AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Vitruvius rubbed Clancy’s shoulders.
“The glue is really stubborn, so I think…” Clancy fidgeted, and he dropped the spatula. “I think this may need to sit. Right. I think I said that already. We could, uh, talk some more. I’d, I’d really love to get to know you better.”
Vitruvius smiled, and he slid his hands down and around toward Clancy’s groin.
“Oh! Uh, you wanna get to know mereallywell, huh?” Clancy sputtered. “That’s, wow, that’s something.”
Vitruvius paused to reach for the pen.
As I said, I have been very, very lonely…
“Uh, right. How about, uh, we sit down? Have a drink?” Clancy cleared his throat. “Can you drink?”
Vitruvius pouted.
No. But I can do other things.
“Other things…” Clancy choked on air. “You mean, like, kiss or something?”
Vitruvius was surprised by the question because he realized he didn’t know how to answer it. He had faint memories from before the secondhand bookshop of being intimate with the book’s former owner…
Wait, that couldn’t be right.
Vitruvius had bought the book himself, hadn’t he? He knew he’d brought it home from the old shop, but he had a conflicting recollection of being with a man who had also bought the book. They lived in a big house with red furniture a long time ago. It was how Vitruvius knew what he was capable of physically, but he wasn’t sure if he’d ever kissed that man.
Certainly he’d kissed someone when he was alive, affections stolen when the lights were turned out or in dark street corners…
Shit.
He couldn’t remember. Maybe this other man in his memory had purchased the book after Vitruvius had already gotten himself trapped inside of it. Perhaps that man was the one who had done the trapping—there was no telling now and it didn’t matter.
He pushed Clancy back from the counter so he was in front of him, and he pressed against his chest, willing himself to become more physical so Clancy could touch him. He would still be invisible except for a whisper of a shadow, but he could feeleverything.
Clancy’s warm arms wrapping around him, the firmness of his broad chest… He could even smell the scent of his musky aftershave.
Vitruvius couldn’t stop himself from surging forward to connect their lips.
Clancy gasped, and his hands found their way to Vitruvius’s hips, squeezing tight. He kissed back softly, a gentle slide of lips that tried to temper Vitruvius’s frantic passion.
Vitruvius allowed it for a moment, but he was eager to show Clancy so many other things…
But then Clancy was pulling away, holding his hands up in front of him to gently push Vitruvius back. “Easy now. So, wow, that’s a big yes, but uh, this is a bit fast for me.”
Vitruvius poked Clancy’s chest.
“I understand it’s been a very long time for you, but I need to go slow, okay?” Clancy ran his hands over his face. “This is weird. God, this is so weird.”
Vitruvius felt something strange, and it took him several seconds to identify the worrying sensation as fear—fear that Clancy might return the book to the bookshop. Now that he’d tasted sweet freedom and the equally delicious offering that was Clancy’s lips, he did not want to go back.
Vitruvius scribbled on the pad quickly.
Please don’t return me. Please, please, please—
“I won’t, I won’t! I swear!” Clancy promised. “You think maybe we could try… talking?”
Ugh.
Talking.
