Page 89 of Grind
Ezra’s breathing sounded laborious when he turned and pressed close, hiding his face from Frank’s view. “I’m such a mess. I already cost you so much time, and money, and I might just always have ugly scars. But I never felt like this, Frank. Only about you.”
Frank’s mouth went dry and his heartbeat sped up. He now regretted arguing with Jag over coming home early. This was what Ezra wanted him back for, and he’d been too stuck in his own head to see it.
He stroked the perfect black waves of hair, elated and lightheaded as if he’d drank a whole bottle of vodka, not a couple of shots. “Baby… I’ve got you. And scars aren’t ugly. They’re just scars. Just today I was thinking about how beautiful you are, how much I miss touching you, how happy it makes me to take care of you.”
Ezra took a deep breath and wiped his eyes, before leaning back to look at Frank. His eyes were red and damp, and his face still swollen from injuries sustained almost a month ago, but his battered soul was tender and sweet. Frank wanted to make him his.
“Maybe it’s for the better that all this happened, because if it didn’t, I’d be far away. I’d never see you again and miss out on you, on… this.”
“You don’t think you would have been happier there?” Frank asked. So maybe it was a little needy, but he was so overwhelmed by the possibilities opening up in front of him. This man was the most precious person he’d ever met, and he’d bend over backwards to make him happy.
Ezra squeezed his eyelids to stop himself from tearing up. “Frank, I was never happy before. Never. Proud? Comfortable? Yes, but not happy. I felt different around you. I felt good. I trusted you. You and I? We make sense,” he whispered, placing his hand on Frank’s chest.
Frank squeezed it with his own, choked up. The wall that had kept them apart for weeks crumbled, and instead of using hammers to reach one another, they’d tentatively opened doors to each other’s hearts at the same time.
“I still love you. I never stopped. If you let me take care of you, I promise to make you happy.” Frank leaned down to steal a kiss from Ezra’s trembling lips.
The spark between their mouths dashed all the way to the tips of Frank’s toes when Ezra fell into him with a soft moan, as if his head were spinning. “Please. Make me happy.” But when Frank wanted to kiss him again, Ezra pulled away with a little smile and dashed to the bedroom, leaving him with hummingbirds in his stomach.
Frank’s face heated up when Ezra emerged with a large box that Frank had stuck under the bed while cleaning. It contained all the bondage gear he hadn’t used in ages, and the fact that Ezra presented it to him had Frank’s gums tingle with arousal.
Ezra looked up at him with those beautiful golden eyes, making Frank’s heart skip a beat.
“I trust you,” Ezra whispered.
Chapter 28
Ezra
Thepeoplewhohadshaped Ezra’s life offered him no reason to trust anyone. But the man standing before him, with golden flecks in his eyes and arms like steel, felt like a home that could brave any storm, keeping him safe and dry.
Ezra’s heart pumped equal proportions of fear and elation, but he put the box of sex toys on the table and nudged it toward Frank, because he was done running from his own demons. He didn’t need precautions when it came to Frank.
“Have I mentioned you’re the best thing in my life?” Frank murmured, leaning in for a gentle kiss as he pulled Ezra in with massive hands that always felt tender rather than threatening. “I want to kiss every inch of you.”
His touch was like a gulp of cool water after hours in the desert, and Ezra found himself shivering as his skin erupted in goosebumps. “I missed this,” he whispered, rising to his toes to be that bit closer to Frank.
Hands sliding around his waist and all the way to his ass made his legs weak. He’d had no idea how horny he’d been before Frank touched him.
“My tongue?” Frank teased and licked the corner of Ezra’s mouth.
Oh, God.
“Everything. You. All of you,” Ezra told him, placing his hands on arms that could overpower him with such ease. Frank was a dangerous beast but not to him. Never to him. It was anyone who wanted to harm him who needed to be afraid.
“I thought I lost you,” Frank said and squeezed his ass. His kisses trailed to Ezra’s jaw, with the reverence of a pilgrim who’d reached the gates of a temple and was about to bask in the glory of holy relics. He didn’t care about the scars, and while that made so much sense, considering the kind of person he was, it still felt like a revelation.
The beauty he loved Ezra for went way beyond his looks, and knowing this made Ezra want to become the person Frank saw in him. “I thought so too. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I want to trust you in everything. When you say those people deserved what they got, I believe you,” Ezra said, locking his eyes with Frank as the firm hands settled on his waist, holding him close.
Frank’s fingers delved under Ezra’s shirt as he nipped on Ezra’s jaw. He’d wanted this for a long time. It was as obvious as the fact that he lovedEzra, not just what Ezra could do for him.
“You’re such a treasure, sweetie. Oh, but the things I will do to you tonight… You’ll forget you have a past or future.”
Blood drained out of Ezra’s brain, rushing between his legs when Frank spun him around as if he were a puppet, and covered his whole pec with one hand. It burned, but in a way that made him lean into the touch when stubble scraped against his jaw before a hot tongue drew a line up his neck.
“I’d tell you to strip for me, but you’re getting a pass for that arm. Tell me if anything hurts,” Frank whispered, and unbuttoned Ezra’s shirt. “I want you naked before I choose how to strap you down.”
Every letter of those three last words had Ezra’s body vibrating with a mixture of anxiety and joyful anticipation. He knew for a fact that Frank would let him go the moment he asked, but he was still not used to giving away so much agency during sex. In bed, he was on the submissive side, and liked big, strong guys, but while whatever control he had around them might be an illusion, it was there, keeping him sane. This would be a step into a forest that had previously proven dangerous, but he trusted Frank to keep him safe.
