13. Heath

Chapter 13

Heath

M arko still has an issue with riding in my car and insisted we take his bike to his place.

I wasn’t about to complain about being smooshed up against his back, nuts to butt and hanging on to the man. If I’m being honest—and I am—hugging him while he drives a bike that actually vibrates under you is a major fucking turn-on. I’d grope him if I wasn’t afraid of distracting him and causing an accident.

But as soon as he tells me I can get off, I can’t keep that promise. No, I won’t keep that promise because since I kissed him, it’s like I’ve walked into a dark room and found the light switch after my flashlight died. Marko did that.

Everything is so clear now.

And I don’t want to go back to the feeling of fumbling in the dark. My entire life has been bumbling from one thing to the next and trying to find a place to fit. I thought it was limited to choosing my career path and purpose in life, but it’s extended to my love life too.

The bike gears down and he slows as we travel the brief part of his road that’s unpaved. Then he’s turning into his driveway and stopping under the carport. My skin is bubbly and if I were a shaken bottle of pop, this is what it would feel like right before you pop the lid off.

Marko taps my leg, and I dismount from the bike without causing bodily damage, but my fingers shake and fumble as I try to remove my helmet. His steady hands push mine aside as he unbuckles and slides the helmet off me.

His scruffy grin and messed up hair paired with those damn tattoos are like a direct line to my libido. Marko stands a full head taller than me, and I sort of like that I have to look up at him and pull him down to kiss me.

Pushing up on my toes, I grab his neck, pulling his lips down to mine.

His hands grip my waist as we stumble backward.

“ Oomph .” My back hits the side of his house, and Marko pins me in place with a thigh between my legs. In one swift move, my hands are over my head, and he peers down at me.

“Sorry.” Marko smirks.

“No, you’re not.” My voice is so low and breathless that I barely recognize it.

He laughs softly as he brings his lips to my neck.

Holy shit, I like that.

“You’re right. I’m not sorry. I like you like this.” His teeth graze my collarbone, and I stretch to get his lips on mine, but I’m distracted when he presses his thigh harder against my dick.

“Oh, shit…” Rocking my hips, I struggle to touch him and forget he has me pinned. Everywhere .

“Marko…let me touch you or something.”

The rumble from his chest as he chuckles vibrates through me. "Not yet." Marko pulls away slightly and rests his forehead against mine. “If I let you loose, you’ll be like a monkey after a banana. I can see it in those damn eyes of yours.” He kisses my neck again. “Slow down.”

I bark a laugh, and he grins at me. Marko’s dimple shows again, right above his scruff. Good lord, he’s hot. Who knew a single dimple would turn me on so much?

“Are you saying there’s a banana in your pants? Because that’s not attractive and might not turn out the best for you. They make mini bananas, you know.”

Marko’s eyes widen. “You’re…” He snorts and shakes his head. “You’re ridiculous.” He chuckles and presses his thigh against me again. God damn, this man knows what he’s doing. “No banana. You’ve just got that look in your eyes that means I need you to slow down or I’m going to come far too fast. I don’t want that.”

His eyes soften as he whispers near my ear. His warm breath across my heated skin somehow causes a shiver to race through me. How does he do that? I’m a quivering pile of goo and nothing has happened!

“You can come twice, then. You’re not that old.”

Marko’s lips smile against my skin before he finally pulls back to let me see him again.

“No, I’m not, and I can, but…” Marko brings his free hand up to cradle my cheek. “I want nothing cheap or rushed with you, Heath. I want to take my time and discover what you like. You deserve that.”

He takes my lips in a deep kiss that makes my toes curl, and okay, I can get on board with slow if that’s what he wants. I think.

“I’ll behave,” I mumble and he releases my wrists.

“Good boy. ”

Okay. Um, that’s new. Kinda like it when he says that. I shift my hips again to press on his thigh and he raises an eyebrow.

“Heath.” His voice is low but commanding, and I stop.

“You’re gonna kill me here.”

“But what a way to go, right?”

I snap my teeth and nip at his jaw as he laughs and removes his thigh.

