Chapter Twenty-Three

Mason wrapped an arm around Tessler’s shoulders and pulled him in closer for a deep kiss. The connection their mouths offered made them both relax and soon their mutual desire was skyrocketing all over again. In the heat of it all, Tessler’s mouth began to move down Mason’s throat. He took his time and placed soft kisses and sharp nips with his teeth across Mason’s heated skin. He sucked on both his nipples and even relentlessly tugged on the tiny piercing Mason had in one of them. Through it all, Mason moaned his appreciation of Tessler’s attention.

By the time Tessler reached Mason’s damaged skin, his mind was nearly mush from pleasure. It was a few seconds after Tessler’s tongue was licking over the abraded areas on his hip that Mason’s brain registered an unpleasant sensation mixed in with the euphoria. He flinched under Tessler and went silent, and as he promised, Tessler stopped what he was doing.

“Am I hurting you?” Tessler asked with concern. He rolled to his side and set his head on Mason’s opposite hip away from the damaged skin.

“Not necessarily pain,” Mason explained. “It’s more of a … weird feeling, not particularly good, nor is it bad.”

Tessler had worked his mouth all around Mason’s groin without coming into contact with the one spot that Mason was near desperate for him to touch. Even now, without Tessler’s tongue touching him at all, Mason’s cock was jutting out straight above his stomach with a long strand of pre-come dripping from the tip down to the right of his belly button. As it was pooling there, Mason’s hand moved to wipe it away.

“Don’t even think of cleaning that up,” Tessler said. “That’s all mine, my reward for driving you fucking crazy for the last hour.”

“Has it been that long?” Mason asked.

“I don’t really know,” Tessler grinned up at Mason. “My attention has been elsewhere.” He winked at Mason as his face moved in towards the center of his overly excited cock. His tongue took a leisurely drag through the pooling puddle of his liquid, then made a show of savoring it in his mouth with loud moans. “Mmmm, you taste so fucking good.”

That’s all the warning Mason got before his cock disappeared into the back of Tessler’s throat. The sudden spike in pleasure had Mason jackknifing up on the mattress with a slew of curses that flew from his mouth. Tessler used Mason’s movement as an opportunity to shift himself back between his legs. Now, with his shoulders pressed to Mason’s inner thighs, he was able to keep him spread open and there wasn’t much Mason could do about it.

Tessler’s mouth went to work in places Mason had never had anyone pleasure him before. That torturous tongue laved at his sac, then dipped lower to taunt his perineum. Mason was having difficulty keeping his breaths steady with that tongue so close to his ...

“Fucking Jesus!” Mason cried out when Tessler’s tongue swept across his hole.

“Never been rimmed?” Tessler asked.

Mason couldn’t form words and shook his head.

“Then lay back,” Tessler suggested. “You’re going to love this.” He used his shoulders to spread Mason’s legs wider. After a minor adjustment on Mason’s part to shift his damaged leg into a more comfortable position, Tessler went right back to work.

Teasing flicks from that wicked tongue soon followed Tessler’s promise, which had Mason’s eyes shut tight. His arms flopped to his sides, and his mind went blank, except for the delicious, new sensations Tessler was gifting him with the skills from his sinful tongue. Nothing had ever felt that good. He was certain of it, until he felt that shameless tongue spear into his hole. In and out. In and out ... and Mason began to see the faint colors of fireworks behind his eyes.

“God damn, I’m getting close,” Mason declared and moaned again.

Just when Mason was certain he was going to explode from nothing more than the tongue lashing Tessler was giving to him, the pleasure was amped up again when a finger slid into his quivering hole. Mason’s head nearly hit the headboard of the bed when his body reacted to the intrusion, but Tessler didn’t stop. Instead, he used his tongue in tandem with the finger and proceeded to lick and fuck Mason with the digit.

“This is so … so … good,” Mason’s said in a whimper.

“You like?” Tessler asked.

“Holy fuck,” Mason cried out. “I could come. I’m so close.”

Tessler’s mouth lifted and sucked a ball into his mouth, then he made a humming sound. “I don’t want you to come until I’m inside you,” he said.

“What? You mean, you want to fuck me?” Mason asked with a lift of his head from the pillow. His gaze met Tessler’s between his legs and held.

