21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Darren

Christian pulled up his tiny Speedo , covered in teal, pink, yellow, and white swirls. He looked beautiful in them. I didn't have the guts to wear something like that.

I took his hand and led him into the water. It was surprisingly chilly, but it felt refreshing from the heat of the day. I sat in the water, shivered, then pulled Christian down to my lap.

He shivered, too, and I felt the goosebumps travel along his skin. He wrapped his arms around my neck and leaned in for a kiss. It was languidly slow, exploring with our tongues like we'd never kissed before. I couldn't get enough of his plump lips, always sweet from his lip gloss.

I pulled away and kissed along his jawline, which was dusted with fine stubble. He didn't have much, but what he did have, he always made sure to shave it baby smooth, but I hadn't let him this morning. My lips trailed along his jaw and down his throat; one hand on his neck while the other played with his fingers. He angled his head, giving me better access.

Christian's fingers traveled through my hair, gently gripping it and groaning when I nibbled the side of his neck.

"I can't wait to make love to you," I whispered.

He pulled himself closer to me and rested his head on my shoulder, playing with a lock of my hair. My arms wrapped around him tighter, loving his slight body against mine. He may not have been muscular like me, but he was still tight for someone who was allergic to exercise.

"I can't wait, either. I just hope… it doesn't hurt."

"We'll take it real slow. I researched how to do it so it'll be more comfortable. And if it's too much, we'll stop."

"Okay."

Christian and I kissed for a bit longer before we climbed out, dried off, and got dressed. Then I took him for a hike.

"Why does it have to be so hot?" he complained.

"I thought you liked warm weather."

"Yeah, when I'm inside with air conditioning."

"That makes no sense."

"Are there ticks out here?" he asked, looking up at the tree canopy.

"There might be."

He stopped in his tracks, and I turned to him to find him digging his fingers into his hair, wide-eyed. "What about other bugs? Mosquitoes? Oh, god… what about spiders?"

"Baby, I hate to break it to you, but you've got bugs in your house, too. You can't avoid them." I chuckled and pulled off my baseball hat to put on him. "There are definitely ticks, though. And I brought bug spray if we need it when we get back to camp."

He smiled at me sheepishly. "Sorry. I'm not a fan of insects. Or the outdoors. Or sweating. But… I like being anywhere you are."

"Well, I appreciate you facing all your fears for me, Gorgeous. "

We reached the rocky cliff, and I started to climb, helping him up along the way.

When we finally reached the top, Christian looked out at the world around us and gasped. "Okay, I can kind of understand why people love the outdoors. It's gorgeous, Dare."

And it was. There was a nice breeze up there. The trees swayed, making a whispering sound that relaxed you. The view was stunning. We were closer to the Blue Ridge Mountains. You could see the entire world from up there.

"Damn, Dillon said it was beautiful. He and Cade love to camp around here."

"There's a rich beauty to the city, but this is just as amazing."

I pulled Christian against me, and he wrapped his arm around my back.

We sat on the edge of the cliff, dangling our legs off the side, chatting about life and kissing a lot before we headed back to camp. That was exactly what I wanted. To feel like we were the only two people in the world. To enjoy the silence, away from those who hated us. Nature didn't care. Nature would never tell us we didn't belong.

We made our way back quickly, eager to get this party started and grow in our relationship, and desperate to have him finally. But when we climbed down and reached the bottom, Christian slipped on the last six feet and landed hard on his hands and knees.

"Christian!"

I jumped down and looked at his wounds. He winced and curled in on himself.

"Ow, ow, ow…"

"Are you okay?"

He shook his head. "It hurts."

I took his hands and saw they were scraped and bleeding, but not heavily. Then I checked his knees, which looked worse .

I stood, lifted him in my arms, and carried him back to camp as he whimpered.

"Dare, I can walk."

"No," I growled.

By the time we reached camp, I was sweating heavily. Christian didn't weigh much, but carrying him grew harder and harder after a while. I set him on the ground and pulled out the first aid kit that Dillon recommended I bring. It was a good thing he did.

"Sorry," he said. "I wish I was more of an outdoor person."

I cleaned his hands first with some Neosporin wound cleanser to wash the area of dirt. "Even outdoorsy people get hurt, probably more so."

Why did I even bring him out here? I wanted us to have privacy for sex, but Christian just wasn't cut out for camping. He'd always lived in the city. Despite what I'd said about outdoorsy people getting hurt, I hated to see him bleed and mar that gorgeous skin of his. It was even worse to see my baby in pain.

I put some bandages on his knees but left his hands to air dry. "I shouldn't have brought you out here. This is all my fault. Some birthday."

Christian placed a hand on my face. "Dare, it's fine. You wanted us to have a special time alone, which is really sweet. And I love my present."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

I looked down at the dirt, resting my hands on his thighs.

"You're so special, Dare." When I looked up into his pretty red-brown eyes, he pulled me into a kiss, helping me feel better about all this.

"I have cake," I said when we came up for air.

His smile was crooked. "You brought cake?"

"I made a cake."

"Even better."

