Read Kate Sherwood - Dark Horse 2.2 - Head Shy Online
Authors: Kate Sherwood
"I'm going to go have a look at what we've got for dinner. Do you guys want to go sit out back?" He's not at all hungry, but he figures he will be in a couple hours, and it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. And even if he's not hungry, lord knows Evan soon will be.
"We could just order in, man." Evan looks a little guilty, as if he's
Dan lifts up his hands in surrender. "No, man, be a heathen if you want to—real barbeque would be wasted on y'all anyhow." He looks over at Chris. "And don't even start with your Kentucky crap."
Evan wraps his arms around Dan from behind, squeezes just a little. "Hey, man, you twanged! And you're awake, sober, without a brain injury! Keep it up, you sexy cowboy, you!"
Dan shrugs his arms off emphatically, and Jeff smiles to himself. Dan and Evan are often pretty playful, but they're even more so when Chris is around, like everyone wants a chance to play fight. Jeff likes to watch, but he generally keeps out of it himself.
Evan heads for the liquor cabinet and pulls out a bottle; Jeff leans over and pulls glasses out of the cabinet, and Dan opens the freezer door, reaching for the ice. Chris just watches, but he can't keep his mouth shut for long. "Excellent, everyone is serving me. I'm glad you guys have finally figured out how it should be… now you just need to convince the world." Dan drops a few ice cubes into one of Jeff's glass, then makes the back-of-the-throat sound to suggest that he's about to hork a loogie into Chris's drink.
It's immature, and gross, and Jeff burrows his head into Dan's neck and kisses him where the tendons stretch across. The Dan from the stadium would never have made such a sound, and, okay, Jeff really never wants to hear it again, but he's glad the Dan who makes it is back. Dan laughs a little and leans his head in just the right way, giving Jeff space but also contact, and it hurts Jeff sometimes, how hard he's falling for this complicated, beautiful man. Scares him to death at the same time that it
Evan lets his fingers brush over their backs as he leans past them to start filling glasses, and that's perfect too, the way Evan has opened up and relaxed lately, stopped worrying and let himself have fun. Jeff thinks about the night before, about what he'd told Dan; he's more than happy with every aspect of their relationship, couldn't care less if Dan ever bottoms. But he does worry sometimes, wonders about Dan's past, and how parts of it still affect his present. Jeff's got a feeling that Dan's been through a hell of a lot, and he can gloss over it and brush it off all he wants, he's not fooling Jeff. Jeff considers himself a gentle man, a pacifist, but sometimes his hands form into fists all on their own and he wants to go back and beat the crap out of everyone who's ever hurt Dan, starting with his worthless deadbeat of a father, but absolutely continuing on until he finds the someone or someones who made Dan uncomfortable with any aspect of his sexuality.
But now isn't the time for thoughts like that, and he nudges a little, pushing Dan in the direction of the door out to the back deck. "Go sit." He straightens up, making it clear that he's talking to all of them. "I'll be out in a couple minutes."
Evan and Chris head for the door obediently, but Dan hangs back. "I'll help." Jeff can see Evan's knowing smirk as he closes the door behind himself and Chris.
Jeff forces himself to step away from Dan and open the fridge, taking a quick inventory. "You like that grilled vegetable thing, right? With the marinade?"
Jeff turns around, and Dan lets his fingers trail along Jeff's skin, giving him goosebumps. "I don't think that's quite how it works, sweetheart." And Jeff hates doing it, but he knows that he'll be happy he did, so he gently lifts Dan's fingers away, pressing them back towards him. "Now, hands to yourself, we need to get the vegetables chopped up."
Dan groans, but he obeys, moving over to the counter and pulling out a cutting board and knife. Jeff smiles at him. "We could do pasta too, later, and maybe one steak, between all of us? Grill it up and then cut it into slivers, mix it with the pasta and veggies?"
Dan shrugs. "Sure. I mean… you're asking the wrong guy if you want some sort of actual critique, you know that, right? It all sounds good to me."
