Page 52 of Rules to Love By

“Spread your legs.”

“You want to see all of what I have to offer?” Marcus asked. There was a glint in his eyes that made Eli’s heart skip.

“In fact, I do.” And imagining the possibilities went a good way to reigniting his interest.

Colour travelled up Marcus’s body, until even his ears were pink and his freckles were nearly invisible, but after only the barest of hesitation, he did as Eli asked, bending his knees and letting them fall open. He didn’t have any reason not to show off that body and seemed to know it.

“Can I touch myself now?” Marcus asked. There was an edge to his voice, like he was trying to sound petulant but really wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to push or wanted approval.

“You can make yourself come now,” Eli granted. “I want to watch.”

The pink tone to his features deepened, but Marcus complied, stroking himself, slowly at first. Before long, his tempo increased and his eyes drifted closed as his hand sped up.

“No.” Eli touched his wrist, the shock of contact stopping Marcus’s movement. “Open your eyes,” Eli said softly.

“Why?” He kept them closed.

“Because I want to see you come.”

“You can see it,” Marcus ground out.

“I want to seeyoucome. Look at me.”

After another heartbeat, Marcus’s lids fluttered and he looked up at Eli. “You’re just going to stand there?”

“Yes.” But he moved his hand from Marcus’s wrist to his cheek. “Keep going.”

Marcus moved his head, planting a fast peck on Eli’s fingers before going back to stroking his cock. He maintained eye contact almost to the end. When he was close, and too far into the physical sensations to know what he was doing, his eyes closed again, and Eli didn’t have the heart to stop the crescendo of sound and pleasure that washed over Marcus to enforce it.

He’d just have to practice. It would come, with time.

CHAPTERELEVEN

“What are you thinking?” Marcus asked after he’d lain there, breathing hard, skin hot, feeling Eli’s gaze on him, for a few minutes. “And don’t say how beautiful I am,” he warned.

“I should lie?”

The wormy unease in his gut that he’d been fighting since Eli had forced him out of the fog churned harder. “Come up with something more original,” he suggested. He didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to see the same greedy, self-satisfied look on Eli’s face he’d seen so often in others.

Tight, painful twists began to snarl in his stomach, and he regretted the meal he’d so much enjoyed at the time.

“Okay.” The bed tilted, presumably because Eli had sat on it near his feet, but Marcus didn’t open his eyes to find out. “Original, huh?” He ran a hand up one of Marcus’s shins, touch firm and warm, almost comforting. “I guess I didn’t think you’d let me do that.”

“Do what?” He wanted to open his eyes now, to look at Eli and see what he was thinking. But he also wanted to remain in the dark a few minutes more, as cold sweat formed on his brow. If Eli was going order him to look at him again, he didn’t think, even without the sex as an excuse, he could resist obeying. Eli didn’t need to know that about him.

Eli’s gentle grip on his ankle startled him enough he jolted.

“Easy,” Eli crooned, resuming the calm, steady stroking up and down his lower leg. “Just want you to be comfortable.” He pulled the foot down, then did the same with the other, and covered Marcus’s legs with a blanket. “Relax. I’ll be right back.”

“You didn’t answer the question,” Marcus muttered, but Eli had already gotten off the bed and padded across the room.

He should be getting up too, while he had the chance. Find his clothes, prepare for the inevitable. But his gut twisted harder, and it was all he could do to hold back the groan. He was truly sweating now, and his limbs had begun to shake with the familiar bone-deep cold.

If he wasn’t so worried his supper would come back up, he would have at least pulled up the covers. Lying still, pretending he didn’t care any more than Eli did, was all he could manage. Once Eli was gone, he could be sick. He could curl under the blankets and shiver and sweat, he could gulp for breath, let his body do all the terrible, cruel things it liked to do after the sex was over. For just another minute, all he had to do was lie there and pretend.

Water ran in the bathroom for a few minutes. Marcus listened, but he couldn’t tell if Eli was showering or just washing the residue off his skin. He almost missed the sound of footsteps across the rug-layered floor, then Eli was back next to the bed.

“Marcus?”

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