“It would be tragic to leave you, but I’d no doubt leave this world the happiest I’ve ever been.” He takes me by the hand and tugs me to the front door. “Right now, though, I want you inside and naked.”

As soon as he turns the deadbolt on his door, it’s on.

I tear my shirt off and bounce out of my shoes. The button on my jeans nearly pops off as I rip them open and I’ve shimmied out of my pants all before Marko has even crossed the room.

He stands in front of me, completely clothed, which is against the rules here, while I still have one sock and my boxers on.

“Do you always rush, dragi ?”

Marko leans against the kitchen island, calm and casual, like he has all the time in the world.

“You know what? No. But I’m…you…” I puff out a breath and close my eyes. “I just really want to do this with you. And I don’t know what you just called me, but I love it when you speak Croatian.”

Marko steps towards me and smooths his palm down my neck. My eyes drop closed as I bask in his touch. “It means ‘my dear.’”

Everywhere he touches me, it’s like he raises the temperature a million degrees. I open my eyes to his warm, hungry gaze. But there's something else. A fleeting glimpse of something I understand well.

Longing. Aching. Hope.

“The feeling is mutual, Heath, but I’m not quite as…unrestrained as you. I like it though. To know you’re that eager to be with me. It makes me feel like a king.”

Taking a step towards him, I loop my arms around his neck and stretch up. “I can slow down. I just, I…fuck, I want you to touch me, Marko.”

Am I begging? Maybe. I don’t care though.

Marko’s lips crash into mine and I’m lost for breath as he does exactly what I asked for. His hands are everywhere on my body, leaving trails of heat in their wake. When he squeezes my ass, I damn near explode. The tattooed hands I’ve admired for weeks are no longer holding coffee cups but cupping my ass, and that’s enough to tilt my world. It’s not even sex, and it’s already the best sexual encounter I’ve ever had. Nothing has ever felt this consuming or passionate. This right .

He releases me to rip off his shirt and toss it behind him, and I slide my hand across the smattering of dark chest hair. Another tattoo near his heart, the Croatian flag, and I trace the edges of it. There’s more ink down his left side, and I allow my hand to drift along the edges. His olive-toned skin goes well with the mostly black pieces. My fingers stop at the button of his pants.

Marko grabs my wrist gently and brings it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to my palm.

“Take them off me.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice. ”

That’s like asking a kid if they want to open a Christmas gift early. They’re never going to turn it down, and I’ve never ached to be close to someone skin-on-skin like I do right now. My hands shake as I peel his jeans down. A wet patch blooms on his boxers, and I gaze up to Marko. He nods and I continue dipping my fingers under the elastic and sliding them over his ass before pulling them down.

Marko is naked. Holy shit. We’re naked together and I’m harder than an exposed nipple in January.

Marko’s laugh rumbles and I snap my eyes to his amused grin.

“I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“You did.” His hands grip my hips, and he presses against me. “ Jebote , Heath. I want to make you mine.”

I’m not a small guy. I may be shorter than some, but I’m compact with muscle from all the farm labour. Marko lifts me like I’m a feather, and I damn near swoon as he walks over to the couch and, somehow, we sit with me straddled on his lap.

Sliding my hands through his hair, I rock my hips and feel our hard cocks touch.

“God…Marko…” I gulp in air, feeling like a fish out of water. My entire body burns as hot as a forest fire and every kiss he plants on my flesh fans the flames.

Lips feather across my collarbone and up my neck. Marko’s hands are firm on my ass as he urges me forward in my awkward bucking and grinding. He murmurs more Croatian words near my ear and I lose my mind.

“Fuck, fuck…Marko…”

My groan reminds me of the sound the donkey makes when he has to get up off the ground. It’s not sexy at all. But my fingers pull on Marko’s hair, tilting his head back to me and I smash my lips to his so hard our teeth crack. I should really come with a warning sign. Caution: Injury may occur, ride at your own risk.

My balls draw up so tight I fear they might shoot off sideways and I come all over Marko. Panting and shaking, my gaze meets Marko’s and I find him watching me with a smug grin.

