Dragged to the Wedding(59)
“James...” Grace said from the other side of the door.
“Not now...” Daniel growled and turned back to James, determined that he was going to get what had been denied to both of them for days. He backed away and pointed to the head of the bed. “Get comfortable,” Daniel snapped as he pulled off his shirt. Then he toed off his shoes before dropping his pants and pulling off his socks. Daniel stood at the side of the bed in only a pair of white bikini briefs, staring down at a shocked James.
“You told her...”
“To mind her own business in the nicest way I possibly could right now.” Daniel placed a knee on the mattress, prowling onto the bed and up James’s body. He loved his wide eyes and the way his breath already came in shallow pants. “I’m going to give you two seconds to get those clothes off or I swear I’ll rip them away with my damned teeth.” Daniel wasn’t kidding and felt ready to grab James’s collar and rip the damn shirt away.
Daniel might have grinned when James leaned forward, pulling his shirt over his head and shimmying his pants off like he was doing some demented dance, but all he saw was honey-warm skin, and once James lay back down, Daniel straddled him once again, running his tongue slowly up from his navel, blazing a trail up his belly until he closed his lips around a nipple. James quivered under his ministrations, and damn, that was hot, as was the skin of James’s throat as Daniel kissed and licked his way upward, under his jaw and over his chin before taking James’s lips once again. This time he let James guide the kiss.
“God, how did I manage to resist you this entire time and what the hell were we waiting for?” James held him tighter, his strong, thick arms making him feel safe, like nothing could hurt him as long as James held him. It was a strange feeling. Daniel had only ever relied on himself, but this was different. James had seen him vulnerable and scared, yet he’d wanted him and stood up for him. Hell, tonight Daniel had been that damned rabbit who wanted to run and hide when danger got too close. James had stood between him and the threat, taking it head-on and beating the crap out of it. “What are you smiling at? You’re supposed to be kissing.”
“You,” Daniel answered, pulling back slightly so he could look into James’s eyes. He wanted him to see. “Why did you do that?”
“Do what?” James asked.
“See? You don’t even think about what you did. Weston came after me, and you took him out. Your world had the potential to fall apart. I mean, your sisters and parents knew what we’d done, and that whole load of shit was going to come your way, and instead of taking the opportunity to try to explain or smooth things over, you leaped at that asshole and beat the crap out of him. You protected me because you knew the shit was going to end up on me, and instead you took it...all of it.” Daniel swallowed around the watermelon in his throat because he couldn’t talk any more.
James closed his eyes a second. “I don’t know why. I just did it. The entire thing was a reaction and high emotion. All I know was that in that moment, I couldn’t let him hurt you, and so help me god, if they hadn’t pulled me off him, I wouldn’t have stopped until the fucker was dead. I had no self-control; it was all ‘protect and take out the threat.’” James stroked Daniel’s cheek, heat spreading through him with every single touch.
“You know you shouldn’t do that. I can take care of myself,” Daniel said. “I’m perfectly capable of keeping myself safe and watching my own back.”
It was James’s turn to swallow. “I know. But just because you can take care of yourself doesn’t mean that you should have to.” James drew him nearer, silencing both of them with a kiss that seared its way deep into Daniel’s being. It took a few seconds for the real meaning of what James had said to begin to sink in, and by then his brain had been short-circuited completely.
James rolled him on the bed, positioning him until his head rested on the pillow. “What are you doing?” Daniel smiled.
“Exactly what I told you I wanted to do when we were in the minister’s office a few hours ago. I hadn’t expected to ever do this in my childhood bedroom, and I don’t care. Mom and Dad are going to get the surprise of their lives, but I am going to take all the time in the world.” Daniel shivered, wrapping his arms around James’s neck to hold on for dear life.
Chapter Seventeen
James knew his mom and dad were on the other side of the bedroom wall, and at the moment he didn’t care. All that mattered was Daniel laid out on the bed...for him. This scenario had run through his mind for hours each and every night he’d spent in this bed next to Daniel and had promised to keep his hands to himself. He felt like a complete chickenshit for waiting so long, but Daniel deserved to be treated special. The words like a queen came to mind, and he actually smiled before gathering Daniel in his arms, pressing to him chest to chest. He wanted all of Daniel and he wanted it now. His hands roved up along Daniel’s shoulders and down his arms, then back upward to his chest and sides. He needed to feel all of him to know how amazing it was to have Daniel in his bed, really in his bed.
“We need to be quiet,” James teased, even though he had every intention of pushing Daniel’s limits in the sound department.
“I won’t say a word. It’s you I’m really worried about,” Daniel whispered.