Juggernaut Page 21

  “Hmm?”

  “I’m not going to wait and give that fucking headache a chance to return. Come on.”

  He linked his fingers with Zach’s and started tugging him toward the tent, but Zach refused to move. “I need to wash up.”

  Nico made a dismayed sound, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll stow the cots; you get the water. Hurry.”

  A thrill shivered through Zach to know that Nico was so eager for him. Nico, who had immeasurable sexual experience. Who had made a study of the art of pleasure. Who had no reason whatsoever to think much of Zach as a lover, or potential lover, or whatever he was at this point. Nico wanted him badly enough to be impatient. It was a heady feeling, to be wanted that way.

  Zach grabbed the water bucket from outside the tent flap and went to fill it. Under the intense sun and in the conveniently private space between the newly planted trees and the tent, he shucked his dusty trousers and began washing as best he could with the cold water. He watched the runoff trickle away to hydrate the roots of the transplanted evergreens, scrubbing at his skin with one of their scavenged washcloths.

  Another bucket joined the one by his feet, and Nico’s shadow merged with his.

  “Hey,” Nico murmured. His voice was like liquid sex sliding along Zach’s nerve endings, making them tingle and burn. “Need some help with your back?”

  Zach glanced around as if someone might be standing beside their fence, peering down the alley between the trees and the tent. Then he ducked his head and shrugged. “Sure.”

  He kept his eyes on the ground, afraid to look up lest self-consciousness at being even this far in the open overwhelm him. Cool water dribbled from the washcloth in his hand, down his belly, trickling droplets kissing his cock, which had no qualms about the privacy issue.

  Nico swirled a cloth of his own in the fresh water bucket. A moment later, Zach shivered as Nico wrung the chilly water over his shoulders. Nico followed its path with his cloth, wiping with soft, slow, sensual strokes. The thumb of his other hand came after, gently kneading the muscles beneath the wet skin.

  “Feels good,” Zach whispered, closing his eyes.

  “Good,” Nico breathed against Zach’s ear, and then his lips trailed after that gently massaging thumb, before his tongue went right down the gully of Zach’s spine. “You’ll tell me if I do something you’re not comfortable with, right?”

  “Uh-huh.” How was it possible for Zach to be panting already?

  “Perfect.” Another splash as the cloth swished in the bucket again. Another cool surge of water, this one starting lower, at mid-back. More soft scrubbing, more massaging, more kisses that ended in tender nibbles at Zach’s hips, just above his backside.

  If Zach didn’t finish washing and get into the tent soon, there would be nothing left to do inside the tent. He went back to work, cleaning his stiff cock and tight balls with considerably less finesse than Nico was demonstrating.

  Then more water, right at the small of his back, flowing down the crack of his ass and followed by Nico’s cloth.

  Zach gasped. “Oh God.”

  “Lean forward a little,” Nico coaxed, and Zach obeyed. It felt obscene to stick his rear out that way, but Nico took advantage of the way it opened him to bathe him there as well. Then he gripped Zach’s buttocks in both hands, pulling them apart with his thumbs, and his breath warmed Zach’s crevice.

  Zach yelped at the first brush of Nico’s tongue on something he’d had no idea could be so very sensitive. “Th-the tent,” he panted, craving that seeking tongue even as he was terrified of what it might do to his minimal self-control. “Please?”

  “Of course.” Nico trailed light, damp fingertips up and down Zach’s thighs in soothing circles for a moment before pressing a kiss to his buttock and standing. “Let’s go.”

  The air inside the tent was warm and still, enough to be stifling. For a moment, Zach wished they could have stayed outside in the spring breeze, but he wanted the privacy to be able to feel absolutely unreserved with Nico. He dropped to the pallet on the ground without hesitation, turning to catch Nico as he flung himself down on top of Zach. His mouth was hard and hungry, and Zach yielded to the demand of the kiss.

  “Yes.” He hissed at the press of Nico’s body against his water-slick skin, pushing him down onto the blankets. The way he fitted their bodies so perfectly together, getting every inch of skin-on-skin contact he could, made Zach understand that Nico hadn’t exaggerated his need for touch in the slightest. If anything, he’d downplayed it. It felt like Nico would have crawled right inside Zach if he could.

