33 Ford

Ford

It felt like they had to smuggle me into Atlanta.

It was not a good feeling for someone like me.

Milo cut the feed to the building where Reed owned a penthouse condo that he barely used anymore.

The elevator took us right to the top, and only once I stepped out of the metal box with Austin at my side, did I breathe.

“I’ve have a guest bedroom,” Reed said as he led the way. “I also have an office with a really nice couch, if you need…”

“We’ll be staying in the same bed,” Austin assured him without an ounce of hesitation or shyness.

Reed cocked a smile at me over his shoulder, and my cheeks flamed hot.

I wasn’t embarrassed, I didn’t think. I wasn’t sure why I was being weird. Maybe it just felt good to have someone who didn’t give a fuck and put it out there for everyone without question.

I guess it was just shocking. This was like Austin coming out to his family. He was, in a sense, claiming whatever this was between us in front of his… dad? Older brother?

Okay, I wasn’t sure how he saw Reed. I supposed it didn’t matter. It was the feeling that was the real star of this moment.

And what I felt was… big. Huge. It was said so nonchalantly, but it was a giant blinking sign to everyone. Well, currently only Reed, but I was sure that word would get around very quickly. They often did with tight-knit groups like this one.

Which only left me wondering…

What exactly was this?

How did Austin see… us? Did he see an us after this was all over?

“I’m happy for you,” Reed said, and his face was open with pure delight radiating brightly.

“I’m gonna take a shower then hit the hay, if that’s alright?” Austin said with an exaggerated yawn. His tone had me waiting for him to dip his hat at me with the way he’d turned so Southern.

“Well, then,” Reed said with a knowing smirk on his face. Again, I felt heat hit my cheeks. “Let me show you to your shared room.”

He laughed as he turned and headed further into the condo. Austin flashed a proud smile before dragging me after Reed. I couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up.

Reed left us at the entrance to his guest bedroom, which had a huge bed and more than enough space to move around in. Oh, and an en suite bathroom.

I shut the door and moved our new luggage full of all new clothes, thanks to Reed and the team, to the corner of the room for now.

“You know, I’ve noticed that your accent gets thick when you’re pissed,” I said, pulling Austin into my arms.

“Yeah, well, sometimes it slips out.” He didn’t look too happy about it.

“You also get real country boy when you’re tired.” I leaned in and put my lips next to his ear before adding, “And when you’re horny.”

He snorted.

“Somethin’ you think you could get used to?” he asked as his hand curled around the back of my neck and he threaded his fingers through my hair.

“Not something I’d have to get used to,” I replied back. “Something I already love.”

He went still. I imagine it was at the very last word that left my lips.

Love.

It was a big word, but used often enough to where it could have been brushed off. We’d skated close to it before, but it had never felt right.

Truth be told, it was hard not to fall for him. I think I’d been falling since the moment he picked me up. Once he showed me the person he kept behind his walls, I was already halfway there. So maybe I was seventy-five percent there now. Or ninety-eight percent.

I pulled back just enough to kiss his cheek, and then I whispered, “Let’s take a shower.”

I never thought of myself as a coward before, but I felt like one now. I was scared he’d reject me. Scared he’d tell me this was just for fun. Scared he’d… run from me. So, who could really blame me for holding on to what I had with Austin a little longer?

We showered in silence. It wasn’t painful or awkward, but the air did tingle with a sense of something big on the horizon.

His hands glided over my skin, leaving a trail of bubbles in their wake. Once he had his fill of cleaning me, I took my turn, kissing every inch of his skin I could reach once the soap had washed away.

We crawled into bed naked, still damp and warm from the shower.

That was when it all came crashing down on me. I guess I’d been pushing it away for too long and now it was finally pushing back. We didn’t have Lipton, but I believed we were close. I felt like I could finally breathe for the first time in nearly two weeks. Not a deep breath, but it was enough to make my body feel like it wasn’t about to suffocate. But it was all still there, the shit show my life had become. The uncertainty of the future. Not knowing when this would be over. I felt the panic of it clawing at my back.

Austin curled up at my side and put his head on my chest. His hand pressed over my heart, and I knew he could feel it beating strongly.

“What do you need?” he asked softly as if he sensed I was seconds away from crumbling.

How the fuck did he just know?

If there was ever a time I felt like uncontrollably crying, this was it. And I didn’t even hate it.

