Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

THEY RETURNED TO VILLARS exhausted, the stale air of too much public transportation sticking to their clothes and hair, but Ty didn't let Elijah get anywhere near the shower in his hotel room before he shoved him against the wall.

"First, you're going to make more of a mess of me," Ty said. "Then, we can shower."

Elijah swallowed at the promise darkening Ty's voice.

"I told you all the way back in Vail I wanted to ride you," Ty said. "I'm done waiting."

Elijah couldn't even manage a breathless "fuck" before Ty kissed him so hard it pressed him back against the wall, hands greedily grabbing at Elijah's clothes. Elijah could have been back up on the dizzying glacial heights they'd seen this afternoon when the vertigo of Ty's hunger hit him. He didn't realize he was sliding away from the wall until he hit the bed and fell onto it with Ty atop him.

Ty pinned Elijah's wrists down and straddled his waist. "Where's your stuff?"

Young or not, Ty was rushing to go about this like it was their only chance.

"Be patient," Elijah said. "We barely just got back."

"It's been months," Ty said. "I'm kind of running low on patience."

Ty was speaking like Vail was a lifetime ago, but to Elijah it felt more like days. Every moment since that dinner back in Colorado had passed in a blur, too incredible to feel like more than the fading tendrils of the most wonderful dream of Elijah's entire life. Apparently, for Ty, things had plodded along at a far more leisurely pace.

He made that clear now as he stripped off Elijah's shirt and started kissing his way down his torso, scrabbling for Elijah's belt buckle the moment he reached his waist. Ty would not be deterred in his mission as he tugged down Elijah's pants and briefs, then peeled off his own shirt.

The scant light of the waning day that managed to sneak past the curtains dripped across the hard planes of his torso. Ty might have been as stony and chiseled as that mountain they'd stood atop today, though far warmer and softer to touch. Elijah couldn't help reaching for him when all that lean frame lay bared before him. He skimmed his hands up Ty's abs and over the slight swell of his toned chest.

Ty dropped into the touch, planting his hands on either side of Elijah so that he perched over him on all fours. His soft curls fell around him like mist and fog coiling around the craggy peaks of the mountains, a tumble that was almost insubstantially soft when Elijah combed a hand through it.

For a moment, it seemed like that slowed Ty down. He dipped, kissing Elijah gently. But when he pushed back up he said, "Where's the goods, Reed?"

Elijah nearly laughed, though it didn't seem the right time for that. Instead, he suddenly gripped Ty by the waist and rolled them both over, placing himself on top this time. Ty was still blinking with surprise when Elijah used this new configuration to reach over to the nightstand and into a toiletries bag containing mostly condoms and lube.

Ty grabbed at the condom the moment Elijah retrieved it, but Elijah held it out of reach.

"Not yet," he said. "You're going to earn it."

Ty's eyes narrowed, but his smile curled. "And how am I expected to do that?"

Elijah grabbed the lube next, squirting some onto his hands and making a show of rubbing it up and down his fingers. "By lying back and spreading your legs."

Ty looked like he was about to protest, but Elijah clenched the condom carefully between his teeth and set to work stripping Ty of his pants and boxers. Elijah's slick fingers were rubbing circles around Ty's rim when he finally gritted out his complaint.

"I know how to prep m-myself," Ty said, voice not quite holding steady.

"Mhm," Elijah said around the condom wrapper.

"I've done it plenty of times," Ty said.

"Mm."

"It'll probably be faster if I—"

Ty's words withered into a moan as Elijah twisted a finger inside him. He pumped, waiting for that telltale relaxing of tense muscle before adding another finger. Elijah braced his thumb against the delicate skin just above Ty's hole and Ty groaned and writhed. He really was exceptionally eager for this, but that wasn't going to make Elijah sloppy and neglectful about this piece of it. He wanted Ty so ready, so open, that any margin of error here disappeared.

Ty would probably laugh at him, if he weren't too busy clutching at the sheets and moaning Elijah's name in clipped whimpers. Ty liked dynamic movements, the type of climbing that had a high chance of failure before you finally got it right, but that simply wasn't Elijah's style. He'd have to go at Elijah's pace this time, whether he wanted to or not.

Elijah wasn't going to get more than one shot at making this particular first with Ty everything they both wanted it to be. He had to get it right tonight. Thus, he curled his fingers, prodding in deep and slow even as Ty nearly wept for Elijah to go "faster, faster, fuck, do it faster."

He was stunning like this, painted in faint ribbons of fading light, lithe and strong and taut as he tensed with pleasure. Ty's gasps were puffs of song beckoning Elijah onward. Every muscle in his body told a story of need and heat and desire that coursed through both of them via the shared scratch of ragged breaths brushing against skin flushed with lust.

Elijah could have remained perched over Ty, watching each beat of pleasure ripple through his entire body, but Ty would never forgive him for leaving him on the cusp. So he slowed his deliberate pace and eased his fingers free. Ty sank down to the mattress, but did not quite relax, his keen eyes darting to the condom still clenched between Elijah's teeth.

