Starfish and Coffee (13 page)

He was pretty sure soft and sweet
was not
how he wanted it, but he couldn’t argue. Alex pulled away his fingers, eliminating that full feeling Matt liked so much. The stretch, the burn: it was all gone, and he was seriously going to kick the shit out of Alex once he could think clearly again.

Then Alex was moving over Matt, his dick rubbing down the crease of Matt’s ass before pushing in slowly, forcing the tight ring of muscle to open to him. This time the burn hurt past the point of being sexy. Matt hissed, thinking he was going to kick Alex’s ass
right now
because he felt swallowed up by him, smothered and trapped and—

“Too much,” he panted. Hot and cold; it was more than he could take.

“Push out.” Alex stroked Matt’s back and held Matt’s hip with a steely, calloused grip. “Fuck, Matty, you feel good. So fucking tight. So hot.”

The guttural rasp of bliss in Alex’s voice caused a sheen of goose bumps to spread over Matt’s skin. He found himself spreading his legs wider, wanting more despite the burn. Alex groaned as he sank in deeper, his pleasure feeding the fire Matt could feel raging below the surface.

Alex leaned over and grabbed the headboard, using it to leisurely push the rest of the way in. They were both shaking by the time Alex’s hips were flush against Matt’s ass.

“Look at me in you.” Alex’s voice was a low grunt of stark indulgence. “God, I just wanna stay here and admire the way you look under me. Does it feel good? Tell me.”

Matt’s breathing was harsh and ragged, and his thoughts had splintered into a million different fragments, but somehow he knew if he didn’t find his voice, Alex wasn’t going to start moving. “Yes,” he finally admitted with a grunt of defeat.

“You think it’s hot?”

“Yes,” he growled, pushing back against Alex to prove his point.

“Tell me how hot.”

Matt was burning up; that’s how hot it was. He craved completion. He could feel Alex’s cock nudging against that same sensitive place inside him, and it left him shaking for some sort of friction to relieve the ache it caused.

Too turned on to talk anymore, he reached down and grabbed his dick with his free hand, stroking it and moaning from the rush it gave him. The added pleasure was his undoing. Matt hung his head low and just gave in to the indulgence of jerking off with Alex Hunter buried balls-deep in his ass.

Something about that must have gotten to Alex. With a low growl he pulled out of Matt partially and then pushed in, making them both gasp. Then he was doing it again and again, each time a little faster and harsher than the last.

Alex quickly went from soft and sweet to hard and primal.

The fire exploded inside Matt, turning into something wild and uncontrollable. He’d never yearned like this before. He was overwhelmed and it seemed Alex was too. Thoughts obliterated, they started fucking like they meant it.

Alex slammed into him, and Matt encouraged every hard stroke that sent the ecstasy reverberating through him, taking him higher and higher. Loud grunts and groans burst out of both of them, rising with the tide threatening to drag Matt out to a sea there was no escape from.

How could he ever go back to regular sex after this?

Even as the storm raged, he could feel himself being pulled apart and rebuilt into something stronger. This was real, sex in its rawest, most erotic form without the tedious rules of society. Matt clung to it, letting himself be fucked and saved from a life that would never make him happy by a man who shouldn’t be his friend, let alone his lover.

Alex threaded his fingers into Matt’s hair. He tugged his head back and then leaned over to kiss him as if the powerful connection had impacted him too. Their tongues clashed as Alex slid into him at just the right angle.

Alex swallowed his cry of pleasure when the release slammed into Matt without warning. He felt the jets of cum coat his hand, making him realize he’d been jerking off all along, shamelessly enjoying the feeling of Alex’s cock sliding in and out of his ass.

Too far gone to be ashamed, he shook with the ecstasy that pounded through his body, the impact of it so powerful it was humbling. Alex stiffened too, his hips slamming into Matt in hard, erratic strokes as he followed him over the edge. His moans just made Matt’s climax all the more potent.

Neither of them was quiet or gentle as the pleasure ripped through their bodies. It took a while for the storm to pass, and when it did, Matt became aware of the little things, like the sound of their heavy breathing over the crash of the waves in the distance. The feel of the breeze against his sweaty skin. Alex softly caressing his hair and nuzzling the back of his neck.