  And Zach was glad to give Nico everything he needed. His hands were restless, skimming over Nico’s flesh, trying to explore every part of him at once. He wanted the next kiss more than he wanted air. When Nico began pushing down his loose, drawstring sleep pants, Zach happily aided the endeavor, until their cocks were slotted together, alongside one another between their bellies, giving them just that much more contact.

  “Yes,” he whispered again as Nico rocked against him, a sheen of new sweat and leftover water lubricating the way. He reached down and grabbed Nico’s butt without shame, creating more pressure, more friction. He could come just knowing that it was Nico’s lean abs and satiny dick he was rubbing off against.

  “Yeah?” Nico broke the kiss to raise his head, searching Zach’s eyes. He gave another thrust and grinned an absolutely wicked grin when Zach groaned. “Like that?”

  Zach nodded emphatically, torn between sucking that smile right off Nico’s face and holding the contact with those beautiful dark eyes.

  Nico’s rocking slowed, and his smile grew softer, fonder. “Think you might want to fuck me today?”

  “Can I?” Zach licked his lips, staring up at Nico as his body surged with another rush of pure, physical need.

  Nico nodded, looking pleased. “Yeah. But first I want you to turn over so I can finish what I started outside.”

  Zach was in motion before he even managed to whisper, “Okay.”

  The first touch of Nico’s tongue on the rim of his anus was electric. Like nothing he’d ever imagined he could feel. Nibbles and flicks. Long, broad strokes. Short, poking jabs. And when it pushed inside . . .

  Zach lost all sense of shame. Forgot he’d ever even known shame. He writhed and scrambled, biting the blankets and moaning so loudly he was sure they could hear him ten pens away. Every nerve in his body was centered on that small, clenching ring of muscle, igniting with more pleasure than he’d ever thought possible.

  “Please. Nico. Not sure how much longer I can—”

  “Okay. Hold on.” Nico’s weight disappeared from Zach’s legs, and Zach rolled over to see Nico rummaging through his rucksack, fishing out a bottle of lubricant and condoms to toss on the blankets. “Normally I don’t mind things a little rougher, but under the circumstances, we’re gonna take this slow. Make sure I don’t get any tears. Understand?”

  Zach nodded, sitting up as Nico got down on his hands and knees and reached behind himself with lube-coated fingers. Zach swallowed hard to see Nico’s body take them inside, the seemingly impossible stretch of that tight ring. Especially when Nico’s low moan joined the picture.

  After a moment of watching Nico work his fingers in and out, the urge to feel the grip of those muscles grabbed hold of Zach and pushed him to blurt, “May I?” He brushed his own fingertips over Nico’s knuckles where they were pressed against the globe of his buttock.

  Nico gave a huffing laugh. “Let me see your fingers.” Zach obligingly presented his hand, and Nico studied it for a moment before placing a kiss on the back of it. “We’ll trim your nails and you can do it next time, okay?”

  “Right. Okay.” Zach nodded slowly and fell silent again as Nico continued to stretch himself. After a moment, Nico rolled over, lifting his leg and working his hand under it to continue penetrating himself with those thrusting fingers.

  “Get the condoms,” he urged. Zach obeyed, rolling a sheath down his own cock wit
h shaking hands. “Put one on me too.”

  Zach blinked, sobering as he realized what it was Nico was truly trying to protect them against. He pushed the thought away, unwilling to let that cloud of ever-present concern overshadow the wonder of what they were about to share. He unwrapped another condom and worked it down Nico’s rigid dick. Nico smiled and withdrew his fingers, handing Zach the lube. “Good. Now, use plenty.”

  He wasn’t sure he could stand it, the exquisite glide of his own hand slicking his cock up and down. Especially with Nico lying spread out in front of him, watching Zach stroke himself with a hungry look in his warm brown eyes. Nico’s arms and legs welcomed him, forming a cradle for his shoulders and hips when Zach finally crawled over him.

  “Stay there,” Nico whispered, reaching down to take Zach’s slippery cock in his hand and guide it to where it needed to be. Then Nico’s legs tightened against Zach’s waist, and he pushed himself onto Zach’s cock.

