Page 101 of Pansies

And maybe Alfie’s wires were crossed, but it was…kind of fun, rolling about, half on and half off the sofa, with Fen, not really fighting at all. It made him very aware of everything he really liked about Fen’s body: his strength, his resilience, the tendons on his forearms, the muscles in his long thighs, the silky triangle of hair on his chest and the rougher line of it down his belly, the hard cock trapped between them. Basically, the fact he was absolutely, undeniably, gorgeously a man. Sharp and tender and fearless and vulnerable.

He finally got Fen pinned. Began peeling him out of his jeans and boxers.

“Going to behave?”

Fen laughed up at him, from beneath a tangle of hair. “Give me a reason to.”

Simple enough. He closed his free hand round Fen’s cock, gliding with that hot, fragile skin until Fen was pushing into his touch, gasping, all playfulness abandoned for something raw and true and real.

“Get up here.” Alfie’s voice came out all hoarse.

A bit like the sound he made when Fen obeyed, straddling hislap again, hands resting lightly on his shoulders. He’d seen Fen naked at least twice, he should have been used to it by now…but somehow he wasn’t. Fen in nothing but his skin was fresh magic every time. Like seeing his Sagaris waiting for him at the kerb, knowing all that beauty and power was his.

“Are you all right?” Fen’s fingertips brushed the side of his face.

“Yeah…I mean. It’s not weird, is it? When I’m still fully dressed.”

“Ohhh.” Fen smiled—more than a touch of smug in it. “You like having me like this?”

“I’d like you any way I could get you. But yeah.”

“Because you like being in control?”

“A bit. But also”—he stroked his hands all the way up Fen’s spine to the wings of his shoulder blades—“cos there’s no distraction from you.”

Fen tossed his hair clear of his shoulders and arched into Alfie’s touch, so the light spilled down his body like water, making him shine. “I like being naked for you. I love the way you look at me.” His eyes closed, the lashes falling softly gold against his cheeks, and his fingers traced an idle path to his own throat. “It makes me feel like…me again. Like I’m still here.”

“You are here. You’re here with me.”

Fen opened his eyes again. “And at your mercy.”

Yeah, right. At the mercy of Alfie’s beauty-struck stare. His wonder-struck fingers. Trembling along the sharp edge of Fen’s collarbones, into the deep hollows behind, where everything was tight and soft.

“Put your hands on the sofa back,” he whispered.

And Fen did, stretched out over Alfie, open to him, and the curve of his spine broke Alfie wide as an oyster shell. He pressedhis mouth helplessly to Fen’s throat. It tasted so familiar: sweat, salt, Fen. Felt familiar too, the rough and the smooth, the ripple of Fen’s Adam’s apple as he swallowed.

“Oh Fen.” The words escaped before he could stop them. “You’re the bonniest lad I’ve ever seen.”5

A shaky near-laugh. “I’d say you’re exaggerating…but don’t stop.”

Alfie swept his hands down Fen’s hips, over his arse, and up to the dip of his lower back. Then again. Again and again, learning those sleek lines like calligraphy, and the letter he shaped was Fen.

Fen’s head fell forward, his breath hot and shallow against Alfie’s cheek. Chanting Alfie’s name. Pressing himself into Alfie’s hands. And when Alfie traced, at last, the sleekest, warmest places of his flesh, he cried out sharply, his cock jerking between them. Alfie brought his fingers to his lips, got them good and wet, and Fen moaned, just at the sound of it. He lifted his hips, hollowed his spine, presenting himself to Alfie’s touching.

“Fuck. God.” That in answer to the first swirl of Alfie’s fingers. “Ohyes.”

Suddenly Alfie looked up, all motion stilled. “What’s that?”

“Um,” said Fen, sounding slightly annoyed, “it’s my arse.”

“No, that noise. It came from downstairs. I thought I heard rattling.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He nudged eagerly against Alfie’s hand. “It’s probably just the kids come back to fix their handiwork.”

“What? Seriously? The littlebastards.”

“Alfie—Oof.”

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