“I don’t know,” I answered him honestly. “I’ve never had anyone… I don’t know what it’s like to have someone here for me when I’m like this.”

He scooted closer, throwing a leg over my hip and holding me tight.

“I’ve never been there for someone… like this,” he said. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

I huffed out a soft laugh and though I couldn’t really see his face, I just knew he was smiling.

“Aren’t we a mess, huh?” I whispered.

“I don’t know,” he said with a small shrug that I felt more than saw, “I think we’re kinda perfect.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.”

I slowly inhaled a deep breath.

“Where is this going, Austin?” I asked, not feeling bold or brave as the question came out.

“I think you know, Ford.”

“Sometimes, I feel like I know where your head’s at, but sometimes I’m unsure, and I worry…” This was it. Time to get everything out in the open. Time to speak all the feelings. Time to figure out if we were on the same page or not.

He shifted his weight and straddled me in a blink of an eye. His hands pressed into the mattress beside my head, and his head hung inches above mine.

I ran my hands from the back of his thighs and over the curve of his ass, finally letting them settle on his hips. I held him, fingers threatening to dig into his flesh because I was half afraid he’d be gone with another blink of my eyes.

“I may not know everything about you,” he said, voice deep but soft. “But you’ve got me, Agent.”

I scoffed and opened my mouth to remind him that I was no longer an agent and I was nearly positive I’d never be again.

He stopped my words with a hard, quick kiss.

“You’re good. You’re amazing. You’re…” He paused as if he needed a moment to think of the perfect word. “Mine.”

“I’m yours?” I asked, pushing down the urge to laugh.

“Yep,” he said, popping the p. “You’re mine. I haven’t ever felt this way about someone. I don’t know if I will again, but I also don’t care if it’s possible. You are the first person to want to know who I am without having an agenda behind it. Without looking at me like I’m a monster like my father. Without this judgment in the back of your head. You didn’t ask. You were just there, waiting for me to tell you what I needed to say… to get it out. And maybe some people would say that I’m clinging to you because of that release and the comfort you gave me while purging it, but I’m going to say fuck that shit. I don’t think so, and if it is, I don’t fucking care.”

He paused, his hard swallow audible in the silent room. I gave his hips a comforting squeeze to let him know I was there and he was safe.

“See, shit like that,” he said. His voice sounded thick and wet like he was on the verge of crying. “You know what I need, and you know that most of the time the last thing I need is words. You give that to me and I’m sure you don’t even think about it when you do it.”

He was right, I didn’t. I just did most of the time because that was what I felt.

“I’m crazy about you, Ford. Tell me you’re crazy about me. Tell me I’m not alone. Tell me there is more for us. Please. And if you don’t feel the same, all I ask is that you’re kind when you walk away from me.”

He sucked in a shuddering breath.

“Oh, honey,” I said. I released his hips and brought my hand up to grab his cheeks. My thumbs ran under his eyes, feeling that it was damp like I’d suspected.

“I don’t need you to love me today or tomorrow or the next day,” he said before I could get another word out. “I just need to know that you can see yourself loving me.”

“I do,” I rasped. I was the choked-up one now. “I do see myself loving you. Now, tomorrow, a year from now. You say I’ve done so much for you, but I don’t think you realize what you’ve done for me. You’ve opened me up in ways I didn’t know I was closed.”

I kissed him softly. I held him close. I showed him that I wasn’t going to let him go.

“I don’t think I could walk away from you if I tried,” I told him as I kissed his tears away.

I held his face to mine and kissed him hard. His hands roamed my body. His touch was soft, his movements were slow. They said we had all the time in the world. And I guess we kind of did. There was no rush now that we’d said we were both in this. No deadline looming in the background. No final touch as long as we both stayed on the same page.

Which was something I wasn’t worried about.

Austin had proved to me that he could be open and honest. I knew it took time and communication to keep a relationship going strong. I thought if two people could make it work, it would be us. Plus, these feelings were deep. The kind you’d have to cut out if you wanted to walk away.

I sure as hell wasn’t going to turn my back on this.

I didn’t think Austin would either.

“Say it,” he urged me as if he knew it was right there on the tip of my tongue, ready to slip out the moment I knew he was ready to hear them.

“I love you,” I whispered before kissing him again.

“I love you too, Ford Priestley,” he said as he pulled back. “I think you were the only one I was meant to love.”

