Like a Lover (2 page)

CHAPTER TWO

Rupert’s
hands shook and his heart raced as he entered his PIN number at the cash
machine. What the fuck was he doing? Was he really going to go through with
this? He cursed as he got an error message, and tried again, more carefully
this time.

He pressed
the button for cash without a receipt and debated for a moment. Was one hour
with Josh going to be enough?

Fuck it
.

If he was
doing this, he was going to do it properly. He withdrew four hundred pounds,
just in case. He wanted to keep his options open.

When he
walked back into the bar, Josh was looking at his phone again. Slouching back
in his chair with his long slender legs stretched out under the table, he
looked utterly relaxed. The polar opposite of how Rupert was feeling right now.
Josh’s dark fringe hung over his forehead. When he raised his head to greet
Rupert, Josh’s face lit up, his sharp features softening into a smile that made
Rupert’s stomach flip with nerves and desire.

“He finally
texted,” Josh said, putting his phone down on the table. “My client, I mean. I
was a bit worried about him. He’s usually ultrareliable, but he was stuck in a
late meeting, and then his phone ran out of battery.”

“I’ve got
the money,” Rupert said. He didn’t want to hear about the man Josh was supposed
to be meeting. Josh was
his
now, at
least for the next few hours. That thought was satisfying in a way Rupert could
never have anticipated. Owning another person, buying the right to touch them.
Who knew that would turn him on so much? But he’d been half-hard ever since
Josh had named his price. “Are you ready to leave?”

If Rupert
taking control of the situation surprised Josh, he didn’t show it.

“Okay,” he
said mildly. He picked up his drink and downed what was left of it. His throat
bobbed as he swallowed, and he licked his lips and gave Rupert a dirty grin.
“Let’s go.”

Rupert
imagined those lips around his cock and had to look away. These trousers didn’t
hide much, and with his shirt tucked in and his jacket hanging open, there was
nothing to help hide his arousal. The sooner he got Josh somewhere alone, the
better.

Josh
followed him out into the street. It was nearly ten at night and mild for
April. Orange street lamps lit the pavement, and the scent of the city streets
filled Rupert’s nostrils as he breathed in.

“This way.”
Josh turned towards one of the large chain hotels, popular with business
visitors and tourists.

“Do you
always see your… customers in a hotel room?” Rupert asked. The idea of Josh
with these nameless, faceless men—Rupert assumed they were all
men—made him feel a strange mix of excited and uneasy.

“I’m less
likely to get arrested that way. Clients rarely want to bring an escort back to
their home, and I wouldn’t go even if they did. In the hotel there are security
cameras in the corridors.” He glanced sideways at Rupert as though assessing
the risk.

Rupert
supposed he was an unknown quantity. He was glad Josh was careful. “I guess
that’s sensible.”

“I learned
my lesson fast.” Josh’s tone was light—too light. Rupert wondered what
had happened to make him so cautious now.

They made
their way through the large double doors of the hotel and crossed the lobby to
the lifts. The female receptionist looked up as they passed her, and smiled in
recognition when Josh nodded.

Rupert felt
his cheeks heat as her gaze slid over him, and his skin crawled with the
realisation that she knew. She knew he’d be paying Josh to… to what? To suck
him, to let Rupert fuck him? Or maybe he’d fuck Rupert if Rupert asked him to.
He wondered what Josh’s limits were: what
wouldn’t
he do? Hot with shame, Rupert only felt more turned on.

The lift
pinged, and the doors opened. Rupert followed Josh in and waited as he pressed
the button for the fifth floor. When the doors slid shut, they were finally
alone.

Unable to
wait any longer, Rupert stepped in close to Josh and pinned up him against the
mirrored wall. Nose to nose they were almost the same height. Rupert had maybe
one inch on Josh, but Rupert was much broader and more powerful. Josh’s eyes
were green, strikingly beautiful, and his breath was soft on Rupert’s lips as
he waited for Rupert to make a move.

“You can
kiss me,” Josh finally said. “This isn’t
Pretty
Woman
, you know.”

