Falling Bundle (15 page)

Arjen swallowed hard, and dragged his eyes away. He reached over and clicked off the lamp beside the bed. The soft golden glow cut out, plunging the room into darkness.

“Hey, no cheating.” Max clicked it back on. “I want to watch.”

Arjen coloured. Maybe it had taken time for him to grow into those stunning looks, because he still seemed shy as a teenager sometimes, like he couldn’t quite believe Max thought he was beautiful.

Max laced his fingers behind his head and smiled. This was going to be fun. “Strip.”

Arjen bit his lip, and started to unbutton his shirt.

That was when Max stopped thinking altogether, because it turned out that watching Arjen strip in that molten-gold light was unbelievably intense. It was the gorgeous lines of his body, slowly revealed to Max’s eyes, the little dips and hollows that invited Max’s touch. It was the shine of the silver chain that Max had given him. It was the shy way he sneaked glances at Max and looked quickly away. And when he finally dropped his last stitch of clothing and looked to Max for his reaction, the expression on his face was breathtaking, alight with hope and expectation.

Max swallowed. Then again. His throat was dry, he was utterly mesmerised. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Max told him, a little hoarse.

“Are you sure?” Arjen’s voice cracked slightly, heartbreakingly, on the words.

“I’ve never been so sure in my life.” God, this man. Max was so in love with him that it hurt. If Arjen ever left him it would kill him. Just kill him.

Arjen lifted the covers and sneaked into bed beside him, not quite looking at him. Max had been planning to tease him tonight, to whisper in his ear everything Max could do to him if Arjen only asked, but as badly as he wanted to fuck him, all he did once the light clicked off and the darkness closed in was gather him into his arms. His favourite. His beloved.

Lying there with Arjen warm in his arms, Max wondered idly if he’d ever shared a bed with a person without fucking them first. If he’d ever had any kind of relationship before that wasn’t purely based on sex. His life must have been so empty until now. Because it was deeply satisfying just to have Arjen cuddled into him.

In the morning Max half woke to the low murmur of the radio, the hiss of the kettle downstairs, the cool slide of fabric over his bare skin. His eyes opened just as Arjen drew the covers off the bed, letting the smooth material slide tantalisingly over Max’s naked body then pool on the floor.

The sight hit Max low in the pit of his stomach, dragging a groan from him. Because Arjen was fresh out of the shower. Naked. Still wet. Unbelievably tempting. His bare skin gleamed in morning sunlight that trailed pale fingers down taut planes of muscle.

Max’s hands curled into fists in the warm sheets. His stomach tightened, his pulse quickening. He wanted nothing more than to reach up and drag Arjen down into bed. Keep Arjen under him until Max had exhausted them both.

“Morning,” said Arjen with a teasing smile, and started to dress.

Max growled. He was going to make him pay for that.

That glimpse of him remained seared into Max’s imagination all day at work. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone twenty-four hours without having sex with Arjen; it was starting to drive him nuts. He couldn’t wait for Arjen to crack so he could tug Arjen into his arms and kiss him senseless.

He daydreamed about it for ages. The warmth of Arjen’s body against his, the taste of Arjen’s skin, the curve of Arjen’s mouth against his when he smiled. The way Arjen would wrap his arms around his neck and lean his whole body into him. It was sheer torture having to keep his hands off him. The craving was so fierce that it hurt. Max was going to have to take more drastic action.

This time when Arjen came home from work Max was waiting for him, arms crossed, forbidding. “Strip.”

Arjen hesitated. “You can’t touch me.”

Max closed in, looming over him. “Strip.” Getting him obeying orders was the first step.

Slowly, watching him warily, Arjen stripped. Each item of clothing he dropped left him more vulnerable until he stood before Max naked and defenceless, wearing only the chain. Max looked him over hungrily. “Get on your knees.”

“Max…”

“Do as you’re told.” Max did not raise his voice; he didn’t have to.

