Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It was another scorching hot summer day, but at least twenty degrees cooler in the shade. Lifting the frosty bottle to my lips, I took a swig of ice-cold beer, my eyes roaming over the landscape of Cass's backyard.

"Where are the boys?" I asked, realizing it was too quiet. That usually meant trouble.

"Inside with their heads bent over the computer."

"What are they doing, looking at porn?"

Cass tipped the bottle to his lips, taking a long pull. "They're working on Mattie's photos, getting them uploaded to all the travel blogs and magazines. I think Nicky is more excited than Mattie is, with the way he talks about it nonstop."

Nicky talked about everything nonstop. "I think it has more to do with the fact that Mattie is scared shitless that he's going to be rejected, and also scared shitless that he won't be."

"Have you thought about what will happen when the summer is over?"

Another swig of beer, another long, heavy sigh. "I don't wanna think about it."

"You don't have to torture yourself with the unknown. Just talk to him."

I shook my head. "He's still figuring things out. I'm not trying to push my future dreams on him." The part I didn't say out loud was that I was afraid to ask for what I wanted, because if Mattie said he wasn't interested in a long-term arrangement, I wasn't sure how to come back from that.

He raised his bottle toward me, and I clinked mine against his. "I hope you get what you want. You deserve to be as happy as I am."

"Who said I'm not happy?" I challenged. "I'm plenty happy."

Cass snorted. "With what, being the third wheel on me and Nicky's bicycle?"

"I'm not your third fucking wheel. You couldn't find your own cock if it wasn't for me pointing it out to you."

Laughing, Cass asked, "Is that right?"

"Sure is. And I think your boy's dick gets harder for me than it does for you," I taunted.

"In your fucking dreams," he choked.

Sitting around, biting my nails and stressing about my future, leaving it all to chance, wasn't my style. I was a doer, so when something weighed heavily on me, I searched for solutions to the problem. In this case, my problem was figuring out what came next. I knew what I wanted my next steps to be, but what were Mattie's?

How was I going to work out this problem?

That led to a series of events over the next few days. Cass and Nicky took off on a charter to Jamaica, and I convinced Mattie to tag along with them. I stayed behind, putting things into motion while taking on two fishing charters.

At night, I spent hours on my laptop checking real estate listings in our area. I got to work on some minor repairs around my house. I'd been putting off getting it ready to put on the market.

It was a huge step forward, but it was a step in the right direction. I was probably putting the cart before the horse, setting things into motion without having discussed it with Mattie, Nicky, and Cass, but time was running out, and I felt immense pressure as the summer drew closer to its inevitable end.

"Sam!"

Mattie slammed the front door behind him and tore through the house in search of me. I could hear his footsteps coming closer as he checked every room between the front door and the back porch. I was in the middle of pressure washing the back of the house, just one of the many things I had to knock off my mile-long to-do list in order to get it ready to sell.

He poked his head out the sliding glass door, and when he spotted me, he ran across the yard and jumped on my back.

I was laughing too hard to ask what the hell he was doing.

"They want me! They fucking want me!"

I didn't know who they were, but they better watch the fuck out, because Mattie belonged to me.

"They bought my fucking pictures. Like six of them, for a spread, and they want more! Lots more!"

"Who? Who bought your pictures?"

"I don't know, some travel magazine. Just like Nicky promised. I also got a reply from two of the travel blogs we reached out to, but they haven't bought anything yet."

"But they will." I dropped the pressure washer nozzle and used both hands to peel him off my back so I could hug him properly. "This is just the start, Mattie-boy."

The day his pictures were published in Salt Life magazine, we went out to celebrate. I bought sixteen issues and left one open to his full-page spread in every single room of the house, including the bathroom. The other two travel blogs had reached out since and signed a contract with him to feature his pictures, along with commentary from him on the remainder of his summer travels.

Mattie officially had a career in photography. It was a small start, but it was a start, and to him, it was huge. Which meant that it was huge to me, as well.

Fuck, I was so damn proud of him. Like, make-my-eyes-water proud. He'd come so far from the brat from SaveWay with the chip on his shoulder. Mattie had confidence, ambition, and a tighter lid on his anger.

I took him to a steakhouse on the Cooper River, where we stuffed ourselves on twice-baked potatoes, crab-stuffed jumbo prawns, and thick juicy filets. After dinner, we walked down the pier, and I slipped my hand in his.

When we reached the end, I took him in my arms and slid my tongue into his mouth. Mattie practically melted in my embrace. The feel of his velvety tongue tangling with mine made my body come to life. His kiss always did. He pulled back to catch his breath, and I stared into his eyes, wishing I could see inside his head and his heart. I'd give anything to know what he really wanted. I guessed I could start by simply asking.