“Holy shit. Holy. Shit. I just covered you with my cum.”

Marko chuckles and removes one of my hands from his hair. He kisses my knuckles, then my wrist.

“You did. I want you to add to it.” He leads my hand between our bodies and slides it through the mess I made before placing my hand on his dick. “Stroke it, Heath.”

“Fuck, that’s so hot.”

Marko’s answering gasp as I jerk him off with my release is fucking addictive. His cock is so much thicker than mine. It’s heavy in my hand and I wonder what it might be like to have it in my mouth. Glancing up at his face, Marko’s molten gaze is locked on me, not my hand. Swallowing hard, I don’t break the eye contact. I can’t. Marko is, well, just as turned on as I am, and it sort of overloads my brain.

“Heath… tako…”

I don’t know what that means, but it must be good. You don’t sound like that and mean something bad. He strings a few more words together that I don’t understand, but holy shit, do I love how they sound. His accent is a dick hardener.

Marko tenses and I speed up my strokes, pleased when the cutest whine escapes his plush lips. He comes with a shudder, and he still quakes as I slow my speed, but I can’t stop touching him. Even as his dick softens in my hand, I don’t want to let go, which is odd. It’s not like I can keep my hand in his pants 24/7.

“Heath? Are you okay?”

Marko reaches for my hand and joins our sticky fingers.

“I’m great. Peachy, even.”

“Peachy?”

Swallowing, I nod as I explain. “Yeah. I’m all fuzzy like a peach.”

His brow furrows. “Is that what it means?”

I shrug. “I don’t know, but that’s what I think it means. And it’s good. I feel fuzzy inside and,” I raise our joined hands, “sticky on the outside. Which is the opposite of a peach, I realize, but it still fits. So, yeah, I’m peachy.”

Marko’s eyes crinkle at the sides when he laughs, and my heart gallops.

“Okay. Peachy is good. No regrets?”

“Only that I wish I figured this out sooner.”

He leans up and kisses me, soft and languid this time, and I melt against him. His touch is so…tender? Gentle? I don’t know how to describe it, but right now I trust him with all my soul and it all just feels too good to stop.

“Is it too much to offer to share the shower with me?”

“No,” I breathe, suddenly overcome with more than just a wanton sexual need for him.

His hand gently taps my thigh, just like when I’m on his bike, and I stand.

“I’d offer you a hand but…” I hold them both up, now coated in drying cum, and I snort. “I guess it doesn’t matter, does it?”

Marko pushes off the sofa and stares down at the mess on his stomach .

“Nah. I think we’re beyond that now.” He grabs one of my messy hands with his own and tugs me after him down the hall to his bathroom.

As he turns the water on and grabs fresh towels for us, I’m not ashamed to catalogue every tattoo, every muscle twitch, and every soft curve and hard line on Marko’s body.

I’ve never felt more alive or comfortable than I do right now.

With him.

Marko turns to invite me inside first and once we’re under the spray, a whole new wash of desire spreads over me. He’s magnificent as he tilts his head back, his black hair now wet and dripping. Water runs a path down his tattooed chest, and he rubs at the mess of cum on his stomach.

“What is it, Heath? You’re very quiet.”

“Sorry…I was, um, just admiring you. You’re like one of the tattoo models I like to look at online. But you’re here, and I’m in a shower with you, and I…” I’m babbling again. Probably easier to just show him.

Stepping into him, I reach up and drag his mouth to mine and kiss him until my lungs hurt and I have to step back. Fuck, even my hands are shaking.

“That’s what I was thinking. Think you have one more in you tonight?”

Marko’s grin slowly spreads, and he presses me back against the tile.

“For you? I have whatever you want.”

“Does that include breakfast?”

He pauses and brushes his fingers across my collarbone. “If that’s what you want, I’ll give it to you. ”

“I like food.”

He chuckles before shutting the water off. “I know you do, dragi. I’ll take care of you.”

Isn’t that what we all want? Someone to take care of us?

“I trust you.”

My voice is a scratchy whisper, and my heart bangs all over my chest. Because I do trust him and not just with food.