Arjen sank to his knees. His breath was starting to catch. His hands curled into fists at his sides, then he clasped his hands in his lap, then he fidgeted some more.

Max undid his own belt deliberately and pulled it out of its loops. Arjen watched wide-eyed. The way he licked his lips nearly brought Max to his knees then and there.

Max tossed him the belt. The heavy leather hit the floor in front of him. “Bind your hands.”

Arjen’s eyes darkened as the colour rose in his face. “I don’t… I…”

“Your hands, Arjen.”

Arjen picked up the belt with unsteady fingers. Looped it round his wrists. Slipped the end through the buckle and pulled it tight with his teeth until the buckle clicked into place. He tugged half-heartedly at the belt to see if he could get free, but the leather only bit into his wrists.

That was it. His head dropped, he shut his eyes, panting for breath. Lost. Max normally touched him now, soothing him with gentle fingers in his hair, but Max couldn’t. He needed to be very careful. “You’re beautiful, Arjen. You’re perfect. I’d like to fuck you so hard right now. I’d take good care of you. You know I would. All you have to do is ask for it.”

Arjen shivered. But didn’t ask.

He was stronger-willed than Max had anticipated. Max should have remembered that Arjen had once cold-shouldered him for ages until Max would have done anything to be forgiven. Arjen’s sweet nature hid an iron will. “I will make you beg me to take you,” Max promised him.

Arjen opened his dark eyes and looked up at him. “Maybe I’ll make you.”

Max caught his breath even as he smiled. Arjen really was extraordinary. “Get up.” Arjen rose to his feet, a little unsteady with his hands bound. “Bend over the counter.”

That got a low groan from Arjen, but he obediently bent over the counter. He knew exactly how to tease Max most, positioning himself on tiptoes so that his ass was at just the right height. Such a tight, sweet, perfect ass. “I’d like to spank you right now,” Max stooped to whisper in his ear. “Teach you which of us is in charge. Maybe I should hit you with something heavier, something that would really sting. A belt maybe.”

Arjen dropped his forehead onto the counter with a moan. Max must be turning him on unbearably. “What’s the hottest I’ve ever gotten you?” Max asked him conversationally. “The single best sex we’ve ever had.” He should take notes.

Silence followed as Arjen thought about this for quite a while. Finally he said, “The first time you came here. When you had me against the wall.”

The memory hit Max hard. They had been in the middle of a massive fight, the anger still simmering between them. Max’s possessive fury had burst out the second Max got him through the door and Max had slammed him up against the hallway wall and taken him violently.

Max remembered it so vividly that he could barely hang onto his control; he could practically feel Arjen contracting hard around him. And for the first time Max contemplated being the one to crack. Admitting that his desire for Arjen was so intense he couldn’t stand it any longer.

“You belong to me,” Max said, his voice getting rough. It was unbearable not touching him. The ache was so big that it shut out thought.

Arjen turned over on the counter and stretched out deliciously, his bound hands above his head, his perfect, lean body spread temptingly. He was wearing nothing but Max’s chain. “What a shame that you can’t have me.”

Max’s eyes narrowed. “You’re mine.”

“But you can’t touch me.”

“I can make you scream my name.”

“So you keep saying,” said Arjen with a teasing smile. “Prove it.”

And that was the exact moment that Max snapped. All that pent-up craving hit him in one fierce surge. He dragged Arjen off the counter with a primal growl of hunger, slammed him into the wall and kissed him.

That first fierce kiss sent the world spinning around him. Everything narrowed down to the man in his arms. Arjen made a wonderful sound as his knees nearly buckled and Max had to shove him harder into the wall to keep him upright. He was absolutely starving for this man, he couldn’t get enough. He kissed him again, one hand fisted in his hair even as the other dropped to palm his ass and squeeze roughly, dragging him tighter against him as Max ground his erection into him. Arjen gasped, hands still bound, rubbing eagerly up against him. His thighs parted easily so that Max could slide his knee between them.

