“Unbelievable.” Arthur flopped back in the settee with a huff. “I thought you knew me better than that by now, but since it apparently still needs saying, I would never turn you out on the streets. My bed is yours. My ears too, if you need someone to talk to and can bear my company, because you look like you’re about to snap.” He stretched his arms out along the back of the settee, the fabric of his shirt pulling tight against the sleek muscles of his chest and arms, and tilted his face up toward Rory. “Or perhaps you just need a distraction, in which case I am also at your service.”
And Rory did snap.
He threw himself into Arthur’s lap and kissed him.
Time stopped. The stubble on Arthur’s jaw prickled as Rory grabbed his face in both hands; the muscles of his thighs were hard as Rory straddled him; his lips were soft as Rory kissed him—
He was kissing Arthur.
Rory tore himself away so fast, so hard, that he tumbled off Arthur’s lap to the floor. He scrambled backward across the rug, until his shoulders hit the coffee table. Arthur was staring at him, wide-eyed.
“I’m sorry!” Rory blurted.What have I done—He struggled up to his feet. “Christ, Ace, I just want you so much—” He slapped a hand over his mouth, over lips that still tasted of Arthur—Arthur, who was on his feet too. Rory cringed. “I’m so sorry—”
“You should be,” Arthur said hoarsely. “I never said you could stop.”
They crashed back into each other in the space of a breath. Arthur pulled Rory close as Rory went up on his toes to throw his arms around his neck, their lips meeting in the middle.
Rory finally fell back on his heels, hands in Arthur’s hair now and tugging urgently. “You giant, getdownhere.”
Arthur’s heart skipped a beat. “You get up here,” he shot back, and lifted Rory clear off his feet. Rory made a breathy squeak as Arthur pushed him against the wall at lip level, the sound of a man who’d never been literally swept off his feet by a lover.
Maybe the sound of a man who’d never had a lover.
Arthur paused. “Are you—”
“You got genius ideas.” Rory’s arms went tight around Arthur’s neck, pulling himself high enough to lock his legs around Arthur’s waist before he stretched up to kiss him again.
It was enough to make Arthur’s head spin, but he managed to dodge the kiss, pulling back enough to ask, “You’re certain you want—”
“Ace, comeon.” Rory tugged his head again. “I kissedyou, didn’t I? Can I do it again?”
Arthur’s heart pounded as he pinned Rory more tightly to the wall. “Just kissing?” he asked, gravelly and low.
Rory shivered and shook his head. “Everything. I want everything.” He pressed his face to Arthur’s, cheek soft against his shadowed jaw. “I wantyou.”
The soft plea raised goose bumps on Arthur’s skin. He kissed him hard, claiming his mouth until Rory was panting and making helpless sounds that branded Arthur’s brain.
He hoisted Rory off the wall, carrying him, still kissing him, and a moment later he was throwing Rory down on the bed.
As they bounced on the mattress, Rory’s head tipped back, and Arthur was on him, kissing a line up his exposed neck. “Have you done this before?” he whispered.
Rory shuddered. The lights in the bedroom were off but the curtains were open, soft city lights spilling across Rory’s face. “With a man?”
“With anyone.”
Behind the glasses, Rory’s gaze dodged Arthur’s. “Uh—”
Arthur nipped his ear, drawing another shudder that bumped the temple of Rory’s glasses against Arthur’s face. Arthur gently tugged on the frames, and Rory let him pull them off.
“I asked you a question,” Arthur murmured as he set them on the nightstand.
Rory looked different without the glasses, his beautiful eyes black as jet, a little fuzzy, a lot vulnerable. “Well—”
“The truth, sweetheart.”
Rory bit his lower lip. After a long moment, he gave a sheepish shrug. “Be my first?” he asked softly. “Starting with the best’s gonna ruin me for anyone else, but I never wanted anyone like I want you anyway.”
Arthur was left dizzy, his skin too hot. He shook his head. “Christ,” he muttered helplessly. “An hour ago I would have bet my entire trust fund you didn’t even like me.”