"What?" he asked when I continued to stare .

"Sometimes I look at you, and I realize what you mean to me, and it blows me away. I never saw you coming," I chuckled, shaking my head.

"What do you mean, you never saw me coming?"

"You were just a brat, Mattie, a rock in my shoe. A responsibility I was saddled with this summer, and now that I know you, know the kind of man you are, it couldn't be further from that tough guy exterior you tried to sell me months ago. I…"

"You what?"

I love you. My words got tripped up behind the lump in my throat, and I swallowed to try to clear it. "What if I wanted more?"

"More of what?"

"You. Us. You live with me, and you share a bed with me, but that was circumstances and convenience. What I want… Would you…move in with me?"

Mattie laughed, thinking it was all a joke. "Sure Sam, I'll move in with you."

"Mattie," I breathed, sliding my hand behind his neck to pull him closer. "I'm serious. What if I sold the house?"

He looked mildly panicked. "Why would you sell your house?"

"So that we could buy something together, something that was both of ours instead of just mine."

"Are you shitting me?"

"No, Mattie-boy, I'm not shitting you," I assured him with a smile. "I've never been more serious about anything."

He shook his head. "I don't have the kind of money I'd need to buy a house."

"Come on. You really think I would let you pay for stuff if we were in a committed relationship? It's part of our arrangement. I call the shots, and I provide for you. I take the brunt of the responsibility for us."

"That's total bullshit," Mattie shouted, sounding outraged. "What am I? What about me?"

"What about you?"

"I wanna be with someone who treats me as an equal, someone who respects me and my ability to contribute."

Mmm, that fire of his was sparking in full force, and it never failed to make my dick hard. "You can contribute. You can dump all of your paychecks into our savings account. You can contribute in other ways as well," I added, dropping my gaze to his mouth.

He looked skeptical. "Are you serious?"

"I told you I'm serious. I want to sell the house."

"And move where?"

"Wherever you want. I was thinking maybe you and Nicky could pick something together."

"Nicky?"

"Yeah, where would we go without him?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I wish I did, because it sounds really, really good."

Brushing his hair out of his eyes, I laughed. "It does, doesn't it? I'm thinking of a house with two primary bedrooms, one for us, and one for Sam and Nicky."

"You mean we could all live together?"

"That's what I'm thinking, if you'll agree to help me convince them."

Mattie chuckled. "I don't think we'll have to twist their arms, and Nicky can be very persuasive," he purred.

That was the truth. "Cass and I would cover the expenses on the house. Nicky is still in school so he doesn't earn any money, and whatever you earn from your career would be yours to keep and to do with what you please."

"So, you want, like, something real with me? Like, the real deal?"

I smiled against his lips, bringing his forehead against mine. "I want everything with you. I want it to be as real as it gets."

He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth and then smiled, releasing it. "I'm all in, sir."

"Why don't I take you home so you can show me?" I had to be inside him, soon.

I kicked the door shut behind us, not willing to take my hands off Mattie even for a second. Our kiss got messy, nipping each other's lips with our teeth, blunt nails scraping skin, fingertips bruising flesh, and neither of us seemed able to catch our breath. My heart raced, and I was beginning to sweat from an adrenaline spike.

Up until now, I'd never had Mattie to myself. Even the few nights we'd slept beside each other when we were home, we had only kissed, and once Mattie had jacked me off. He had sucked me off in the shower a time or two. But I planned to go a lot further than that tonight.

Stripping as we moved down the hall, we tossed clothes in our wake and collapsed on the bed in a tangle of writhing limbs and seeking mouths and hands.

"Touch me," Mattie begged.

My kisses covered his chest, sucking each nipple into my mouth, flicking the tip with my tongue until he cried out. I left red welts on his neck. My hot breath coated his skin as I moved down his torso. He pushed at my head, guiding me down the length of his body, and when my lips closed around the head of his cock, Mattie screamed my name.

"Sam!"

I didn't mind. Tonight I didn't have to be sir, didn't have to be in charge. Tonight, Mattie was my partner, my lover, not just my boy. He could do as he pleased, touch me anywhere, everywhere, without instruction, without being told what to do. I wanted his impulses and instincts to guide his actions. I wanted his pure, unadulterated lust, raw and filthy .

"Suck me, Sam, suck my cock."

Damn, he made the filthiest fucking sounds as I slurped on his shaft, which only made the fire in my belly burn hotter. Mattie handed me a bottle of lube that he probably snagged from my nightstand, and I slicked my fingers as I continued sucking on him. When I slid them between his cheeks, he spread his legs wide for me, inviting me inside.

