A Place For Dreams Read online

  Cole took and enjoyed and gave back just as hard, just as passionately.

  “I could feed on you forever and be nourished.” The rumble of those words against his ear made Cole’s dick ache. “But there isn’t time. Kamal has sent a driver to deliver clothes for me and an overnight bag.”

  “A bag?”

  “Yes. I’m here now, with my love. I’ll stay the night.” Raksha angled his chin toward the bed. “Let us finish our meal. It’s good and shouldn’t go to waste. I’d like to enjoy all things, especially my time with you. No time we share shall ever be wasted.”

  They ate together, their gazes on one another as they talked. There were several priests and a few families that had chosen to leave Nepal and live in America. They had plans to gain citizenship and were using asylum as their way to stay. They’d settled in and were glad to have a place in the world.

  That thought alone gave Cole hope. But he wondered what made the process easier for them, where the money came from to aid in what must have been an expensive venture.

  It wasn’t long before they heard a knock at the door, and Raksha rose quickly, still naked. Cole watched the muscles in his ass move, the way his legs strode forward and found his mouth dry in response. He could lick Raksha everywhere, was certain that he had again and again.

  He wanted to do so now as Raksha answered the door, greeting the unknown visitor happily.

  They spoke quietly, and then a slim man stood at the door, his eyes looking up toward Cole with unhidden hope.

  “Abhivādana, anamōla yatī kō ādaraṇīya jīvanasāthī” the man said as he bowed and rose, his breath rushing out. He looked back to Raksha and nodded again before he turned to go, disappearing down the outside stairs.

  Raksha laughed as he shut the door.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing, he is just honored to see you. Let us go, take a walk in this park you’ve spoken of, then we’ll return home and spend more time together.” Raksha looked around the house before nodding. “This will be good for us until you have realized where your place is.” Turning, he climbed the stairs to the bedroom. “Hurry, mate. I am ready for our shower.”

  Raksha’s broad back tattooed with Sanskrit was striking. The man himself was unapologetically male and dominant. Cole felt that he’d always been that way, too. But it didn’t grate on him or make him want to fight for power, which was something to consider as he followed his mate.

  Chapter Twelve

  When Cole made it to the shower, Raksha was waiting.

  “I’ve dreamed of you, of seeing your form wet, drops of water sliding over your brown skin. Your body isn’t the one I knew, the one I loved when we were together, but it’s the one I will treasure, that I will make mine.” Raksha reached out his hand, and Cole took it. “Step into the shower. The water is ready, and I’ll care for you as you have for me.”

  Cole loved his shower, the many shower heads that pulsed water out, beating against his arms and chest, his legs. It was relaxing, and with the dim lighting, it was perfect for Raksha to enter, soap and sponge in hand.

  “Your hair is longer than some of the people I have seen in your dreams. Do you remember how long it was, how I used to wrap my hands in it and pull your mouth to mine?” He kissed Cole deeply and stood back. After pouring soap onto the sponge, he put the soap aside. “It was one of my favorite parts on you, but this hair, the dark browns and reds you have now, aren’t difficult to enjoy. And your eyes? Green. It is a rarity in Nepal, and not surprising that a couple would see you and want you for their own.” Raksha ran the sponge over Cole’s shoulder first, then down his chest, circling one nipple then the other before he dipped his head and caught one between his teeth, biting sharply.

  Cole groaned as the pain rocketed through him. “Raksha.”

  “You are taller, though, much taller than you were when we stood together. I like this, your new height. I can reach you more easily, capture the globes of your ass and pull them apart, look at the place where I will enter you.” One soapy hand slid over Cole’s waist, down his hip, and fingers squeezed his roundness. “You are firmer here, too. Exercising has done well for you. The tone of your body, the strength in your muscles makes me want to have you just that much more.”

  Instead of going farther, of filling Cole with his fingers, he dropped his hand away and continued washing him, drawing the sponge over Cole’s belly.

