Only it wasn’t enough.
He cried out in frustration. No words, just sound and need and—
“My turn,” Laddin rasped. “My. Fucking. Turn.”
With each word, he thrust hard. And at the deepest point of penetration, he banged that spot. Bruce arched and tried to open up wider, deeper. He wanted to be split apart, and as Laddin grunted against him, he was.
Split wide. Torn open.
Exposed. Pleasured.
Orgasm in a white-out of sensation.
Absolute, unending bliss.
BRUCE CAME back to himself in darkness. He felt gentle adjustments as Laddin spooned against him, then covered them both with a heavy blanket. The warmth was welcome, but the gentle press of lips between his shoulder blades was sheer delight.
“I’ve never had sex like that before,” Bruce said into the darkness.
“Yeah, I know.” There was humor in the tone, but it was also kind.
“I don’t mean it like that,” Bruce said. “I told you I’ve never been with a man before. I mean….” What did he mean? “You’re good at that.”
A low chuckle vibrated from Laddin’s chest to Bruce’s spine. “Yeah,” he repeated. “I know.”
“Cocky bastard,” he said without heat.
“Yeah,” Laddin said again, “I know.” And this time he added a thrust from his hips. Laddin’s cock was thick and heavy against Bruce’s backside, but it wasn’t demanding anything—just hanging out—and that made Bruce smile.
Bruce exhaled, feeling a pleasant burn in his body, like exhaustion after a good workout. It felt good, but it wasn’t quieting his thoughts. If anything, they were ramping up. Words began to crowd his mind, and eventually the pressure had him speaking them aloud.
“He offered me an apple,” he said into the darkness. “I can’t not see it, even when I close my eyes. All I have to do is reach out and I can have it.”
He felt Laddin’s body tighten. His arm was stretched across Bruce’s middle, and the fingers stopped brushing gently against his chest hair. Bruce hadn’t even noticed the caress until it stopped. And then Laddin spoke, his voice quiet.
“Who’s making the offer?”
He didn’t want to say Bitterroot’s name aloud, so he found another way. “Same asshole who gave me the cherry.”
“That turned you into a werewolf?”
“Yes.”
“And now he wants to turn you into what?”
Bruce shrugged, the movement sparking sensations along his backside where they were pressed together. “He says I’ll be more.”
“More what?”
Might was well confess it all. “More than Josh.”
Laddin blew out a heavy breath. “Thank you, Mama, for keeping me an only child.”
Bruce shook his head. “It’s not like that. It’s not rivalry.”
“You sure about that?”
Yes. No. Maybe. “Josh doesn’t need me like I am. I need something to offer him.”
“How about friendship? Brotherly love? All that relationship stuff.”
“He’s already rejected that.”
“And you think becoming bigger and badder than him is going to change anything?”
Bruce shook his head. “It’ll give me a way to stick around. If he needs my protection, then I can work on all the other stuff. In time, he’ll see that I’ve changed. That I’m trying to help.”
Laddin dropped his head down onto the bedroll. He must have been keeping it raised, because the heat of his breath moved to the back of Bruce’s neck. The blast of air that parted his hair was a measure of Laddin’s frustration. He didn’t approve—that much was clear. So Bruce tried to explain.
“I was a dick to Josh when we were kids. A real asshole in so many ways. I’m trying to make up for that.”
“This isn’t the way. Fairy magic always comes back to bite you.”
He’d guessed as much. Becoming a werewolf hadn’t done anything but make him feel like an idiot. “I want to be able to protect Josh—the way I didn’t when we were kids.” He’d never expected to be on the front lines—or near the front lines—of the world ending in Wisconsin. But here he was, and he couldn’t even use the medical skills he had because he had no control over his werewolf nature. “If I was more capable, if I had more to offer, I could help Josh. I need to be there for him.”
“You can’t even shift at will. What makes you think having more ability will accomplish anything but land your ass in disaster?”
Nothing. “I’m not seeing any other options right now. Josh won’t even talk to me.”
“Then you’re not looking hard enough.” Laddin abruptly shoved upright and pulled Bruce over onto his back so that they could look eye to eye. It was hard to see in the darkness, and yet Laddin’s light brown eyes still seemed to bore into him. “Going for the apple isn’t the way. It will only repeat the first mistake—only the mistake will be bigger this time.”
“And the first mistake was?”
“Did that cherry help you in any way? Do you feel like you’re on your feet and soaring to bigger and better things?”
No. And yet…. “I just had the best sex of my life. That ought to count for something.”
Laddin blew out a breath. “We could have done that any time. You didn’t have to eat a cherry to do it.”
Except they never would have met without the cherry.
“I don’t know if you can fix things with Josh, but I promise you, that fairy apple isn’t going to do it for you.”
Bruce firmed his chin and glared at Laddin. “I’m not giving up on my brother.”
“Your brother is doing fine. It’s you you’re worried about. I’d look there first.”
That statement hit uncomfortably close to something Bruce couldn’t even name. “There’s nothing here to look at. Nothing at all.”
Laddin touched his face. The fingers were thick with calluses, but his caress was gentle, and the combination of the two set Bruce’s skin to burning. “Do you really think that? That you’re nothing?”
Hell no.
