“No. Not yet, just…” He couldn’t find the words, but Mark didn’t need him to.
His movement was tentative as he shifted closer, so close their bodies were all but pressed together. His hand moved in a gentle caress from his wrist, up his arm, and to his face.
Caster’s hand moved to the back of his head, drawing his face even closer. “Kiss me.”
His mind was too fractured for his request to contain the commanding tone Mark needed, but that didn’t stop his complete surrender. The kiss cemented this reality. Nothing felt like kissing Mark. It was impossible for any mind games the darkness conjured to match the gentle pass of his tongue, the unique taste that was only him, and the way he gave up all control.
Caster was on top of him before he could process any movement, the need to anchor this reality in cement urging him on.
He dragged his reluctant mouth away from Mark’s surrender. “Say it.”
This time, the command was unmistakable, and Mark frowned.
He rolled his hips into the hardness that drew him further away from the grip of the nightmare he’d left behind, earning a drawn-out moan. “Say it again, baby.”
The moment Mark understood his request was one he’d never forget. Its beauty, its significance, went beyond his capacity to feel joy. Still, he tried.
Mark reached for his cheek, the warmth of his hand calling on him to close his eyes and enjoy the touch. But he needed to capture the beauty of this moment.
Brown eyes caught his, the certainty in them undeniable. “I love you.”
He thought he’d been prepared for it, but he couldn’t be more wrong. The effect of his voice, three little words, and his undeniable reciprocation tore the breath from his lungs. Like the first time he’d heard them whispered through the call of the Underworld, his heart stopped, only to start beating again with little warning and renewed vigor.
He wanted Mark to say that every day, for all eternity. He wanted to scream those words now, but his voice failed him.
Mark opened his mouth to voice the thoughts speeding through a mind he’d once again forgotten to fortify, but Caster took advantage, pouring all his hope, joy, and misplaced fear into a kiss that was too raw. Mark responded with equal gusto, his hands falling onto his shoulders as his body went slack, giving in to Caster in pure Mark fashion.
Clothes hindered his pursuit of a love he never let himself imagine he could have. He needed to be inside Mark like he needed his next breath, but he didn’t have the patience to separate them long enough to remove the impediment that was their clothing.
Impatience overtook desire for a fraction of a second. He registered Mark’s shocked gasp as he tore their clothes to shreds in the space of a breath. Mark’s shock faded into a smile when he resumed his place between his legs and faded into a moan at the delicious friction of their aligned erections.
“Sorry, baby. I need you, right now.”
His apology came from that distant part of him that would never want to cause Mark pain. But Mark denied that part of him by opening himself up, accepting the insistent press of his cock against the ill-prepared entrance to the heat of his body. Caster resisted the urge to plunge in only for a second, but Mark’s plea drew him away from the hesitation, and he sank into that warmth in a single thrust, its tight grip drawing him further away from the nightmare he hoped never to experience again.
Mark moaned, the images in his mind begging Caster to move, but he held still, still unsure if this was real.
The warm press of Mark’s palm returned to his face. “Open your eyes.”
It was his turn to obey the whispered request. The trust, the truth of those three words, greeted his unbelieving stare, and he found his courage. “I love you.”
The brown depths he could lose himself in filled with tears that Mark refused to shed. His breath caught when Caster’s hips moved, the tight grip of his body easing only to intensify when he pushed back into its welcoming heat.
It didn’t take long for the insistent tingle at the base of his spine to signal his impending orgasm. He called on all his control to hold it back, but Mark’s moans, his insistent pleas, their renewal was too much to bear. The snap of his hips came faster, punctuated by the resounding rhythm of moans from Mark that seeped through their connection to settle in his heart.
He lost all control of his movement, of the foreign feeling invading his heart, of everything but the feel of Mark’s body,gripping him for dear life. He doubted he would ever want anything as much as he wanted the tremble of Mark’s breath every time he pushed back in.
Mark’s keening cry was a warning, a warning he failed to heed. The grip tightened to inordinate proportions, tearing a roar out of him as Mark tumbled past the line, his body shaking with the effects of his pleasure.
He couldn’t stop his own fall if he’d tried. His pleasure was seismic, the evidence of it flooding Mark’s body, as his corresponding release stuck to Caster’s lower belly. He collapsed on top of Mark, unable and unwilling to let go.
If this were a dream, he begged the Goddess to keep him in it for eternity. The cruelty of waking up from this would be too much for his broken heart to bear. He squeezed Caster’s body tighter, vowing to never let go.
The vibration of Caster’s chuckle that settled in his heart had him opening his eyes.
“It’s not a dream, my love. I checked.”
The familiar subtle dominance in the words whispered into his ear brought the hope that perhaps it was real.