Behind Iron Lace Read online

  Darcy shivered when his mouth finally closed over his. Caleb’s tongue touched his, suckled him into his mouth while he watched him with those green eyes. Desire and triumph burning so brightly there, Darcy’s knees buckled.

  He slumped against Caleb, pressing him against the wall hard, his cock rigid between them. “Now,” he heard himself whisper. “I can’t wait that long. Now, Caleb, please now.”

  Caleb’s low husky laugh washed over him, his eyes sparkled with his victory. “You’d let me do you in the hallway, cher? Merde.”

  He didn’t know what Merde meant; he could barely remember English at this point. “Shit. I don’t know what I’m thinking anymore. You have me so confused.”

  Caleb reached between them and pulled his keys from his pocket. Fumbling with them, he found the one he was looking for and in seconds, he had the door marked PRIVATE open. Darcy let him push him inside and up against the wall in what appeared to be a narrow stairwell. Caleb closed the door with his foot, and then almost as an afterthought he reached over and twisted a deadbolt, effectively trapping them inside. Another single light bulb lit the narrow room from somewhere near the middle of the stairs. They were in shadows, alone, together, with no prying eyes. This was messed up wrong, Darcy’s heart beat too fast, but his brain ignored the warning.

  “No one can see us. Let me touch you now, cher, Darcy, please.” Despite the words in the hall, Caleb wanted his permission. He leaned over him forcing him to look up the smallest fraction into his eyes. His voice was pleading, his shadowed eyes seemed almost afraid now.

  All Darcy could think to do was kiss him, so he did. Touching his lips to Caleb’s he absorbed his sigh. In seconds, Caleb’s long, agile fingers had his shirt unbuttoned and were in the process of dragging it down his arms when Darcy’s phone buzzed in his pants. “Cher, your pocket is making me feel nice.” He heard him laugh. “Tell her you left, tell her not to worry.”

  Darcy pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at the caller ID. “How did you know it would be Bailey?”

  “I didn’t, I just assumed it would be one of them, Bailey most likely. Tell her you caught a cab, cher.” Caleb placed his hands on the wall beside his head and leaned into him, his breath hot against his neck. Darcy forgot the phone ringing silently in his hand. “Answer it, cher, before she worries and comes looking for you.” His tongue slid across Darcy’s neck making him groan.

  “Hello?” He didn’t know how he managed to open his phone; Caleb’s mouth on his neck had him spinning so fast he didn’t know which end was up.

  “Where are you, Darcy? Why are you breathing so heavily?” He heard Bailey say from somewhere far away but didn’t care, Caleb found the button on his pants and had his hand wrapped around Darcy in a way that had him ready to scream.

  “Talk to her, cher, tell her you’re fine,” Caleb whispered next to his ear. “You’re in a cab going home.”

  “I don’t know,” Darcy said a moment later when he could breathe again. “In a cab, somewhere, going home. I wasn’t feeling well. I had to get out, sorry Bailey. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  “Good, that’s good,” Caleb crooned against his ear, dropping his mouth to kiss his neck while he slowly eased his hand over his cock, stroking him lightly with the tips of his nimble fingers. Darcy let the hand holding the phone drop as he grabbed Caleb’s head. Caleb pushed it back to his ear. “Tell her you’ll see her tomorrow.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Bailey.” Caleb pinched his nipples. God, that felt so damned good. He could hear Bailey talking but he couldn’t tell what she was saying. “What? Who? Caleb, no he’s not with me, he’d ordered oysters when I left. He should be around there somewhere. Shit… Bailey, I’ve got to go… my phone is dying. Talk to you tomorrow.” He wasn’t sure if he disconnected before he dropped the phone to the floor, the clattering sound it made was soothing to him.

  “You lie good, cher, of course you sounded like you were getting head, but you lie very good. And you have a nice big cock. I’m going to love sucking you, Darcy. I’ve thought about what you would taste like since I walked in the door at O’Doul’s the other day. Those big blue eyes of yours make me shiver when you look at me; I want you so much.”

  Darcy couldn’t do anything more than hold himself flat against the wall as Caleb closed his hand around his dick, he pumped him slowly, lingering at the head until he was slick with pre-cum. Caleb nipped his neck with his teeth, sucked him, licked him, made him tremble as the pressure to come grew so intense, Darcy couldn’t drag in a breath to save his life.

