Chapter 6

Eric

 

We had we’ll play it by ear plans for our third day in Rome, which was good because as we got up that morning, I doubted we were going to be doing much of anything. The sky had opened up and was unleashing one hell of a downpour. Rain came down in sheets and slapped against our window. Water whooshed whenever a car went by, and the unfortunate people who had to go outside ran along the sidewalk, dodging splashes from passing traffic.

“Well, shit,” Andrew said as he surveyed the scene below our room. “Maybe walking down to Altare della Patria isn’t in the cards.”

“For a while, anyway.” I scowled at the nastiness outside. We’d already showered, dressed, and been to breakfast but hadn’t noticed the weather until now.

“Shouldn’t you be used to rain?” He nudged me playfully. “I thought it rained all the time in Seattle.”

“Not like that.”

“Really? It does this in the Midwest all the time.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Ugh. No thanks. As if those spinny windy things you guys get aren’t evil enough.”

“Spinny windy—you mean tornados?”

“Yes. Those.” I shuddered. “No thank you.”

Andrew chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Says the man from the land of shaky groundy things and explody mountains.”

I snorted. “Touché.”

He laughed too. Then he snaked an arm around my waist and nuzzled my neck. “Well, as long as it’s shitty out, we could stay in for a while. See if the weather turns.”

I grinned as I tilted his head so he could kiss along my jaw. “We might get bored if we stay in, though. Have to figure out something to do to—” I gasped as his teeth grazed my skin. “Pass the time.”

“Mmm.” He tugged at my belt loop, drawing me against him. “I’m sure we can think of something.”

“I’ll bet we can.”

“We are on vacation, after all,” he said. “I’m not opposed to spending a day lounging around in bed.”

“Even if it means missing a day of exploring Rome?”

“Rome’s been here for like two thousand years.” Andrew’s lips skated up my neck to the edge of my beard. “It’ll still be here when we’re done.”

I closed my eyes as he nibbled the side of my throat. “You’re definitely selling me on this whole staying indoors thing.”

“Yeah?” He slid his hands down over my ass. “But are you sold on it yet?”

“Mmm, I’m getting there. ’Specially if you keep…” I exhaled, arching against him. “That.”

“What? This?” He kissed down my neck.

“Uh-huh.” I tugged the back of his shirt up. “It’s… persuasive as fuck.”

He laughed softly and continued his exploration as if he’d never put his mouth on my skin before. God, I loved the way he did that. I’d always been a sucker for having my neck kissed, and Andrew never seemed to get tired of doing it.

With some stumbling and fumbling, we got our shirts out of the way and inched closer to the bed.

“Damn this weather,” he murmured. “Nothing to do except… spend the whole day naked in bed.”

“Mmm, right? Hope we don’t get bored.”

He bit just above my collarbone. “You really see that happening any time soon?”

I closed my eyes, holding onto him as my balance wavered. “N-no. Definitely not.”

“Didn’t think so.”

I tilted my head back to give him more room to explore. “You know, we never did do any anal on the ship.”

He lifted his head and met my gaze. “We didn’t. You want to?”

I grinned. “Do you?”

“Of course I do.” His expression was completely serious. “Are you sure you want to? I’m fine with the way we’ve been doing things, so if you’re not, just say so.”

“No, I actually like it a lot.” My face burned a little. “I just usually don’t do it with a guy I’ve just met. For a lot of trans guys I know, it’s the opposite—they’re more likely to let someone fuck them in the ass than the front.” I hesitated. I’d told him on the ship that I’d just been in too much of a hurry to bother with the prep, but I might as well be honest with him now. “I had a bad experience with anal, though, so…”

His brow pinched. “A bad experience?”

I nodded. “Couple of them, actually. Guys who moved a little too fast, didn’t use quite enough lube. That kind of thing. So I’ve been kind of gun shy since then.”

“I don’t blame you. One of my exes did that too, and it took a long time before I could bottom without doing a couple of shots first.”

“Doesn’t take much to ruin it, am I right?”

Rolling his eyes, he nodded. As he met my gaze, he caressed my arm. “You do enjoy it, though?”

