Chapter Fifteen, Part III

Untill Morning

Jack stands.

He takes Adrian’s shirt by the hem and pulls it over his head.

Adrian lets it fall.

Jack’s hands settle against his bare waist.

The kiss begins softly.

For a while, it remains that way. Their mouths moving slowly, hands taking their time because neither man needs to hurry towards something he already knows is waiting.

Jack undresses Adrian without letting him move far away. Adrian opens Jack’s shirt one button at a time, kissing each new stretch of skin as it appears.

By the time they lie down, the room is almost dark.

Adrian draws Jack over him, but Jack catches his wrist.

“Wait.”

Adrian looks up.

Jack’s breathing is already uneven.

He kisses Adrian once, then shifts onto his back.

For a second, Adrian does not understand.

Jack holds his gaze.

“I want you.”

The words move through Adrian with more force than he expects.

He reaches for Jack, but Jack catches his hand and brings it to his mouth, kissing the centre of his palm.

“Like this,” Jack says.

Adrian searches his face.

“Are you sure?”

Jack gives him a faint smile.

“You asked me that last night.”

“That is not an answer.”

“Yes,” Jack says. “I’m sure.”

Adrian moves over him.

Jack’s thighs open around his hips, and Adrian settles between them. The position changes the shape of Jack’s body beneath him: the broad chest, the powerful shoulders against the mattress, the dark hair across his chest and stomach catching the low light.

For a moment, the sight almost overwhelms Adrian. A man he would once have considered impossibly out of reach is lying open beneath him now, looking up at him with unmistakable want.

Jack opens himself further.

There is no hesitation in it. No uncertainty. Only the silent, astonishing offer of his body and his trust.

Take me.

Adrian feels the meaning of it everywhere.

He touches Jack’s face.

Jack turns his mouth into his palm.

“This is not because I’m leaving tomorrow,” Adrian says.

“I know.”

“I don’t want it to feel like something we have to do before time runs out.”

“It doesn’t.”

Jack reaches behind Adrian’s neck and pulls him down.

“It feels like something I want.”

Their mouths meet.

The kiss deepens gradually, warmth building into hunger without losing its patience. Adrian kisses Jack’s jaw, his throat and the centre of his chest. Jack’s hands move over his back, drawing him closer whenever the distance between them grows.

Adrian takes his time.

He knows now which touches make Jack’s breath catch and which ones bring the low sound from his chest that Adrian felt rather than heard in the kitchen the previous morning.

Jack arches beneath his mouth.

“Adrian.”

There is no warning in it tonight.

Only want.

Adrian lifts his head.

Jack’s gaze drops between them.

He reaches for Adrian, closing his hand around him. His thumb draws Adrian’s foreskin slowly back, baring the head before allowing it to slide forward again.

Jack watches the movement with a fascination he makes no attempt to hide.

To Adrian, it is simply how his body has always been. But beneath Jack’s hand and that naked, hungry gaze, it suddenly feels like something intensely erotic.

Jack is not merely willing to have him inside him. He wants this part of Adrian with an intensity that sends heat through his entire body.

When Jack looks up again, his eyes are fixed on Adrian.

“Tell me if you want me to stop.”

“I won’t.”

“Jack.”

“I’ll tell you.”

Adrian kisses him once more.

Then he prepares them carefully.

Jack’s body remains open beneath him, but Adrian feels the tension gather as the moment approaches.

Adrian runs one hand slowly along Jack’s thigh.

“Still sure?”

Jack looks up and catches him behind the neck.

“Yes.”

Adrian enters him slowly.

Jack’s breath leaves him in a low, broken sound.

His fingers tighten around Adrian’s shoulders.

Adrian stops.

Jack closes his eyes and breathes.

For several seconds, neither man moves.

Adrian bends and kisses his forehead, then the corner of his mouth.

Jack’s body begins to soften around him.

His eyes open.

“All right?” Adrian asks.

Jack nods.

“More than all right.”

Adrian waits.

Jack lifts his hips.

The invitation is unmistakable.

Something shifts inside Adrian.

He has spent too much of his life allowing other men to decide what part he should play. Yielding because it was expected of him. Letting their desire define the shape of his own.

But Jack expects nothing except honesty.

The trust in Jack’s open body does not make Adrian want to hold back. It makes him want to give Jack exactly what he is asking for. To take control without apology. To discover how completely this powerful, beautiful man is willing to surrender to him.

Adrian moves.

Slowly at first. Watching Jack’s face. Feeling the rhythm form between them.

Jack’s legs close around his waist, his hands moving down Adrian’s back to pull him deeper.

Adrian has never felt more wanted.

For the first time, his control begins to slip.

Jack hears it in his breathing.

“There,” he says.

Adrian stills. “There?”

“Again.”

Adrian moves again.

Jack’s head falls back into the pillow.

The sound he makes is low and unguarded.

Adrian repeats the movement, harder this time.

Jack’s grip tightens.

The careful rhythm begins to change.

Adrian kisses him as he moves, swallowing Jack’s breaths and the rough fragments of his name. Jack’s body responds beneath him with growing urgency, meeting each thrust, demanding more without words.

The bed shifts quietly against the wall.

Jack reaches between them, but Adrian catches his wrist and presses it beside his head.

Jack looks up at him.

There is no resistance in his face. Only want.

“What?”

Adrian holds his gaze.

“Let me.”

Something in Jack’s expression opens completely.

He locks his fingers through Adrian’s.

The trust in that small surrender sends a surge of power through Adrian unlike anything he has felt before. Jack is not merely allowing this. He is giving himself to it, to Adrian, with nothing held back.