  “Slow down, beb, I’m not ready for you to pop just yet.” He felt Caleb smile against his neck, his words were muffled by the sound of Darcy’s own heartbeat. Hell, yeah, he was about two seconds away from doing just that but Caleb had other ideas. “Not here, upstairs where I can see you.”

  “Fuck,” Darcy swore when Caleb released him. Jesus, shit, Christ, he was so close.

  “Which is exactly what I plan to do to you, but upstairs in my bed. Unless you want your first time to be here in the stairwell? Wouldn’t be my first choice for a romantic liaison.”

  “Your bed?” His brain somehow managed to grasp that much. “You live upstairs?”

  “When I’m in town. This is my bar, cher, one of a dozen I own with my uncle. O’Doul’s is another one. Think you can climb, baby? I can’t wait to get you naked.”

  Without waiting for him to answer, Caleb grabbed a fistful of his shirt and more or less dragged him up the stairs. Darcy somehow managed not to trip on the way up. They emerged into a dimly lit room that filled immediately with light when Caleb hit a switch, making Darcy wince. “On second thought, I don’t think I can wait that long.”

  Before Darcy could figure out what he was talking about he found himself lying on his back in the middle of Caleb’s living room on an oversized square ottoman covered in soft leather, his feet planted firmly on the floor. Caleb leaned over him, one jeans-covered knee beside his hip, the other between his legs. He stared into shining green eyes; Caleb’s hair framed his face, the tips curling toward his chin. Unable to resist, Darcy reached up and curled a lock around his finger, “I love your hair, it’s so soft.”

  Caleb laughed, his eyes filled with joy, the sound husky and sensuous worked like magic making, him tremble. “And your laugh. It does things to me.”

  “And you don’t hate me do you, cher? Like you said in the hallway?” Somehow knowing that Darcy didn’t really hate him seemed to be important to him. His gaze turned serious, his hands grew still.

  “I don’t hate you, Caleb, I’m—scared. You’ve got me tied up in knots and I don’t know why I lashed out. I didn’t know what else to do. I’ve never wanted a man before.” Christ, he sounded pitiful, but those soul-sucking eyes of Caleb’s made him want to tell the truth no matter how pathetic it made him sound.

  “How many women you been with, cher?” His accent came back with the tilt of his lips, the broken English mixed with French stroked his skin. “Besides Bailey.”

  “I don’t know. What does it matter?” He didn’t want to think about her or any other woman right now.

  “Because you are so—I don’t know, virginal for twenty-nine. And I don’t mean an ass virgin either. You’ve got a sweetness to you. I like that about you. I don’t know many sweet men.”

  “Just Bailey,” he said before he could stop himself. He hated the sympathy he saw in his eyes. “I thought we were going to fuck. I didn’t come here to talk.”

  Caleb smiled again, heat filling his eyes once again. “Take my shirt off, cher, I want to feel your hands on me.”

  He leaned up while Darcy dragged his t-shirt from his pants and over his head. A silver cross on a long silver chain fell out. Hanging down, it pooled on Darcy’s chest. The metal was surprisingly warm from Caleb’s body. He was golden, his skin glowing from time spent in the sun, his arms were lean, muscled and smooth. The hair on his forearms was fine, almost blond, and there was no hair on his chest. Th
e tattoos he’d seen the day before stood out almost as an abomination. As if someone had defaced a marble masterpiece.

  Black ink twisted around his navel in a scrolling pattern that made no sense to Darcy. A slim band of what looked like roses ran downward from his navel to disappear beneath the waistband of his jeans. A series of swirled interlocking shapes snaked together to form sort of a grid on his chest just below his collarbone. He knew there were more on his back. Darcy couldn’t help himself; he leaned into him and licked one of the flowers in the grid. He could feel the scars from the needle with his tongue. “They have no meaning, in case you’re wondering. I was drunk, they were pretty, like something I would paint. I spent a large portion of my twenties drunk if you haven’t figured that out yet.”

