Darwin's Natural Selection (10 page)

When they were just a breath apart, Darwin paused.

With an impatient sound, Tom gave the other man’s shirt a sharp tug and closed the distance between their mouths. Their lips touched and clung, both men holding still for a second before, with a hungry sound, Darwin pressed in closer and began
really kissing him.

Tom could tell the other man was trying to be gentle but the kiss turned intense in an instant. Darwin took over his mouth, claiming it with his tongue, leaving no doubt that he wanted Tom desperately. Torn between the pleasure of making Darwin so wild with desire and the remaining dregs of panic, Tom focused on the kiss, on the electric currents passing from Darwin’s lips to his, on the months and months of pent-up need that smoldered, just waiting for the spark of this gorgeous man’s touch.

The last threads of panic eased and Tom groaned, shoving into the kiss. Darwin made a sound that could only be described as a growl and wrapped his arm around Tom’s back, pulling him close. His other hand cupped the back of Tom’s skull, holding his head so their mouths fused tightly together.

Tom didn’t need any restraint. He didn’t want to go anywhere except deeper into the kiss. He felt as if his entire body had been numb for six months and all his parts were finally waking up. His fingers kneaded the hard flesh beneath Darwin’s shirt, gripping and squeezing the unyielding muscle as best he could.

With a groan, Darwin dropped his hand lower so he could yank Tom’s hips against his own and grind their fabric-covered erections together. Tom finally had to pull his mouth away just to suck in a few frantic breaths before diving back into the kiss.

Darwin was nipping and sucking at his lips, and Tom could only cling to him, making involuntary, desperate sounds that seemed to drive the other man even wilder.

“Oh! Sorry!” A surprised voice made them jerk apart and stare at the stranger who was hovering awkwardly by the door.

“Yeah…I just need to use…uh…” he mumbled, looking everywhere except at the two of them.

“Actually we’re, ah…missing the movie,”

Tom said, shifting away from Darwin.

“True,” Darwin agreed, although his expression was amused as he looked at Tom.

“Should we go back?”

Although he desperately wanted to stay in the bathroom and kiss Darwin some more, Tom did have a little sympathy for the poor guy who just had to pee. “Sure,” he sighed and moved toward the door.

As they headed back to the theater, Darwin glanced over at the concessions. “Do you mind if I…”

“More chocolate?” Tom asked, laughing a little. “Did you eat all that already?”

Darwin just grinned.

Shaking his head, Tom made a “go ahead” gesture. “How do you not weigh five hundred pounds?”

“I have a high metabolism,” Darwin said over his shoulder as he hurried toward the snack counter.

“A high metabolism and mad kissing skills,” Tom muttered.

Darwin looked up from his intense candy selecting and winked at him.

Tom blinked then shook his head. There was no way Darwin could’ve heard his comment from all the way across the lobby.

Was there?

*

Although he went back into the theater, Tom was too paranoid about going off the deep end if the movie showed another diner scene to pay attention to what was happening on the screen. Instead he watched

Darwin, who was more entertaining than any movie anyway.

First he inhaled his new stash of chocolate, his face awash with ecstasy, as if he could orgasm with each bite. Tom found himself getting aroused just by watching the other man eat. After all the candy had been consumed, Darwin proceeded to fold a candy bar wrapper into an origami swan and perched the foil bird on Tom’s shoulder.

For some reason, Tom found that hilarious. He tried to stifle his laughter when the movie patrons around them began to turn and glare. Every so often, Darwin would pet the bird’s head with one finger, setting Tom off again.

The next candy bar wrapper became a dog and the following a butterfly. Tom tried not to laugh as Darwin perched the dog on his knee and the butterfly on his forearm where it lay on the armrest between them.

“Beautiful,” Tom teased in a whisper, although it wasn’t a lie. The little animals were delicate and perfectly done. “I didn’t know you did origami.”

“Neither did I,” Darwin said with a straight face, and Tom gave him an uncertain smile, not quite getting the joke.

Before he could think too hard about it, Darwin nudged his arm without dislodging the butterfly and nodded toward the screen, where the end credits were scrolling. “You can look now. It’s over.”

“Sorry,” Tom muttered, flushing.

“No need to be sorry,” Darwin told him.

