Page 25 of Elf

A knock on his door made him lift his head. “Yeah?”

“Alaric, can I come in?”

Of course it was Ezra when he was feeling all out of sorts. But he sat up and made sure the covers were over him since he’d slept naked. “Come in.”

The room was too dark to see more than the outline of Ezra as he came into the room and shut the door. He did hear the man turn the lock, which sent his entire body into a state of high alert.

“What do you need? Is something wrong?”

Ezra came to the bed, and finally a bit of moonlight from the open curtains fell on his face. Not enough to really read his expression, though. But Alaric could feel tension radiating from his body. And in the quiet of the night, he heard a sudden, shaky inhale.

Understanding and compassion loosened his shoulders, and he patted the bed. “You’re scared about tomorrow. Sit and tell me what you’re worried about.”

“It’s not that,” Ezra blurted out. “It’s?—”

When he didn’t continue, Alaric reached out to grab his arm and tug him onto the bed. That wonderful, musky scent hit his nose, and as always, his body began to respond so he was thankful for the darkness…and the bedding.

“We’re going in with some of the most powerful preternaturals on this planet. Kemper can’t hurt you. We’ll make sure of that.”

“I’m not here about tomorrow, Alaric.” He took another shaky breath, then let it out. “I’m here because I want you. I want you so much I can’t sleep, and though tomorrow is playing in my head some…all I can really think about is this. You and me. I want to know how it feels with us before we do this. Because if something goes wrong, I need to know.” He paused. “I’m rambling, I know. But I just need to know.”

“Need to know what?”

“That I’m right, and it’ll be the best sex of my life.”

A lump formed in Alaric’s throat, and he tried to swallow it down without success. His body had tensed again, everything in him responding to the need in Ezra’s tone.

“What we did before blew me away,” Ezra said. “I’ve given blowjobs before, and I’ve received them, but none of them felt like that. I was trying to sleep, and all I could think about was having you inside my body. Do you want that?”

“Fuck, Ezra,” Alaric groaned.

“I know I’m putting you in a bad position with your job, but I honestly can’t find it in me to care.” He held out his hands. “You can’t see them, but my hands are literally shaking because I want you so badly. Don’t make me beg. I’m not good at begging.”

That made Alaric smile. No, this entitled rich boy wasn’t one for begging. At least at this point in his life. As a child, he’d probably begged for attention from his terrible parents, and that broke Alaric’s heart. Hell, this man broke his heart. He had a deep-rooted need for affection. He may believe he’d come in here only for a physical release, but everything about this spoke of a more intense need for affection. For connection.

Alaric couldn’t ignore that. He reached for Ezra and pulled him onto his lap. Having that warm body on his felt so good, he just wrapped his arms around the man and buried his face in his neck.

“So yes? We’re gonna fuck?”

“Oh, Ezra, we’re going to do so much more than fuck.”

“What more is there?”

The fact that he even had to ask that just sent another spike through Alaric’s chest. He’d never met anyone so in need of unselfish touch. So he decided to give that to Ezra. He untucked his face from Ezra’s neck, wishing there was more light in the room, while at the same time enjoying the way the darkness made everything feel more intimate. He could hear Ezra’s breaths picking up, could feel his heartbeat against his chest, and all those warm muscles felt fantastic as he ran his hands under the back of Ezra’s T-shirt.

Ezra started touching him, too, kneading his shoulders, then smoothing his hands down Alaric’s back. He got to his waist and gasped. “You’re naked, aren’t you? Oh my god, that’s so hot. You have a beautiful body.”

“So do you.”

“It’s not like yours, though. Not as ripped.”

“I love your body. I happen to love slender men. You’re so elegant. So graceful and sexy.” Alaric kissed his jaw, then came up to slant his lips over Ezra’s, who opened for him immediately. He thrust his tongue into his mouth. Ezra tasted of mintytoothpaste, like he’d brushed his teeth right before knocking on Alaric’s door.

Alaric took his time exploring Ezra’s mouth, bringing his hands up to cup the sides of his face so he could hold him still and really go to town on his mouth. Ezra moaned and scooted closer on his lap, fingers gripping Alaric’s back. He was already hard, that erection ramping up Alaric’s desire—which was already reaching heady heights.

He simply couldn’t believe how much he wanted this man. One who he’d thought represented everything he could not respect. But one who’d been showing him little by little that there was so much more to him. Ezra had depths he wanted to explore further. And he had such a deep pain from a lifetime of being unloved. Unappreciated.

Alaric’s desperate need to give that to him was an emotion he would have to explore later. Later when he wasn’t dying to get his cock into the man. All that brash sarcasm just disappeared when Ezra was focused on pleasure, and that was sexy. Hell, even that snippy mouth of his was sexy sometimes.

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