Chapter 7

Rhys

 

I was in no hurry to hit the road, and Derek didn’t seem to be either. We took our sweet time with showers, indulging in the hotel’s modest continental breakfast, and packing, and by the time we finally checked out, it was almost noon. Getting coffee at the place next to the gas station took longer than it probably should have too; apparently Derek wasn’t in any more of a hurry to be cooped up together than I was.

We couldn’t dawdle and put this off forever, though, and finally, we were on the interstate. The weather had turned to shit, too—fat snowflakes swirled in all around us, reducing both my speed and visibility. If this kept up, we wouldn’t make it to our hotel until late tonight, but…meh. We had reservations. I wasn’t worried. Our rooms would still be there. We just had to get there, ideally without driving each other insane with this never-ending silence.

Because surprise, surprise—so much for keeping things relaxed on the road. As I trudged west through the wind and snow, neither of us spoke, and yesterday’s cautious but easy vibe seemed like a distant memory. We were back to uncomfortable silence. Of course we were. Fuck.

Damn. I should have trusted my gut and not second-guessed my decision to join Derek at the restaurant last night. I should have kept some comfortable distance between us. Or if I’d gone to the restaurant, maybe just this one time I could have bowed out of the excitement of a hockey game, stuck with sodas—something besides riding that wave of alcohol and adrenaline right into my ex-husband’s bed. There was no way that was going to end well, and I’d known it then as surely as I knew it now.

How could I have been so stupid?

Oh. Right. Because I’d been drunk, horny, and touching a man who was second to none in bed. I’d let myself forget all the reasons why it was the first time we’d touched in months, and now I got to deal with the fallout. New rule: no more drinking on this trip.

I kept driving, all the while fighting the urge to drum my nails or fidget in my seat. At least driving through crappy weather gave me something to concentrate on. I even wondered a time or two if that was why we weren’t talking—Derek usually stayed quiet when I drove in the snow so I could focus.

I doubted that was what was happening here, though. We hadn’t said two words before we’d hit the snowy road. At least the air between us wasn’t hostile. I didn’t feel like we were a breath away from snapping at each other and fighting. We may as well have been, though, for as wound up and nervous as I was. How the hell did we dial this back to the way things had been yesterday? Was that even possible after last night?

Fuck. Are we there yet?

The silence had gone on so long, I almost jumped out of my skin when Derek spoke.

“Listen, um.” He shifted in the passenger seat. “About last night…”

I cringed. “Do we really need to—”

“Just hear me out,” he said softly.

I pressed my lips together.

Derek studied me for a moment before he went on, voice still soft. “Maybe the way things went down last night was… Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing.”

Well shit. That was unexpected. “How do you figure?”

His nails tapped rapidly on the console between us. “To put it bluntly, when we’re fooling around, we’re not fighting.”

“But what about afterward? We haven’t even been able to look at each other since we got up this morning.”

“Do you want to be able to look at me?”

I glanced at him, but only for a second since I didn’t dare take my eyes off the road for long. “Of course I do. But I… I mean, we…”

“Yesterday was a lot less miserable than it could have been. I…actually kind of enjoyed it. The drive, I mean.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And last night? That was fun, and I don’t just mean when we got back to the hotel.”

I rolled some tension out of my shoulders. “It was, wasn’t it?”

“Uh-huh. We’ve still got a couple of days before we get to Oregon, plus the drive back. I’m thinking it would be a lot more bearable if we spent it like we did yesterday and last night. Instead of, you know, like this.”

Gripping the wheel tight, I stared intently at the striped asphalt through the flurry of snowflakes. “I agree. But this goes a bit above and beyond just pretending all our issues don’t exist, doesn’t it? I mean…” I stole another glance at him. “Do you want to sleep with me? After all the shit we’ve been through?”

After what I did to us?

Derek slid his hand over my thigh, and when he squeezed gently, he might as well have been squeezing all the air out of my lungs. Voice sultry and low, he said, “You really have to ask after last night?”

I shifted in the driver’s seat. “That was… We were drunk. And it was the heat of the—” I sucked in a breath as his hand slid a fraction of an inch higher.

“Last night, I felt better than I have in a long time.” Derek ran his thumb along the outer seam of my jeans. “Why not keep a good thing going if it’ll get us through the next week?”

I gulped. The words had my head spinning, but the warmth of his hand on my leg left me tongue-tied. He knew what he was doing, too. This was a game we’d played millions of times while we were together. We’d never be reckless enough to try road head or anything, particularly in this kind of weather, but he knew just how much he could touch and tease me without distracting me from driving. He could turn me on just enough to make me squirm, just enough to spin me up and make my breath hitch, and keep me riding that edge for miles; there was a reason he’d sucked me off dozens of times in our garage.

“So, what do you think?” Derek asked.

I swallowed. “I haven’t told you take your hand off my leg, have I?”

He breathed a soft laugh, and his hand relaxed a little, becoming a heavier, surer presence on my thigh.

“And you’re probably right,” I whispered. “It’ll make the trip a lot more… more bearable.”