And even the hint of self-deprecation is enough to fire up Jeff's protective urges, but he restrains himself, just smiles and shakes his head. "Nah, I'm asking the right guy. I don't need a critique, I just want to hear you talk."
And screw the vegetables, because Dan's eyes are burning into Jeff's and he can feel himself getting hard just from that, just from a look, and Jeff knows he's in way over his head with this guy. When Dan starts talking, the game is pretty much over. "Yeah, you like to hear me talk, don't you, Jeff?"
And, fuck, yeah, Jeff likes it when Dan talks. But he pulls himself back, manages to dredge up some minuscule drop of control from God knows where, and crouches down to start pulling vegetables out of the fridge. He doesn't even look back, just reaches his hand up with three different colored bell peppers in it, and Dan is there, takes them with such
a slight caress to Jeff's hand that it might have been accidental, except that Jeff knows damn well that it wasn't. He finds asparagus, zucchini, portobello mushrooms and some red onions, and hands them all up to Dan, trying to ignore the heat from Dan's touch with each pass.
"Get those washed, okay, and then chop them? Big pieces for grilling. I'll get started on the marinade." Jeff's pleased that his voice isn't
too
out of control.
"Yes, sir," Dan says, and it's not sarcastic, it's soft and respectful and it hints of things Jeff doesn't normally even let himself think about, and he leans his head against the refrigerator door, trying to get rid of some of the heat that's trying to burn away his will power. Dan sees the reaction and snickers a little, and that helps; it doesn't turn Jeff off, exactly, it just brings him back to where they are, his prosaic kitchen, not a darkened, mirror-lined room, not… Jesus, not now. He takes a breath to center himself and starts pulling out the ingredients for the marinade.
They work quietly for a bit, and Dan isn't letting it go, still bumps his hips up against Jeff, leans across him to reach for something every now and then, and it's definitely enough to keep Jeff interested, keep him hard, but Dan isn't pushing, and Jeff knows him well enough to know that he's absolutely willing to take charge when he wants to. Right now apparently he wants to be a tease, and Jeff is a more-than-willing victim of it all. Jeff gets the marinade whisked together and then helps out with the vegetables, and they spread them out in a big casserole dish and pour the marinade on top, and Jeff pulls a steak out of the freezer and leaves it to thaw on the counter, safe food handling rules be damned.
Jeff turns the water on to wash his hands, and then Dan is there beside him, soaping up his own hands and then running them over Jeff's, washing them slowly, sensuously, and Jeff bites back a groan and closes his eyes, lets Dan take care of him. When Dan's satisfied, he turns off the
water, reaches for the towel, and dries Jeff's hands just as thoroughly as he'd washed them. He presses the softest hint of a kiss to the corner of Jeff's mouth, then steps away.
"So, we ready to go out and join them?" He asks, and his tone is just as teasing as his actions have been for the last ten minutes, and now, with the deadline in sight, there's the additional challenge of 'what are you going to do about it?' implicit in his words.
Jeff doesn't answer, and Dan shifts towards the door, moving slowly, waiting for Jeff's reaction, and Jeff doesn't really try to fight it, knows that he'd never win. When Dan is directly in front of him Jeff's hand shoots out and grabs Dan by the wrist, holds tight, almost too tight, and his other hand grabs Dan's waist and twists, spins, and then their bodies are lined up and Jeff's pushing Dan backwards, driving him into the wall and groaning in against him. Jeff's head is sideways, Dan's lips against his cheek, and Jeff can feel it as Dan starts to smile in triumph. But that's not how it works, Dan isn't the one who wins here, he isn't the one who's taking anything, and Jeff squeezes his wrist a little tighter, brings his hand out to catch Dan's other wrist and raise both of his arms up over his head. Jeff presses Dan's wrists up against the wall, holds them there with one hand, and Dan could break the hold, Jeff would let go if he even tried to struggle, but he doesn't, he just melts, surrenders, and Jeff brings his other hand down over Dan's chest, his ass, running it wherever he wants because Dan's body is his, he
owns
it, at least until Dan decides to take it back.
