Billy & The Beast (Ever After, New York #3) - Eli Easton Page 0,34

the warm man in my arms had gotten here.

A few months ago, my life had been dark and hopeless—imprisoned at Malfleur, alone except for the odd visit from Emmanuel, in pain and working on a physical recovery that I wasn’t even sure I deserved. On the verge of being suicidal, a few steps from madness, maybe.

Now here I was with a new lover who had brought laughter and sunshine and sparks of joy back into my life. All of that from watching a young biker who insisted on pedaling up my hill.

No euphemism intended.

Yesterday morning, Billy caught me in the pool in just my trunks. I was angry, humiliated, and horrified. I was stricken in that moment, sure that the friendship we were growing, his attraction, even the pleasure of being in his company were about to all come crashing down in the face of reality. In the face of what I really look like under all those clothes.

And somehow Billy’s mad alchemy of optimism had turned that moment into arousal and laughter. Into sex. Incredible, broad daylight sex.

Billy was a magician, there were no two ways about it. Also, the guy had decidedly weird taste in men, or possibly just an incredibly generous nature. Did it really matter which?

We’d swum together, and had another barbecue, and lazed about on the lounge chairs, and played with Jack, and had sex again. Several times. A perfect day.

And then I’d asked him to spend the night, because I didn’t want him to go.

I didn’t want him to go.

Strange. The pre-accident me had always been eager to be on my way after sex, to make sure no one expected anything more of me, afraid I would be caught or stuck, manipulated by someone after my fortune or fame. But I craved Billy’s company now just as much as before we’d had sex. More. Not all that surprising, perhaps. After all, yesterday it was spending time with Billy but with sex. How could you beat that? He was as enthusiastic, open, and as curious as a lover as he was about everything else. Maybe he’d watched YouTube videos on blowjobs or something, because he was competent. Extremely, extremely competent.

Except he’d tried to go down on me underwater, which was so hopeless it made us both crack up. We laughed until he made me lie on the edge of the pool, legs spread, and licked everything.

This is the best. Swimming and rimming at the same time, he’d lustily proclaimed.

The memory of it had my morning wood turning to morning steel. I squeezed him tighter to my side and ran my right hand down his back, cupped his ass.

Billy stirred, turning his face against my chest. Then he sat up abruptly and looked blearily at the clock. “What time is it? I should get up and go to work.”

I tugged at him to lay back down. “You don’t need to work today.”

“Yeah, I do. It’s Monday.”

“True.” I nuzzled his arm. “But I’m the boss, so I can give you a sex holiday if I want.”

He tensed, which made me look up at his expression. He frowned. “I hope this—” he made a gesture between us “—doesn’t change things. I still want to do my job, Aaron. That’s a separate thing.”

“But you don’t have to.”

“I do,” he insisted, sounding surprised and a little annoyed. “This is my job. My income. I’m not gonna just slack off because I’m sleeping with the boss.”

I smiled smugly.

“I mean it! My job continues just like before. All right?”

My humor faded as I realized how serious he was. “If that’s what you want. But, you know, if it’s a matter of money—”

“Don’t even think about it,” he cut me off sharply. “I will earn my paycheck, thank you very much.”

I stared at him. Really? I thought about all the friends I’d known who were more than happy to take anything they could get, by whatever means necessary and preferably with as little effort as possible. I felt a wave of affection for Billy. To cover it up, I rolled onto him, pinning him on the bed.

“All shall be as you desire, Princeling,” I teased. “But surely you can start work a tiny bit late today.”

His eyes darkened, his nostrils flared, and he pushed his hips up into me. “Princeling? I think I like that. We have a few minutes, I guess.”

We had sex again, simply rutting against each other and frotting this time. The pleasure was heavy and slow and throbbing. I