Page 36 of Rifted Hearts
“Can we talk about what you like?” Kaveh had taken off his hat, and he was still holding Remi’s hand. It felt like a proposal, formal but emotionally intense. “Or what you don’t like.”
Remi stepped in close and threw his arms around him because he couldn’t remember the last time someone had taken the time to ask him that question. “I like most things, and if I don’t, I’ll tell you.”
“Rhys and I are both drakones, so we didn’t worry muchabout protection,” Kaveh began then paused as Remi reached over to open the nightstand drawer next to the bed and showed him the contents.
“I’m a hypochondriac, so I test myself for Riftworld and Earth pathogens monthly, and as you can see, I’ve got plenty of condoms and lube.” Remi paused because maybe he was assuming too much. “We don’t have to go that far, if you’d rather not.”
“I’d like to go as far as you want me to.” Kaveh pulled Remi into another kiss, with that single-minded intensity he had.
It was as if nothing else in the world mattered—except for Remi.
The kissing grew frantic, as Remi tried to savor the tangle of lips and tongues so he could remember every taste, every sensation.
Then the two of them were on the bed, with Kaveh straddling him. There were far too many clothes in the way, and they both tried to help each other get naked at the same time, which led to a little fumbling and a lot of laughter.
Kaveh’s body was everything Remi had been fantasizing about and more. He had the rugged upper body of a man who worked with his hands every day, and his thighs looked like they could bend an iron rod.
Speaking of rods, Kaveh’s cock was nothing short of magnificent, large and thick. They were both already aroused, but there was so much skin to explore they ended up spending time kissing and touching each other all over. It was slow in all the right ways, and Remi found himself desperate for more at the same time as he wanted this soft lovemaking to go on forever.
“You have a riftmark.” Kaveh ran his fingers, rough and callused and so, so arousing, over the small design etchedonto Remi’s right hip bone. “It looks like a neuron—a nerve cell.”
“I think it was supposed to be a tree.” Remi pulled Kaveh’s face up for another kiss then began to grind against him.
He didn’t want Kaveh to focus on the mark or think about it himself. Remi had received the riftmark—a type of Riftworld tattoo—from his father when he turned fifteen and became a full member of the Colony. It signified both Remi’s psychic abilities and his loyalty to his large and larcenous family, and neither of those mattered right now. They were part of tomorrow, which was going to be awful, and not part of right now, which was glorious.
“You said we could go as far as I wanted.” Remi shifted his hips again, pleased at the low moan this elicited from Kaveh. “I want you inside me.”
“We can do that.” Kaveh reached out for the bedside table and located the condom and lube with flattering urgency.
“You also said Rhys only liked things his way.” Remi let his head fall back onto the pillow, admiring Kaveh’s deft, quick movements with the supplies. There were advantages to a medical education he had never considered. “Have you ever topped before?”
“No, but I think I can figure it out.” Kaveh slid his fingers up the sensitive skin on Remi’s inner thigh and went higher, pushing with firm but gentle strokes.
Kaveh was certainly a fast learner. Remi bucked his hips up, the pleasure threatening to unravel any coherent thoughts in his mind. Kaveh slid his fingers out, and Remi hooked his legs over Kaveh’s broad shoulders. The vet lined himself up and entered him, the stinging burn turning into white-hot shocks of sheer bliss as the two of them movedtogether in a rhythm so natural and perfect it was as easy as breathing.
Remi climaxed first, from the friction of Kaveh above him alone, and the vet came a few seconds later, his weight collapsing down. It felt so good to feel Kaveh above him, a comforting, solid presence.
It felt like safety.
It felt like love.
Remi tried to squirm out from underneath Kaveh, suddenly desperate to get away from these crazy thoughts and feelings. One night was what he had asked for, and Kaveh had given it to him, in both a literal and figurative sense. Wanting anything more than that was only going to make tomorrow even worse.
Kaveh pressed his hand against his chest to hold him down, a possessive move that shouldn’t have been so arousing, especially since Remi had just had the best orgasm of his life. “Let me take care of you.”
Those words were so unexpected, so surprising to hear from anyone’s lips, let alone one of Remi’s sexual partners, that he could do little more than nod and let his head loll back. A wave of pleasant languor swept over him, part afterglow and part fatigue, and the surge of panic receded.
Through half-open eyes, he saw Kaveh dispose of the condom and slip into the bathroom. He returned a minute later with a warm facecloth and washed both of them up before rearranging himself and Remi so they were lying face-to-face.
“Pretty good for my first time on top?” Kaveh gave him a grin that was saucy and close to wicked. Remi wanted so much to see more of this side of him.
“A plus-plus on your final dating exam.” Remi pulled theblanket over both of them, his body cooling off after the exertion of their lovemaking.
Kaveh’s expression grew more serious, and he reached out to stroke the side of Remi’s face. “I’d rather it wasn’t so final.”
The conversation shouldn’t be going in this direction. If this had been one of Remi’s usual encounters, he would have come up with some clever turn of phrase or witty remark to get things back on the casual sex track. Hell, if one of his usual flings had brought up this topic, Remi would have had his clothes on and been slipping out the door by now, even if it was his room.
“I have to leave tomorrow anyway.” Remi should have been pulling away but instead found himself pressing closer to the warmth of Kaveh’s body. “My sponsors have another site they want me to check out.”
