Page 41 of The Caretaker
“I-I don’t know how to answer that,” he breathed, shocked by my question.
“I want to say it couldn’t have been willingly. That there had to be a force greater than him at play. But I can’t think of anything that would make someone not hold on to you until their dying breath.” I didn’t have the details of what caused their separation, but I knew without a doubt that the blame wasn’t on Solace. I knew it like I knew my own name.
“It wasn’t his fault,” he whispered, “and it wasn’t mine.”
I wasn’t convinced about the former claim, but I let it go. We hugged, rocking from side to side for what seemed like forever, until I pulled back to place a kiss on his forehead. He sucked in a breath.
“What was that for?” He searched my gaze like he thought he might see something, or someone, there that he hadn’t seen a second ago.
“I don’t know. I just…thought it might make everything better,” I said slowly, ransacking my brain for a better answer and coming up empty.
“It did,” he said, his eyes flickering over my face from within their watery depths. “It did.”
Solace
Then
THE MOMENT NOON’Slips touched mine, my entire body went up in flames. And when his tongue dragged along the seam of my mouth, begging for entry, I nearly wept.
This kiss was nothing like the hundreds of kisses I’d shared with Patick throughout the years. This kiss was warm. This kiss held need and wanting. This kiss was all about exploration and patient—albeit domineering—passion.
Noon was overpowering from a distance. From this close, this intimately connected, he was paralyzing, and there wasn’t much I could do besides hold on to him.
My towel fell to the floor, and with nothing holding my cock back, it bounced off my stomach.
“Noon,” I moaned, inching away from his onslaught to address my need for air. He shoved his hair back, his own breathing loud and unsteady. Then he bent to pick up my towel, handing it to me. He never took his eyes off mine as he did so, choosing respect over ogling. He’d wanted a kiss, and he wouldn’t push me for anything else.
I let the towel fall back to the floor, letting my arousal spur my courage as I repeated what I’d said to him minutes ago. “I want more. Ineedmore.”
Noon exhaled in what sounded like pained relief, still holding on to his control—barely. “How much more, Solace?” His jaw worked as he waited for me to be abundantly clear.
The heat of shyness spread over my skin. I didn’t allow it to stop me from saying, “All of it.”
Noon didn’t waste either of our time by giving me a second to rethink. This kiss was rougher than the last. It held ownership, as though my request for all that he had came with phantom shackles and a collar. I’d gladly wear them.
“Oh no you don’t,” he said, voice low and raspy when I attempted to break away for air. He grabbed my hips and lifted me onto the edge of the sink. “Get used to being overwhelmed by me, Solace. Get used to it fast.” He fisted my braid and snapped my head back, pulling a wince from me and urging pre-cum to my slit.
Noon muscled his way between my legs, fought his way back into my mouth, licking everywhere his tongue could reach. I did my best to keep up. My best couldn’t rise to the occasion, though. It was either drown or surrender.
“You taste like mint and sin,” he whispered, one hand still gripping my hair to the point of pain while the other twisted my pert nipple. I whimpered, an embarrassing sound made all the worse because I was the only one naked, the only one writhing on a bathroom sink as my cock leaked between us.
“Noon,” I said again, needingsomething.
“Uh-uh,” he warned with a salacious smile. “I’m going to take my time with you.”
He dipped me back to gain access to my neck, my head bumping up against the mirror as his tall frame hunched over further. Noon sucked his mark into the spot next to my Adam’s apple, vowing that it would be the first of many I’d receive that night. I wanted to tear his shirt open, to send buttons flying so I could get my hands on his skin. On every place I’d imagined butnever had the privilege of seeing or touching before. I couldn’t manage, his mouth and my invisible shackles stilled my hands.
“I-I need you naked, Noon.”
He shut me up with another searing, life-stealing kiss, only offering me relief when his own lungs forced him to retreat for air. I dug my heels into the backs of his thighs.
He dove for my throat again, making me wait until he was done, until the flesh on my neck no longer belonged to me. Until it had been completely branded by him. His eyes were cloudy when he released me, lips swollen and red. His hooded gaze ran down my body, taking in every shiver, every tensed muscle, right down to the sticky mess my cock had made in my navel.
Noon licked his lips, his hand rubbing along his hard shaft that snaked down his inner thigh within his jeans. I swallowed, wondering how the hell I could take him inside of me, knowing I would die trying.
With him distracted by the pearls of pre-cum trickling down my cock and the smears of it along my stomach, I tore his shirt open. I’d intended to free his suffocating cock from the confines of his jeans, but my brain short-circuited after seeing the network of corded muscles along his shoulders, abs, and chest.
I sifted my fingers through the silky, dark hair covering his pectorals. He trembled as he ripped the shirt away from his hulking biceps, one of them the equivalent of two of mine. I’d never felt so small in all my life.
