Page 2 of Matthew

Matt cried out as his cock was enveloped by warmth, as Kom’s rough tongue stroked its underside. As long, sleek black hair spilled down to hide his features, falling over Matt’s lower abdomen. As Kom’s head bobbed over him, as he sucked and swallowed.

There was no resistance now, though in the power of subconscious sway, Matt’s gaze found the door repeatedly as swells of bliss made his sight hazy. He bit his lip in an effort to silence the moans, keeping anyone listening in the corridor beyond from discovering what they did, but as Kom urged him toward crescendo, exhalations of rising excitement escaped with increasing frequency.

“Can’t,” Matt groaned as exhilaration filled his groin. “Don’t make me,” he added as a thrilling ribbon of exquisite sweetness began to unfurl. “Stop!” he wailed as it barreled through his cock.

All was tumult and frenzy as rapture jolted his senses. Kom’s mouth and throat pulled rhythmically, swallowing the bursts of passion emptying Matt’s loins. Matt jerked beneath him, for a few seconds blessedly free of the phantoms haunting him.

He was still uttering tiny sounds of gratification when Kom curled them together on the bunk, pulled the covers over them, and ordered the lights off.

Spooned in the warm curve of the bigger man’s body, Matt came to himself by degrees. The rigid, slick thicknesses against his buttocks recalled him to his lover and what he’d done for him.

“Do you want me to—?”

“Try to sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day.” Kom kissed his temple and cuddled him closer.

“I want you to feel better too.”

“I’m fine, beautiful. Sleep.”

Guilt was a ready commodity, easy to come by. Matt wished Kom would let him jerk him off. It was the least he could do after the Nobek had snapped him out of the nightmare’s tendency to spiral him into the depths of shame and hurt.

They’d been together seven months. They were regarded as a couple by those who knew them. Yet the most they’d indulged in as lovers was mutual masturbation and Kom sucking Matt off after his nightmares.

Matt had yet to attempt fellatio on the Nobek who’d saved him. Actual intercourse wasn’t even up for debate. On his best days, he thought he might be ready for the next step as far as physical relations were concerned, but Kom wouldn’t hear of it.

“One step at a time,” he’d insisted when Matt tremulously brought it up. “I couldn’t handle it if you fell apart on me during an act that should be only absolute pleasure. There’s no rush. We’re together, and we’re staying together. The rest will happen when you’re ready.”

Matt was grateful Kom was so careful, but remorse grated on him. The Nobek wasn’t getting a fraction of the attention he deserved.

He wanted Kom as intimately as he could have him. He was eager to show his lover how much he meant to him. He wanted to share himself completely.

But always in the background, and often in the forefront of his mind, the monster was there, shouting at him it would destroy the joy he’d found with another man, as it had done before.

“Sleep, Mattie.” Kom slung a leg over his. He wrapped him in his concern, in his love, in his eternal readiness to forgive the endless irritations Matt thrust upon him.

“I love you, Kom.” The words were pathetic when he had so few actions at his command to back them up. It was no wonder Nobeks refused to speak them to other men.

“My beautiful man,” Kom whispered. His tone was happier than it should have been.

* * * *

Kom stepped to the hatch of the cargo transport vessel Rogue for the last time, feeling unreal to close this particular chapter of his life.

I’m opening another. Hopefully, it’ll be happy.He glanced at Matt, who stood at his side. The sight sent doubt thudding through him.

Matt was pale-skinned as a matter of course. “Nordic bloodlines. I didn’t get the height, but I have the skin. If I were any whiter, I’d be mayonnaise,” he’d joked.

“You taste a hell of a lot better than mayonnaise,” Kom had answered, grinning when Matt blushed.

He was white, all right, more so than usual as they readied to leave theRogue. It made the blue of his eyes stand out. His lips, a fascinating shade of pink, were a stark rose color at the moment. They darkened when he was emotional, whether the feelings were good or bad.

Kom had a good idea of which way Matt’s feelings were tending at that instant.

Though he was obviously tense about the coming face-to-face encounter with Kom’s clanmates…not for a mere week’s visit, but a reunion that was to hopefully last the rest of his life…Matt yanked on Kom’s heart in a way no other man ever had. He appeared vulnerable, igniting the protectiveness native to a Nobek warrior. Beyond his anxiety, however, was a sweet, guileless visage Kom was certain had never turned angry his entire life. Fearful and sickened, yes, but irate? An enraged Matthew Larsen was impossible to imagine.

He summed up the wordadorable. A cute snub nose. Round cheeks. Those plump lips, which pooched when he was upset. He had an impish smile capable of halting Kom’s heart when it made its too-seldom appearance. It transformed Matt into a being too endearing to deny him anything.

A true Nobek wouldn’t speak of love for another man, but a mere glance at Matt filled Kom to the brim with the sentiment. It took every ounce of his strength to avoid reaching for him, to escape grabbing him, holding him close, and stroking his silky, shoulder-length blond hair. It was on the tip of Kom’s tongue tell him for the millionth time everything would be all right and no one could hurt him now.

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