“You’re more interesting than a movie.”

Tom felt his face heat even more, this time with pleasure, and concentrated harder than he needed to on carefully collecting the little foil pets scattered over him.

They walked out of the theater without touching and Tom felt his anxiety pick up as they stepped into the chilly darkness of the parking lot.

“Don’t worry,” Darwin said, bringing Tom’s head around. “Just ‘cause we were making out in the bathroom doesn’t mean I’m going to expect that all the time or anything.”

Tom felt embarrassed and relieved and even a little disappointed as they stopped where his truck was parked. “It was nice though,” he said without thinking, bringing all his blood rushing back to heat his face.

“Yeah.” Darwin’s voice had lowered to a hungry growl. “Really nice.”

Just like that, Tom was aroused again.

Without thinking, he shifted toward the large man, staring at Darwin’s mouth.

With an almost silent groan, Darwin leaned down and touched their lips together, a bare brush of their mouths that was over much too soon. When Tom made an unconscious sound of protest, Darwin grinned and kissed his cheek.

“If I do anything more, I’m going to have you pinned against your truck again,” he admitted, stepping back. “I want this date to end better than the last one, so you don’t wait so long to call me next time.”

“S o
I
don’t…” Tom sputtered, and then laughed when he noticed Darwin’s innocent expression. “Ass,” he said affectionately, giving him a gentle shove. Darwin caught his hand and held it against his chest, leaning in for a final brush of a kiss.

A rush of liking and desire caught Tom, overwhelming any underlying fear, and he palmed the back of Darwin’s head, pulling him hard into the kiss. For a long moment, Darwin gave in to the pressure, kissing him with the all-consuming passion that told Tom he’d let his control slip. It was thrilling, this wild side of Darwin. Terrifying, sure—but also really, really exciting.

“Okay.” Darwin’s voice was rough as he pulled away and took a step back. “Get in the truck before I do something that
really freaks you out.”

“I’m not sure if it would,” Tom admitted.

“For some reason, I’m starting to feel really safe when I’m with you.”

“Good,”

he

growled,

running

his

knuckles down the edge of Tom’s jaw. “Now go. I don’t want to wreck it.”

Although disappointed the date was over, Tom obeyed, climbing into the driver’s seat. As he drove away, he could see Darwin in the rearview mirror, so big and beautiful beneath the glow of the sodium lights that he almost looked unreal, like a classical statue come to life.

Shaking his head to get rid of his oddly fanciful thoughts, Tom raised his hand in a final wave.

*

“Andrew, let’s
go
,” Louis said, tugging at his upper arm.

Andrew shook off his grip without even glancing at him. “I’m staying. Go ahead and leave if you want.” He tried to guard the trash can by the theater door without being too obvious about it. The plastic cup that huge, Adonis-looking fucker had just thrown away was on top, and all Andy needed was for some kid to throw his leftover popcorn on top of it.

“Fine. I’m leaving,” Louis huffed.

“Tonight sucked anyway. All you could think about was stalking your ex and his new boyfriend.”

“Okay, see you,” Andrew said absently, so intent on watching the parking lot the other man’s words barely registered. He’d watched Tom drive away and Darwin was getting into his own truck now.
Darwin.

Andrew snorted. That was a made-up name if he’d ever heard one.

“Fuck you, asshole!” Louis shoved open the door and stormed out. Andrew shrugged. Louis had been on the bottom of his B-list anyway, only called during a moment of dateless desperation.

Tom, on the other hand…

Tom was special. Andy had just known after all the drama and cheating and other bullshit, he and Tom would end up together.

Andrew wasn’t about to lose him to some sketchy meathead with a stupid name like Darwin.

Once the taillights of Darwin’s truck had disappeared, Andrew glanced around. No one seemed to be paying any attention to him so he reached out a gloved hand and plucked the cup out of the trash, holding it carefully by the edges of the plastic lid.

As he shouldered the door open, Andy used his teeth to yank the glove off his free hand. He pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through the contacts, giving a small smile when he found Sheffield’s name.

Andy wasn’t sure he’d even kept the guy’s number—why would he need to call the king of the nerds?

“Hello? Andy?”

His smile grew at the eagerness in Sheffield’s voice. “Yeah.”