  “Your belly is flat here, but then there’s this.” Cole gasped when Raksha touched the whorl in his skin there, his fingers walking across his quivering flesh. “What is this scar?”

  “A fall from a bike when I was riding a trail once.” He tried to turn left, but there was a root he’d missed and the bike veered right instead. It had been a pretty nasty fall and required more than a few stitches. Raksha looked at him then and back to the scar.

  “So many places you’ve been and experiences you’ve had, and I haven’t been there to see them.” He kissed Cole gently. “But I will now. Always.”

  Cole sighed as Raksha’s powerful hands massaged and squeezed while he bathed him. Treasured. He felt treasured as Raksha worshiped his body, kissing and touching every part of him. When Raksha knelt, his dark head at Cole’s hard dick, Cole trembled.

  “I smell your need for me, your scent.” Raksha looked up, and Cole saw it, the hint of the beast just below the surface of the man. When Raksha opened his mouth, his teeth were sharper, longer, the curved places of his cheeks more ridged. “If I take you now, swallow your heat, we won’t make this walk. My need for you is a struggle,” Raksha’s eyes were bluer, burned brighter. “For us to not take you. But we have waited this long. We can wait a little longer.”

  Raksha stuck his tongue out, swiped Cole’s hard flesh. “So good, and so eager.” The growl was more animal and less human, but then Raksha stood before Cole. “We have to go, or we won’t be able to wait.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  It was cold, but Cole felt warm inside, the heat of Raksha’s hand in his own as they walked around the park giving him a calm he didn’t remembered feeling.

  This was all so strange. For years, he’d been dreaming of Raksha, first seeing him as a monster, but even then, he’d felt he knew the creature that towered over him that day. Later he would see a person, the features blurred, but he’d feel that person’s pain.

  Looking up at Raksha, he saw a powerful man, one who had withstood suffering and now wanted him at his side.

  “They tortured you.”

  Raksha looked down at Cole. His smiled softened as he took him in. “Don’t dwell on this, Cole.” He paused when he said his name, but he continued on, obviously trying to obey Cole’s wish. “I’m with you in this city of gray buildings and cars and so much noise. How do you stand this? It’s no matter.” Raksha shook his head. “Here, walking with you in this park as the day closes? This is my greatest dream. I would give this up—give you up—for no one, not even memories that should be left in the past.”

  “But...”

  “No. I want to enjoy you now, not remember the darkness and fear, the pain I endured daily. That time is gone. This is the present. Allow us this time, love.” Blue eyes darkened, and Cole’s heart fluttered in his chest at the word.

  Love.

  Cole sighed happily as they crossed over the bridge, stopping when Raksha noticed the fish beneath the water.

  “Hello, creatures. Are you well?” Raksha looked at them expectantly, closing his eyes as if to take in their response.

  “They will not speak back.” Cole laughed quietly.

  “Ah, Sunil. Cole. You’ve forgotten that I can listen with my heart.” Satisfied with something he felt, Raksha opened his eyes and nodded. “This place cannot be as terrible as it appears, if these fish trapped in this bit of water are content.”

  “Columbia isn’t terrible.”

  “Ah.” Raksha sighed. “But Columbia is not Nepal. There are no beautiful mountains, no natural waterfalls. Instead of the cement on
which we walk, there are trails to climb and the air? The air is crisp and clear. But I can wait. We will even ignore the sad state of men who seemed to have made this park home and continue our walk.” Raksha grasped his hand again and tugged him along. Along with the people who chose to walk for exercise, there were homeless men and women scattered about. They would stay there during the day but later hopefully find a shelter for the night.

  Cole shook his head. Raksha was not going to let the idea of returning to Nepal go, and Cole was not going to submit. He felt good with Raksha, comfortable. He didn’t want to let that feeling go, but the moment he replayed images of his own blood, of Raksha trapped and men hurting him? Feeling the burn as knives sank into his arms and his belly as they cut away at him?

  His fear roared in his ears.

  No, he was never going to go.

  They walked until it grew dark, talking. Cole told Raksha about his job, how he’d met his friends, and his mother.