Elijah finally plucked it free.

Ty's eyes traced every movement. He gnawed on his lip as he observed Elijah's perfunctory preparation. Elijah had to look away to keep from lunging down and seizing that bitten lip for himself.

He therefore noticed a second too late when Ty grabbed Elijah's shoulders so he could roll them both back over.

"Was I not clear enough?" Ty said, a laugh edging into his voice .

Elijah let a grin break free across his mouth. "No, no, you've been extremely clear."

Ty's wore a smirk to match Elijah's. He set his hands on Elijah's chest and raised up on his knees, grabbing Elijah to guide him. Elijah simply held still. Ty was clearly on a mission and would not be deterred. Ty fit Elijah against himself, grunting a little as he moved downward.

Elijah had to swallow before he said, "I-it's not too much, is it?"

Ty huffed a laugh, responding by sinking down even more, easing himself onto Elijah until he could set both hands back on Elijah's chest.

"I told you, Reed. I know what I want."

Using Elijah for leverage, Ty rocked his hips, starting slow, shifting over Elijah. It took a couple bewildered blinks before Elijah had the wherewithal to slide his hands up Ty's thighs, which were spread around him, and grip him by the hips. Ty rolled into the touch, hands curling on Elijah's chest.

Fuck, it was difficult to lie there doing little more than holding Ty and jerking up at him, but Ty was clearly the one running this show. Elijah suspected that if he did any more, Ty would wrest control back.

He was beautiful above Elijah, back curling, thighs flexing as he took what he wanted with hard jerks of his hips. Elijah ran his hands lower, cupping the firm muscle of Ty's ass, using that grip to follow Ty's motion with his whole body. Elijah found his place within this dance Ty led, a beat he could join with short thrusts.

Ty moaned his appreciation, nails biting at Elijah's chests in sharp, bright pinpricks. "Yeah, exactly like that," he gasped.

The idea that Elijah wouldn't follow Ty's every breath and shiver was ludicrous, but he said, "I've got you," and steadfastly repeated the motions that had knocked those breathy exhales out of Ty's chest.

"Fuck."

Ty lowered his head like a runner in the final stretch, hunching forward even more. Elijah probably could have flipped them again in that moment, could have thrown Ty on his back and finished this hard and fast. But that wasn't what Ty had demanded tonight.

Instead, Elijah gritted his teeth and used the hands on Ty's ass to jerk him up and down, matching the pace to the thrust of his hips. Ty let out a cry, nails clawing tracks in Elijah's chest as he threw his body into the movement as well.

Elijah strained to hold himself together. He pried one hand off that tight ass to fumble for Ty's cock. Not everyone stayed hard when doing this, even if they were enjoying it, but Elijah found Ty almost brittle with arousal. One stroke and Ty was biting out another cry and clenching around Elijah, the heat like a geyser spitting and snapping just before it boiled over .

"Elijah, fuck, I need you to keep doing that," Ty panted.

Elijah paused, cruelly, deliberately. Ty pried his eyes open, eyebrows curling with agonized pleasure as he desperately kept up the pace despite Elijah's break in the momentum.

"Only if you say my name like that again," Elijah said.

"Fuck," Ty said, managing a breathy laugh.

Then he bent down until his lips hovered a hair's breadth from Elijah's, and said, silky as the heated darkness suffusing the room, "Finish me, Elijah."

Elijah jerked Ty hard and fast and Ty nearly screamed down at him, hips frantic as he chased Elijah's hand. The room went fuzzy and dark as Elijah's eyes shut. He sprinted after Ty with his hand and hips, following his joyous shrieks as Ty led them both to the edge.

Elijah arrived first, which afforded him a surreal, dream-like moment of watching Ty's pleasure wash over him. He curled up with tension, then spilled into Elijah's hand and clenched tighter around him. He relaxed with a long, breathless sigh, all of his weight sinking onto Elijah.

Despite the mess, they stayed that way a moment, readjusting so Ty could rest atop Elijah's chest. Their panting pushed their sweaty skin closer, limbs a limp tumble.

Elijah floated in a warm haze. The second he moved would be the second he disturbed this perfect peace wrapped around them, so he held still and let his heavy eyes shut. A single thought drifted through his mind, the memory of him and Ty standing atop that peak earlier today, looking out at the mountains clustered around them. He recalled Ty's words then, his suggestion that the two of them could spend all their time that way, alone together with nothing but rocks observing them.

It sounded impossibly sweet, even lying here now with Ty in his arms. Yet Elijah couldn't stop himself from yearning for it, imagining it, piecing it together in his mind like a puzzle. It wasn't as far-fetched as it sounded, but it also wasn't something they could have right away. They were both supposed to compete this weekend. Even if it proved Elijah's last comp, it wouldn't be Ty's. He had too much talent and time ahead of him to go running off into the mountains.

For now, that vision would have to remain a "some day," a warm dream buoyed by the heat still flushing their skin as they curled around each other in a delirious heap of pleasure.