“Of course I do,” Tessler grinned. “I believe I promised you that earlier, and I don’t like to go back on my promises.”

“But I …”

“But you what?” Tessler raised himself up to his hands and began to stalk over Mason’s stomach and chest until his face hovered directly above him.

Mason saw the question in Tessler’s eyes, and suddenly, he wondered if he was in over his head already with him. Maybe his inexperience with this was too great for Tessler to tolerate. He was about to say something when Tessler started to talk.

“Are you a virgin?”

“Not exactly,” Mason stated with embarrassment.

“Then, you’ve never bottomed?” Tessler asked.

“No, I haven’t,” Mason admitted. “Have you?”

“It’s been years since I did, and I’m not sure I remember how or that I want to again,” Tessler said with a laugh.

“I guess that means we’re both tops,” Mason said after a moment.

“Well, what do you think that means for us?” Tessler asked as he began to gently rock his hips against Mason’s groin.

“I haven’t a clue, but by the look on your face I get the feeling that you’re gonna be more than happy to explain it to me, or possibly even demonstrate.”

“It means—one of us is about to become versatile,” Tessler said and offered Mason his lopsided grin.

Tessler held Mason’s heated gaze. The friction between their bodies had Mason once again aching for release. Tessler dropped his weight down on top of him. He cradled Mason’s head with his hands and settled between his partially spread thighs. The head of his cock slid behind Mason’s ball sac and nudged against the perineum. The movement made Mason’s breath hitch.

“Which one of us do you think it’ll be?” Tessler asked in a low, seductive tone.

“Jesus, I hope it’s me,” Mason sighed. “I’ve been on edge for what feels like hours.”

Tessler chuckled. “It hasn’t been that long, but I have to say, I need relief soon myself or my balls will be stuck a nice shade of sapphire forever.”

Mason watched Tessler climb off the bed and retrieve a condom pack and a tube of lube from the bedside table. He fought the anxiety waiting to swamp him and focused on the gorgeously naked man standing beside the bed and how damn turned-on he was because of him. He didn’t think he’d ever been this blissed-out with a partner before, and they hadn’t even fucked—yet. Knowing Tessler was very close to changing that status for them both, his eyes dropped down to Tessler’s long, thick cock. He’d had trouble fitting all that inside his mouth when he sucked him. Would he be able to take that in his ass … comfortably?

Tessler’s warm hand on his stomach drew his attention away from the size of his cock. He was in such a trance he hadn’t realized Tessler had sat down on the edge of the bed beside him. “It’s okay if you want to change your mind,” Tessler said as he caressed Mason’s stomach. “There are lots of other ways we can get each other off.”

Mason shook his head and sat up to bring their faces together. He leaned in closer and covered Tessler’s mouth in a kiss meant to ravage and convey just how badly he wanted to have this with him.

“You’ve got me too damn curious,” Mason confessed. “If your finger and tongue felt that good, your cock is going to feel even better, right?”

A faint smile curled Tessler’s full lips. “I can assure you, my cock is going to feel ten times better than my finger and tongue,” he boasted.

“Only ten times better? I was hoping for a hundred times better.”

Tessler tackled Mason down onto the mattress and climbed up over him again. “Are you okay doing this on your back?” he asked.

“I think so,” Mason replied. “Just don’t grab onto that leg too firmly or make any sudden position changes. I’ll need time to let the skin stretch into whatever position you put me in.”

“We’ll go slow,” Tessler said, “but you’ll have to tell me the moment something hurts you too much—and I’m talking about your leg as well as me penetrating your ass. Okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Slow is good.”

Mason’s eyes were glued to Tessler as he squeezed a line of lube onto his fingers. A moment later, he felt the cool liquid being rubbed around the rim of his hole and then two of his fingers slipped inside. Mason sucked in a breath at the intrusion but forced himself to relax after Tessler started scissoring his fingers. The discomfort was quickly replaced with desire, and in the seconds that passed thereafter, his need was off the charts. He had his good leg spread as far as it would go, and his healing leg was slowly extending as well. The sensation of having something moving inside of him was lighting him up like a Christmas tree. Nerves he never knew he had were exploding left and right, and when Tessler curled his fingers, Mason thought his head was going to blow open.

“If you touch that spot again like that, I’m going to come,” Mason warned.

