While pinning me with his hand around my neck, I hear the unmistakable sound of his zipper lowering and I close my eyes, imagining the way in which he’s deftly freeing his stiff cock.

Then he’s pushing at my entrance, which is slick with need, yet tight with anticipation. He works his way inside just a fraction of an inch and stills. Another deep breath in and he releases it slowly, fanning out across my back.

I wait… I wait for him to come all the way inside, but he doesn’t make another move. I open my eyes, but I can’t see anything but the dust ruffle on his bed. I don’t dare move my body because this is Zach’s command, and he needs to take what makes him feel best at this very moment.

Slam.

He thrusts into me in one violent move and my muscles stretch with a burning pain from his invasion, then immediately settle in around his c**k in a sigh of pleasure. A gasp tears out of my mouth, and I bite down on my lower lip.

I expect him to start f**king me hard but he merely pulls back slowly, only to fill me back up with an equal pace. He moves in and out of me with a calmness that feels out of character to the intensity of the way we’ve f**ked before, and I’m immediately reminded of how he took Tukaba in the dirt back in Caraica.

Without feeling.

Without emotion.

Only with steely calm on a path to give himself release.

While I can’t deny that what he’s doing feels good, it also feels wrong.

It feels lacking.

I want more because he’s shown me that he has more to give, and while I don’t mind submitting to Zach’s lust, I need to know I’m more than an empty hole within which to pour himself.

Zach is utterly quiet as he moves in and out of me. No moans to let me know he finds me pleasing. No quickening of his breath to prove that I am desirable.

Just a slow, quiet movement of his body within mine that I find to be numbing to my senses.

My eyes fill with tears as I realize I can’t have this type of sexual relationship with Zach. It’s wholly devoid of the intimacy that I apparently need and crave.

My palms flatten on the carpet and I’m about to push up to tell him to stop, when suddenly Zach yells out, “Fuck,” as he tears himself away from my body.

I immediately push up and look over my shoulder. Zach is sprawled on the floor… sitting on his butt with his knees raised and his palms supporting his weight at his hips.

His eyes are bleak, and his chest is heaving. “I’m sorry,” he says in self-directed hatred.

I’m frozen in place as I watch misery overwhelm him.

“I’m sorry,” he repeats quietly, and his eyes drop from mine. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

My body finally reacts, and I turn to crawl my way toward him. I crawl right in between his legs and push up onto my knees so I can take his face in my hands. Leaning in slightly, I graze my lips over his, and then kiss his cheek, then his forehead.

“It’s okay,” I assure him.

When I pull back, his gaze comes back up to mine tentatively. In a voice so soft, I almost don’t hear him, he says, “I don’t know who I am anymore.”

My heart constricts painfully for this beautiful man that seems so lost. I turn my body and sit myself on his lap, winding my arms around his neck and placing my face in the crook of his neck. I’m relieved when his arms immediately wrap around my waist, and he squeezes me in response.

“You are Zacharias Easton,” I tell him in a soothing voice. “You are a boy who was taken from his home. You are a man who was taken from his life. They are both a part of who you are. But please don’t ever forget, my beautiful man… that you have the opportunity now to be whoever you want to be. That will always be solely in your control.”

I feel Zach’s lungs expand with a deep breath, and he lets it out softly. I can feel his erection burning my skin, and I want this lost man back inside of me again. Lifting my head slightly, I bring my lips to his neck, giving him a soft kiss. A tremor runs through his body and his arms squeeze me tighter. I open my mouth, touch my tongue to his skin, and then suck gently for a moment before scraping my teeth along the path.

Zach growls low in his throat and rolls to the side. His hands come under my legs to support me and he pushes himself off the floor, standing in one powerful move. Carrying me to his bed, he lays me in the center.

I watch shamelessly as he discards his clothes, his muscles rippling with every move he makes. His eyes never leave mine, burning with need, and my blood sets to a slow boil as he crawls onto the bed, right in between my legs.

He is absolute perfection as he sits back on his haunches, his erection sticking up straight with bold confidence. His blue eyes sear into me, and I itch to run my hands along his body.

Zach gently pushes my legs apart. He slides his hands slowly up my legs, over my hips… my ribs, straight to my br**sts, where he squeezes them gently. A soft moan flutters over my lips, and Zach smiles in response.

Leaning his body over me, he brings his mouth to mine and gives me the sweetest of kisses, lightly grazing my teeth with his tongue. Then he kisses me deeper… then deeper yet. My hands come up to his chest, and I tweak at his ni**les. He rewards me with a groan and thrusts his tongue hard against mine, followed by a harsh pant that I suck greedily into my mouth.

When Zach finally pulls his face away from mine, he braces his hands on the mattress and looks down at me intently. “I think I just learned something important.”

“What’s that?” I ask as I run my hands down the contoured muscles of his arms.