  Darcy ran his finger along the swirl around his navel, letting it trail down to his jeans. Caleb’s swift intake of breath gave him courage to free the button on his jeans. He was nude beneath the denim. His cock strained against his belly, hard and long, the head not as pronounced as he expected. “I wasn’t circumcised. My mother’s family is strict Catholic, my grandfather wouldn’t allow it.” Caleb answered the question before he could form the words. “Works just the same though, touch me, go ahead. We’re going slow, Darcy, so slow.”

  His mouth went dry at the thought. “I’m… I don’t know if I can.”

  “It’s okay, beb, when you’re ready.” Caleb just smiled, his eyes filled with heat as he lowered his head to capture Darcy’s lips again. “There’s so much more we can do.”

  Caleb angled his body, letting his cock nestle against Darcy’s. He gasped at the heat sizzling through his body. The sound was swallowed by Caleb’s mouth. His kiss started out sweet just like before as he rocked his body along Darcy’s, his cock gliding snake-like along his belly. Pleasure swirled painfully within him and Darcy couldn’t stop himself from mimicking Caleb’s movements, rocking with him as the slick heat built between them. He wrapped his arms around Caleb’s back pulling him closer until there was no room between them for even air to penetrate. “This feels so nice,” he sighed against Caleb’s mouth, the fire in his green eyes burned through to his soul. This was like making love. “Oh God.” He arched into him wanting to move faster, God, he was so close if he could just—

  Cool air rushed over him when Caleb pulled away. “Don’t stop.” He reached for him hoping to recapture the heat before he lost it.

  “I’m not stopping, bebe, I’m just changing positions.” He called him bay bay. God, he knew what bebe meant. Baby. Shit, fuck. He didn’t want to be this man’s baby. “I want to taste you. I want your first come to be from my mouth. Merde, I want to suck you so fucking bad. You want that, bebe, me to suck you off?”

  His fingers were already wrapped around him, stroking him. With a strangled moan, Darcy arched into his hand, urging him to pump him harder. “Say it, Darcy, tell me what you want me to do to you. Say what you want.”

  “Christ, I want you to suck me, Caleb, shit, please.” He liked how Caleb squeezed him, it felt so damned good. “I want to pop in your mouth. I don’t believe I just said that.”

  His laugh caught Darcy off guard again. Would he ever get used to how the deep rumbling sound made him feel?

  “Lean up on your elbows, cher. I want you to watch me suck you.” Caleb settled on the floor between his legs. He tugged at his pants, hauling them down his legs until he lay there in nothing but his shirt. “You’re nice and thick, I like that. Spread your legs, bebe, just like that.”

  Darcy eased his legs farther apart just as Caleb leaned over him, one hand tangled in the hair between his legs, the other rested on his belly, holding him still while he eased him into his mouth.

  “Oh, shit.” He almost came off the ottoman in surprise. Caleb’s mouth was strong, demanding. He took him in deeply, sucking the length of him while he stared at him with those damned eyes of his. He gripped his balls, first one then the other, rolling them between his fingers, setting fire to his dick. He pumped him with his other hand using it as an extension of his tight mouth. His hair grazed his groin when he went down on him, the image, he knew, would forever be burned in his head. The incredible sensation of strong hands and stronger mouth had him fighting for control.

  “I’m going to come, Caleb, damn that feels so fucking good.” He reached out, snaking his hand into the man’s hair. Jesus, shit. He held him lightly, wanting the contact. He buried his hand in the strands, holding him tight, linking himself with Caleb while he went over. “Caleb, oh Christ. Don’t stop, don’t ever fucking stop.” And then there was nothing left and he fell back on the ottoman just hoping he could catch his breath before he died.

  At least he would die a happy man. If nothing else, he had that at the very least.

  Chapter Five

  Caleb swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. Ignoring the way his heart raced and the ache between his legs, he laid his head on Darcy’s muscled thigh. Darcy quivered at the contact, post orgasmic sensitive. God, Caleb liked that. He loved how easy Darcy responded to his touch, how eagerly he returned his kisses.

  Shit, he didn’t want to feel this way. As if he were floating on air and drowning at the same time. As if he didn’t take everything Darcy had to give and take it now, he’d somehow never get the chance. This need for the man scared him. His body screamed for him, all of him, now. He wasn’t prepared.

  “Shit,” he hissed against Darcy’s leg. “I don’t have anything here, cher, I want inside you so badly but I don’t have protection.” He heard him groan. That Darcy wanted more made Caleb’s already soaring heart fly higher.

