Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Tate shut his eyes and tried to block another of those damn emotional surges. But this time, it didn’t work. When he opened his eyes, he found Liam watching him with so much care in his gaze that he was finally able to speak. “It hurts,” he whispered.
Yes, the black eye and busted nose hurt, but that wasn’t what he meant.
“I know.” Liam didn’t need him to explain. He understood the pain Tate referred to came from the rejection and hatred of the people who were supposed to love him. It lived deep inside him, eating away at his heart. “Come here.” Liam wrapped his strong dancer's arms around Tate and drew his head into the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry, baby,” he whispered. “You deserve so much better. You are worth so much more.”
Hot tears stung the inside of his eyelids, and this time, he knew he’d lose the battle to halt them. Liam had to feel the wetness dropping onto his skin, but he didn’t comment on it and just tightened his hold. Tate let everything out. Every ounce of frustration, disappointment, fear, and sadness purged out of his soul and soaked onto Liam’s shirt.
His man stood silent like the strongest pillar, keeping Tate from crumbling to the dust. How had he ever thought he’d go through life without feeling a connection like this?
When the tears finally dried up, the warm press of Liam’s lips coasted up his neck. Goose bumps erupted all over his skin, and a shiver rippled through him. He turned his head and found Liam’s mouth, stealing a deep, mind-melting kiss.
He unwound his arms from around Liam and gripped the man’s head instead, pouring every ounce of desire and love he had into the kiss. Liam moaned when their tongues met. Tate didn’t give him a second to process. He wanted Liam to be a whimpering mess, begging for him.
He kissed him with rough, aggressive strokes of his tongue that demanded a response. His injuries protested the pressure and movement, but Tate ignored it with ease. The pleasure of Liam’s lips on his was worth any amount of pain.
“Jesus,” Liam whispered against his mouth when he finally let them pause for air.
“I want you so fucking badly, Luxe,” Tate said as he kissed him again.
“Take me, Tate. I’m yours.”
He swallowed and leaned back a few inches. “Not this time. This time I…” Shit, nerves zinged through his blood. “I want you to fuck me.”
Liam gasped, and his eyes widened larger than those plates of pie. “Tate, you’re injured, and you don’t have to prove anyth—”
“That’s not what this is.” He kissed Liam, then again, and one final time, unable to stop sampling his sweetness. “I want to feel you, Luxe. I want to feel you in every way I possibly can. I want you to take me somewhere else. I don’t want to think. I just want to feel. I want to feel you inside me.”
“Well, fuck, Tate, I want that too. I’m shaking I want that so badly.” Liam stretched up and whispered in his ear. “You’re going to feel like heaven on earth coming around my cock, and I’m going to make you come harder than you ever have before. By the end of the night, you’ll be addicted to my cock in your ass.”
Jesus.
His knees shook, and his breath shuttered. “Fuck, Luxe, I'm already addicted to you in every other way.”
Liam took his hand and drew him toward the bedroom, blowing candles out along the way.
There were nerves, but they came from the unknown of a new experience. He trusted Liam with everything he had and knew his man would make his first time amazing. And if he had any say in the matter, the first man he allowed in his ass would be the last.
Over and over for the rest of their lives.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
LIAM’S HAND TREMBLED with combined nervous and excited anticipation.
He wanted, needed, to give Tate the best night of his life. To make all the trauma he went through today worth it. To make it so Tate would never, not for a single second, regret choosing to take Liam’s hand in front of his family and walk away.
The depth of Tate’s agony had been written all over his face and in the stiff way he’d carried himself. Randy confirmed Tate’s worst fear, and the aftermath was devastating. The entire goal of bringing him here and feeding him his favorite dessert had been to ease a little of his suffering. When Tate had whispered, “It hurts,” Liam’s heart cracked in two.
He’d give everything he had to spare Tate that pain.
Liam couldn’t travel back in time and erase the toxicity of the afternoon, but he could do his damnedest to replace that memory with one that would make today unforgettable for a fantastic reason.