“Once I’m comfortable enough with someone, yeah.” I paused “I mean, I have to trust a guy if I’m going to let him fuck me in the front, but if I don’t trust him enough for that, I’m not sleeping with him at all.” I watched my fingers trail up Andrew’s arm. “Anal just takes a little more for me because of those idiots.”

“Well…” He slid his hand behind my neck. “If you’re game, I’m all for it.”

“Figured you would be. And you like it too? Bottoming? As long as you’re comfortable with someone?”

“Oh yeah. I love it.” He tilted his head, and shyly asked, “How… how would that…”

I smiled, caressing his cheek, and nodded toward my suitcase. “We have the technology.”

His eyes flicked in the same direction. “Do we, now?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Well, damn.” He moistened his lips. “Now I can’t decide who I want on top.”

I laughed. “Paper, rock, scissors?”

Andrew snorted. “That would be the first ever game of paper, rock, scissors that I absolutely can’t lose.”

Chuckling, I slid my hands down over his ass. “The toy will be there later. Right now, I want you to top me.”

He released a throaty growl that made my toes curl, and as he leaned in to kiss me, he murmured, “I will top the hell out of you.”

I shivered, drawing him in closer. “Promise?”

“Mmhmm.” Then he kissed me, and if his kiss was any indication, he had every intention of making good on that promise. He kissed me deep and hard—not quite enough to pinch lips or clack teeth, but enough to make it very clear he was horny and hungry.

I gave as good as I got, too. We made out, and we pawed at each other and… were strangely unhurried. Even as we made it known in no uncertain terms how turned on we were, and even though I was excited at the idea of doing anal with him for the first time, I wasn’t in a huge rush. We had plenty of time—I doubted the weather was going to change on a dime, and even if it did, we didn’t have to scramble out the door the instant the sun came out. As far as I was concerned, we had all day and all night for this.

He must’ve agreed. Though the heat between us was very much alive and well, the urgency died down a little. We were still winding each other up, but we had a rainstorm to weather and nowhere to be but here, so instead of tearing off clothes, we lazily made out in bed, gradually tugging at layers until we started baring skin. I loved this—just luxuriating in each other and turning each other on and taking our sweet time getting each other naked.

Little by little, we did get naked, and the more his hot skin met mine, the more I wanted. When there was finally nothing between us but heat, I kissed him and ran my hands all over his back and sides and ass; good God, this man drove me wild.

“Turn over on your stomach,” he murmured between kisses.

“Hmm?”

“Stomach.” He kissed me again, then lifted himself off me. “Turn over.”

Oh yes. Yes, let’s do this.

As I rolled over, I wondered why he didn’t want me on my hands and knees, but the answer became pretty obvious when he started kissing along my spine. As slowly as he worked his way down, kiss by delicate little kiss, my arms would have been exhausted by the time he reached the small of my back.

Eyes squeezed shut, I bit my lip and kneaded the edge of the mattress. My whole body was tingling, and I was sure the moment he touched an actual erogenous zone, I’d melt. When he nudged my thighs apart, a zing of anticipation shot through me. And… oh God. Andrew’s tongue was pure magic. Not that I was surprised—everything he’d done with his mouth so far had been awesome. Still, though, I was caught off guard by just how intense it was to have his gentle, insistent tongue on my ass. I couldn’t breathe. Eyes squeezed shut, forehead buried in the pillow, I clung to the edges of the mattress and didn’t make a sound because he was driving me too far out of my mind.

I had no idea how long he tongued and teased me. I didn’t really care, either. As much as I wanted his dick in me, the things he did with his mouth? God, he could do those all day. So good. So, so good.

Then he started back up my spine, and every kiss was a hundred times more intense than it was when he’d worked his way down. I was a wreck, and I wanted more.

When he reached my neck, he kissed just below my hairline. “I’m gonna get a condom. You want to do this on your hands and knees?”

“You… have a lot of faith in my ability to hold myself up.”

Andrew huffed a warm laugh across the back of my neck. “If you can’t, it isn’t like you have far to fall.” He dropped another kiss on my skin. “And if you do, I’ll just keep fucking you.”

I moaned helplessly. He could be so shy sometimes, and then talk so dirty, and hell, I’d do anything he told me to as long as he kept talking to me like that.