Max could not even think straight, much less talk. After being teased for two days straight, all he could think about was fucking this man until he screamed. “Where’s the lube?” He bit Arjen’s lower lip sharply.

Arjen moaned, a shuddering breath that thrilled Max down to his toes. He loved knowing that he had this effect on Arjen. Max nipped his ear, then his throat, deliberately rough. “Talk.”

“Drawer,” Arjen managed, even as his head fell back against the wall to invite Max to explore his throat some more.

Max bit him harder this time and got another sweet sound in response. He licked the silver gleam of the chain, tasting metal and hot skin. He dragged himself a painful inch away so that he could reach into the drawer and grab the lube, then pressed back into him hard, wanting to feel every inch of him.

“Be good for me now.” Max kept a tight grip on his hair, holding Arjen still even as Arjen arched beneath his touch. He slid his hand boldly up Arjen’s inner thigh, enjoying Arjen’s quiver against him, and pushed one slick finger straight into him.

Arjen did buckle that time, a cry torn from his throat, his whole body arching and tautening. He squeezed unbelievably tight around Max’s finger; Max lost his breath in a sudden explosion of hunger. He could not last another second without getting inside him. He just lifted Arjen higher against the wall, both hands braced under his ass, and slammed home.

Arjen screamed. It was fantastic, a sound of pure desperation, his body one sweet curve. And finally, finally, Max sheathed himself inside him.

The feel of Arjen’s tight body around him was unbearable. Max got a rough grip on him and started to pound him into the wall. Arjen’s cries just got higher with every impact. Then Max drove home with one last savage thrust and Arjen clenched up around him as he came with a shattered cry. Max’s own pleasure detonated like fireworks. Max braced his forehead against Arjen’s bare shoulder and came in short sweet jerks of his body, spilling his seed deep inside him.

Afterward Arjen trembled in his arms, bitten and bruised. He flinched when Max eased out of his body. But Max did not take pity on him. Max dragged him dazed and stumbling up the stairs and flung him down on the warm expanse of their bed, where Max set about ruthlessly reinforcing that Arjen belonged to him. Every mark he left on him proved his ownership, every bruise, every gasp, every whimper. Max indulged every last scrap of his ferocious hunger bringing him to climax after climax.

Only once they were both so utterly spent that he couldn’t muster even a spark of energy to fuck this man again did he finally give in. His fingers uncurled from the chain at Arjen’s throat. Arjen huddled against him, exhausted, trying to catch his breath. He had been very thoroughly fucked.

Max suddenly laughed. “You won.” Max had cracked first.

Arjen smiled and stretched like a cat with a little moan that sizzled along Max’s nerves. He had that hazy look of complete satisfaction. “I usually do.” He snuggled closer. “Max?”

“Yes?” Max ran his fingers through his hair.

Arjen hesitated, then he turned his cheek into Max’s palm, a gesture of trust and affection that totally melted Max. The words came spilling out in a whisper. “I miss you when we’re apart. I think about you all the time. When I can see you next. How pleased you’ll be to see me. How you’ll hug me.”

Awww. Max smiled. “You’re adorable.”

“I love you.”

Arjen had never said that lightly, just to fill a pause, the way other people said it. So every time Arjen said that, Max knew the weight behind it, the depth of his feelings. Max turned his cheek against Arjen’s hair, settling Arjen more securely against his chest, safe and sound. “I love you too,” he whispered.

“You don’t appreciate me,” Max said. “You never notice anything I do for you. Honestly. I bring you your coffee and what thanks do I get?”

His words fell on a dozing silence. His partner Arjen was fast asleep in their bed.

Arjen looked angelic when he was sleeping like this, the rumpled sheets dragged down to his waist to expose the angle of his shoulder, the curve of his spine, the beautiful lean planes of his back. His face was peaceful, his fingers curled into his palm. Dark lashes lay against his cheekbones, flickering with his dreams. Dust motes danced in the rich gold sunlight that fell across him. It was a sight to warm Max’s heart.