  “Oh God,” Zach groaned, his eyes snapping shut at that first impossibly tight grasp of Nico’s body. He pried them open again immediately, unwilling to miss a moment of Nico’s enraptured expression. It hovered somewhere between pain and pleasure, intense with effort and concentration. Sweat beaded and pooled in the notch of Nico’s clavicle, and Zach couldn’t help but lean down to lick it off. “This is amazing. You’re amazing.”

  A little of the tension in Nico’s face relaxed as he smiled. He was being so painstakingly careful that it saddened Zach, because he could sense Nico was holding something back, a desire for abandon that he didn’t dare give rein to.

  Zach leaned down and captured Nico’s mouth in a hard, urgent kiss, hoping to coax him to let go, if only just a little more. Nico returned it eagerly, moving beneath Zach in little rocks and shoves that eased Zach’s cock a little deeper into Nico with each shift.

  Finally, Nico broke away with a moan, and his head fell back onto the blankets, a gentle, almost drunken smile curling his lips. “Stay there a moment,” he said. “This is my favorite part.”

  “You’re so beautiful.” Zach took the opportunity to drink in the sight of him, the sort of intense stare he was embarrassed to be caught in when Nico was paying attention. The scrutiny kept him distracted from that incredible pressure surrounding his cock and the fact that if he wasn’t careful, this was going to be over all too soon. “What’s so good about this, right now?”

  “It’s . . .” Nico’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and he licked his lips. “This moment when the sting is fading and it’s just intense, and soon I’ll want you to move, to go deep and hard, but right now it’s all anticipation and just . . .” He shook his head, opening his eyes to peer up at Zach wryly. “I can’t explain it.”

  “You don’t have to.” Zach realized he was shaking as he dropped another kiss on Nico’s mouth. “As long as you keep smiling like that, I’ll do anything you want me to.”

  Nico’s smile broadened, and the way his body tightened as he chuckled softly tore a gasping groan from Zach’s lungs. “You’re too fucking sweet to be real. Okay, enough of this. Move now, Zach.”

  “Like this?” He gave an experimental push with his hips, and the result was electric for both of them. That tight clench engulfed Zach’s cock more fully, on top of the sliding friction along his length, and he couldn’t imagine anything ever feeling so incredible.

  “Oh fuck. Yeah. Like that.” Nico nodded eagerly, panting. “Go with it. Do what feels good. Just go.”

  Zach went. He let go of everything, every fear, every doubt, every vestige of restraint, and dove headlong into the yearning he felt, the desire to be as deep inside Nico as he could possibly get, until there was no possible way to separate them. This. This was the connection he’d never felt with the two women he’d dated and made love to. It wasn’t just physical. This was a spiritual experience, a merging in the truest sense. His eyes burned with the intensity of his new understanding. It was hunger and intimacy, and there was so much power behind it that it left Zach awestruck and humbled.

  Thank you, Lord, for letting me know this.

  Looking down, he could see the hazy nitrile of Nico’s condom had grown transparent with moisture. Zach caught himself before he could act on the mad impulse to strip that sheath away and taste the salty droplets he knew were collecting underneath it.

  He worked in and out of Nico’s gripping body until they were both drenched with sweat, until his muscles began to ache and his limbs trembled. The only thing that kept him from spilling over the edge was the desperate need to never let this end.

  When his climax finally did come, it struck with devastating force, driving unrestrained cries from Zach with each thrust. It was heat flashing through his veins, and blinding light, and the roar of his own pulse in his ears. He felt the bite of Nico’s fingernails against his shoulders, heard Nico’s moans and pleas, but he was lost in his own torrent of devastating pleasure as he pumped into Nico over and over before he finally went still and shuddered.

  He gasped something into Nico’s ear, but he was too lost to even care that he’d just confessed his love to a man he barely knew.

  When he became aware of the world again, his weight was draped over Nico, who was pushing up against his belly, trying to wedge a hand between them.

  “Let me,” Zach rasped, and gripped Nico’s sheathed cock, watching his face as he tried to find the right pressure and rhythm to satisfy that need in Nico’s eyes.

