Deserted - Auctioned

Darius had hundreds of tiny tattoos that covered a big portion of his chest and shoulder, and many of them were coordinates, Gray had learned. Locations, memories. Spots where he’d gone in to grab someone, save someone, bring someone home.

“I don’t think it’s just a coping mechanism,” Gray murmured. “I’m not saying your experience hasn’t played a part. Maybe you wouldn’t prepare to feed your family through a famine if you hadn’t personally seen what one does to people—and who suffers the most—but it all boils down to who you are, Dare. You say I’m the happiest when I take care of people I love? I say you’re exactly the same. If I’m the pilot taking a bunch of adrenaline junkies skydiving, you’re the man who makes sure they have parachutes.”

Darius lost some tension in his shoulders, and his mouth twisted up slightly. “Without the pilot, you can’t get off the ground.”

“And without a parachute, you’re pretty fucking dead.” Gray saw Darius in a new light and wanted to be near him. Perhaps he shouldn’t find any of this a surprise; after all, he’d personally experienced Darius’s selflessness and bravery before, but there was something more than that to this. He rounded the kitchen island and positioned himself right in front of Darius. “So, you got a pantry full of parachutes.”

Darius coughed into his fist and said something too quiet to decipher.

“What?”

“Three,” Darius muttered.

Gray grinned and slipped his hands to Darius’s sides. “Is the other cabin just one big grocery store?”

“No…” Darius planted his palms on the island top, effectively caging Gray in. “It’s gonna be a guest cabin when it’s done—but there is one pantry over there. And equipment for the greenhouse I’m gonna build this spring.”

Gray hummed. “Makes sense. You’re such a social guy and love having guests over.”

Darius narrowed his eyes at that. “You never know when you might need it.”

“Or when someone in your family might need it,” Gray countered. With a soft smile of triumph, he reached up and kissed him. “I overreacted before.”

Apparently, that was Darius’s cue to make a dig. “Well, you do act on emotion.”

“Asshole,” Gray chuckled and deepened the kiss.

Darius drew in a long breath through his nose and wrapped his arms around Gray. It was one of those perfect, toe-curling embraces that began with unhurried strokes up and down his back and slowly morphed into a tight hold charged with urgency and deep-seated affection.

As Darius swept his tongue into Gray’s mouth in a sensual swirl, all the frustrations of the day washed away, replaced by a different kind of tension. One that made Gray lock his arms around Darius’s neck and press himself as close as possible.

A sluggish shiver rocked through him, and he exhaled shakily between kisses. “We could eat later.”

Darius kissed his way down Gray’s neck. “Best idea you’ve had all day.” He cupped Gray’s face and gave him one more hard kiss. “Get our things upstairs. My bedroom is the first thing you’ll see. I need a shower.”

“Uh, hold up. Let’s conserve water and shower together.”

Darius chuckled huskily and squeezed Gray’s ass. “Doubt we’ll conserve anything, but you’re on.”The bastard was kinda right. Gray couldn’t keep his hands to himself in the shower, and when the suds were washed away from Darius’s perfect body, all bets were off.

Gray dropped to his knees and nuzzled the root of Darius’s semi-hard cock. As he snaked his tongue around the underside, he looked up at him and was met by a heated expression.

“Suck me,” Darius murmured huskily. “You don’t know how sexy you are when you’re on your knees for me.” He touched Gray’s cheek. “Just me.”

Just you.

Gray maintained eye contact and sucked him into his mouth, his hands sliding back to Darius’s firm ass. The warm water kept falling down on them, thickening the lust that already hung heavy in the air.

“Christ.” Darius scrubbed his hands over his face.

Gray decided to test the waters a little. Redoubling his efforts, sucking harder and using his tongue even more, he gently brushed his fingers between Darius’s ass cheeks.

It elicited a dark little smirk from him, and he peered down at Gray. “I trust you.”

Perfect. Because there was a world of pleasure Gray wanted to show Darius, who, despite being unbelievably good in bed, was…new, to certain things. Particularly when it came to being on the receiving end.

Gray jerked Darius’s cock tightly and licked at the wet slit. “Turn around and put your hands on the wall.”

Other than a slight lift of his eyebrows, Darius did as told and turned around. He planted a hand against the tiles and gripped his cock with the other.

Gray stroked his hands over Darius’s ass, finding him out-of-this-world hot and so fucking masculine that he couldn’t stop staring. He couldn’t stop touching him either. Darius sighed contentedly and hung his head. Gray glanced up and saw all the muscles shifting in his broad shoulders and back. Fuck, he was a work of art. And history. The scars and tattoos spoke of the pain he’d endured for others.