Eric couldn’t decide whether he wanted to kiss Ix or punch him more. He adjusted his weight, throwing one leg over to straggle Ix’s weight and give himself better balance and then surged forward and kissed him. Ix’s jaw was strong, sculpted, beneath the palms of his hands. He fumbled through it, pressing his lips against Ix’s and leaning into it when Ix’s mouth opened.
A hand wended into his hair, Ix’s grip on the back of his head guiding him. The feel of Ix’s tongue against his, sliding into his mouth, made him groan, the undulating wetness and warmth clouding his mind. He could feel Ix’s breath against his cheek, the brush of his eyelashes when Ix blinked. Gods, he’d forgotten about blinking. Ix’s other hand, stroking down his back from rib to hip. He wasn’t sure how long they kissed, it could have been a heartbeat, it could have been ten thousand; whatever it was, it wasn’t enough.
Eric was hard. He’d gotten so used to ignoring that fluttering, clenching sensation low in his belly until it went away that he almost didn’t notice it this time until Ix’s roaming hand stopped at his lower back and pressed down and he could feel the ache of his cock trapped between their bodies.
This was different to last time. Last time had been a version of themselves, Ix playing the monstrous prince, Eric the vassal in debt. It had let him distance him from it. This time, it was just them as they had always been: competitive, showing off. He let his hands trail against the firmness of Ix’s muscles, throwing his leg over Ix’s hip to press them as close as possible, traced his mouth from lips across his jaw and down his neck, hard enough to leave marks.
Ix pressed his fingertips against Eric’s entrance, slick with that oil of his.
“That’s unfair,” Eric hissed as his stomach clenched with desire.
“Then tell me to stop,” said Ix with a sneer. Eric spread his legs so Ix could sink two fingers into Eric’s ass. He bore down into it with a groan. He loved it all, the way the stretch burned, the way he felt filled, the way Ix moved his hand to find the angle that made Eric’s mind dissolve like a sugar cube and thrust.
He had to find something that would make Ix lose his mind the same way. Eric circled both their cocks with his hand.
“I like it. This texture is more sensitive.” Ix hummed with pleasure; it wasn’t enough.
Eric squeezed harder before picking up the pace, the oil making obscene slick noises. Ix grunted and canted into it. Oh, he had his attention now. Ix’s breath against his cheek became ragged. He used both hands to vary the strokes, fast, then slow, squeezing in the way he did when he wanted it to last. He didn’t know what Ix’s cock was usually like but if this one was more sensitive, then – Eric cupped his palm over Ix’s slit and rubbed.
Ix came with a startled shout, thrusting into Eric’s hand. He felt Ix’s seed, hot and sticky, cover his palm. “What was that!”
Eric smugly raised his hand and licked it clean. “Point mine.”
Pulling his fingers out of Eric’s ass, Ix flipped Eric face down into the mattress with a swing of his arm. Eric yelped; all the air went out of his chest as Ix hefted his considerable entire weight onto Eric’s back.
“We’ll see about that,” Ix growled into Eric’s ear as he fucked Eric with his fingers hard and fast. Eric’s eyes rolled into his head as each thrust forced pleasure through his entire body. He could feel the heat of Ix panting against the nape of his neck, the limp weight of Ix’s cock on the back of his thigh, the drape of Ix’s thick hair across his back. The smell of Ix was thick in his nose and the taste of Ix’s seed coated his tongue still. Ix bit, hard, into the meat of Eric’s shoulder and suddenly, it was too much.
Eric’s cock, trapped under his stomach, spilled under his belly and his ass tightened around Ix’s fingers. Eric fisted hishands into the sheets as he came, violent and shuddering and yowling like a cat in heat as Ix kept him pinned beneath him.
It took Eric several tries to muster up enough breath. Between gasps, he muttered, “We can consider that a tie.”
Ixthan had the audacity to laugh at him.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ERIC HAD PASSEDout. He was still in Ix’s bed. He was clean but slightly damp which meant Ix must have wiped them down recently so he couldn’t have been out for too long. Embarrassingly, he had no impression of Ix getting up or of being wiped down, which meant that he had passed out well and truly.
He trailed his fingertips down Ix’s arm, down the curve of his bicep. The urge within him was to snatch his hand away; instead, Eric forced himself to linger. If he kept at it for long enough, perhaps the fear would give way to letting himself enjoy it, for once.
Ix was watching him, an inscrutable expression on his face, his hair loose and splayed across the bed. Eric wanted to bury his face into it, nuzzle it across his face, roll in it. Worse, he suspected Ix might let him.
“Why now?”
“What?” asked Eric. He’d been distracted by the hair.
“Was it the shock of the execution? A loss of your senses in grief? What changed?”
Privately, Eric was glad that Ix was equally prone to a flippant remark to hide his feelings. At least he didn’t have to muddle through it by himself. “No, it was that letter from Lydia.”
Ix didn’t move, an unnatural stillness that alerted Eric to Ix’s sudden attention. “What letter?”
“The one on your table, the other day.” How long had it been? Eric had lost all track of time by now. “Didn’t I show you what she wrote? I could have sworn I had.”
But judging by the carefully blank expression on Ix’s face, Eric really hadn’t. Gods, his head had been all over the place recently. He recalled it now. He’d read the letter and when he’d looked up to tell Ix, Ix had already left the table. And then after that… well, they’d been preoccupied with Ix’s spell. An epiphany struck Eric; a jolt as if he’d been kicked from a horse. He sat up straight and stared down at Ix. “Were you jealous?!”
Ixthan stared back at him mulishly, a visible clench in his jaw. It was so endearing, so unexpected that Eric gasped.
“You were!” All of Eric’s awkwardness around intimacy and affection collapsed under a sudden swell of laughter as he leaned forward to cup both hands around Ix’s jaw to pepper his face with kisses. His explanation came, blurted out between each kiss as he couldn’t decide whether to explain first or kiss first. “Ix! I’m not engaged. I’m never going to be engaged! Lydia broke it off. I think she’s eloping. She wished me well. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
