Spokes (33 page)

Oh, damn, Luca's mouth was hot. One breath to slipstream over Christopher's cock, and then nothing but lips, tongue, and palate.

Moaning wasn't enough, words were beyond him. He wouldn't last, not when he was getting what he'd missed so badly. Luca
plunged down on his cock far enough to need to pull back in a hurry once, but he went on, going deep. He cupped strong fingers around
Christopher's balls, rolling them with devastating gentleness. Trying to be equally gentle, Christopher threaded his fingers into
Luca's hair, crushing the silky spirals but not tugging.

"Luca." He had to taste his lover's name. Then--"Luca! I'm gonna--" and he
did, but Luca pushed down and stayed with him while he arched, incandescent and helpless.
Luca, oh....

Coming up slowly brought sweet aftershocks--Luca took his time releasing Christopher's barely softening shaft, caressing him with tongue
and fingers, parting with a kiss. Sliding his arms under Christopher's shoulders, he bent for a meeting of lips. A salt splash entered at the
flick of his tongue--Christopher tasted himself in his lover's mouth.
It
'
s mine, I gave it to him, he
'
s sharing.
Luca swallowed the rest.

They had time for something slower now. Luca let Christopher set pace on the brushes of lip and tongue. "Now you." He slid a hand down
the back of Luca's shorts, cupping one muscular buttock. "Take these off." He squeezed, arching his wrist out to make the
spandex slip down. "Only these."

Luca rose and shed the bright shorts with the wet spot in front. His cock curved out from his body, proud, and no more still than Luca ever
was--jumping with each beat of his heart. With a hand on the column of Luca's thigh, he brought Luca to kneeling over him. With one knee
to either side of Christopher's head and his hands on the couch's arm, he moaned when Christopher engulfed his cock.

His skin slipped back away from the head under Christopher's tongue. Oh damn, his Luca, his lover, musky from riding, slick with driblets of his
desire, and all for Christopher.
Yes, Luca...
It was all yes as he dove down Luca's length, meeting short thrusts that became
longer.

Lifting his eyes upward showed him turquoise overhead, brilliant as the sky had been over them at Ghisallo. Glancing farther still, Luca smiled down on
him, his ringlets dancing, framing his face. His sun-crinkles were smile-crinkles now, his eyes hooded and so damned full of what Christopher
didn't think they'd ever find all the right words for, but who needed those useless things when all he had to do was look. He slipped a
hand under Luca, coming up to grip one hard cheek. Even now he wouldn't slide a finger between those two firm buns.

He'd lick, and change Luca's face from desire to slackness, and his mumbled encouragement to wordless sounds. He cried out, filling Christopher's mouth
with his come, pulsing for long seconds until he was drained. Salt and a faint bitterness, but so sweet for how long it had been since his last taste.

Luca lay down on top of him, his heated skin touching mostly spandex, his bare sections meeting up with Christopher's remaining clothes.
They'd fix that soon, but for now he wanted to hold Luca and bask in what they'd done. He rubbed his cheek across the top of
Luca's head, and smoothed away a few strands that threatened to tickle him into sneezing. With his arm curved around Christopher's
chest, Luca stroked his thumb back and forth on Christopher's skin.

Dozy thoughts went all over. Christopher had wept today, and most of his tears were for Stu. Some were for Rolf. The two young men who had reached the
light were worth mourning. There'd been some for Luca, who stood in his embrace, crying his own tears for his friend and perhaps more. Why for
Luca? Was it more for his grief or for the different pain of having lost him? Now Luca was back, his own sorrow attenuated, and he was lying in
Christopher's arms. Good place for him. Keep him there forever.

Some of Christopher's tears were for himself. For losing Stu. For losing Luca. That made sense. For losing dreams. But wasn't any dream
he'd cherished of making a name for himself on a bicycle only that, a dream? His best rides were nothing compared to
Luca's--they'd struggled up Zoncolan together, but Luca matched him there, exceeded him, even with a crash, and had already
covered three times the distance and four other climbs. He'd never be in Luca's league, not if he'd started training at six
and doped besides.

Except--Luca still rode with him. Luca lay with him and came to him for what he needed as much as winning. Words Luca had spoken at the quarry
came back now.
You stop and look with me. You
'
re better than the entire team in this important way.
A soft laugh escaped
him, making Luca look up, his brow wrinkled. "I'm just figuring out that maybe I don't have to ride at your level for you to
want to be with me."