Max chuckled and leaned over him to put the coffee cup down on his side of the bed for when he woke up. Max liked bringing Arjen his morning coffee; it was a simple, no-fuss way to say
I love you
. “You’re lucky I put up with you,” Max told him. “It could be because of your charm. Or maybe just your ass.” Max ruffled his dark hair.

It made him smile to see Arjen sleeping so deeply. The last few weeks had been exhausting for both of them. Arjen had been doing long hours at his job and Max kept getting slammed with overtime. But it was finally Sunday and they both got a whole day off. Which Max had every intention of spending in bed.

Max slipped back under the covers. There was something utterly relaxing about getting into a bed so warm, easing into the dip in the mattress. This must be the definition of home.

Arjen yawned, stretched, lashes fluttering slightly, and crept into the curve of his arm. His familiar weight fit perfectly against Max’s side, his dark head against Max’s shoulder, his cheek pressed against Max’s bare chest. Just having him there filled Max with a contented glow. All his.

Max dipped his head and kissed him. He made it slow and sweet, cupping his face in one hand. Arjen stirred sleepily, running his hand up Max’s chest to curve around the back of his neck, dragging him down into a deeper kiss. Then lapsed back into sleep.

Christ, Max was in love with him. Even looking at his sleeping face made Max’s chest tighten with a stab of emotion. Max had never felt this intense protective urge with anyone else and sometimes it hit him so hard it hurt.

Max kissed his cheek, his temple, his eyelids feather-lightly. He wanted to smooth out those tired lines, ease all his worries forever. “You’re mine,” Max whispered. “You’re all mine.”

The chain Max had given him gleamed at Arjen’s throat, a bright spark of silver against the lingering tan from their holiday together. Max slid down his body, nuzzling into the hollow of his throat, enjoying the taste of the warm silver against his bare skin, then kissing down the centre of his stomach.

Arjen barely stirred even when Max nipped the taut plane of his stomach. Max chuckled. He must be very soundly asleep. “You’ve been working too hard,” Max informed him. “Somebody should look after you.” Max slid down a little further and took his cock into his mouth.

That half woke Arjen as he arched slightly into Max’s mouth with a whimper. All those hot muscles tautened as Arjen’s breathing stuttered. Mmm. That was more like it. Max draped a heavy arm across his stomach to hold him still and began pleasuring him slowly, maddeningly. Getting him nice and hard. Max savoured the taste of him, clean and masculine, the flex of his body beneath Max’s restraining arm.

Arjen threw an arm over his eyes to shut out the light and groaned aloud. Max eased off for a second to murmur, “Morning.” His voice came out husky with desire.

“Gah.”

Max laughed. He found it particularly endearing when Arjen couldn’t get out complete sentences. “Lie back and relax. I’m going to take good care of you.” He went back to work, licking him with long swipes of his tongue, taking him deep into his mouth. Arjen tasted good, hot silky skin over rigid hardness.

Arjen shifted under him with a slight whimper. The fingers of his upflung hand were curling uselessly into his palm. “M… Max…”

“Hush.” Max reached over him and rifled through the bedside drawer for lube. “I know what you need.” Max had appointed himself an expert on the subject. He squeezed some lube onto his fingers and ran one slick fingertip down Arjen’s cleft to play with his ass. Arjen’s breath hitched in his chest; Max knew exactly how to tease him. Arjen’s thighs parted reflexively and Max pushed his finger inside his ass.

“Oh.” Arjen’s free hand tightened in the covers. His whole body clenched helplessly around Max’s finger. Max muffled his growl against Arjen’s thigh, every instinct telling him to slide back up his body and slam home into that slick grip, feel his slippery body tauten around his invasion.

The thought nearly overwhelmed him and Max had to take several deep breaths. He nipped Arjen’s inner thigh. “You are way too hot for your own good.”

Arjen just whimpered. He was so sleepy, his heavy eyes falling shut as he bit his lip, completely pliant and unresisting under Max’s hands.