I didn’t think the smile on his face could get any bigger. My cheeks strained with my own smile.

“I found some lube in the bathroom cabinet when I was looking for towels,” he said, pumping his eyebrows as he reached under the pillow and pulled out a bottle of nice lube. I wanted to ask him when he’d hid it, but I didn’t really care. “It appears to be new. Either Reed likes to keep the whole house stocked for his own needs or he is very hospitable to all his guests.”

“Does it really matter why it’s there?” I raised brow.

“Not a damn bit,” he said with a deep chuckle.

I rolled him onto his back, kissing him deeply. My lips worked a trail over his scruffy jaw, down his throat, across the expanse of his chest. His hands were in my hair, combing through the strands in a way that was so soft and loving.

His whole body shuddered as I licked up the underside of his hot, hard cock.

“Ford,” he said, sounding somewhere between a moan and a breathless plea.

His cock disappeared behind my lips, causing his stomach to tighten as his grip pulled at my hair. I sucked him hard as I pulled away, only to lazily descend again. Over and over again. Keeping his body in a constant tug-of-war of pleasured torture.

“Fuck, Ford. I need you inside me. Please.” His words came out pained, and I resisted the urge to smile around his cock.

When I held my hand out to him, he fumbled with the bottle for a second before dribbling the cool lube onto my fingers. I moaned around his cock as I slid my fingers between his cheeks. His knees went up without hesitation, and he held himself open for me.

Fuck, he was so hot. Nothing had turned me on as much as Austin did. It wasn’t just his body, which I could easily admit was spectacular. No, what grabbed me and twisted me up inside was deeper than anything I’d ever known before.

I worked him open until he was blubbering incoherently with need.

When I released his cock, I would have sworn he was about to cry.

My eyes bore into his as I added more lube to my hand and worked myself. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip as he watched me.

“Ready for me?” I asked as I released my cock and gave him my weight.

He pulled me in for a long kiss.

“Always,” he told me as he broke away. “Forever.”

Fuck. There he went again. That about did me in.

I lined myself up, taking my time as I pressed into him. He wiggled under me, moaning when I fed him another inch.

My hips met his ass and I released a long breath. He was so hot and so tightly wrapped around me that I would have sworn I’d never felt anything better than being inside of him.

His hands pressed into my lower back, fingers digging in, holding onto me and urging me to move at the same time.

Our bodies separated and came back together in near-synchronized waves. His lips were soft on mine, and the kisses all blurred into one. I got lost in his body. In him. In us.

I became all too aware of the rhythm of our hearts beating together.

I was mesmerized by how his body came alive for me. Intoxicated by the way he drove me wild with everything he did.

The world fell away as I rocked into him, driving him higher and higher with every thrust. My name spilled from his lips over and over again, until I took his mouth with mine.

“I want to ride you,” he said, pushing me off of him before I had a chance to adjust us.

Rolling onto my back, I watched with greedy eyes as he straddled me. His teeth sunk into his bottom lip as he reached around and lined me up, and when his tight heat enveloped me again, I couldn’t hold back a moan.

His body was made for me. We fit together in a way that I never even knew was possible.

I reached for his cock, but he shook his head. So I grabbed onto his hips as he lifted up and then dropped back down on me over and over again.

His body trembled, and a second later, his eyes rolled back as his orgasm crashed into him. His cum spilled from his cock and ran down his shaft and dripped onto my skin. It was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. He fell forward, his lips landing on mine. There was something about this one that was different. It was almost like there was a giddy excitement behind it.

“I came hands-free,” he whispered. “That was… I don’t have the words.”

He beamed down at me with a smile that was so freeing it nearly broke my heart. This was the Austin I’d been trying so hard to unlock. The part of him that I wanted to give back to him. It was so breathtakingly beautiful to see.

He held my face as his gaze trapped mine.

I held his hips so tight I was worried he might end up with finger-shaped bruises as I fucked up into him.

I came silently, my mouth parted softly as a hard breath rushed past my lips. His ass clamped down on me, squeezing my cock like a vise as I pumped him full of my cum.

“Don’t leave me yet,” he said, settling on my chest.

He stayed clamped around my softening cock, and I would have stayed there all night if I could have.

Wrapping my arms, I held him until I felt his breathing even out.

And I continued to hold him until I fell asleep.