"You gonna finger me?"

I answered by spearing my fingers through his tight rim. He gasped from the burn, clenching his muscles around my digits. Drops of his pre-cum hit my tongue, and I sucked harder, hoping to draw out more of his flavor.

"Enough," he snapped, bearing down on my fingers. "I want your cock."

Jesus Christ, if he turned out like Cass, to be the kind of guy who enjoyed little to no prep, I was going to lose my shit. Fuck it, I'd already lost my shit over Mattie. I didn't think I could fall much harder.

What if I told him? What would he say to me in return?

I rolled him onto his stomach and covered his back with my body, sliding between his legs. With my dick slicked up, it slid easily between his cheeks, catching on his rim without much guidance. He clenched tightly, but he couldn't keep me out. God himself couldn't keep me out of Mattie's ass for another second .

I snarled in his ear. "Why are you clenching? You trying to keep me out?"

"No, sir."

"Good, because you couldn't even if you tried." I pinned his hands to the mattress above his head. "Maybe you want me to take it from you."

"Yes, sir." He sounded so breathy, so ready .

"Not tonight, but soon. Soon, I'm going to take it from you, and you're going to pretend you hate it."

"Fuck," he hissed, "don't say that shit before I come. I'm trying to last."

I chuckled darkly, biting on the shell of his ear. "Let's see if you can come before I do," I challenged. "No hands, no touching allowed."

"No hands?" he squeaked.

"Nope. Hands-free, Mattie-boy."

I broke through his resistance, sinking balls deep in his tight heat. Goddamn, his ass was on fire, literally burning my cock.

"Christ, baby. So fucking good."

He was sweating, like me, and I brushed my lips across his damp skin, nipping the folds at the back of his neck between my teeth.

"Fuck me good and hard."

Hooking my feet around his calves, I leveraged my weight against his body so I could thrust into him savagely, snapping my hips fast and hard. He grunted each time I pushed into him, cursing and urging me on .

I felt my orgasm rushing up fast to claim me, and I panicked, not wanting this to end so soon. He protested when I slipped from his body.

"Turn over, baby."

"What? Wait! I was so close."

"I know," I chuckled. "That's why I stopped. I don't want to rush."

"Orgasm denial? You're fucking sadistic."

"That's not what this is."

"What is it then?"

"This is me loving you." I slipped back inside and had to pause from the overwhelming sensation of his ass squeezing my cock in a chokehold. But more than that, was the feeling in my chest, a feeling of rightness, like his body was home for me.

For a minute, I just lay still, listening to the sound of his heart beating beneath my cheek, feeling him clench around my shaft.

"Sam?"

Raising my head, I looked into his dark lust-drunk eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.

"I love you, Mattie-boy." His eyes popped open wide, his mouth gaping. I chuffed at his expression. "I love you," I repeated, stroking my fingers through his sweaty hair. Then I buried my face in his neck so I didn't have to see his expression.

I started moving my hips again, sliding slowly in and out of his body, and it seemed Mattie forgot all about my declaration as his breathing picked up, coming in short, fast pants. He wrapped his legs around my waist, digging his heels into my ass, his fingers tightening in my hair.

"Oh, God, yeah. I—" He must be close, even though I'd just started up again. "I love you too, Sam. Sir. I love you too."

Not what I thought he was going to say.

I paused again, searching his face. "You do?"

"Yeah, just fuck me. We can talk about it later."

I collapsed against his chest, my forehead pressed against his as I laughed. He sounded a lot like Nicky. I went to work, loving him so good, with deep, long strokes that brushed his prostate with each pass.

"Fucking Christ, Sam!"

Tell me about it. He felt incredible. And even though I wanted it to go on and on, I couldn't last much longer. It just felt too good.

I love you too. The words bounced around inside my head as I finished him off, bringing us both to the edge.

We came at the same time, which never happened. Mattie spilled his seed between our bodies, making a sticky, slippery mess, and I filled his ass with my load.

I collapsed on him again, and we just lay there for the longest time, softly stroking each other, not saying a word. I listened to his breathing even out, stroking my fingers through his hair, brushing damp strands from his forehead. His fingers skated down my spine, tracing over my shoulder blades. He rubbed his foot down my calf.

"Say it again," he whispered.

I doubted he could see my satisfied smile. "I love you, Matteo Sorrell."

"So formal," he mocked. "I love you, too, Samson Barlowe."

Lightly, I bit down on his nipple. Mattie squealed like a stuck pig. "I love you, Mattie-boy."

"Love you too, sir."