Luca shook his head, rubbing his face against Christopher's shoulder. "You pulled me up the Zoncolan of my life. Help with officials,
yes, but you let me be Luca who looks at fossils and weeps for friends. And sucks cock."

Christopher snorted so hard he nearly rolled Luca onto the floor--they had to flail to stay on the couch and Luca ended up sitting beside him.
Wrapping his arm around Luca's waist to keep him there, Christopher blurted, "I don't want you sucking any cock but
mine."

The sun came out above him. "Yours is the only one ever, since... since young."

Since Rolf. And thank you for not saying his name.

"
Frate
, remember?" Luca combed his fingers through Christopher's hair, pushing it back from his forehead.

"Not with me, you're not." Christopher squeezed a squeak out of Luca. "And any vows of celibacy I make
don't apply to you."

"You make such a vow?" Luca's brows lifted.

"I'll keep any promise you need about that, but Luca--" Christopher sat up to enfold Luca. "I
don't want anyone but you. Not since you got mad about a cop and the Tour de France. Or maybe when you explained that tortelloni looked like
bellybuttons. Speaking of which...." He poked Luca's middle. "Yours doesn't. Look like a
tortelloni." He poked again, and Luca doubled over laughing.

"Maybe if I had two of them." He poked Christopher's belly. "Yours does look like a tortellono."

"Just don't bite if you're hungry." Christopher jolted sideways. "Which I am. A mouthful of come is only
part of a healthy breakfast."

"Then eat." Luca pulled Christopher to his feet for a hug and a dash to the kitchen.

The refrigerator yielded a bowl of something they hadn't finished two nights before and didn't bother putting on plates now.
Christopher found the forks while Luca waited for the microwave to ping. His lower body had bruises going greenish, their outlines fading and blurred by
the light brown stubble on his legs and groin.

"Don't think I've ever seen you with this much body hair." Christopher ran an appraising hand over Luca's
butt and down his thigh. "You might give me the best rug burn of my life."

"Last time I shaved was in Lienz." Luca lifted a heavenly forkful to Christopher's lips. His voice dropped. "We eat
and then I shave for you."

Forget sitting down and forget savoring the food--he'd get it inside and go turn on the water. Luca slowed him with sultry eyes and a
suggestive nibble at the tidbit on his fork. "Uh, okay." Christopher couldn't take his eyes away, stabbing at the dish three
times in his search for a morsel.

Dishes could wait, strewn clothing could wait, anything that stood between him and the bathroom could wait. He peeled Luca out of his jersey and dropped
his own cycling shorts on the floor. The shower had both a wall-mounted head and a hand sprayer. Luca turned them both on.

Hands and soap and skin--Christopher rubbed Luca sudsy and used him for a giant washcloth. His groin was prickly with growth, but Christopher
curved against Luca anyway, hard again and wanting. Luca slid his chest across Christopher's, never breaking their basil-flavored kisses. With
the flat of his hands against Luca's back, Christopher spread lather over every cord and sheet of muscle. Hands on buttocks should be
okay--he wouldn't venture farther toward the midline. Luca writhed in his embrace, and popped every bubble between them.

"You're going to shave for me?" Most of Luca was clean, all the parts Christopher dared reach for. His lover would have to
take care of the rest. Their trust felt new and flexible--he wouldn't test it before he was sure it had set.

"Oh yes." Luca turned to lean back against Christopher and propped one foot on the tile, turning his leg white with suds. Long streaks
of smooth skin appeared with each stroke of his razor, but Christopher only had one eye for that--Luca had his crack pressed right up against
Christopher's cock.
Don
'
t move, don
'
t move, don
'
t even hint, even if you
'
re way above target and can
'
t go in even by accident. Just hold him and enjoy.

"Smooth enough?" Luca lifted a knee for approval. Christopher stroked his thigh. "Mmm. Nice." He muzzled a kiss
onto Luca's face. So was the next leg, once Luca wielded his blade. He turned to drape his arms over Christopher's shoulders.
"You like that?"

"Oh yeah." Wet swipes of tongue and sliding into Luca's mouth would reinforce his approval. "Let's
go."