“Well, we wouldn’t want that now, would we?” Tessler said with a grin and slowly removed his fingers.

It didn’t take Tessler long to roll on the condom, and then he was shifting between Mason’s open legs. He stayed on his knees for a moment and scanned Mason’s body. Seeing Tessler’s hungry eyes on him like that made him feel so fucking exposed, but he was far too turned on to feel self-conscious of that now. If he didn’t come within the next five minutes, he was going to have jack himself off to get some relief. It was that simple. Tessler obviously wanted him, and Jesus, Mason wanted him, too. He wanted Tessler to take him and own the one part of him he’d never thought to offer anyone. Giving it to Tessler felt beyond right—like he’d waited all this time to find Tessler just so he could share this—and only with him.

“Fuck me,” Mason prompted because waiting even one more second to feel Tessler inside of him seemed inhumane, maybe even cruel.

“You want my cock to fill you?”

Mason nodded and reached to wrap his arms around Tessler to pull him down flat against him.

“Words, Mase,” Tessler directed. “You know this is all about your words.”

One of Mason hands slipped behind the back of Tessler’s neck to still him and their eyes locked. A burn of emotion began to sting at Mason’s. This was beyond powerful and he needed Tessler to somehow understand that. “No, Tess,” he whispered breathily. “This is about so much more than the words. This is just . . . more.”

“So much more,” Tessler agreed. His hips rolled gently forward and the head of his cock began to breach Mason’s hole for the first time. It took a little work, but Tessler was able to bring their bodies together with the slow and steady push of his hips. Once he was completely inside, he became motionless and simply stared down at Mason. The weight of this moment hung between them, enormous and bright, like a full moon hanging low in the horizon.

How was it possible to feel this fucking euphoric? Mason thought. It was something he’d never spent any time considering before now—before Tessler. Sex had always felt good to him, and there was no such thing as a bad orgasm. But with Tessler? Jesus, just having the man near him was exceedingly special. This wasn’t merely a physical thing between them, and after tonight, Mason could never dismiss this as a fling again. Emotions were involved now, and there was no way he could ignore that. It wasn’t just their bodies that were joined in this bed. This went far beyond every single one of the physical sensations they’d shared. This was pure and raw and so fucking powerful that Mason was afraid he might burst into tears and cry like a little girl. His heart was so full it ached and felt close to exploding with joy because he’d finally had a chance to feel—truly feel this level of a connection with someone.

Tessler.

The man had seen his horrific physical flaws and still looked upon him as something of beauty. He treated him with respect and patience and found a way to make love to him when Mason didn’t see how he could be attractive to anyone at all. Mason’s eyes were swimming with unshed tears and was about to lose it completely when Tessler started to move his hips in a slow, rhythmic thrust. Mason was quickly drawn to another level of intimacy with the fullness he felt from Tessler being inside of him. Every pitch of Tessler’s narrow hips brought him deeper, and when he withdrew, his cock scraped against that spot each and every time; Mason was already feeling his orgasm starting to build.

“Are you okay?” Tessler asked, then dipped his head to capture Mason’s lips in a tender kiss that belied the gradual intensity building with each of his thrusts.

“I’m so fucking good,” Mason answered breathlessly.

“I’m not hurting you?”

“Not even close,” Mason huffed out.

Tessler adjusted Mason’s good leg and changed the angle of his drives. “Holy fucking shit!” Mason yelled. “Right there! Keep hitting that … spot.”

It only took a few more pumps of Tessler’s hips and Mason began to crash over the edge. Once his orgasm started, there was no stopping it, and Mason had waited far too long for the relief it gave him. He held on tight to Tessler’s hips and allowed the bliss to sweep him away. His balls drew up tight, the fireworks exploding in his eyes became more brilliant, and he started shooting come between them without the need to stroke to his cock—not even once. What Tessler was doing to his insides was more than enough to give him what felt like an endless orgasm that continued through Tessler’s own release.

Tessler let out a final groan as he eased himself out of Mason and rolled them onto their sides to face one another. Mason not only felt boneless, as if his entire body had turned to liquid, he felt lighter than air and ridiculously happy as well.