Max settled into the rhythm of one of his favourite tasks, getting Arjen off. Timing was the key, building him up with a surge of pleasure, then letting him relax, only to take it higher again. Until finally Arjen came sweetly for him, shuddering as he finished, while Max savoured his surrender, his pleasure, the arch and flex of his body.

“There.” Max smiled down at him, full of satisfaction. Success.

Max thought about fucking him now that he was all slippery, but Arjen was clearly still exhausted, sliding straight back to sleep. Ah well. Max grinned and pressed a kiss to his inner thigh, disentangled himself and went for a shower and breakfast.

After a quick hot shower he was making breakfast at the kitchen table with the sunlight streaming in, feeling entirely happy with the world, when Arjen padded downstairs barefoot. Arjen looked delightfully ruffled, just wearing a dressing gown; his rumpled dark hair invited Max to run his fingers through it.

Arjen immediately slid into his lap. Mmm. He was a warm familiar weight. Max gathered him into his arms, settling him just right so that he was straddling the growing bulge of Max’s erection. Arjen felt good there, the heat and pressure just right. “Good morning, gorgeous.”

“Good morning.” Arjen wrapped his arms around his neck and smiled up at him, glowing. He truly was stunning. Max would do anything for that smile. “You didn’t fuck me earlier.”

“You were sleepy.” Max stroked up and down his spine.

“Now I’m awake.” Arjen shifted enticingly in his lap. “Very awake.”

“Maybe you missed your chance,” Max teased.

“I can persuade you.” Arjen leaned in and rubbed his cheek against his, slightly rough and unshaven, bit his earlobe.

The quick scrape of his teeth and his hot breath sent a delicious shiver through Max. Max’s hands dropped to Arjen’s ass and he squeezed, pulling Arjen tighter against his crotch. Arjen had the most amazing ass, all hot, firm muscle, now cupped in Max’s hands.

Arjen began kissing down his throat, rubbing himself against him. Pure temptation. “Are you feeling persuaded?” Arjen licked the hollow of his throat, a teasing flash of tongue that made Max groan.

“Not yet.” It came out hoarse.

Arjen kissed him then, slow and hungry. Arjen’s arms tightened around his neck as Arjen melted into him. Max growled and dragged him closer, one hand tightening in his hair, the other still on his ass, stroking and squeezing. Arjen yielded for his tongue with a little moan. It was impossible to resist him like this, eager and hot. If he kept squirming around in Max’s lap like this Max was going to come.

Arjen broke away, breathless, only to say “Now?” hopefully.

“No. Go down on me.”

Arjen dropped his face into Max’s shoulder with a little sound of frustration, obviously badly wanting Max inside him. It gave Max an intense rush to be wanted like this, to be craved. Arjen never seemed to get tired of him. Never seemed to get bored. They had been together for ages now and still there were times when clearly all Arjen could think about was getting Max to fuck him.

Max took him by the chin, making him meet Max’s eyes. “Do as you’re told, Arjen.” Max gave it a warning edge. Arjen liked to be told what to do.

Arjen opened Max’s shirt and began kissing a hot trail down his chest. Max stretched lazily, enjoying his attention. Arjen opened his belt, his trousers, nuzzled into his crotch. Oh, that felt good. Max tipped his head back and groaned as Arjen took his cock slowly, tantalisingly into his mouth, the hot slide of his tongue irresistible. Arjen was wicked like this, knowing exactly how to tempt Max unbearably. He flashed Max an innocent look with his beautiful dark eyes under dark lashes. Sexy as sin.

Max got a grip on his hair, reminding him that Max was in control, and pressed into his mouth just a little deeper than he could easily take. Arjen whimpered, eyes sliding closed. Arjen’s throat worked around him as he took him so deep, so sweet.

Max’s stomach contracted with a sudden powerful surge of hunger, his hands tightened reflexively in Arjen’s hair and for a moment he was right on the edge of coming. Just ramming deep and spilling, making him swallow every last drop. This was more than a man could stand. Max dragged him off. “Come here.”