  “Your father? You haven’t mentioned him.”

  “My father moved to California. We haven’t heard from him in a while, since he married again.”

  “I’m sorry to hear this. Your mother?”

  “Is better without him. She’s her own woman now and shows a fire that my father always tried to extinguish when they were together. She’s decided she wants to teach, and not having to worry about a check or getting paid at all lets her focus on where she feels she can do her best work. She’s even joined the local YMCA to volunteer with youth groups.”

  Cole was proud of his mother, the way she’d blossomed. Instead of failing as his father predicted so many times without him to take care of her, she began finding herself. The trips she’d taken months after, the Buddhist temple his mother had reconnected with after she left Nepal, and the meditation made his beautiful mother extraordinary.

  Cole couldn’t leave her alone. He wouldn’t. “She needs me here.”

  Raksha nodded but said nothing.

  On the way to the car, they watched as a woman ran after a dog. She called for it frantically, but the little ball of fur just skittered from side to side, turned to bark at her defiantly, waited until she was close enough to touch and took off again. The worry in her voice as she called for him once again could be heard from where he and Raksha stood.

  “The little brat,” Cole said.

  Some of the cars paused allowing the dog to run past them while others sped around.

  “If he’s not careful, he’ll be killed.” Raksha dropped Cole’s hand and walked over to where the woman stood trying to coax her baby to her. Cole felt, rather than heard, the growl Raksha gave and laughed as the pup immediately sat, then settled on all fours, completely still.

  Raksha stepped forward before the woman could and bent down. Lifting up the creature dwarfed by his large hands, he lowered his head to the dog’s ear and whispered. The dog dropped its own head as if in deference and listened. The whimpers that resulted after Raksha was done were heartbreaking. Sighing, Raksha turned and placed the animal on the ground, and it charged over to its person.

  “Thank you. Thank you so much,” the woman said with tears in her eyes. “My sister died, and Biscuit was left behind. I’ve been so stressed lately. I’ve never had a dog before, and Biscuit just needs so much.” She lifted the animal in her arms and held him close. “It would break my heart to give him away when Sarah loved him so greatly.”

  Raksha nodded. “He needs your faith that he’ll be safe with you. His heart is broken, too.”

  She looked from Biscuit to Raksha in surprise, then nodded. “I never thought about that.” She kissed the dog, who wriggled closer to her. “I will. Thank you again.” She turned and walked away, holding the dog, who sought her warmth tightly.

  When Raksha returned to Cole, he smiled. “I’m hungry.” When Cole didn’t say anything, his brow creased with worry. “Cole.”

  “I missed you.” Cole said. He’d missed the way Raksha knew the needs of others, his natural ability to care for those around him. He missed the tender way he sheltered the weak and healed the broken.

  “And I you, Sunil. Come to me.” Cole didn’t hesitate. He ran into the security of those arms, arms that had always kept him safe, that had protected him until they couldn’t. They stood for a moment, holding each other, until Cole heard Raksha’s belly rumble. “Now, food.”

  Laughing, Cole released him. “Come on. I know a place.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Raksha enjoyed his meal at Mellow Mushroom, which pleased Cole. The vegetarian meals they offered more than suited his vegan lover. The music playing, the people laughing and talking was a great backdrop for them to share. The colorful pictures that hung all over with mushrooms cavorting and dancing, the whole sixties feel to the place helped to keep their mood a buoyant one as they ate.

  Raksha had a quirky sense of humor, and Cole’s face hurt from smiling so hard. He couldn’t remember ever doing that before. There were many times he found himself gazing at Raksha wondering how he’d managed all these years to live without him. Still, he hadn’t known how raw he was until the man returned.

  Finished, Cole paid for their meal at his insistence and they left for home, Cole’s thoughts on making up lost time

  They were just entering the door with Cole’s mind on those earlier promises when Raksha’s phone rang.