And Adrian wants all of him.

Adrian moves harder.

Jack’s restraint breaks.

His legs tighten around Adrian’s hips, pulling him closer, his free hand gripping the back of Adrian’s neck as his mouth opens against Adrian’s shoulder.

The sound that comes from him is deep and almost angry in its intensity.

The sound goes through Adrian like a physical force.

He drives into him again.

Jack says his name.

The room narrows to Jack beneath him. Jack’s hand locked around his. Jack’s body accepting every movement and returning it with equal force.

There is nothing hesitant left between them.

Adrian loses himself in the rhythm.

Jack’s eyes remain on his whenever he can keep them open, dark and unprotected. Adrian feels the full weight of the trust in it, and for one frightening second the emotion becomes almost too much.

He bends and buries his face against Jack’s neck.

Jack releases his hand only to wrap both arms around him.

“Don’t stop,” he says.

Adrian does not.

Their bodies move together, no longer slow, no longer careful, but still connected by the arms holding them close and the mouths finding each other between breaths.

Jack reaches his release first.

He comes untouched, his entire body tightening beneath Adrian as his release spills across the dark hair of his stomach and chest. His voice breaks against Adrian’s shoulder, and he holds him with startling strength.

The reaction pulls Adrian with him.

He comes moments later, driving deep into Jack as the last of his control gives way.

Jack’s arms remain locked around him.

For a long time, neither man lets go.

Adrian rests his weight carefully against Jack’s body, his face hidden in the warmth of his neck. Jack’s chest rises hard beneath him.

The room gradually returns.

The ocean.

The faint sound of the clock in the next room.

Their breathing slowing together.

Adrian lifts his head.

Jack looks exhausted.

His hair is damp, his mouth swollen from kissing, and there is a softness in his expression Adrian has not seen before.

“You all right?” Adrian asks.

Jack gives a quiet laugh.

“I understand why you keep asking that now.”

“That is still not an answer.”

“I’m more than all right.”

Jack touches his face.

Adrian turns his head and kisses the centre of Jack’s palm. Then he lowers his mouth to Jack’s chest.

Adrian kisses him slowly, following the hard lines of his chest until he reaches the warm traces of Jack’s release caught in the dark hair across his stomach and chest.

Jack watches him.

Adrian gathers the taste of him with his tongue, taking his time.

Then he begins working his way back up.

By the time their faces are level again, Jack is already reaching for him.

Adrian leans over him and kisses him deeply.

Jack goes completely still.

For one suspended moment, he does not even seem to breathe.

Then his hand closes hard around the back of Adrian’s neck. He kisses him again, deeper this time, as though he needs to make certain of what just happened.

When they separate, Jack stares at him.

“Jesus Christ.”

Adrian’s mouth curves slightly. “What?”

“You kissed me with the taste of me still in your mouth.”

“I did.”

“And you let me taste myself.”

“Yes.”

A short, disbelieving laugh escapes him. He runs one hand over his face, then looks at Adrian again with something close to wonder.

“No one has ever done that to me.”

Adrian leans closer. “Did you like it?”

Jack catches him firmly behind the neck.

“Like it?” His voice is low and rough. “I’m still trying to understand what the hell you just did to me.”

“I wanted to taste you.”

Jack lets his head fall back against the pillow.

“Fuck.”

When he looks at Adrian again, the heat in his eyes is almost overwhelming.

“That may be the filthiest, hottest thing anyone has ever done to me.” Jack gives another disbelieving laugh. “I did not see that coming.”

“Good.”

“You are full of surprises.”

Adrian’s mouth curves. “Maybe I just wanted to give you something extra to remember me by.”

Something in Jack’s expression shifts.

“As if I could forget you.”

Jack pulls him down and kisses him again, slow and deep, still visibly shaken by it.

When he finally lets Adrian breathe, his forehead remains pressed against his.

“I genuinely don’t know what to do with you.”

“You don’t have to do anything.”

“That’s easy for you to say. You just rewired something in my head.”

When Adrian moves away to deal with the practicalities, Jack keeps one hand around his wrist until distance makes him release it.

Adrian returns immediately.

This time Jack does not turn his back into Adrian’s chest.

They lie facing each other.

Their legs tangle beneath the sheet, one of Jack’s hands resting against Adrian’s side. Adrian traces the line of his eyebrow, the curve of his cheek and the rough edge of his beard.

Jack watches him.

“What?” Adrian asks.

“I’m remembering you.”

“I will still have the same face tomorrow.”

“I know.”

Adrian’s fingers stop.

Jack covers his hand.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You did.”

“Maybe.”

Adrian moves closer until their foreheads touch.

“You do not have to remember me yet.”

Jack closes his eyes.

“All right.”

They remain awake.

Not speaking much. Kissing occasionally. Jack’s hand moving over Adrian’s back. Adrian counting the small pauses between the waves beyond the window.

Eventually, Jack looks towards the clock.

Adrian does not.

“What time is it?” he asks.

“Late.”

“That is not a time.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting.”

Adrian smiles faintly.

Jack pulls him closer.

“We should sleep.”

“Yes.”

Neither closes his eyes.

After a while, Adrian presses his mouth to Jack’s forehead.

“Goodnight.”

Jack looks at him.

“No.”

Adrian raises an eyebrow. “No?”

“Not yet.”

Jack kisses him.

It is not hungry now. It is slow and tired and almost painfully tender.

When it ends, he keeps Adrian close.

They stay that way, facing each other in the darkness, both pretending morning can only arrive once they allow themselves to sleep.