My briefs were soaked through and my cock was outlined in the white cotton material. Who the hell wore white briefs on a hike? But Keith had insisted I bring them, as he liked seeing my ass in the tiny whites. I wondered if it would have the same effect on Tate. He’d undressed so casually in front of me that I thought, probably not.

I was rubbing my arms, acknowledging that I was feeling a little cold, when Tate re-entered the bedroom. It was nicer than I thought a log house would be, with a queen-sized bed and fluffy pillows. There was a dresser with mirror as well and a chest of drawers. From an inside door, I spotted a closet.

“Here you go.” Tate passed me the towel and I rubbed down with the fluffy material. There was something odd about this man. The quality of the towel was the finest. Who lived in the mountains and took care in selecting towels for comfort?

He was still bare-chested and had a towel wrapped around his narrow waist.

“Let’s get you on the bed so I can check your ankle,” he told me and when I would have struggled to make it on my own, he scooped me up and placed me on the bed. Our near naked bodies and our nearness wreaked havoc on my senses. I closed my eyes and hoped he didn’t see my erection making my attraction to him evident. Good lord, I had to push the image from my mind of him pressing me into the mattress.

He grasped my right foot gently and my eyes flew open. His touch was gentle, but his calloused palms caused enough friction on my skin that I was no longer shivering. Heat coursed through my veins. I followed his gaze to the ghastly purplish bruise on my ankle. It was swollen and hurt when he poked it. I tried to concentrate on the pain in my foot instead of the ache in my groin.

“I think it’s just a sprain,” he surmised aloud and ran his hand up my hairless leg, without thought. A moan slipped from my mouth, which I tried to cut short, but it was too late. The reality of what he was doing hit him and he jerked his hand away. “I need to get you an ice pack,” he stated and started to move away from me.

I was as surprised as he was, when I reached out a hand and grasped his bicep to stop him from moving. My heart was pounding in my chest again at the feel of the muscles. I had no idea if I was doing the right thing. I just knew I was wound so tight and my damn cock wouldn’t give me an ease since I met him. Here he was, and I was a free man. I assumed he was unattached as well, so what did it really matter if I engaged in a little flirtation with him?

I’d been a flirt before Keith. never pursue a man outright but if I was interested, I found ways to drop hints. I had been dropping them at Tate since we were in the bushes together but he hadn’t picked them up. I’d thought I would just let it go but that instant he had rubbed his hand up my leg, I knew I couldn’t.

“Thanks for everything, Tate,” I told him. “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t have made it down the mountain alone. Thanks for following me.”

“It’s nothing,” he responded but his voice had deepened even more.

“Is it though?” I said softly. “It’s okay.”

The words were hardly out my mouth when he gripped the back of my head and pulled me into him.

“I was trying not to do this,” he whispered, his lips just a hairbreadth away from mine. “I wanted to leave you alone, but your eyes have been begging me for this. You’ve no idea what you’re inviting Bryan.”

Instead of backing away, I inclined my head so our lips met. If I thought for one second that I would be taking over the kiss, I was mistaken. Tate held me hard against him while he plundered my lips like a man who had been without water for days. He flooded my mouth with his tongue and I sucked it into my mouth, running my hands over his biceps. God, he felt good, his muscles rippling beneath my caress. This was the reason I always chose these bigger men. They just felt damn good to rub against.

We kissed for a long time, hands roaming each other’s bodies. He ran his hands over my shoulders and down my slender back. He slanted his lips over mine and sucked my tongue into his mouth, pressing me back into the bed and climbing over me.

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