A surge of indescribable pleasure surged from Liam to him, shocking in its intensity. An animal sound tore from Liam’s throat.
The sensation incinerated both their awareness.
“Ohgodohgodohgod… Don’t stop. Mike…”
Nothing but Liam himself could make him stop now.
Mike selected a rhythm and prepared to drive them both out of their minds.
* * *
Liam rode the lightning. It blazed around him, bright and hot and indescribably beautiful. Mike churned inside him, mind and body, heart and soul. The tempest swept Liam along. Like a leaf carried by a windstorm, it threw him higher and higher, and wilder and wilder.
::Mike…ah, God, Mike::.
Mike was Liam’s anchor. Pearls of sweat dotted his brow. One eased down a cheek on a glittering path that tracked from eyebrow to the top of his beard. Liam touched a fingertip to the meeting of moisture, skin, and coarse hair.
His adnama twisted his head to bring Liam’s finger to his mouth, where he licked, sucked, nipped. A quick nip on the tip of his finger caused Liam to jump. He tightened around Mike’s driving cock.
Pleasure surged.
They both groaned.
Mike’s hips arched to bring his body into even closer contact.
Then, maddeningly, he pulled out, a long, sweet slide that caressed Liam’s prostate. Liam gasped as the ecstasy whipped though him.
Mike pushed in again, an exquisite echo of the glorious, teasing withdrawal.
Then again.
Each push and slide pitched Liam into a wordless fire. His mind slipped into a cloud of flawless bliss, pleasure so intense he was consumed by the wildfire. His eyes closed as he reveled in the sensation… leapt into it… drowned in it.
A raw sound wrenched from Mike’s chest. It shivered across Liam’s skin with what seemed like a tactical touch, raising goose bumps in its wake. The sound tugged at his soul, like a siren’s call.
“Ah, God, yes. Let me hear you.”
::Liam.::
“No.” He twisted, impatient. “Your voice. Let me hear your pleasure.”
Mike fed Liam’s need with low groans, enthusiastic grunts, murmurs of pleasure and sinfully delicious urgings. The sound pushed Liam’s excitement higher and higher with each thrust into his body.
“So hard, so good, so good,” Liam chanted in matched tempo to the thrusts into his body. “God, it’s good. More…more.”
Mike didn’t hesitate. He hilted with a slap of his balls against Liam’s ass cheeks. Then he did it again. Liam moaned his delight.
He caught his own cock and pumped it as Mike rocked inside his ass.
Sounds…scents…glory… The glorious sensations pulled him higher and higher, his muscles tightened as the oncoming orgasm loomed.
“Harder. Harder. Almost there.”
“So tight; so hot; just perfect…”
Mike surged against him. Liam caught a glimpse of his face carved with intensity, taut with hunger and determination.
Ecstasy shattered Liam’s reality.
Above him, Mike’s body locked and his muscles went rock hard. A groaning moan rumbled from his chest as his cock flexed inside Liam, his body jerking from the force of his climax.
Spurts of exquisite, liquid fire filled Liam’s awareness. Mike gasped as an orgasm crested and broke over him with enough force that he shook beneath the tempest.
::So good. So fucking good.::
Liam was covered by the cloak of Mike’s body. His long, consuming sigh blended into Liam’s gasping pants. Silent, dazzled, they let their bodies cool and their breathing ease.
There was no reason to speak. Their hearts said it all.
* * *
Liam lay beneath his adnama, warmed from the inside out, and basked in the blissful afterglow. His legs felt like wet noodles so he didn’t bother trying to give them any orders. Instead, he let them flop in boneless abandon around Mike’s hips. His arms were cooperative, however, so he caressed the sweaty skin of Mike’s shoulders and back.
Liam explored the gorgeous arms of Mike as they lay on the floor. He traced the half-dome crest of those deltoids, mapped the triceps, and cupped the mountains and valleys of those biceps. In fact, his left bicep was close enough to lick.
So he did. He thought he tasted the cinnamon and musk in the air.
Mike shifted his position to give Liam more access.
::Gorgeous…:: If a murmuring was possible in a mental conversation, he did.
Mike’s internal voice offered amusement. ::You’re going to give me a big head.::
Liam laughed. ::I’ve got news for you. You already have a big head.::
::That’s so terrible?::
Liam playfully rocked his hips, teasing Mike, whose cock was still deep inside him. ::I’m not complaining.::
Now Mike laughed. Liam’s attention was elsewhere, however.
On Mike’s left forearm to be precise. He’d seen the art before, albeit only a momentary glance, but he’d seen enough to realize something had changed.
The streaks of red from elbow to wrist were the same, yes, as was the icon between the ribbons. The line of Urilqii lettering he’d seen before was still there, of course, but beneath it was… He squinted and looked harder. Yes, it was. Beneath it were his name and yesterday’s date. The final number looked half-done.
Liam sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s my name.”
“Of course. We bonded. Why does that surprise you?” Mike’s brows furrowed, as if confused.
“Well, because of the party. You didn’t show up, so I thought…” His voice trailed away.
Mike moved his arm, as though turning it into his own vision.
“I didn’t show up immediately because I got off the transport and went straight to registration to get the thing done.”
“What? You stood me up for…” What the hell did they call it?
“That?”
Mike stiffened. His eyes narrowed and his mouth flattened into a thin line. Annoyance flashed into the atmosphere. A moment later, he puffed out a sharp breath, as though striving for control and his temper eased.
“It’s more than a decoration to me,” said Mike. “It’s an announcement of us, a pronouncement of our pledged commitment to each other.”
Shock stole Liam’s breath and understanding filled his soul.
The congratulations? The celebration? The decoration on Mike’s arm was the Urilqii version of a wedding ring.
Tears filled Liam’s eyes and his heart overflowed with amazing, wonderful emotions he didn’t have the words to identify.
But
