Page 33 of Badmouths & Bards

“No, you silly bastard,” Casimine gently whacked Ameriden with the book. “Not the smut. This part.”

Directing Ameriden’s gaze with his finger, Casimine waited for him to catch up.

“Oh!” Ameriden exclaimed. “That makes so much more sense. Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, let’s do it!”

One of the benefits of not being on tour was that it gave Casimine time to prepare their idea for Taldesa. Ameriden had been all for it—until Casimine introduced the other part of his plan.

“But what if she gets upset?” he asked.

“When is she not upset?” Casimine retorted.

That had been that. Though, knowing Ameriden, his concern was less about Taldesa’s ire and more about what he may see. The magic Casimine had planned could backfire, but the chances were slim. Given Ameriden’s first hand account, Casimine was confident that Taldesa would go for the idea.

The anticipation had an unfortunate side effect on Casimine. While he was used to having an irregular sleep cycle, he desperately needed to sleep if he wanted the spell to succeed. If he woke up with his throat angry and body aching, they would have to reschedule, and neither of them wanted that.

Casimine had tried to keep the fidgeting to a bare minimum, but he could feel his nerves in his fingers. Felt the words wanting to billow out of his throat. Restlessly, he turned for the sixteenth time.

“You’re worse than Dumpling when I have to clean his tank,” Ameriden murmured against his ear.

“I’m sorry, I’m keeping you up,” Casimine whispered.

He’d been awake long enough that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room. While he couldn’t see perfectly, Casimine was aware of how close Ameriden’s face was to his.

“You’re not keeping me up.” Ameriden yawned. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Casimine took his hand, felt his fingers lazily intertwine with his. “I’m just a little nervous…it’s been a while since I’ve attempted something like this.”

The last time had been when Casimine was in college. He had a natural talent for it—which was rare for most bards. Casimine usually didn’t like doing it, as it felt like another invasion of privacy, but that’s why they had planned to present the idea to Taldesa versus just pushing it on her. Everything really depended on her and what she wanted.

Ameriden chuckled, low and deep, “Listen to you…you’re as nervous as you were when you did the walk of shame back in college.”

“Excuse you, I did not do a walk of shame.”

“Says the guy who came home with a bunch of lipstick smeared all over his school collar,” Ameriden teased.

“I am not some inexperienced school boy anymore! I’m a professional bard,” Casimine complained.

“So professional the way you ran to your bed and hid under the sheets for hours,” Ameriden laughed.

Reflexively, Casimine reached out and pinched Ameriden’s nipple. He hissed, laughter still on his breath. Casimine was about to reach for the other nipple, when Ameriden rolled on top of him. He was hard already, pressing his hips against Casimine’s and stealing the breath from him.

“You were so cute,” Ameriden whispered against his ear. “All wide-eyed with your lilac cheeks.”

Even in the dark, Casimine knew his face was flushing the same lilac hue. Yet, despite his embarrassment, Casimine still angled his hips up. He still pulled Ameriden closer.

“Like you were any better,” Casimine murmured. “You used to walk into class stinking of ale, arrogance, and perfume.”

“College is hard. We all needed something to take the edge off,” Ameriden grinned against his mouth. “Why don’t we do the same, hmm? Let me take the edge off, Casi.”

Ameriden’s fingers were already loosening the laces of his pants and all Casimine could do was buck against him. When Ameriden’s large hand slipped beneath the fabric and wrapped around his cock, Casimine bucked, a whimper escaping his lips.

“Oh, you’re sensitive, aren’t you Casi?” Ameriden kissed his throat. “Were you thinking about tomorrow? Thinking about what’ll happen when she says yes?”

Casimine bit his lip as Ameriden stroked him, encouraging him to lift his hips high enough for his pants to be pushed aside. He whined when Ameriden let him go, but the man only chuckled.