Page 30 of Embracing Darkness

“Mmhm,” Rhys mumbled as his eyelids fluttered open, his eyes dark with worry and panic. I still wanted to rip Owen limb from limb for the look he had placed in this man’s eyes but we were professionals and Owen seemed like a person people would miss.

“Hey, go back to sleep. You’re safe.”

He shook his head, “Can’t sleep.” His lips pursed at the same time his back arched, those beautiful eyes boldening to their regular color. He looked like a fucking meal just pressed against me, ready for the taking but our first time alone wasn’t going to be after a traumatic experience.

Rhys leaned closer, attaching his lips to my collarbone and sucking, heat licking up my spine. I tried to stop the interest but my cock was front and center, thickening in my pants. This wasn’t the time. Rhys noticed immediately, gasping as his attention to my collarbone continued, one of his hands dipping between us to cup me through the fabric.

“Shit, Rhys. We can’t.” He froze, the resulting disappointment in his eyes as he pulled away making me feel like an asshole. “No, I want you. So fucking bad, sweetheart.” I stole a kiss from him which quickly morphed into the hungry, passionate embrace that I had been dreaming about since I had first tasted him. I rolled him over until I was draped over his side, thrusting my tongue into his mouth and sucking on his lips.

When I pulled away, he chased my touch but I held him down against the bed. “I want this but not tonight. You need to rest and I’m not taking you after what happened.”

Understanding flashed through his expression so I wasn’t expecting the words that came out of his mouth afterward. “I need to feel.” I didn’t respond, mostly because I didn’t know how to. Gianni and Dmitri were very closed off with their emotions but they were always vocal about what they wanted or needed. Rhys seemed like he had been told to keep his desires to himself but being with us, I intended to change that.

“Rhys, what are you asking me?”

“I need to feel,” he repeated. “I just… I don’t want to think anymore.” I knew that feeling too, stumbling home after a particularly difficult job and needing my men to bring me back to a reality where there was love, devotion, and the family I had grown to love. But I also knew that Rhys was a different breed and making love to him while his mind was shattered would leave him uncertain and possibly more frayed than he already was.

He needed to know that I wanted him but he didn’t need to replace the terror with sex. Making a split-second decision, I decided to open a different door. Settling a hand on his waist again, I caught his attention again. “Do you trust me?”

His expression faltered before he slowly nodded, his body tensing at my words.

“I need to hear you, Rhys.”

“Yes.”

“Mmmm. Now, I’m going to help you relax, and then we’re going back to sleep.” I kept my eyes locked on his face, searching for discomfort and not finding any. He peered at me, confused as I slid down the length of his body, lips placing small kisses until I reached the waistline of his pants. Still watching him, I raised his shirt and pressed my lips against the flushed skin, Rhys’ back arching upward as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I chuckled at his reaction, loving the way he responded to my touches. “Rhys, I’m going to help you relax but I need something from you.”

“Yes? Anything.Anything.”

He didn’t mean those words—or maybe he did—but he was in a vulnerable place. I wasn’t going to take advantage of that. Still, they warmed my heart. “Rhys, I need you to keep your eyes on me. Watch me as I take you apart.”

A whimper tore from his throat as I dragged his pants down his legs and discarded them over the side of the bed. Then I pulled his boxers down a few inches, licking my lips at the cock I had unearthed. It sprung free, the cold air of the room making him whine with need. I dipped my head to swallow him whole, too greedy to take him apart as slowly as I had wanted. He tasted fucking divine as my tongue ran down the underside of his cock.

Rhys shuddered beneath me, his thighs squeezing around my head and his hands tangling in my hair as he whined. “Ungh—Val—don’t stop.”

“Wasn’t planning on it, sweetheart,” I mumbled around his cock, smiling at his use of my nickname. Accidental as it was, it was sweet falling from his lips. I kept my eyes locked on Rhys, loving the way his face flushed as I pumped him in and out of my mouth, using one hand to fondle his balls as the other gripped his waist. Rhys’ mouth opened again, the slight o to his lips and the way he fought to keep from thrashing around making me hasten my pace.

“Val, Val,please, fuck.” His fingers pulled and pushed in my hair, almost as if he wasn’t sure what he wanted. I slowed, hoping that I wasn’t pushing him down a road he didn’t want but when he thrust into my mouth, I knew that this moment was for both of us. “I’m so close,” he whimpered, a tear escaping. I wanted to kiss away the pain lingering in his expression, but I also knew that leaving him high and dry would be just as damaging.

Slowly, I moved my free hand beneath us, pressing in between his cheeks and dragging two fingers along his back hole. He bucked wildly into my mouth, his cock hitting the back of my throat as I pressed again.

Rhys screamed as his movements became chaotic and just as I slipped a finger just inside his hole, he exploded, his sweet release pouring down my throat. His little whimpers and cries of pleasure quieted down as his body convulsed, my tongue still working his cock as I shallowly pumped into his ass with my finger. When he began squirming for relief, I let him slide from my lips, grinning at the man who had become undone beneath me.

I crawled back up the mattress after resituating his boxers, moving to lean on my side as I placed a brief kiss on his nose. I could tell that he wanted more, even as his lids began to close. “Sleep, Rhys. I’ll still be here in the morning.”

He shook his head, his body now trembling with the aftershocks of his orgasm rather than the fear from this evening. “Kiss.”

I swallowed, waiting to hear him say it again but he didn’t. He just wrapped a hand around my neck and dragged me close, stealing a kiss from me until he was tasting himself on my lips. He sighed against my mouth as he drew away and placed his head on my chest, the gentle rhythm of his breathing telling me that he had fallen asleep again.

This time there was no whining or twitches, just peace.

However, for me, my mind was racing. It had only been one of many moments we had shared and I already didn’t want to let him go.

Chapter twenty-one

DMITRI

“And why do I have to stay here again?” Gianni cuddled Paval a little tighter against his chest, the kid still half asleep as we stood in the living room. Last night when after beating the fuck out of Owen and sending him off, Gianni and I were just kind of wired. Paval had fallen asleep after a little pushback, the poor kid stressing himself out as he continually asked to be with Rhys.

---