"Now, it's not the prettiest thing, but I think it'll be good. At least the batter tasted good. "

"Licking batter off a spoon is the best."

I opened the cooler, pulled out the cake, and grabbed two plastic forks and a box of candles I'd brought with me.

"I thought we could eat it just off the plate."

The thing really did look sad. It was crooked and deflated on one side, and the light blue icing was thinner in some areas, and too thick in others.

"Is chocolate okay?" Shit, maybe I should've asked what flavor of cake he liked. I just assumed since he ate chocolate candy sometimes.

"Uh, yeah. Who doesn't like chocolate?"

I placed the plate on top of the cooler, peeled back the plastic covering, and put in seventeen candles. It was hard to light with the breeze, but I'd managed.

"Make a wish."

Christian smiled, then looked at the cake and blew out the flames.

"It's perfect, Dare. Thank you."

After plucking the candles out, I dug into the cake with a fork and fed him a bite. "What do you think?"

"Wow, that's really chocolaty and moist. Nice work."

"Mom might have helped me a bit, but I tried to do most of it on my own. But she said to put in some chocolate pudding. It helped, right?"

"It's amazing."

He had some blue icing on the corner of his mouth, so I leaned in and licked it off. His breath caught, and he turned his head to face me. Soon, we were kissing all over again, enjoying the sweetness on our tongues. Hands were exploring, shoving underneath our shirts, touching skin, pinching nipples, our cake already forgotten. It didn't take long to get me hard.

God, I wanted him more than I needed to breathe. To finally claim him as all mine, inside and out.

"Let's get the fire going since the sun is starting to go down. "

Boldly, Christian pulled his T-shirt over his head, tossing it inside the tent. He then stood, reached inside the tent, and pulled out one of the sleeping bags, laying it out on the ground. "Let's make love out here with the breeze, next to the fire, and all the dang bugs."

"Sounds perfect."

I got the fire going and glanced over at Christian, sitting on the sleeping bag, pulling off his shorts and underwear before sprawling naked on his back.

"Holy fuck, baby…"

God, he was amazing, stunning, beautiful, perfect… he was home .

"How'd I get so lucky?" I asked, toeing off my shoes, pulling my shirt off, and shucking my shorts and underwear. When I was fully naked, I laid down next to him, and we kissed for a bit longer before I rolled him onto his stomach.

"Stay put. I need to get stuff."

I opened my backpack and pulled out a condom and some lube. We really didn't need a condom since we'd never had sex before, but it would probably make Christian feel better since there was no way to prep out here.

When I returned, I kneeled next to him and pulled his ass in the air. "Just keep your ass up. I need to open you up."

God, that was hot. So fucking hot. I was achingly hard just looking at him so vulnerable, exposed, and trusting.

"This feels weird."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"No, I want to do this."

I rolled on the condom and poured lube into my hand. We haven't really explored this area of our bodies. While giving Christian head, I'd touch him in that forbidden zone, but we hadn't done more than that.

Suddenly, I was nervous about doing it right or hurting him despite my thorough research. I plunged ahead anyway as I sank a finger into him, careful and easy, paying close attention to his reactions .

When he pushed back on my fingers, I knew he was okay. Fuck, he had the cutest noises, with little whimpers and groans.

After three fingers, there wasn't much else I could do.

"Sit up."

Christian eased himself onto his knees, looking blissed the fuck out and beautiful with the fire glowing on his pale skin, making his dark hair redder. His lips were so swollen, like he did after going down on me, and his eyes were closed. He was hard and aroused, so he must have enjoyed it. That was promising.

"You okay?" I asked.

He just nodded. "There was some spot you hit and… yeah, I think I saw stars."

I snorted a laugh. "That was probably your prostate, baby."

"I want more prostate."

This time, I threw back my head and laughed. "God, you're so fucking cute."

He huffed in irritation, but there was a crooked smile on his face.

"I'm going to lie on my back, and you're going to run this show. Because I'm not exactly small, I want you to be on top of me and adjust yourself. I'm afraid if I go at it, I'll hurt you."

His eyes opened wide, and he swallowed. "Okay."

"But mostly, I want to be able to see you."

"I'd like to see you, too."

I rolled onto my back, stretched out my legs, and waved Christian over. "Straddle me and see if you can do it. Just remember to breathe through it and push down on me."

He nodded and lined himself up.

If this was as good as I'd read, I was going to want this all the time.

Christian eased down on me with agonizing slowness. Being just barely inside of him had my eyes rolling up into my head and my fingers digging into his thighs.

I focused back on his face to make sure he was okay .

"I'm not sure I know what I'm doing," he said.

"You're doing great. I feel you."

He nodded, his forehead already glistening from sweat.

"It's… so much."

"Do you want to stop?"

He shook his head, his wavy hair spilling into his face. I tucked back strands behind his ears, breathing through my arousal because even this little bit felt so fucking good.

"You're so gorgeous, baby. You can do this."

He sucked in his plump bottom lip and closed his eyes. Suddenly, everything just opened up and swallowed me whole.

"Oh, fuck…" I hissed.

I'd never felt anything like it. Every single nerve was firing. This wasn't going to last long.