Tessler snuggled closer. His caresses were soft and tender as they skimmed over Mason’s ribs and down onto his hip. His exploring digits moved directly over Mason’s skin grafts, dipped into the creases left by the many surgeries, and even touched the divots left on the uneven surface of his skin. Mason didn’t flinch at all. He was too damn relaxed to give one single fuck about what Tessler was touching. The fact that Tessler was touching him at all now was just the cherry on the top of what they’d just shared. It made everything perfect.

Tessler offered gentle nips to his lips and throat and then a deliciously deep kiss followed, and Mason was ready to pass out from the overindulgence of sensation. All of a sudden, Tessler’s fingers stopped moving, and Mason felt him almost seem to startle. The tension in Tessler’s body had Mason opening up his eyes. When he did, he saw Tessler looking at his fingers in horror.

“What’s wrong?” Mason asked him.

“You’re bleeding,” Tessler said and sat up in the bed.

“It’s okay. I’m fine,” Mason tried to fluff it off.

“I thought you said I didn’t hurt you?” Tessler questioned. He almost seemed to recoil like Mason was infectious and that made him wish he was invisible.

“You didn’t,” Mason replied maybe a little too harshly. “I would have told you if it hurt in any way.”

Tessler rolled off the bed and went into the bathroom, and Mason suddenly felt very exposed. If ever there was a time he could simply disappear into thin air, it was now. He was shifting on the bed to get up when Tessler returned with a warm wash cloth. “You don’t need to clean me up,” Mason said.

“Where’s the blood coming from?” Tessler questioned. “There wasn’t any on the condom when I took it off, so what’s bleeding?”

Mason had already stepped into his jeans and was carefully pulling them up his legs. He turned away from Tessler’s prying eyes when he had to wince from the pain, but he knew Tessler was still waiting for an explanation. Considering what they’d just done in that bed, Mason probably owed him one, too.

“The skin in the bad areas is still thin from being covered up with a cast for such a long damn time, and sometimes when it gets stretched too quickly, it splits,” Mason said. “It’s no big deal. Those areas will just take a long time to heal.”

“No big deal? Mason, you were bleeding!”

“I’m fine. Really.” Mason finished getting his pants on, then bent to grab his shirt from the floor. The whole time Tessler stood naked nearby with his arms crossed over his chest and watched him. When Mason was done, he started walking towards the bedroom door.

“You’re leaving?” Tessler asked.

Hearing the hurt in Tessler’s voice stung a bit, but all Mason could think about now was getting the hell out of there so he could go home and lick his wounds in private … as it should be. “I checked the sheets,” Mason said in a soft voice as he buttoned his shirt. He couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with Tessler which was cowardly, but that’s exactly what he felt like right now. “I didn’t get any blood on them.”

“Hey,” Tessler said as he reached for Mason’s arm. He gripped it quickly and spun him around to face him. Angry, but compassionate, eyes slammed into Mason and damn near stole his breath. “I don’t give a fuck about my sheets,” Tessler spat. “I care about you. What can I do to help?”

“Nothing,” he said and glanced towards the bedroom doorway.

“Mason. Look at me and tell me what I can do to fix this?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. I can see blood already starting to seep through your jeans,” Tessler stated firmly. “So, tell me what you typically do when this happens? Do you need to see a doctor?”

“Fuck, no!”

“Then, tell me what you do.”

Tessler wasn’t backing down nor was he letting Mason get away with not making eye contact. Tessler’s hand finally held his jaw in place, forcing him to hold his gaze, and that’s when Mason gave up trying to fight it. He was tired of fighting—period, and he was tired of dealing with this all on his own. Maybe it was time he let someone share this burden with him, and maybe that someone was Tessler.

Mason closed his eyes and inhaled. Tessler’s grip on his jaw tightened a bit to remind him he wasn’t going anywhere and neither was Mason. “I have some stuff in my duffel bag downstairs that I use,” Mason said.

“Stay here,” Tessler ordered. “I’ll go get your bag.”

Mason didn’t argue. The pressure and friction of the fabric of his jeans was proving to be too much on his leg. While Tessler was out of the room, he gently eased his pants and boxers back down his legs, then he sat back down on the edge of the bed. A moment later, Tessler hurried back into the room holding the duffel. He held it out to Mason and dropped to his knees beside the bed while Mason dug inside the bag. Mason rifled around inside the duffel, then removed a plastic baggie with an antiseptic cleanser in it and a tube of special burn ointment.