It was a surreally peaceful moment.

Too bad they had to ruin it by pulling apart. Matt expected Alex to disappear to the bathroom to deal with the condom, but instead he rolled up to him and kissed his biceps.

“Are you okay, Tarrington?”

“Yeah,” Matt whispered as he stared past the open door to the stars hovering above the ocean. “I think so.”

Then he turned his head to look at Alex. His light hair was disheveled, strands of it clinging to his sweaty temples. His tan face was still flushed from the pleasure. His warm, brown eyes studied Matt as if looking for some clue to his mental well-being. He was so handsome right then it took Matt’s breath away.

“It was good,” Matt told him, wanting to erase the concern when it certainly wasn’t necessary. He probably wouldn’t be able to walk for a week, but it’d been worth it. “It was better than good—a lot better.”

Alex beamed, looking unabashedly pleased with himself. “You wanna take a shower with me?”

Matt smiled back, remembering Alex’s comment about the shower earlier. “I think I do.”

* * * *

Alex left in the early-morning hours. He told Matt it was because he needed time to get ready for work, but the truth was he didn’t want to be around when the buzz of alcohol and the high of sex wore off.

Matt was going to freak out. Alex was sure of it.

So he sneaked back into his house sometime past two, thanking the gods that Will was asleep and not still sitting at the kitchen table doing schoolwork. Alex couldn’t deal with a lecture right now.

He took another shower, because yeah, they’d done it twice.

Then he crawled into bed in a pair of old sweatpants despite it still being hot for late summer. Holly always kept the window air-conditioning unit cranked to ice-cold. He rolled up to her and wrapped his arms around soft, womanly curves, wishing he’d stayed in bed with Matt.

“Hey.” Holly’s was voice heavy with sleep. “Did you hit it?”

Alex was quiet for a long time, not knowing why hearing it put like that rubbed him the wrong way, even if they were his words. It cheapened it somehow, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with the rush of emotions making his chest tight.

“Yeah,” he finally said, because he couldn’t find another way to sum up his night.

“Good?” Holly asked, sounding unsurprised Alex had sealed the deal with Matt. “Everything you were hoping for?”

“It was better,” Alex admitted while still battling with the emotions surging through him. “Amazing.”

“That’s bad, Alex.” Holly sighed, voicing Alex’s thoughts out loud. “What happens if you fall in love with Matt Tarrington?”

Alex had no idea, but he knew it couldn’t end well.

* * * *

It was poor planning, fucking Matt for the first time when they both had to work the next day. If Alex didn’t need his job as badly as he did, he would’ve stayed home.

As it was Holly was shoving him out of bed when the alarm clock went off, and then doing most of the work to get him out of the house. Pulling clean clothes out of his drawers, making him coffee to get him moving. If it wasn’t for her, he might have just said fuck it and gotten a construction job when Frank fired him.

He really did not want to face the morning after.

Maybe Matt would be the one to quit. Not like he needed the job anyway. It was with that thought that Alex finally crawled onto his bike in defeat and headed to work. He deliberately tried to ignore the other thoughts, the ones that made his dick hard and his stomach flip with those butterflies Alex had heard about but never actually experienced.

When he pulled into the back parking lot and found Matt’s Porsche already there, he was at a loss. He’d honestly expected Matt to ditch the job—and him.

Those butterflies were starting to feel more like elephants stomping around in nervousness as he turned off his bike and made slow work of getting to the door. He dumped his helmet on the shelves in the back and then walked to the kitchen before he could change his mind.

What he found was surprising.

Matt had been working on prep for a while, and he wasn’t doing a half-bad job. Everything was chopped; the warmers were all filled, and now he stood at the sink washing all the dishes he’d used.

Alex studied Matt, admiring his big, broad back. The outline of hard muscles was clearly visible beneath the white T-shirt he was wearing. Matt’s black hair curled out from beneath his blue bandanna, and everything in Alex wanted to go to him and bury his face into the curve of that thick neck just to breathe him in.

Matt turned around as if sensing being watched. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Alex placed both hands on the door frame to the kitchen, unable to stop himself from staring. “I see you’ve been industrious this morning.”