His mocking
tone spurred Rupert into action, and he shut Josh up with a kiss, forcing
Josh’s lips apart so he could taste him as he slid both hands into Josh’s hair.
Josh’s mouth was hot and sleek, opening greedily for Rupert’s tongue. Josh
grabbed Rupert’s hips and tugged him in closer, giving a little moan that
ramped Rupert’s arousal up even higher. Rupert wondered if Josh was really into
this, or if he was putting on an act. This was his job, after all. Rupert
pulled away, breathing hard.

“Why’d you
stop?” Josh murmured, eyes gratifyingly glazed. “That was hot.”

If he was
faking arousal, he was bloody good at it, but Rupert wanted to be sure. “I bet
you say that to all the boys.” He brought a hand down to cup the bulge in
Josh’s jeans. Josh was definitely hard. Not all an act, then. Rupert found the
tip with his thumb and rubbed it, making Josh gasp and arch towards him just as
the lift lurched to a stop.

“This is
our floor.” Josh pushed Rupert’s hand away. “Hands to yourself till we’re in
the room. I don’t want to get banned from the hotel for public indecency.”

Rupert
chuckled. “Okay. I think I can manage that.”

He followed
Josh down the corridor and waited while Josh made a couple of failed attempts
with the key card.

Rupert
snatched it out of his hand. “Let me try…. There.” The light on the door
finally flashed green, and he turned the handle and let them inside.

“Someone’s
impatient. The clock doesn’t start until you’ve paid me, so you can chill.”
Josh sauntered in after him, flipping the lights on, and he made sure the door
was locked on the inside.

Rupert
didn’t want to chill. He wanted Josh naked as soon as possible. “So, how does
this work? Do you have ground rules?”

Josh pulled
a strip of condoms and a few sachets of lube out of his pocket, tossed them on
the bed, and then turned to face Rupert. “You give me cash up front, and if we
go over the agreed time, you pay me the extra when we’re done. I do the usual
stuff: fucking and sucking. But always with condoms. I don’t do BDSM, so if you
want kink, you’re with the wrong guy. I’m not tying you up and whipping you,
and I definitely don’t let anyone do that to me. That’s not my bag. Vanilla sex
only, but in any position you like, and I’m versatile.” His gaze raked over
Rupert, and he grinned knowingly. “But I’m guessing you want to top. Am I
right?”

“Yeah.”
Rupert was more comfortable as a top generally, and Josh’s cocky attitude made
Rupert want to bend him over and fuck him into the middle of next week.

Josh spread
his hands and shrugged. “So, are we doing this?”

“Yes.”
Spurred into action, Rupert got out his wallet and counted out the crisp new
notes from the cash machine. “Here’s two hundred.” Handing the money to Josh
made arousal surge through him again.

Josh
checked the amount, then folded the notes and tucked them into the pocket of
his jeans. He took a step closer and smiled, as though he knew exactly what
effect this situation was having on Rupert.

“Okay. I’m
yours for the next hour. What are you going to do with me?”

Rupert
swallowed hard. He reached down to palm himself through his trousers and saw
Josh follow the movement with his eyes. “I want you naked for starters.”

Rupert took
off his suit jacket and hung it on the back of a chair, and when he turned
around, Josh was undressing. He didn’t make a display of it, no sexy
striptease, but somehow every movement was intensely erotic despite his lack of
performance. The knowledge that he was baring himself for Rupert to touch, to
taste, to fuck was almost more than he could stand. Josh kicked off his shoes
first and then stripped off his T-shirt to reveal a long lean torso. The tattoo
on his chest stood out starkly in indigo ink against his pale skin: two birds,
their beaks almost touching on his sternum with their wing tips curling up to
his collarbones. The rest of his skin looked unmarked, and he was mostly
hairless, save for under his arms and a thin dark line that led from his navel
below the waist of his black jeans.

Rupert
focused his gaze on Josh’s hands as he unbuckled and unzipped. Josh slid his
jeans and underwear down in one unselfconscious move and his cock bobbed free,
hard and flushed in a thatch of neatly trimmed pubes.