“I’ll get some clean towels,” Tessler offered and got up off the floor to hurry into his bathroom.

When he returned this time, he crouched down next to Mason beside his bad leg. Their gazes met and Mason saw the compassion floating in Tessler’s deep brown eyes. It made his chest feel tight again, and his heart kicked a little faster because of it, too.

Tessler held out a towel, and Mason attempted to dismiss it. “Stop it,” Tessler stated firmly.

“What?”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Tessler said.

Mason scoffed at that notion. “I sincerely doubt you know what I’m thinking right now,” he answered.

“You’re wishing I wasn’t here to see this because it somehow makes you feel less than whatever it is you want me to see you as,” Tessler explained. “That’s bullshit, you know. You’ve created that in your own mind. It’s nowhere near how I truly see you.”

Mason’s mouth gaped open. He couldn’t believe how close Tessler actually was to his truth. What he’d said was almost exactly what Mason was feeling, and knowing how transparent he apparently was somehow made him feel worse.

“You have no idea how I’m feeling,” Mason all but whispered.

“I call bullshit again,” Tessler countered. “You’ll have to try harder if you expect me to believe that.”

“Tess, why are you doing this?” Mason asked.

Tessler stood up and took a seat beside Mason on the bed. It took a few seconds before Tessler started talking, and while Mason waited, he removed the cap for the antiseptic wash to clean the fresh splits in his skin.

“I want to share this with you,” Tessler finally said. “I want to help you in a way that makes you feel, I don’t know … wanted, like you have someone who cares, because I do. That feels like the right thing for me, and I kind of need to feel involved on this level.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“Pity is the last thing you’ll get from me,” Tessler said with his voice slightly raised. “You deserve a fuck-load more than anyone’s pity.” Tessler reached for the towel in Mason’s hand and wiggled his fingers. “Please. Let me hold it for you while you clean the cuts.”

Mason’s eyes locked with Tessler’s again. The strength he got from them was almost kinetic and so powerful, like the man’s energy was somehow being transferred to him through nothing more than a searing gaze. He hadn’t known how much he needed that until this moment. Mason nodded to Tessler and handed him the towel. “Hold it right under my thigh to catch the drips,” he instructed.

“Okay. We’ll work together as a team,” Tessler said.

It didn’t take long to get the first cut flushed out with the antiseptic wash, then Mason moved on to a couple of others, which were fresh and still slightly bleeding. When it came time to apply the burn ointment though, it was Tessler who did the task while he listened to Mason’s careful instruction. Tessler’s confident touch sent soothing comfort through him, and again, Mason was filled with joy over the fact he’d found a man like Tessler. For the first time since the fire, Mason felt like he really had someone to share this hell with that wasn’t in the medical field and being paid to care for him.

“You’re amazing,” Mason said when Tessler was almost done applying the ointment.

“So are you,” Tessler answered, then he leaned in and softly brushed his lips against Mason’s.

The entire process took several minutes, and Tessler seemed in no rush to get it done. If anything, he dawdled a bit as if he wanted to spend more time touching Mason, but that was okay. Mason didn’t mind at all. In some ways, this was even more intimate than being in bed together, and it left Mason feeling just as breathless, too, but for a completely different reason.

“You really see me as amazing?” Mason asked while Tessler put the caps back on the ointment and antiseptic, then placed both items inside the baggie again.

“Oh, hell yeah. When I first saw you in the coffee shop, you made quite an impression on me,” Tessler stated and then grinned.

“I face-planted myself on the floor at your feet,” Mason said and groaned. “That impressed you?”

“The way you carried yourself showed how strong you are, your integrity, and how you don’t give up for nothing,” Tessler said. “Yeah, you fell, but the way you handled it, like I said, impressed the hell out of me. I don’t see you as being weak, Mason, if that’s what you’re asking. Not in the least. You’re a survivor many times over, and you should be proud of yourself for that. Not many people could rise above personal adversity the way you have and do so with dignity.”

“With dignity and grace?” Mason said and chuckled.

“Well, maybe not the grace … yet, but I have no doubt that one day after you’re completely healed, you will be,” Tessler said. He draped an arm around Mason’s shoulders and tugged him closer to his side. “How about we head downstairs and eat that delicious meal you brought with you?”