"Not done." Luca broke away to work up more lather on his groin and belly. Turned to Christopher, his cock jutted from the white foam
that disappeared one swath at a time. Goodbye, treasure trail, but that was okay; Christopher knew the way. "You're being very careful,
right?"

"Always." At least that was a safety razor he was guiding around the curves of his balls. And farther. Christopher held
Luca's shoulders while he raised one leg and removed hair Christopher never expected to touch. Well, made sense not to chafe, even with chamois
cream. Luca held Christopher's eyes. "Hand shower, please?"

He groped behind his back, snagging the hose and finding the head. "Want help?"

Luca smiled. "In a minute." Okay, after more soap. Luca might be the cleanest cyclist ever to bathe with a journo, but damn it all, he
was also the biggest tease on the planet, rubbing his hand up and down back there. Christopher swallowed hard. "Check for missing
spots."

Christopher let Luca guide his hand to his now-smooth nads, finding nothing to complain of. "Oh yeah, Luca. Oh you feel good."

So damn good--Luca was hard, his erection batting against Christopher's arm. "Check all the way back."

All the way? Uh, okay--Christopher slid his hand under Luca, stroking his taint, familiar and on the very boundary, and farther back. He skated
past where he wanted to linger--Luca was breathing shallowly through his mouth, and there was a look around his eyes that--was that fear?
Or want? Damn but this was daring--he wouldn't spook Luca into backing away. Christopher came forward to cradle Luca's balls.
"Smooth everywhere." He'd calm Luca with kisses.

Luca clung, the razor falling to the bottom of the tub with a clatter. "I don't want stubble."

Better put both hands where he could see them. Taking Luca's shoulders, Christopher swept his lips across cheeks and nose. "You feel
really good. Wonderful."

Luca relaxed, enough to play the hand shower over both of them. He rinsed in their crevices, lingering on his own. "I want wonderful."

"I'll do my bes--oh."
Oh.
He swallowed hard and didn't move when Luca played the water over him
again. "Even if there's eighty kilometers on the bike tomorrow?"

Luca nodded, his smile gone. "Because it's eighty kilometers with you. If I don't go as fast as team, you don't
think problem. If I need to stop, you stop. If we want to look at beautiful or interesting, you do that too." He stopped rinsing them and turned
off the water. "I can do these things this week, with you, riding with you only, and I trust you."

Why did trust sound even more intimate than love? Christopher took the sprayer from Luca's unresisting hand. "I will make it wonderful
for you." He folded them in a big terry towel, patting them dry and bringing Luca close. "And I won't do anything you
don't want." He'd said that before, months ago, and Luca had relaxed more then than he did now.

"I want everything," Luca insisted, but his voice had a tremor, and his face was hidden in Christopher's neck, not tipped
back for a kiss. The stiffness that had poked Christopher squashed against his thigh.

"We're going to go slow, and there's a lot of steps on the way to wonderful, and they're all nice."
Christopher stopped rubbing to just hold Luca. He was dry, so he couldn't be cold, but... he was trembling too much for a horny man.
"We'll do one at a time and we don't have to do it all today. Luca--" Damn it, he wasn't going
to take Luca to bed if it was the equivalent of facing FIC officials. "I'm not going to just throw you down on the bed and jam my cock
in."

"I didn't think that," Luca argued, but he softened against Christopher's body. "Maybe a
little."

"I'll make it lots better than that." Christopher kissed him a promise, catching Luca's lower lip in his own.
"Let's go to bed."

Luca still wobbled, but once among the pillows, he relaxed a little more.

"I won't surprise you with anything, okay?" Christopher lifted his head from an extended exploration of Luca's ear
and neck. Luca nodded, and his smile was back--that was all Christopher needed to see. Luca writhed under his attentions, and was trying to give
as well. Oh, this felt like old times.

Sprawling between Luca's legs, Christopher could scoot down slowly, licking all the way. He pressed his ear against Luca's chest for a
time, listening to his heart. "About a hundred and twenty," he teased, but his own wasn't much lower.

The calmer Luca got, the harder he got, pressing against Christopher's belly. "We need lube, right?"

"Right." He hadn't got that far in his head--he'd planned to gentle Luca with things they'd
already tried before. "We don't need it yet, but what do we have? Do I need to steal the olive oil out of the kitchen?"