And Jeff doesn't get it, doesn't understand how Dan can be so willing, so
hungry
to be submissive, and still not want to take the next step and let Jeff fuck him. Because that's the logical way to continue, as far as Jeff is concerned, to get Dan naked and turn him around and brace him up against the counter, to tease him open and make him beg and then drive into him hard, push him up onto his toes and grab hold of his hair and make his back arch, to bite into his shoulders and then lick it better, to
But Jeff can't do that, not because he thinks Dan wouldn't let him but because he's afraid that Dan
would
, and Jeff won't add his name to the list of guys who have messed Dan up. This much is fine, Jeff won't do anything that he and Dan haven't done before, and the hardness under Jeff's hand as he starts undoing Dan's pants makes it clear that he is pretty enthusiastic about what they're doing so far. But Jeff wants more, for himself and for Dan, and he growls a little in frustration. The sound turns to a grunt of satisfaction as he gets Dan's pants undone and reaches inside to find Dan hard and leaking, the head of his cock sticking up out of the waistband of his underwear.
Jeff wishes he was a bit more prepared, because he'd like to reinforce the situation with a little more than just his words, but he knows Dan will obey, and maybe that makes it even hotter than if Dan was physically restrained. "Your hands don't move," he growls. "Understand?"
"Yes, sir," and there it is again, and Jeff wants to know if someone taught Dan that or if he came up with it himself, or maybe he doesn't, and he pushes the question out of his mind for the time being, focuses on getting Dan's shirt undone and pushed to the side. Hrubs his stubbled face over all that pale skin, and the hint of redness that comes in response makes him think of so many other things he'd like to do.
But for now, he slides his head down, takes the head of Dan's cock in his mouth, just for a quick suck, and then he lifts off again and works his way back up Dan's body to his mouth. "It isn't nice to tease, is it, boy?" He kisses hard, works his own pants open with one hand while the other runs up to check that Dan's been obedient with his hands, even though Jeff knows that he has.
"No, sir," Dan whispers. "I'm sorry." And that almost breaks Jeff's
heart, he doesn't want Dan to be sorry for anything, ever, not even in play, but he doesn't know how to reassure, doesn't know how to take his words back without breaking the mood, so he kisses Dan instead, hard but not rough, and he hopes Dan knows how he feels.
He's got his own pants down now, and again every instinct is to push forward, to rut against Dan and then into him, to find the tight warmth and fill it up, but he holds back, just pulls Dan's underwear lower and lines their dicks up, wraps a hand around them both and pushes into that. It's not what he wants but it's the next best thing, and Dan's mouth is warm and wet and Jeff fucks into that with his tongue, and Dan arches against him and joins in the rhythm, and Jeff can usually last a long time, but this time, with Dan having teased him for so long beforehand, and being so soft and willing and submissive, Jeff can feel his orgasm building quickly. He can feel himself losing the rhythm, getting disorganized with his mouth and hands, and then Dan whispers in his ear. "Please, sir. Come on me, please…" and that's all it takes, Jeff lets go, shuddering his release as Dan nips and then sucks on his earlobe.
He comes back to himself and realizes that Dan is still hard, is kissing and licking along Jeff's jawline and waiting not entirely patiently, and Jeff turns his head enough to catch his mouth, and maybe he's still a little sloppy, not too coordinated, but Dan doesn't complain, moaning softly into the kiss and pressing forward with his body. Jeff lets himself take a moment to enjoy the kiss, but then he slides down Dan's body finds the come on Dan's belly and licks it off gently, then kisses the skin there and moves a little further down. Dan's cock jerks when Jeff takes it in his mouth, and judging by the sounds Dan's making, it's not going to take too long to finish this off.
what's up until Dan manages to reach down with his mouth and catch one of Jeff's fingers between his teeth. That's fine, that's confusing, but okay, but then Dan isn't sucking on the finger so much as working it around in his mouth, and it's really wet, and if Jeff didn't know better, he'd say…
He pulls off of Dan's cock for a second, and looks up as Dan lifts his mouth from around Jeff's finger, leaving it covered in spit. "Just one finger, sir? Please? Just one." Jeff can tell that Dan senses his concern. "Please?"