He subtly kneaded my thigh, and my toes curled inside my boot. “Might make the drive seem longer, though.”

“You’re not wrong.” I exhaled, fighting a losing battle against a shiver. “We, um, might need to pick up a few things. Before we stop, I mean.”

“Pretty sure there are drugstores near the hotel.”

Oh God. We’re really talking about doing this, aren’t we?

We’re… really doing this, aren’t we?

Neither of us spoke for a few minutes. I supposed there wasn’t much to say. The air between us was still taut, but it crackled with a whole new breed of tension. One I loved, though there was a good chance it might drive me out of my head before we reached the hotel. Last night had left me even hungrier for Derek’s touch than I’d been in the months leading up to this, and fuck my life, but we still had hours of driving before we reached our hotel. Especially if I had to keep puttering along at thirty-five instead of eighty-plus. There was no way I’d stay hard for the entire trip, but I was hard as hell right now, and it wasn’t at all below Derek to keep teasing me until we were finally off the road.

Through the swirling clouds of snow, a sign came into view:

Rest Stop – 3 Miles.

Heart pounding, I fought the urge to stomp on the accelerator. Three miles. I could handle that. Any faster and I might wind up in a ditch. Though at least we’d be stopped and I wouldn’t have to focus on the road.

I adjusted my grip on the wheel. “You’re sure about this. Going through the next few days like…” I cut my eyes toward him. “Like nothing’s changed?”

“Yeah.” He gave my thigh another squeeze, making my skin break out in goose bumps. “Beats the alternative, doesn’t it?”

“It does.” God, I was out of breath. “But I don’t want us fooling around just because it’s easier than the alternative. I want us to actually want this, you know? Otherwise we’re—”

His hand inched higher, his pinkie finger now dangerously close to the bulge in my jeans. “Wanting this is not a problem from my end. What about you?”

“N-no. It’s not.”

“Then I think we’re on the same page.”

“Okay. Okay, good.”

The rest stop’s entrance finally came into view, and I turned on my signal.

Derek’s fingers twitched. “What are you doing?”

“Pulling over so you can put your money where your mouth is.” The words tumbled out in a breathless rush. “I’m not driving three hundred goddamned miles with a hard-on.”

He didn’t object. Derek was the most cautious person I knew when it came to public same-sex affection, but he didn’t say a word. I wasn’t all that surprised, and not just because I suspected he was as painfully turned on as I was—there wasn’t a soul in sight at the rest stop. Even if the place had been crowded, the falling snow would have given us more than enough cover.

The snow masked the lines of the parking spaces, but I supposed it didn’t really matter as long as I didn’t take a handicapped spot. I wasn’t planning on parking that close to the rest stop’s tiny cluster of buildings anyway. Instead, I continued to the far end of the lot, and as I slowed down, Derek’s seat belt snapped back against the door. I was already unbuckling mine when I pulled into a parking space.

I threw the truck into park, and I’d barely turned the key before Derek lunged across the console, grabbed me, and kissed me like his life depended on it. Oh God, I loved how he kissed. Always had. And when he was this turned on? Fuck yes. Now that he didn’t have to worry about distracting me from driving through the snow, he didn’t hold back at all. He kissed me as passionately as he had in the hallway last night, forcing my lips apart with his tongue and exploring my mouth like he’d never tasted me before.

I wrapped my arms around him and grabbed handfuls of his sweatshirt. I wanted to pull it off and get him naked, but that probably wasn’t happening. Not out here, since there was still a small chance we might get caught. Besides, the truck might start getting cold now that the heat was off.

Derek slid a hand down over my hard-on, and when I broke the kiss with a gasp, he started on my neck. I let my head fall back, murmuring curses as his lips skated across my skin and his fingers squeezed and stroked my dick through my pants.

“Jesus, Derek,” I breathed. “Good thing I stopped. If… if I hadn’t…”

“We’d have burned the hotel to the ground,” he murmured, pausing to bite just above my collar. “Still might.”

I didn’t even try for words. Hopefully the low moan said it well enough.

Derek shifted and swore, probably trying to get comfortable. Life would have been a million times easier without the stupid console in the way. I was seriously tempted to suggest moving to the backseat, but then Derek started fumbling with the top button of my jeans, and I didn’t want him to stop. I sure as hell wasn’t stepping outside into the nasty weather with my pants undone.

The top button finally popped open, and the zipper came down easily, the restrictive tightness gone so suddenly it made me gasp. With a little more fumbling, he had my cock free, and I shivered from both the cool air and his warm hand. Holy shit, now he was stroking me and kissing my neck, and… “Fuck, baby.”

Derek grinned against my neck. “Like that?”

“You know I do.” I tried to reach across and return the favor, but with the console in the way, it wasn’t happening.

It especially wasn’t happening when Derek leaned down to take my dick between his lips. Jesus. I gave up on trying to reciprocate—I’d take care of him once he’d finished me off—and just sat back to enjoy the wet heat of his talented mouth. Gripping the wheel in one hand, resting my other in the middle of his back, pressing myself against the seat as his mouth teased every inch of my cock— God damn, this brought back memories. And out in the open like this? Even if the parking lot was deserted and the falling snow kept him hidden? This was hot.