Matt shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep, and I knew Frank got in at five. Figured I’d give us a head start today.”

“That’s some shit, isn’t it?” Frank said from behind him.

Alex jumped, caught totally off guard. He forgot other people worked in this restaurant. He had eyes only for Matt.

“What?” he asked, still trying to get his bearings.

“Tarrington pulling his own weight.” Frank gestured into the kitchen. “Who knew?”

“I knew,” Matt said sharply, reminding them he was standing right there.

“Yeah, I guess I deserved the attitude,” Frank said with a laugh as he hit Alex’s shoulder. “When are you gonna start showing up an hour early off the clock to do prep?”

Alex snorted. “Never.”

“I’ll remember that the next time you want a raise, Hunter,” Frank called as he walked back to the front of the house.

Matt grinned at him. “I guess I’m getting a raise before you.”

“Probably.” Alex shook his head and laughed. “It’d figure.”

Matt was here. He wasn’t freaking out, and nothing was weird between them. Alex breathed a heavy sigh of relief, not realizing until just then how desperately he wanted it all to be okay. He walked over to the sink, using the excuse of the bandannas on the shelf over the sink to lean into Matt. All nerves forgotten, he suddenly just needed to get close. Alex bent down, inhaling the scent of expensive aftershave off Matt as he buried his face in the curve of his neck just like he’d imagined. Matt stiffened in front of him, his hands stilling their work on the dishes.

Alex tilted his head and breathed against Matt’s ear. “I didn’t think you’d show up.”

“I usually finish what I start,” Matt countered with a catch in his voice.

Alex smiled, still completely unwilling to give up being so near him. “I noticed.”

“You’re being pretty fucking obvious,” Matt reminded him. “I didn’t think PDA was your thing.”

The fact that Alex needed Matt to rein him in showed how far gone he was. Between the two of them, Matt was more inclined to spoiled indulgences. Pulling away almost hurt as Alex stepped back and worked at tying his bandanna on.

“Maybe you ought to quit now. I dunno if I can last another week around you without outting both of us.” He eyed Matt in those designer jeans that hugged his ass perfectly. “Fuck the money and your pride. Not like you need more of either.”

“Actually, I was thinking of staying on until the spring. I don’t have anything better to do.”

“You’re gonna work at Frank’s all winter? Are you crazy?”

Matt shrugged. “I just thought it’d make things more convenient.”

Alex just stood there in shock for one long moment. It
would
make things more convenient if the two of them wanted to really pursue this. He’d expected to come to work to an empty kitchen. Instead he was facing an entire winter with Matt. It was a bizarre change of pace for him, considering all the other guys he’d fucked were weekend flings at most.

“You want to expand the experimental phase?”

Matt gave him a look. “That’s your label, not mine.”

“I don’t understand.” Alex frowned. “You’d work in this shit place all winter—for me? Why?”

“It’s not that difficult to comprehend.” Matt gave an incredulous laugh as he lowered his voice and leaned into Alex. “Being with you gets my dick hard, Lex. Why wouldn’t I want more?”

Something about the nickname punched Alex in the gut as he remembered hearing it last night when he was buried deep in Matt. It hazed his thinking and left him looking at a usually complex world through rose-colored glasses. It all seemed very simple the way Matt explained it. If it felt good, go for it. Maybe Alex had been making all this more complicated than it needed to be.

Matt and Alex had zero in common with the exception of their dicks. A future together was almost completely impossible, but that wasn’t what this was about. It was more sex and need than anything romantic. An overwhelming attraction that was hard to deny, and why on earth would Alex want to? Fucking Matt last night had been, hands down, the hottest thing Alex had ever done in his life.

“Okay,” he said before anything more practical could leave his mouth. “If that’s what you want.”

“It is,” Matt assured him with the authority of a man who spent his entire life getting
exactly
what he wanted.

“Then I guess I ought to make sure neither of us loses our jobs.” Alex walked to the hot flattop. Surprised, he inspected the hoods and fryer that were also ready to go. “Wow, you actually paid attention to everything I’ve been doing.”

“I told you I was a fast learner,” Matt said, haughty and taunting in typical rich-boy fashion. “Give me enough time and I won’t only learn to do your job, I’ll do it better.”