He had the condom on in no time and coated it with lube. Then he teased my hole with a couple of slick fingers, and I groaned as they pushed inside. He didn’t have to work at it; I was seriously relaxed after he’d rimmed me for forty days and forty nights—or a few minutes, whatever—so it didn’t take much at all for his well-lubed fingers to slide inside. I was hardly a virgin, but I didn’t remember ever feeling so… ready. He had me wound up, relaxed, and needy, and if he didn’t put his cock in me like now—

“Fuck me,” I growled. “C’mon.”

Andrew laughed wickedly, slowing his strokes as if he knew that would drive me even wilder. “I’ll get there. Don’t worry.”

I groaned into the pillow, and gasped as he slid his fingers back in. “Your dick, damn it. I want… fuck, Andrew…”

He laughed again as he withdrew his fingers. “Can’t say no to that, can I?” Any witty retort I might’ve had evaporated as he moved on top of me. He was holding his breath, and my heart was thumping, and yes, God, yes, he was lining himself up. I closed my eyes and pressed my forehead into the pillow as he gently—so gently—pushed in. He’d prepped me so well, his cock slid easily past the tight ring, and my head spun as all those sensitive nerve endings responded to the delicious invasion.

“Oh fuck, you feel good,” he purred as he slowly withdrew.

I didn’t make a sound. The burn and the stretch were intense, and the slow slide of his dick was intoxicating. He toed that fine line where it could start to hurt if he wasn’t careful, but he was careful, so it didn’t hurt, and I was utterly lost as he eased himself deeper inside me. His strokes stayed slow—almost frustratingly slow—until he was moving smoothly and fluidly with no resistance at all. Then and only then, he started riding me faster, thrusting deep and hard as the bed protested and my body threatened to unravel from the sheer oh fuck yes of it all.

“Jesus Christ, Andrew,” I moaned. Eyes squeezed shut, I let my head fall forward. His hands slid up my back and curved over my shoulders, and he held on as he rocked his hips faster. I balanced on my arm and, with my free hand, teased my cock between two fingers. The combination of playing with myself and taking his dick like this was blindingly hot—turning my mind to liquid and my spine to sparks, and distantly I heard myself slur, “I’mma come.”

Andrew groaned, fingers digging into my hips, and God knew how, but he kept his rhythm steady and perfect, and…

“Oh fuck,” I whimpered. “Yeah, baby. Just—fuck!” As soon as I started coming, he started thrusting harder. He kept riding me deep and hard, and even after my orgasm had tapered off, he kept going.

My arms were shaky now, and they didn’t want to hold me up anymore, so I sank down to the bed again. Andrew came with me. His hips rocked slowly, his cock still sliding in and out of my ass, and he kissed the side of my neck in between growled curses.

“Oh God…” He buried his head against my neck. “Fuck.” He shuddered, pushing himself as deep as I could take him, and moaned as he came, his cock pulsing and his body trembling as hips jerked against my ass. Then he collapsed over me, panting hard against my shoulder as he held himself up on shaky arms. “Fuck…”

We lay like that for a moment, both panting and trembling, Andrew keeping himself up just enough so I could still breathe.

“We keep fucking like this,” I murmured into the pillow, “we’re never going to see the rest of Rome.”

“Yeah. Probably.” He brushed his lips across my shoulder. “I can kinda live with that, though. ’specially when it’s raining.”

“Uh-huh. Me too.”

With a soft groan, Andrew pulled out, and we both got up. He got rid of the condom, and after we’d cleaned ourselves off, we collapsed in the rumpled bed, arms around each other and legs tangled up. We were both quiet for a long moment, and I realized the world really had fallen silent. Well, sort of. Outside, there were cars, voices, and the usual noise of a city.

What was missing was the rain.

I craned my neck toward the window. The shutters were open, and outside, the sun was blinding as it reflected off wet stone and glass. “Looks like the rain stopped.”

He looked in the same direction. “Hmm, yeah. Guess we could go out now if we wanted to.” He cuddled up against me, his hand sliding up my back, and grinned. “If we wanted to.”

“But that takes…” I waved a hand. “Effort. And stuff.”