  He didn’t want to spoil the moment but he couldn’t, wouldn’t, force anything on Darcy. He wanted there to be no guilt, no worries about repercussions when this night ended. For either of them.

  He leaned up on his elbows hoping to gauge Darcy’s reaction, with a sigh he let the words tumble from his lips. “I’m clean. I haven’t been with a man in seven years.” Had it really been seven years? He forced the memory away before he could recall the face attached to it. “I’ve been careful with women. I’m clean. I want you, bebe. Did you and Bailey use protection?”

  Darcy didn’t say anything immediately. He laid on his back, breathing heavily, his eyes closed behind his glasses. Christ, he still wore his glasses.

  Caleb studied the sexy, almost naked librarian on his ottoman, the image was too much, his cock throbbed from wanting him. He dripped with need. Rising on his knees, he pressed the tip of his cock against Darcy’s opening. He teased him, stroking against him until he was slick. “Darcy, Darce, baby, I’ll stop now, there are other—”

  The strangled moan that escaped Darcy startled him. It was almost as if he were in pain.

  “We used condoms. She slept around. Christ, that feels so nice. Don’t stop.” His voice was like silk, soft, sweet, Caleb loved the way it caressed him when he talked.

  “You like this?” Caleb massaged him with the head of his dick, the sound Darcy made urging him to do more. “How about this?” He eased a finger, slick from his mouth, inside him. God, but he was tight. So tight.

  With a sharp gasp, Darcy opened his eyes and leaned up on his elbows again to watch him. The leg Caleb leaned against quivered. “How does this feel, Darce? Me inside you. God, bebe, you are so tight.”

  “Caleb,” he said drawing his name out. Caleb felt him relax, his body almost sighing with pleasure. He slicked a second finger and eased it inside, sliding into him deeper with each gentle thrust. “Feels so… Caleb. Oh, God.” His eyes flew wide, his hips bucked when Caleb found his sweet spot. “Shit. Oh my God.”

  Red infused Darcy’s cheeks, pleasure flashed in his eyes as he moved with the rhythm of Caleb’s fingers. A shot of desire so intense it nearly ripped Caleb apart. Now, it was now. Now. Shit, now.

  “Take your glasses off, Darce, I want to see your eyes while I fuck you. Spread your legs, baby. Open for me.” Caleb rose onto his knees, he eased his fingers out and positioned
himself. Careful not to hurt, he shivered as he slipped inside, going slowly. Darcy gasped at the intrusion; his eyes went round with shock. Caleb stopped moving, letting him get used to the feeling.

  “I thought you needed lube or something.” His laugh was nervous, a hint of fear flashed in his eyes, but his dick wasn’t as shy. It lengthened, swelling to almost the same size as before his orgasm.

  “It would be easier. Sure. But damn, Darce, I’m dripping I’m so hot for you. Natural lubrication. God, Darcy, you feel so good. Open for me, baby, wider so I don’t hurt you.” Caleb didn’t dare move, he didn’t dare even breathe for fear of hurting him or scaring him. He waited as Darcy seemed to think about it for a moment then he slowly took off his glasses.

  Without a word, he offered them to Caleb. He took them from him and put them on the couch behind him. “Lift your legs onto the ottoman. Just like that, Darce.” Caleb tugged his hips toward him, easing into him slowly. “How does it feel?”

  “Strange, like I might fall,” he said in a soft voice, his eyes unfocused and bright at the same time.

  “I won’t let you fall, bebe,” he promised as he slipped his hands behind Darcy’s knees and lifted. Holding him steady, he inched deeper inside. “Christ, Darce, you are so tight. Relax, bebe, I won’t hurt you.”

  Darcy hissed between his teeth, his lips pulled tight. He clutched the fabric beside him, his knuckles white. “It doesn’t hurt. A little. Feels nice, too.”

  “I know it does, baby, feels real nice. I’ve dreamed of fucking you, just like this. Slow and easy. Easy, baby, almost there.” The need to orgasm swirled in his brain; he fought it off, he wanted more. God, it had been so long since he felt this good. Darcy’s breath caught when he seated himself against his body, his eyes started to glaze over. “Stay with me, baby. I want you to watch me fuck you.”