Page 8 of The Escape Room

“But I can’t just use you to forget about my ex.”

His eyes sparkled with amusement. “Do you always overthink things like this?”

“Without fail. It’s why I’ll never be a great dancer, and probably part of the reason my ex left me.” He took off his shirt and tossed it aside, and I asked, “Now what are you doing?”

“Getting naked. Go ahead, keep talking.”

A playful smile curled the corners of his lips, and I mumbled, “I…um….” His sneakers and socks were the next to go, and when he unfastened his belt and slid down his zipper, my heart began to race.

He dropped his jeans and briefs to the floor and stepped out of them, revealing flawless skin, an impressive cock, and a happy trail that told me he was a natural brunet. I ran my gaze down his body and murmured, “You’re so beautiful.” That was an understatement. Ryan was a work of art. His smile grew wider as he untucked my T-shirt and pulled it over my head.

I picked him up and claimed his mouth with a rough kiss. Then he wrapped his arms and legs around me as I pushed him against the wall beside the fireplace. His cock swelled against my stomach, and he grabbed my ass and slid his tongue between my lips. A tremor ran through him, or maybe it ran through me. We were too close to tell the difference.

The need to taste him was overwhelming, so I swung him onto the area rug and ran my tongue down his stomach. He parted his legs for me and tangled his fingers in my hair as I licked his shaft. When I wrapped my lips around his cock, he rocked his hips, lightly fucking my mouth as I sucked him. It was gratifying to watch him writhe with pleasure and to hear his soft moans.

After a few minutes, he whispered, “I need you inside me, Rick.” My achingly hard cock was straining against my jeans and briefs, and those words made it throb.

I stripped myself quickly, while he retrieved a condom and a packet of lube from his wallet. When he took charge and told me to get on my back, it spiked my desire, and I did as he asked without hesitation. He rolled the condom over my hard-on and slicked it, and after he worked some lube into himself, he straddled my hips and lowered himself onto my shaft. Then he began to move, slowly at first, but he gained momentum quickly and rode me hard. When our eyes met, our connection was so intense that my breath caught.

I rolled us over and pushed into him, and he swung his legs onto my shoulders and rasped, “Harder.” I held nothing back. Ryan bucked underneath me and murmured, “Fuck yes,” meeting each thrust with almost equal force as he drove himself onto my cock.

It was wild and primal and uninhibited, and it was exactly what I needed. There was no overthinking, no second-guessing. There was just Ryan, and pleasure, and sensation, and it was absolutely perfect. I reached between us and started jerking him off, and in a matter of minutes he arched off the rug and yelled as he shot across his stomach. A huge orgasm slammed into me moments later, making my body shake and my head spin.

It took a while for both of us to catch our breath and come back to earth. He smiled at me, and I brushed his hair from his eyes and kissed him tenderly. When I felt him shiver as the sweat cooled on our skin, I eased my cock from his body and quickly discarded the condom before picking him up and carrying him to the couch. Then I covered him with my hoodie and wrapped myself around him to keep him warm.

When he looked up at me, there was some sort of strong emotion in his eyes. He laced his fingers with mine and whispered, “Thank you for taking care of me.”

Chapter3

We both ended up dozing off for a while. I had no idea what time it was when we awoke, but it was still very dark, and the rain had slowed to a light patter on the window. After taking turns in the restroom and cleaning up a bit, we got dressed and returned to the sofa. Ryan leaned against my arm, and I asked, “Do you still feel like solving the puzzles?”

Instead of answering, he tumbled off the couch and darted across the room, returning a moment later with the manila envelope. He handed me a fake candle and cuddled up at my side, and I said, “You do the honors.”

You would have thought I’d just given him a lavish gift, judging by how excited he was. He tore open the envelope, and his eyes lit up as he read the letter. The first part set up the fictitious crime we had to solve, which was to locate a hidden chest of jewels before the thief left the country in two hours’ time. A bit hokey, but sure, why not?

He turned the paper over and read the first clue. “The mighty one who grasps the earth, swallowing wood and water, dreading wind but no man, and picking a fight with the sun.” Ryan clicked his tongue and muttered, “I hope they get harder. That’s way too easy.”

“Seriously? I have no idea what you just read.”

“It’s actually ancient Norse, one of Odin’s riddles.”

“Well, thank god I majored in ancient Norse in college. Oh wait, no. It was biology.”

Ryan smiled at me and said, “Don’t worry about where it’s from. Just focus on the riddle.”

I held up the candle, read it again, and shook my head. “Nope. I got nothing.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I’m here. The answer is fog. It swallows up everything on earth and blocks out the sun, and the only thing it has to worry about is the wind.”

“Oh. Okay, now it seems obvious. But what does the answer refer to? There’s no fog in here.”

There was that smile again. “Read the plaque on the painting above the fireplace.”

I got up and did as he asked. It was a portrait of a man in a top hat standing in front of a hot air balloon. The brass plaque at the bottom of the ornate frame said, “Phileas F.” I read it out loud and asked, “Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“Phileas Fogg was the main character in Jules Verne’s novelAround the World in Eighty Days. Look behind the painting for a clue, and if there’s nothing there, we’ll study the canvas itself.”

I slid my hand behind the frame and felt around, and a moment later, I produced a sealed envelope. As I went back and sat beside him, I said, “I totally suck at this, and you’re awesome. I was so sure I’d ace the escape room in record time.”

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