“Huh?”
“You asked about my childhood. But you haven’t said much about yours. After you and your mom took care of Malcolm, what did you do?”
Nathan actually liked thinking of his aunt as his mother now. Though he hadn’t forgiven the lies, after careful consideration, he knew she would have had a good reason for making them. Danielle Dixon had loved Nathan fully. She’d let him know that every day of their lives spent together and apart. He wouldn’t let the recent past tarnish his memories of her.
“You okay?” Avery asked softly. “We, uh, don’t have to talk about any of this shit. I was just kidding with you.”
“No, no.” Nathan found he had to wipe tears from his eyes. Odd how his emotions could still swamp him in an instant. Yet he found the memories of his mother to be fond ones, not sad. “My mom—Michelle—died when I was a kid. Some drunk ran her down. Really shook me up, but my good old Aunt Danielle saved the day. We didn’t see her much before then. I’d had a great childhood, actually. Lots of friends, and even though I had the psychometry thing going on back then, my mom taught me to shield myself.” He sighed. “I mean, my Aunt Michelle. When I went to live with Danielle, my gifts got stronger. She helped me focus my abilities and tune out the rest. Otherwise I’d never be able to touch anything without going stark-raving insane.”
Avery nodded. “I wondered about that. You touch stuff all the time but don’t always get info from it.” Avery paused. “Or at least you don’t talk about getting info from it.”
“I don’t. But when I concentrate, I know a lot. I see the events around an object if emotion is tied to it. And if I really focus, I feel what the wearer or handler feels. But that’s a lot harder to pick up.”
“No shit.”
Avery’s vocabulary needed expanding. Nathan grinned. “No shit. What about you?”
“Me? I see futures. I see them on command now, since taking the drugs the PWP gave us. But I can’t see specific futures. It helps if I’m working with someone and try to see what’s in store for them. Like when I saw that painting Noah retrieved. I knew when it would be in Arizona. But with you, I saw you and Malcolm together. He’s holding a bloody blade, Sangre. But I don’t know when.” Avery frowned. “I can’t see a time or anything more. Just that there’s snow outside.” He turned to Nathan. “I don’t want you back there in Bloomville without me. Don’t bitch about more orders, just… Nathan, promise me you won’t go back alone. It gives me a bad feeling.”
Since Avery for once seemed to be asking instead of demanding, Nathan nodded. “Okay, okay. I promise.”
They drove in silence for a while before Nathan asked about the subject they’d both been avoiding. “So the sex…”
Avery tightened his hands on the steering wheel. “Yeah?”
“We going to do that again or what?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe, hmm? Is there a reason we haven’t done it since? It’s been a few days. Are you a once-a-week kind of guy?” Which would be a real shame.
Avery scowled. “I left you alone on purpose. You needed some time to think about what happened. Away from the mess in Bloomville, all those reminders of that nightmare in your life. I thought it would be best if you had some space. Why? You need to fuck right now?”
“You are such a dick.” He didn’t know why that should amaze him now. He knew the guy. “While I appreciate you ‘giving me space,’ I’m a big boy. I don’t need you making decisions for me.”
“So you want to fuck right now?” Avery repeated. While driving, he unbuckled his seat belt and unbuttoned and shoved down his pants. He pushed his seat back a bit and nodded down at himself. “Cause I’m more than ready to go. How about you take care of this, since I don’t need to be sensitive anymore?”
The man continued to be full of surprises. “Fuck, you’re hard, huh?”
“Yeah, Captain Obvious. Just sitting around you gets me hard. Happy now? So blow me.”
Nathan wanted Avery too much to take offense to the order. “We need to have a talk on how to ask for what you want.” He unbuckled his own belt and leaned over. He felt the SUV pull to the side of the road, knew the vehicle had stopped, but he didn’t care.
He licked and sucked on Avery’s dick with a hunger for the man. He wanted Avery’s moans, his desperation. When he felt Avery’s fingers caressing his scalp and hair, he took more of him into his mouth.
Avery shifted his hips and surged. “Shit, Nathan. That’s so fuckin’ good. Your mouth is heaven, baby.”
When Avery called him baby, everything inside Nathan softened. Except for his dick, which was steel hard and aching. He unbuttoned his pants and would have played with himself, but Avery told him not to.
“Uh-uh. You swallow me up, and I’ll take good care of you. I promise.” He gripped Nathan’s hair and panted as Nathan licked the underside of his shaft, then nuzzled his balls. Nathan returned his mouth to Avery’s dick, kissing Avery’s tip before he sucked the whole thing down.
Avery groaned, and a warm splash of cum hit the back of Nathan’s throat. “Oh yeah, I’m coming. Suck it down. Christ.”
Nathan swallowed, licked him clean, and sat up, hard and aching himself. But the look on Avery’s face… His lover had his head thrown back against the seat, his lips parted on a moan, his cheeks flushed. Avery’s cock remained half hard and wet until he tucked himself back into his pants.
He looked up at Nathan with warm blue eyes so dark they looked black. “You have, without a doubt, the most gifted mouth I’ve ever kissed.”
“Should I say thanks?”
Avery smiled. “I should say thanks. Now spread your legs.”
Nathan tensed. Though they’d played, Avery had yet to go down on him. What would his lips feel like wrapped around Nathan’s flesh?
Avery reached into Nathan’s pants and took him out, then gripped Nathan’s shaft and primed him, sliding up and down with smooth, hard movements. “You’re a big man. I like that. I like you strong, when you fight me.” Avery leaned closer and kissed Nathan’s neck, then his ear. “I like coming hard in that ass, winning the battle when I fill you up. Like I filled up that sweet mouth.”
Fuck. Avery had sex talk down to a science. Nathan felt ready to come. Avery pinched his nipple through his shirt, and a spurt of fluid trickled from his slit.
“Yeah. You’re thick. Gonna be sweet to taste all that cream. How about it? Want me to suck your cock, baby?”
“Avery. Please.” Reduced to one-word sentences, Nathan couldn’t see straight, let alone communicate.
Avery chuckled and pinched his other nipple while rubbing him faster. Then he moved back, repositioned himself, and bent down. His hot breath scorched Nathan’s cock, and Nathan couldn’t take his gaze from the dark head buried in his crotch. Cars whizzed by on the freeway beside them, but Nathan had focus for nothing and no one but Avery.
And then Avery’s mouth was on him, and Nathan cried out as his orgasm hit him with brute force. He emptied between Avery’s lips while his lover swallowed him down.
It took him a few moments to release Avery’s hair. Avery opened his mouth and let his dick go, then set Nathan back inside his trousers and buttoned his jeans. “Better?”
“Yeah,” he whispered, totally drained.
Avery buckled him up, then buckled himself in as well. He took a healthy swig of coffee and started the SUV. “Another few hours until we hit the bookstore Jack wants us to check into. Get some rest, princess. You need it.”
“Um” was all Nathan managed before he fell asleep with a smile on his face.
Avery glanced at Nathan, satisfied to see him sleeping like a log. The poor guy hadn’t been getting enough rest. Avery knew the loss of his mother would never truly fade, but the hurt was still so fresh. He’d hoped giving Nathan time to think about what they’d done together might convince him it had been a mistake. Because God knew, Avery had lost his ability to deny the man. Fucking Nathan made every other relationship he’d ever had fade away. He’d jacked off the past two days, so fucking hot for his partner yet not wanting to pressure him into sex.