He laughed. “True, it does.” He nuzzled my cheek. “You know, I keep feeling guilty every time we stay in instead of going out and doing stuff.” He kissed me softly. “But this is a vacation, right? Nothing wrong with being lazy.”

“No, there isn’t. In fact, it’s probably something I need to do more often when I’m home.”

“Well.” He lifted himself up and grinned down at me. “I’m happy to help you practice while we’re here.”

“You’re such a giver,” I said with a laugh and pulled him back down into my arms. I had to say, this laziness thing was a lot of fun. Still, I was blowing off exploring Rome so I could hang out in bed with Andrew. Was I going to regret this? Not taking every available moment to check out the city I’d been dying to see for so many years?

As I watched my hand drift up his arm, I couldn’t help thinking I’d regret missing this more than missing the city.

And that thought… fuck, it kind of alarmed me.

I certainly wasn’t getting tired of being with him, even being completely stuck together without the escapes we’d had available on the ship. If anything, I was secretly almost panicking at the idea of running out of time. After two weeks, Rome would still be here. Would Andrew?

He’s going to go back to Iowa and find a job. He’s got a life there. Just because he jumped on the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in Rome doesn’t mean this thing has legs.

Didn’t mean it didn’t have legs either.

Quit overthinking it. Just enjoy it.

“It isn’t raining,” Andrew said. “Maybe we should go out and find some lunch while we can.” He paused for a long kiss. “Then we can come back and pick up where we left off. Assuming neither of us is too sore.”

“Not me. You?”

“Nope.”

“Good. Let’s go get something to eat, then.” I drew back and winked. “So we can get back to screwing the afternoon away.”

He chuckled, and we both got up to get dressed. As we headed downstairs—we took the stairs since the elevator was stupidly slow—I was pleased to realize just how little my body hurt. Anal sex was one of those things that could either be completely comfortable or it could leave me sore as hell afterward. That was part of why I didn’t usually jump into it with someone until I had a feel for how they navigated my body; one overeager thrust could ruin the next day or two.

Walking with Andrew in search of food, down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk, I could definitely feel everything we’d done, but it wasn’t painful. Not unpleasantly painful, anyway—kind of that dull, low-grade ache that could linger after a satisfying workout. I should have known Andrew would be the kind of guy who could keep things hot and exciting without leaving me wincing afterward.

Why didn’t we fuck like that sooner?

Because I’m nervous with new guys.

I glanced at him and couldn’t help smiling.

Not nervous with him anymore. Goddamn.

As we continued walking, I slid my hands into the pockets of my shorts just to make sure I kept them to myself. It didn’t matter that I was used to being careful showing affection in public—it was really, really hard not to take Andrew’s hand. We’d stolen a few touches and even kisses since we’d been here, so maybe that was making me reckless. Or hell, maybe I just really liked touching Andrew. That was probably it. Because I really did like touching Andrew.

 “So, we’ve still got like ten days,” I said. “What else do you want to see while we’re here?”

Andrew shrugged. “I’m game for almost anything. I’m just kind of tagging along, remember?”

“Andrew.” I gave his arm a quick, gentle nudge. “You’re on this trip too. If there’s something you want to see, say so.”

“Well…” He chewed his lip. “I’m not sure if it’s feasible to get there from here, but I would love to see Pompeii.”

I straightened. “Dude, it’s been on my bucket list for twenty years. Let’s do it.”

Andrew’s face lit up. God, I loved that smile. “Hell, yeah. I mean, if it’s feasible.”

“It is,” I said with a nod. “It’s only a couple of hours by train, so I was thinking we could take the train down, stay overnight, spend the day in the ruins, and come back the following day.”

The smile held on. “Yeah, that sounds great! When do you want to go?”

“Well, I was going to suggest it for next week, but you know, why wait? Let’s go tomorrow.”

“Really?”

“Why not?”

“Hell, I’m in.” Andrew pursed his lips. “Do we need to buy tickets ahead of time?”

“For the train or the ruins?”

“Both.”

“I’ll check when we get back to the room.”

“Great.” He smiled. “I’m excited. This is going to be fun.”

“Me too.”

I’d waited my whole life to visit Pompeii. Who knew I’d be even more excited to visit with Andrew?

I just tried not to think too hard about why.