Arjen slipped eagerly into his lap. Max ripped off his dressing gown, nearly tearing it in his haste. A growl rose in his chest. He loved the sight of Arjen in his lap, invitingly naked, thighs parted, wearing only his chain. The gleam of the silver at his throat. The way the sunlight lightly touched those lean muscles with pale gold.

Max gathered Arjen tight against him with an arm locked around his waist, not letting him escape, and began to press into him. Arjen was still slippery and ready from Max’s finger earlier. Arjen buried his face in Max’s shoulder again, whimpering steadily as he fought to adjust. He felt incredible, so hot, so tight. Trembling against him. The pleasure was searing as Max slid deeper inside him. Arjen said “Oh, oh, oh,” against his throat, fingers tightening in his open shirt. Perfect.

At last Max had sheathed himself inside Arjen. The heat between them was scorching. Arjen tried to catch his breath. “Feel good?” Max asked him somewhat hoarsely.

“Feels big. Full.” Arjen squirmed, clenching around him.

“Good. I know you like to be stuffed.” Max began to rock into Arjen, letting him slide up and down on his cock, and Arjen moaned aloud in complete abandon, clutching at Max as he rode his cock. Max nipped his earlobe, then harder, biting his way down his throat, wanting to own every inch of him. He wound his fingers in that tempting gleam of the chain around his throat. “You belong to me.”

“Yes.” Arjen shuddered.

“You’re so fucking hot, Arjen. All slippery and needy.”

“I need… I…”

“You’ll get what I give you.” Max bit him again, a hot scrape of teeth. “You’re going to be good for me, aren’t you. You’re going to behave.”

“Yes.” Arjen clung to him panting.

Max lifted him casually onto the table, toppling his breakfast bowl, scattering dry cereal everywhere. A spoon fell off the table and clattered to the floor. Max couldn’t care less; his whole focus was on getting Arjen flat on the table so he could get deeper into him. Max pinned his hands high above his head, stretching him out, his whole body taut and open for Max to slam into. Arjen arched, lifting his hips into Max’s thrusts, letting Max pound him good and hard. Arjen’s brow was beginning to furrow in intense concentration and he was biting his lip, panting, close to the edge. Max growled. “You’d better not come until I let you.”

Arjen looked delightfully hazy, lost in the moment. Max loved him like this, when he would have let Max do anything to him. “Feels…”

“I know. But you have to wait.”

“Please, I need—”

“Wait.”

But Arjen’s body was starting to clench around him. Max took pity on him, transferred his captured hands into one hand and began to jerk him off as he hammered him. Max could feel the familiar tightening in his own stomach, the building intensity as his climax approached. “Now,” Max said, breathless. “You can come now.”

And Arjen came for him so easily. Arching into him, crying out, desperate and ecstatic. Max turned his face into Arjen’s throat and growled as he shuddered deep inside his body. The heat, the intensity of that moment of completion was always perfect. He never wanted it to end.

Alas, in the end Max had to reluctantly ease out and help his beloved off the table, heartbeat slowing, the heat of his hunger cooling. He wrapped Arjen in his arms and just held him for a moment, warm and loved. Max kissed his cheek. “Is that better?”

“Much better.” Arjen smiled against his mouth.

Obviously after getting so sticky they had to shower together. Max was entirely on board with this plan. Any excuse for a joint shower.

They’d had so much fantastic sex in the shower that just watching Arjen turn the dial for the water hit Max directly in the pit of the stomach; he knew what lay ahead. The look Arjen gave him while stepping into the shower was pure promise. As the clouds of steam began to build Arjen ran a lazy hand down his body, following the path of the trickles of water that lit his muscles to gleaming, inviting Max to come get him. Arjen stroked himself teasingly, getting himself harder.

That was just unfair. Nobody could resist that. Max stripped in record time and stepped into the shower, pulling the door shut behind him. “You’re such a tease,” Max told him. “Touching yourself like that.”