Page 47 of New Year

“I want you.”

“Not good enough.” A sliver of his Dom side came back. The part that needed his sub to verbalize his needs and desires, so Zack didn’t make a mistake. “Tell me.”

Nat sucked in a sharp breath, then leaned up so their noses nearly touched. “I need you to make love to me tonight. Please?”

Yes.“Yes.”

CHAPTERTEN

“Yes.”

That single yes echoed in Nat’s brain like a music note straight from heaven, high and strong and life-affirming. For all the secrets Zack had shared, for all the power they could have had to send Nat fleeing from the apartment, Nat had stayed. Zack had exposed a raw nerve tonight, his greatest shame, and he hadn’t tried to excuse himself. Not like Austin always excused the slaps, the shoves, the punishments as “necessary.” Austin found a way to excuse any supposed flaw by blaming others, especially Nat.

Zack embraced his human side. His vulnerable side. And that was so fucking attractive to Nat that he almost couldn’t breathe.

Nat drew Zack’s head down so he could brush his lips across Zack’s cheek. Nuzzle his ear. “Let’s go into the bedroom. Please?”

The possessive growl Zack released caressed Nat’s spine like a lover’s touch. He pressed his cheek against Nat’s and rasped, “I’m going to take you apart, sweetheart. Tell me now if you want this to stop.”

“Don’t you dare. I told you. Make love to me.”

Zack made a sound somewhere between a moan and a growl. He clasped Nat’s hand and pulled him through the living room, past the sofa. The moment they crossed the bedroom’s threshold, Nat spun and pulled Zack’s head down, desperate to taste the man again. The sharp flavor of wine and softer essence of Zack filled Nat’s mouth. A thick, questing tongue stroked past his lips, teasing and seeking. No longer a question like their first kisses, these kisses were a statement. Almost a demand. The spark was immediate and dizzying, electric everywhere they touched, bigger than anything Nat had imagined possible.

Zack spun them. He gently pressed Nat against the wall by the door, holding him there with a thigh between his legs. Keeping Nat in place without trapping him by force. Nat humped Zack’s thigh while Zack devoured his mouth with a very talented tongue that Nat couldn’t wait to feel elsewhere, licking and exploring and probing. He acquiesced to the silent questions in Zack’s kisses, accepted all the silent promises, gave consent in every stroke as Nat scraped his fingers across Zack’s back and shoulders and hips.

Zack dragged his lips along Nat’s jaw, pausing to lick the soft spot just behind his jawbone, which earned a chuff of laughter from Nat. He’d never been licked there and it tickled. Zack nibbled the spot a bit longer, which made Nat both laugh and writhe, but he refused to beg. Not yet. His dick pulsed with blood and want, but this was too fucking good to rush. For the first time in years, Nat didn’t just want the sex he was about to have.

Nat fuckingcravedthe sex he was about to have with Zack. His body needed this man like his lungs needed oxygen. It should scare him but it didn’t. And he wasn’t going to ponder why, not in this perfectly precious moment.

Zack nibbled his ear, sucked the lobe, licked the delicate shell. Nat clutched the firm globes of Zack’s ass through his slacks, loving the way they flexed and bunched under his touch. He couldn’t wait to see and touch that ass for real, but he also didn’t want to rush anything. The tease was too exquisite, the wait too addictive. He thrust hard against Zack’s thigh. Zack responded by biting his earlobe, then sucking it into his mouth.

“Fuck,” Nat moaned, the single syllable word coming out as at least four.

“We’ll get there, sweetheart,” Zack said, voice ragged with so many sexy, wonderful things. One of his hands dropped to squeeze Nat’s hip. “Gonna get you so loose and open for me first. You want that?”

“Fuck, yes.” He was all for a couple of fingers to get him ready, stuff him with lube, so the sex was easy and painless. Nat had always been a bigger fan of foreplay over penetration., so Zack could take all the time he wanted with the lead-up to the big finish. “Bed.”

“Get on it. I’ll be right back.” Zack licked across his jaw once more, then gently released him and went into the bathroom.

Nat was a little dizzy from the sudden halt in activities, but it gave him a chance to shuck his shoes, socks and jeans. He pulled the bedcovers down and knelt in the middle, curious about the rummaging behind the half-closed bathroom door. He began undoing a few shirt buttons, so he didn’t start rubbing himself over his underwear.

Zack returned with a condom and bottle of lube, which he put on one of the pillows while flashing Nat a sultry smile. “This way I won’t have to stop later to fetch them.”

“You like planning ahead.”

“I do. Part of being a good Dom was anticipating my sub’s needs.” Zack stood at the foot of the bed, so strong and in-charge, and in no way scary. “I’m not going to pretend to be your Dom, Nat, that isn’t what this is. But I do hope you let me take care of you tonight.”

“Please.” Nat blinked back hot tears. “No one ever has.”

“And that’s the fucking shame of the century. Come here.”

Nat knee-walked to Zack and submitted to another hard, possessive kiss, while Zack opened Nat’s shirt, one button at a time. Warm hands pushed the fabric over Nat’s shoulders. Down his arms. Off. The kiss broke long enough for Zack to peel Nat’s undershirt off, leaving him in only his briefs, while Zack was still fully dressed. Before, the submissive position would have left Nat a nervous mess. His stomach did give an unhappy twinge, unable to forget all theothertimes, but Nat shoved them away. This wasn’t Austin or anyone else whose touch he regretted; this was Zack. He craved Zack’s touch.

HeneededZack’s touch.

Zack’s fingers skated down Nat’s bare torso. His left hand paused over the wrinkle of scarred flesh that felt worse than it looked. He had two others, similar in size, but Zack looked down and focused on the largest. The last. His eyes asked so many questions. “Not tonight,” Nat said. “Don’t ask tonight.”

“All right.”

---