“We… we should stop on the way to the hotel,” I murmured, struggling to form words as Derek swirled his tongue around the head of my cock. “Get some lube.”

He groaned low from the back of his throat, and the vibration sent a shiver through me. He started stroking, bobbing his head in time with his hand the way he always did when he was ready to send me over the edge. Not that I was far from it anyway. After months without a man’s touch, and now being at the mercy of Derek’s incredible hand and mouth? Oh God, I was close.

“Fuck… yeah…” I arched off the driver’s seat. “I’m g-gonna come. Fuck…”

Derek groaned again, this time in the same moment he tightened his grip and gave a slick, mind-blowing twist, and I gasped as I came.

Just like he always did, he kept going until it was almost too much, and then let up. I sagged back against the seat, struggling to catch my breath, and then Derek kissed me and I stopped caring if I could breathe. His mouth tasted like cum, and we both groaned as I kissed him deeper and harder. Though I was still dizzy from my own orgasm, the need to return the favor was overwhelming. I didn’t just want him kissing me—I wanted him losing his mind.

With my body weight, I pressed him back against the seat, and he whimpered as I fumbled with his fly. The zipper gave. One stroke had him trembling between me and the seat, and when I ran my thumb around the head, he shuddered hard.

“Mmm, yeah,” he murmured.

I bent to kiss his neck, and explored the familiar contours of his throat with my lips as my hand found a steady rhythm, pumping him fast but not fast enough to get him off. “That good?”

“You know it is.” He slid his hand up my arm and squirmed against the seat. “Oh yeah…”

“Too bad we don’t have more room.”

“Uh-huh,” he panted. “We will tonight.”

“Yeah. We will.” Just the thought of all the things we could do with that much space almost made me hard again. “Tons of space, and the whole night to—”

“I want to fuck you,” he blurted out. “When we get to the hotel. I want… God… Rhys…”

“Not gonna say no to that,” I purred against his neck. “We’re definitely gonna need some lube.”

He groaned, tilting his head to offer up more of his throat. “If we had lube right now… I would so… I’d… ungh, Jesus…”

I kissed the corner of his jaw. “That’ll just give us both something to look forward to for the next few hours.”

The sound he made was a mix of arousal and frustration; as if the thought of everything waiting for us in the hotel turned him on beyond words, but he wasn’t sure he could wait that long.

“You’ll be looking forward to it, won’t you?” I growled, stroking his dick a little faster. “Fucking me into the mattress?”

He whimpered. “Rhys…” I knew that helpless sound from a mile away—Derek was close. Right on the edge. Right there.

So of course that was the moment I went down on him, and he cried out as his hips almost came up off the seat. The console bit into my ribs, but I ignored it, and I licked and sucked Derek’s cock while he moaned and swore.

“Rhys… God…” His fingers slid through my hair. He was the only man who’d ever been able to keep a hand on the back of my head while I went down on him. He never put any pressure behind it. Never made me feel like I was going to choke. That had always been a rush for me, trusting someone enough to let him be in a position where he could have gagged me if he wanted to, but knowing with absolute certainty that he wouldn’t.

He swore again. Gasped. Jerked. “I’m…gonna come. Fuck, Rhys, I’m—” He groaned from deep in his throat, fingers twitching against my scalp, and then he shot cum onto my tongue. Like he did with me, I knew exactly how long to keep going before it would be too much, and when I lifted my head, he shuddered and sank back against the seat.

I pushed myself up, found his lips with mine, and lost myself in my favorite thing in the world—kissing Derek after we’d both gotten off. The kisses were tender now. Lazy. Not trying to get each other spun up, just enjoying the softness of affectionate lips. Savoring the afterglow and the closeness. Even with the stupid console biting into my ribs.

After a while, Derek broke the kiss and met my eyes. Caressing my cheek, he said, “We should probably get on the road. The sooner we get moving…” He let a grin finish the thought.

“Mmm, I like this plan.” I went in for one last kiss, then returned to the driver’s seat.

Of course with the bitter cold outside and all this heat inside, the windows had fogged up. That, and either we’d been stopped for a long time or the snow had really been coming down, because a thick drift of powder had accumulated on the windshield.

“Oops,” Derek said without a hint of contrition in his voice.

I chuckled. “Right? Guess we should clear all this off so we can get moving.”

“Good idea.”

While the air blasted to defog the windows, we got out and used ice scrapers and hands to get most of the snow off the windshield. We brushed as much as we could off the hood too, though the idling engine was starting to melt some of it.

With the windshield mostly clear, we got back in and blew on our hands to chase off some of the cold. Snow was starting to accumulate again, so I put on my seat belt and shifted into Reverse.

As I backed out of the parking space, Derek and I exchanged grins. Oh, tonight was going to be hot. I broke out in goose bumps just thinking about him riding my ass the way we both loved.

Still grinning, I focused on the road.

And as I eased us up the ramp and back onto the interstate, I decided that yeah, maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad after all.