“Stupid
skinny jeans,” Josh muttered as he bent to free his feet, pulling his socks off
at the same time. When he straightened up, he was beautifully, gloriously
naked.

“You’re
gorgeous,” Rupert said.

It was
true. Josh had the body of a dancer, lithe and strong, but slender. He looked
as though he would bend, but not break.

“Turn
around, I want to see the arse I’m going to fuck.”

For the
first time Josh’s cheeks flushed pink—with shame, or excitement? It was
impossible to tell, but his cock was hard and straining upwards. Josh was
clearly as turned on as Rupert was, so Rupert stayed in this unfamiliar role he
was playing, keeping his face serious and waiting until Josh did as he asked.

Josh turned
slowly and then looked at Rupert over his shoulder. “What do you think?”

“Perfect,”
Rupert murmured.

Wide
shoulders tapered to a slim waist above high, tight buttocks. The skin of
Josh’s back was smooth, and a line of seven star tattoos marked the bumps of
his spine, starting between his shoulders and ending just above the cleft of
his arse. They decreased in size as they went.

Rupert
moved up behind Josh and finally touched him again, kissing his neck and
shoulders and gripping his hips so that he could push his clothed dick against
that perfect arse.

Josh sighed
and arched back into his touch. “You’re so hard,” he said. “Shall I suck you
for a bit before you fuck me? I want to see your cock.”

“Yeah,”
Rupert said, voice husky with want.

Josh turned
and slid to his knees in front of him. He undid Rupert’s fly with practised
fingers and pulled his trousers and underwear down around his thighs. Rupert’s
cock stuck out obscenely between his shirttails, jerking as Josh grinned up at
him.

“Nice,”
Josh said.

He wrapped
his hand around Rupert’s shaft and lifted it. Then he kissed Rupert’s balls and
licked up the underside of his shaft before reaching for a condom from the bed.
The mere the action of him rolling it on had Rupert’s breath hitching, and when
Josh parted his lips and sucked Rupert down, the latex didn’t take much away
from the feeling of Josh’s mouth around him. Maybe a little less sensation was
a good thing, or Rupert might have struggled not to come from the wicked curl
of Josh’s tongue and the way he kept his eyes open to watch Rupert’s every
reaction as he sucked and licked.

Rupert slid
his hands into Josh’s silky hair and cupped his head. “That’s good.” He tried
not to think about how many men Josh had done this for. It was ridiculous to
feel so possessive about someone he hardly knew. Someone he was paying for.

He let Josh
suck him until he was close, orgasm building at the base of his spine and in
his balls, and then he gently pulled him off. “Can I fuck you now?”

“That’s
what we’re here for.” Josh got to his feet. “How do you want me?”

Rupert
considered it for a moment. “On your front,” he finally said. Rupert wanted to
stay in control of this situation, and Josh’s knowing expression was too much,
as if he was aware of exactly what he was doing to Rupert and it amused him.
Rupert wanted to be able to lose himself in Josh, in this experience. It would
be easier if he couldn’t see his face.

Josh
crawled onto the bed. “Like this?” He waited on all fours, legs apart and arse
on display.

Rupert bit
back a groan at the sight. “Yes.” He kicked out of his trousers and underwear
but was too impatient to take off his shirt or socks. Moving to his knees
behind Josh, Rupert held Josh’s cheeks apart and stroked his thumb over Josh’s
hole. “Fuck,” he muttered. “There’s already some lube there.”

“Just a
little. I like to be prepared—
ahh
.”

Josh’s
light drawl broke off into a gasp as Rupert pushed two fingers inside him where
he was slick. He was still tight, though, clinging around Rupert’s fingers and
squeezing.

Rupert
imagined Josh prepping himself earlier this evening, fingering his arse for
some nameless, faceless man who would have paid Josh for this, just like Rupert
had. He felt dizzy with the urge to be inside Josh, to fuck him, to possess
him. But he wanted this to be good for Josh as well as him. If this was the
only time he got to do this, he wanted to make an impression. He wanted Josh to
remember him.