Can’t Take it Back
Alex trembled with anticipation when Ricky sat up and repositioned himself between his calves. He tried to stay relaxed when he felt both of Ricky’s hands on his buttocks.
“That’s a fine ass you have here,” Ricky said. He began massaging Alex’s cheeks with firm circles. Alex squirmed when Ricky’s thumb grazed his sensitive pucker.
“You’re fond of telling me so,” he finally said when he got his breath under control.
Alex’s response garnered him a firm pinch on his right buttock. He looked over his shoulder. “Ow,” he said without much conviction.
“Turn around,” Ricky said.
He immediately did as he was told, but he smirked, glad Ricky couldn’t see it. The sex between them was always calculated, precise, and really fucking hot. Before Ricky, Alex hadn’t even realized he’d wanted a dominant lover, and he was glad that Ricky relished his role. They seemed to fill a need for each other neither of them had known they had. Simple and easy with no emotional drama.
“Raise your hips,” Ricky said. “I want your sweet ass in the air.”
Alex drew his knees up under him, raising his lower body while keeping his chest to the bed.
“Reach back and spread yourself for me.”
Alex’s face pressed into the mattress as he followed Ricky’s command. He used both his hands to hold himself open. It should have embarrassed him, but it didn’t. He trusted Ricky with this physical intimacy between them. Alex trusted Ricky to take it seriously. To take him seriously.
“God,” Ricky whispered. Without another word, Ricky picked up the shaving lotion and pumped a generous amount into the palm of his hand.
Alex bit his lower lip and moaned when his lover’s clever fingers slathered the creamy lotion down his crack.
“You’re going to have to hold still,” Ricky said, his voice gentle. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Alex hadn’t realized he’d squirmed until Ricky said so, but now he made a concerted effort to hold perfectly still. Even so, he gasped as he felt the cold blade of the razor glaze against his skin. His dick moved, the tip dragging against the towel beneath him as it grew impossibly hard. Fuck. He wanted to let go of his ass and jerk himself while Ricky shaved him. It felt even more intimate, more erotic, than when Ricky put his mouth there. Maybe because there wasn’t a barrier.
He concentrated on the tug of every stroke. Ricky shaved with his left hand while he used his other to pull and stretch the skin tight where it was naturally loose or creviced. The slow caress of the blade in Ricky’s hand, made Alex feel cherished.
When he finished the shave, Ricky drew a towel over Alex and cleaned the excess cream and hair from him.
“God damn,” he heard Ricky say right before he felt nimble fingers dancing down his freshly shaved skin. Goose flesh rippled over his ass and legs.
His breath hitched when the top of the lube bottle clicked. His pulse raced with anticipation. He moaned, letting go of his ass when Ricky’s slicked finger pushed inside him. He forced himself to relax even more, allowing the stretch to happen without resistance.
Ricky leaned over Alex’s back, adding a second finger, thrusting and twisting with gentle, insistent movements. His thick erection pressed between Alex’s thighs.
Squeezing his thighs together and trapping Ricky’s cock, Alex moaned as he pushed back against Ricky’s hand, eager for more.
Ricky pulled his hips back while keeping his fingers inside Alex. He nudged Alex’s legs together and spread his own legs to straddle him.
Alex quivered when Ricky plunged his oiled cock between Alex’s thighs again. Ricky thrust his hips, his length sliding past Alex’s balls.
“Ah!” Alex cried out.
“Squeeze your legs together, Alex. Tightly,” he added.
“Oh, Jesus,” Alex whispered, as the heat of ecstasy burned him to the core. Between Ricky’s twisting fingers and the glide of his slick cock against Alex’s balls, Alex’s climax had begun its slow burn on a short fuse. He squeezed his legs tighter as Ricky’s panting breaths and excited groans pushed him to the edge. He wanted Ricky inside him, fucking him without mercy, but he also didn’t want to wait for Ricky to put on a condom. The idea of Ricky inside him without anything between them sent Alex over the edge. He grabbed his dick and in two strokes his body went rigid as the frenzied scald of his orgasm took over.
Ricky yanked his fingers from Alex, grabbed Alex’s hips with both hands, digging in as he rammed himself between Alex’s thighs in three quick, hard thrusts. He shuddered forward on the last, whispering, “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” over and over. When Ricky finished, he rolled off Alex and onto his back.
“That was different,” Alex said.
Ricky laughed, and draped the back of his arm over Alex. “I’d say.”
“Fun though.”
Ricky rolled to his side and propped up on an elbow. “Was it? I mean, for you?” He used one of the small hand towels to wipe the lubricant off his dick.
Alex smiled, loving the way Ricky looked naked—hard or soft, it didn’t matter. “Definitely.”
