The Hardest Fall

“Good morning,” he murmured, and I looked back so I could meet his dark blue eyes. He gave me a lazy grin, one I couldn’t not reciprocate.

“Good morning.”

“Sleep good?”

Still sporting that grin, I nodded, and his smile got bigger. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks. My eyes dropped to his lips and I watched the grin turn into the smile I loved the most on him, the one where he smiled with his eyes just as much as he did with his lips. It was warm, genuine, hot. It sounds cheesy, I know, but it was true that it basically took your—okay, maybe it wouldn’t take yours…it better not…but it took my breath away.

Whoosh.

Gone, just like that.

“Don’t move,” I said in a rush then threw open the covers, squeaked, and scrambled to pull them back up.

“What’s happening?” Dylan asked, looking at me with amusement dancing in his eyes.

I pulled the covers higher. “I…just…let me get the pillow.” I didn’t give him a chance to even utter a protest or yank it away before I could get to it. I pulled it right out from under him and his head bounced on the mattress. Muttering a quick apology, I hugged it to my chest and carefully exited the bed. He caught my hand before I could straighten up.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back. I just want to get something.”

He let me go and I backed out of the room, hoping everything was covered.

When I got what I needed from my bag, I rushed back to him. He was still lying down, using his arm behind his head as a pillow. I took in the muscles, the arms, the chest, the smooth skin, the bulge under the covers—just thinking about his cock made me go all hot inside. You should’ve seen him; he looked so relaxed, so hot, so…other words I couldn’t possibly come up with due to the way he turned my brain to complete mush, but take my word for it, he looked perfect.

Still clutching the pillow to my torso with one hand, holding my camera with the other, I got back in next to him and finally let go of the pillow when I was back under the covers.

“You can’t still be shy, Zoe,” he said, coming up on his elbow and looking into my eyes with a small frown. “Not after last night.”

“It doesn’t just go away like that. Give me a break, there’s daylight now,” I huffed. “But forget about that. I’ve been dying to take your picture and I—”

“You took pictures of me at the game.”

“No, not like that—like this.” I put my hand on his chest. “I want to keep this.”

“Collecting memories, heartbeats,” he murmured, echoing what I’d said to him the first night he’d come to the apartment. Smiling, he pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “Both of us?”

Excited beyond measure, I bit my lip and eagerly nodded.

He opened his arms and I dove in, deliriously happy to be there.

“Your arm must be dead by now. You should’ve pulled it away after I fell asleep.”

“It’s fine,” he said distractedly as he gathered me closer.

After I played with the ISO and shutter speed until it was all just right, I exhaled and lifted my Sony A7R II high up over us so we could both fit in the frame. The flip screen didn’t flip around so it was going to be a shot in the dark, but I was okay with anything at that moment.

Grinning like crazy, I looked at Dylan, and he smiled. “Ready?” I asked, not giving a damn that I looked like a maniac.

He chuckled and kissed me on the cheek.

That was gold. I took the shot before he even had a chance to back away. Giddy, I turned the camera to check how it looked—perfect. I did look a little crazy with that grin on my face, and my eyes were closed, my head tipped toward his head, but it was perfect. His side of the photo was perfect, and I looked out-of-my-mind happy. If you’d seen the photo, you might’ve thought I was a total loser, but I didn’t think so. When Dylan laughed next to me, I knew he didn’t think so either.

“So beautiful,” he said, and a delicious shiver ran through my body.

Capturing that single moment would’ve been just fine with me. I was planning on putting my camera down, but Dylan stopped me.

“More.”

“Can I?”

“Yeah. Take as many as you want,” he said, giving me permission.

I probably took a dozen of the same exact shot of us, but I didn’t give a single fuck. They all consisted of Dylan kissing me while I lay on his shoulder, Dylan kissing me while his palm covered my cheek, me laughing as he leaned down and kissed my neck, me looking at Dylan with sparkling eyes as he smiled at me, camera completely forgotten. Then Dylan took it from my hand, which was already shaking from holding it for so long, and after a little fumbling, he started on the next set of the same photos: him kissing the corner of my lips as I finally looked up at the camera, him reaching my lips and finally kissing me as I turned my body to face him, me with my eyes closed as he whispered words into my ear. Then there was a shot of his arm snaking around my neck, one of his defined torso and my waist as he twisted in bed.

Then it was just silence and him and me.

Reaching over me, he placed the camera on the carpeted floor and looked down at me. Sometime during our impromptu little shoot, the covers had revealed my upper body to him and he could see everything he hadn’t been able to before.

My heart skipped a beat as we stared at each other. Dylan’s expression softened as he studied me.

“Hi, Flash.”

I smiled. “Hi, buddy.”

He bent his head and laughed. “Right, we’re buddies. You’re the best buddy I ever had.”

“Likewise.”

His fingers moved over my bruises, his eyes following along, and I swallowed.

“It kills me that these are here.”

I couldn’t speak.

Looking at me some more, one of his hands stroked over my waist then down my thigh. When he lifted it up and planted my foot firmly on the bed, it took everything in me not to do a full body shiver. Just like that, I was drenched for him. He lowered his hips on me and I remembered how he’d put his briefs back on when he got up to take care of the condom. Still, the fabric separating us meant nothing; I could feel every inch of his hardness just fine, and in a few more seconds, he’d be able to feel how intensely wet I was for him.

I grabbed his arms, closed my eyes, and let out an involuntary moan when he pressed forward and the head of his cock pushed hard on my clit.

Then I felt his lips dancing on my cheek, over the shell of my ear, on my neck, licking, gently sucking, kissing.

Blindly, I reached between us, pushed his briefs a few inches down, and jerked when his heavy, hot cock lay on my stomach.

Feeling a little crazy, I groaned and turned my head so I could kiss him. He returned my groan with his own when my hand wrapped around him and pulled hard. I swallowed his grunts and jerked him harder. A drop of pre-cum dropped on my stomach, making me gasp and shiver, goose bumps traveling all over my body. Then another drop, and another. I renewed my assault on his mouth by rounding my free hand on his neck and pulling him to me. He angled his head and went deeper, his tongue stroking mine, taking and giving, biting and licking, soothing and kissing.

Then I felt his thumb and forefinger on my chin and he pushed himself away, our lips making a loud smacking sound.

“Please tell me Jared gave you more,” he growled, the sound and the tone melting me into the bed even farther.