“Hi. What’s up? It’s been a while.”

“Way too long,” Andy said.
Not nearly long enough.
“Hey, do you still do that CSI shit at that lab?”

“You mean latent print analysis at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension? Sure, I’m still doing that.”

Andy’s eyes rolled but he tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. “Awesome.

You want to get together?”

“What? Now?” Sheffield’s voice went up a half-octave. “I mean, sure, that’d be…uh, fun.”

Andrew sighed. The things—and the nerdy guys—he did for love.

Surely it had been long enough now.

Darwin paced his loft bedroom, gripping the rail as he stared sightlessly down into his living room. It had been almost two hours since he’d watched Tom drive away, wanting more than anything to climb into that truck cab with him. He’d waited long enough to call. After all, he didn’t want to put it off too long and end up waking the man out of a deep sleep.

Having talked himself into it, Darwin called Tom’s number, silly excitement fizzing in his belly as he listened to it ring on the other end.

“Hi.”

Darwin smiled, a slow, satisfied grin.

Though he almost missed the tongue-tied silence Tom usually used to answer his calls, this shy but eager greeting more than made up for it. “Tom Cooper. Did I wake you up?”

“No. I was hoping…ah…” Tom trailed off and then started again. “I thought you might call. Tonight, I mean.”

“You’re addictive,” Darwin said, not caring that he sounded like the cheesiest lovesick dumbass in the world. “Don’t think I could sleep without talking to you.”

“Good,” Tom said and then paused. “Did that just sound totally selfish?”

Darwin grinned. “Completely.”

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the phone. “I’m sorry. I—”

“Cooper.”

After a short silence, Tom sighed again, although it sounded more exasperated this time. “You’re fucking with me again, aren’t you?”

“Little bit.”

The other man’s reluctant laugh made Darwin smile. “Better watch it,” Tom warned. “I’ll hang up and leave you sleepless.”

“I’ll be good,” Darwin promised, rolling his eyes at the way his voice went thick as he said the suggestive words. Tom was going to think he was a sex freak or something. The problem was that, with Tom around, he couldn’t stop thinking about things like nakedness and kissing and sex.

“Not too good, I hope.” Although Tom sounded more wary cat than sex kitten, his words still made Darwin’s stomach jump with arousal. He was tempted to get comfortable on the bed but the excess energy coursing through him just from talking to the man made it necessary for him to prowl the room like a tiger with attention deficit disorder.

“Never,” Darwin finally responded, then made a face. As far as phonesex comebacks went, that was one of the lamer ones. “I’ll m a k e
you
be good, though.” It wasn’t the best line but Tom’s quick gasp told him it had been appreciated. He pushed a little more. “You going to be a good boy for me, Tom?”

“Maybe.”

Tom already sounded breathless. Even after just one night of phone sex, Darwin knew it wouldn’t be long before the other man was making those sexy little sounds and then it was all over for him—Darwin couldn’t last very long once he started listening to that.

“What will you do if I’m…bad?”

Squeezing his eyes closed, Darwin bit the side of his cheek. For some reason, the tentative way Tom talked dirty made everything that came out of his mouth an extra amount of hot.

“I’d make you get on your knees in front of me,” he rasped, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear so he could unbutton his jeans and yank down the zipper. Shoving the fabric down and out of the way, he closed his fist around his erection and couldn’t hold back a groan.

“Are you touching your cock?” Tom asked eagerly.

“Yeah.” Darwin’s fingers tightened as he slid his hand down his length “You?”

“Since you first called,” Tom admitted, drawing another groan from Darwin. “So I’m on my knees in front of you. What’ll you make me do next?”

Good thing Tom is here to keep me on task
, Darwin thought, swallowing a laugh. “I’ll make you beg to suck me.”

“Please, Darwin.” Tom fell right into the role-playing, all his in-person hesitation gone. “Please let me suck your huge cock.

Let me run my tongue over your balls before you stuff your stiff dick in my mouth and fuck my face until I choke.”

Now Darwin was the speechless one, overwhelmed by a surge of lust. He hadn’t expected such filthy words to come out of Tom’s sweet, tentative mouth, and he definitely
hadn’t expected to be so incredibly turned-on by them.