  “Careful not to—”

  “Hush. I won’t.” He pressed a kiss to Nico’s stubbled jaw and made sure his strokes weren’t dislodging the condom. “Trust me. Relax.”

  Nico nodded, and the anxious furrow between his dense black brows eased. Zach watched the play of pleasure and emotion on Nico’s face as he worked to jerk him off, the way his face would soften with relief when Zach did something just right, or tighten with dismay when he needed something a little different. It was a visible process, the ebb and flow of pleasure, the way it mounted in steps and bounds and finally, finally crested. The condom under Zach’s hand grew hot and soft with the milky fluid filling it, and Zach wished it were spurting over his fingers instead.

  Almost immediately, Nico gripped the base of the condom and pushed Zach’s hand away. “Careful,” he admonished fretfully. He shoved Zach up gently with a hand on his chest, making a sharp, uncomfortable sound when Zach slid out of him. “I’ll be right back.”

  Zach sighed and removed his own condom as Nico hurried from the tent, presumably heading for the latrine before there was any chance that Zach would be exposed to his fluids. It was a stilted ending to what had been the most intense, intimate experience of his life, especially after Zach’s unintended declaration. He couldn’t help but resent the worry and anxiety that dragged Nico from his arms when they should have been twined together, basking.

  But when Nico came back, there was no awkwardness on his face. He was warm and open, dropping to his knees at the edge of the pallet and crawling across it to where Zach reclined. His smile flashed between kiss-swollen lips, easy and relaxed. “Thank you for that.”

  Zach snorted, unable to resist grinning back. He opened his arms to Nico and was gratified that Nico slipped right into them, settling onto him for a leisurely kiss. “You’re thanking me?”

  “Yeah, I am.” He nuzzled behind Zach’s ear. If he felt any alarm or embarrassment over what Zach had so gracelessly blurted out at the worst possible moment, he didn’t let on. “Everything just feels so good with you. Just . . . like this is the way it’s supposed to be. So thanks.”

  It wasn’t exactly a reciprocal exchange of sentiment, but it was close enough. Zach wrapped himself around Nico and gave a contented sigh, drifting off in postorgasmic lassitude.

  If this was how he had to spend the next three months, he’d be okay.

  Nico paused in weeding the garden to watch a troop of suited guards stomping down the lane between their pen and the one directly west of them. He’d been watching the activity around
that enclosure all morning. The medics doing their rounds earlier had scurried out of there as soon as they were done. Now they were back, with a full complement of guards in tow. The soldiers unlocked the gate to the pen, and a woman ran out of the tent with a child in her arms.

  “Please!” she sobbed, but at this distance the stiff breeze snatched away any other coherent words, much less the guards’ lower-pitched and muffled responses. But the way they leveled their weapons at her when she became increasingly hysterical spoke volumes.

  One suited form—another medic, probably, since he or she wasn’t carrying a weapon—came forward and spoke to the woman inaudibly, offering her something.

  Nico didn’t realize Zach had come up behind him until he felt a hand between his shoulder blades.

  “I heard screaming,” Zach said, eyeing the activity across in the other pen. “What’s going on?”

  Nico swallowed the surge of nausea twisting in his stomach. “I think the people she came in with—her husband and whoever else she’s with in the tent—are sick. The medics came this morning and left in a hurry, but now they’re back again. With reinforcements.”

  Zach blinked and fell silent, watching the urgent back-and-forth exchanges, the medic continuing to proffer whatever he was holding while the soldiers’ mere presence offered its own threat.

  “Please tell me they aren’t giving them a choice between killing themselves or being shot,” Zach said sickly.

  “I think that’s exactly what they’re doing.”

  The toddler the woman held wasn’t responding to the activity, and she was clearly fighting with the weight of the child. Finally, she sank to her knees with a wail, hugging the child fiercely as she wept. She nodded tightly, and the medic disappeared into the tent. When he emerged, her sobs redoubled, and she lifted one of the toddler’s limp arms. The medic injected the child with something, and then stuck the syringe into the woman’s arm, as well. Heaving herself and the baby up, she staggered into the tent.