Ricky nodded once and tenderly stroked the side of Alex’s face. “Good.”
Alex raked a calculated gaze over his lover from his scruffy hair, his tattoos, the happy trail that led to his perfect package, and all of him wrapped in a skinny bundle of tightly coiled muscle. Those green eyes of his, though, bright and inquisitive, were always the biggest surprise. They were gentle and full of humor. A strange contrast to the rest of him.
He could still feel the abrading of Ricky’s beard against his cheek. He wished he was brave enough to steal a kiss. It dawned on him how weird it was that he was bold enough to ask Ricky to shave his ass, but he didn’t have enough courage to ask for something as simple as a meeting of the lips. That kind of affection was rare between them, and usually only when they were in full-on foreplay.
A couple of days earlier, Ricky had kissed him during an orgasm. Alex’s hand went to his lips as he remembered swallowing Ricky’s moan. The moment had made him damned near giddy.
“What?” Ricky asked, bringing Alex back to the present. “Where’d you go?”
Alex smiled. “Nowhere.” It was only then that he noticed the flesh colored bandage on Ricky’s shoulder. “Did you hurt yourself?”
“Huh?”
“There.” He gestured toward Ricky’s shoulder.
“Oh.” Ricky shook his head. “Another tattoo started is all.”
“Can I see?”
Ricky shrugged. “Sure.” He pulled the top of the bandage down, revealing the slightly welted black outline of some kind of beast made of scrollwork.
Alex wanted to reach out and trace the ridged lines with his finger.
Ricky stopped his raised hand before he could actually touch. “It’s still too fresh.” He covered the tattoo again.
The words felt like a rebuff, but Alex covered his hurt with more questions. “You had this done tonight? After work?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Why tonight? Or why a tattoo?”
“I don’t know. Both, I guess.”
“Tonight, because the artist was free, and the tattoos, because they mean something to me.”
“All of them.”
“Each and every one.”
“So what is this one supposed to be?”
“It’s a griffin. Or it will be when it’s done. It has the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.”
“What does it mean to you?”
Ricky stared at Alex for a moment. His prismatic eyes narrowed.
Afraid he’d crossed a line, Alex nearly took back the question. Nearly. Ricky said all his tattoos meant something, and Alex really wanted to know the answer. He held his tongue, waiting Ricky out.
Finally, Ricky nodded. “The griffin is a protector. Fiercely loyal. Once someone is put in its care, it is responsible for that person in this life and after death. I have people in my life I’ve promised to take care of, Alex. This griffin is my reminder of that promise, so that I never forget.”
Ricky’s gaze held an edge Alex couldn’t decipher. He was a mystery Alex wanted to solve, but before he could ask another question, Ricky sat up and moved to the edge of the bed.
He stiffened when Ricky stood up and slipped his pants on. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” he said, as if it were the most logical, natural progression.
Was this a rejection—another act meant to keep him at a distance? “Why?”
“I have an early day tomorrow, and I still have some prep work I need to get done for my rounds.” He stepped into his jeans, pulling them up over his narrow hips.
“You know, you could bring some of your work here if you wanted.” Alex sat up, worried once again that he was saying the wrong thing. “I mean, I don’t mind. It just might be more convenient is all.” He tried to sound like he didn’t care about Ricky’s answer.
“Maybe next time.”
The “maybe” sent a small thrill through Alex. They’d never stayed all night together. They didn’t have that kind of arrangement, but maybe…Impulsively, almost recklessly, he blurted, “My parents have a Fourth of July party every year.”
Ricky pulled on his socks. “Yeah?”
“Do you want to come with me?”
Ricky’s eyes widened. His deep frown creased his brow.
Why had he asked? And why was he a man suddenly possessed by a sabotaging idiot? Take it back. Take it back, his mind chanted. But once again, he held his tongue and waited.
Ricky walked out of the bedroom and out of Alex’s sight.
Alex grimaced. He’d blown it! Ricky made him feel good, better than anyone had in a long time. He kept Alex guessing, he kept it exciting, and fresh, which was a major part of Ricky’s appeal. Why was Alex messing with their chemistry now? Why was he trying to make things between them more than they were? Sighing, he waited for the slam of the front door.
After a few minutes, and no door slam, Alex tried to stay calm when Ricky walked back into the bedroom. He was completely dressed, and the serious expression on his face made Alex nervous. Was Ricky going to break up with him? Of course not. They would have to have a relationship to break up. Was Ricky going to tell him they couldn’t see each other anymore? Alex believed that was a good possibility.
“I’ll go with you,” Ricky finally said, and without another word, he left.
Dumbfounded, Alex moved until he sat at the edge of the bed. A nervous smile twitched at his lips as he asked himself a very honest question. One in which he had no reply. “What the fuck did I just do?”