  “Yes. I am.” Raksha answered then looked at Cole with regret. “No, don’t worry. I will be there momentarily.” The call finished, Raksha sighed. “So many people here and with so many worries. There was a time when I was simply needed as the guardian. Now I’m the caretaker, the leader, the father and mother. There is so much to be done daily.” He bent and kissed Cole, who turned to him, his lips warm and his tongue eager as it dipped inside. “An issue must be decided between two brothers. So, I am now the peacemaker.”

  Cole noticed for the first time how tired Raksha looked, how worn. Reaching up, he brought him closer to him, kissed him deeply. The result was gorgeous, need looking so much better on him than exhaustion.

  Raksha shivered. “You give me life, Sunil. Thank you.” Cole smiled. If calling him Sunil would make this moment better for Raksha, he’d give it to him.

  “I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “It could be all night. One issue usually brings two, then two eight. There’s no telling what will have to be completed or all that’s involved, how easily morning would arrive before—”

  “I’ll be waiting for you, Raksha. I don’t have to go to work tomorrow, and even if I did, I’m able to work from home.” Cole lifted and kissed Raksha again. “I’ll be waiting.”

  Raksha studied him, searching for something. When he found it, his lips curved into a small grin. “It’s been so long since I’ve had someone there for me. Bound and broken, I returned to a people with different needs, and I had to learn quickly how to secure those. To have you, know you’ll be waiting for me? It gives me joy.” Raksha nodded. “Let’s get you settled. Then—”

  “Get me settled? Raksha, I’m a grown man. No settling needed. Go.” When Raksha hesitated, Cole spoke more forcefully. “Go, get in your monster car so you can get back sooner.”

  Nodding, Raksha turned around and strode over to the immense SUV he drove.

  It’d have to be. Raksha wasn’t a small man. He was massive, broad and sleek, and Cole wanted him even more. Waving, he smiled as Raksha drove away and turned to go into his home.

  Later, the television was on, the light flickering across the room, but Cole wasn’t watching it. He had work to do, so he was typing away on his laptop, his phone on the coffee table next to it and his tablet set up as well. Busy, he didn’t hear the first ring, but when the phone went off a second time, he answered it.

  Noticing the item he’d overlooked earlier, he moved to add it to the list when he spoke. “Hello.”

  “Cole.” Raksha ground out.

  “Hey. How’s everything going?” By the tone of his voice, not well.

&n
bsp; “It’s just as I thought. More. The brothers are arguing over one woman, and the woman will not choose.” Raksha’s frustration with the entire issue leaked into his words.

  “Solomon.”

  “Who?”

  “Ask them to both leave her,” Cole said as he shifted another column of data over. He made a note to ask Phillip to check it tomorrow.

  “Both?” A trace of doubt there made Cole smile.

  “Yes. She’ll either make a choice, or they’ll come to an agreement.”

  Raksha paused. “You think that would work?”

  “Worked for Solomon.”

  Raksha’s laughter made Cole’s dick jump. “I’ll do this. It may be late before I get home.”

  “Knock, and I’ll open the door.”

  Raksha paused again, then said slowly, “I will. Thank you, Cole.”

  “See you when you get here, Raksha.”

  When Raksha knocked, Cole opened the door to see a man whose wide shoulders drooped, his eyelids heavy and his head bent. Raksha was exhausted. It had long since passed one in the morning, so whatever had taken this long truly drained the man. Taking his hand, Cole pulled him inside and shut the door behind them.

  “Come on.” They walked upstairs to Cole’s room, where he slowly undressed Raksha, leaving all of that lovely brown skin visible. He’d found a t-shirt in Raksha’s bag earlier and helped him put that on. Coaxing him into the bed, he lay down next to him and held him, placing gentle kisses here and there.

  “Feels so good, Sunil,” Raksha said as Cole touched him everywhere, massaging him in places where he seemed tense. “So many people to care for.” His sighs were deep before he drifted off to sleep.

  When Raksha’s phone went off again, Cole answered it before the sound could snatch Raksha from his dreams.

  “Hello,” Cole said.

  “Raksha,” a voice responded.