Page 108 of Beau and the Beast

Wolfram smiled. From the way he’d phrased it, it sounded like Beau thought a night together would be inevitable. That was fine with him. Wolfram would keep getting him off enthusiastically as often as Beau allowed him to.

Beau caught Wolfram’s hand and held it close to his face, moving the fingertip of one hand to trace the shapes of Wolfram’s big fingers, then the dark pads on his palms.

“Is this ok?” Beau asked.

“Looking at my hand? Certainly.”

“Can I confess something?” Beau asked looking suddenly guilty.

Wolfram snorted. “I can’t think of anything you could confess at this point that would come as a shock.”

“I’ve wanted to look at every part of you up close, touch every part of you since the day we met.”

“Likewise,” Wolfram said with a low chuckle.

“Jesus, Wolf, not like that,” he said, rolling his eyes and then pausing. “Ok, well, maybealsolike that. But just… every part of you that’s different and special, I’ve wanted to see it up close, to touch you and understand you.”

“I’d rather that than you be afraid of me.”

“Does that bother you?” Beau asked, going serious. “I don’t want to treat you like a sideshow—I’m just so goddamned curious about what makes you tick. I mean, what does a tail feel like? What does it feel like to havethesegoddamned things?” Beau asked, pressing on one of Wolfram’s fingers to flex out the long claw that had been retracted.

“You don’t make me feel like a sideshow. You have my permission to explore at will, Beau. I’m yours.”

Beau smiled and pressed a kiss into the palm of his hand. “And I’m yours.”

The statement sent a shudder through him, affection and confusion and delight all coursing through Wolfram with such intensity that he felt overwhelmed.

“It feels so impossible. You here, wanting me,” he said, closing his eyes.

“Seems like the impossible has been astoundinglypossiblesince I met you,” Beau said through a smile. “And I couldn’t be happier.”

* * *

Beau washesitant to break away from Wolfram that evening, but he knew that if he didn’t show up in the kitchen, the others would come looking for him. They’d gotten into such an efficient schedule with cooking that everyone’s bellies now ran like clockwork, appetites showing up just in time for them all to help with dinner.

But it was tempting—so tempting—to stay there in the soft lamplight glow of Wolfram’s study, exploring each other, saying the things that they had waited their whole lives to say to someone.

Even as he thought it, he was struck by the realization.

Beau reallyhadbeen waiting to meet someone he could fall in love with. He’d been at the penthouse for twenty days. On a normal timeline, maybe that was too fast to fall in love with someone. You could fall in lust that fast—and Beau had done that several times. The ten months he’d spent with Lincoln were evidence of that. But didn’t love take longer?

The thoughts should’ve sent Beau scrambling for his room, searching for a notepad so that he could work his problems and conflicts out alone, on paper. But this time, something had shifted—and as he walked out to the kitchen, Beau realized that he didn’twantto think about it alone.

He wanted to talk to Wolfram about it. He wanted to know what the other man thought, what he felt. Was the span of twenty days long enough to fall in love with someone? Had Wolfram ever been in love before?

Have I?Beau wondered abruptly.

When Beau arrived in the kitchen, preoccupied with the negotiation going on in his head, he was surprised to see Geoffrey approach him.

"Can I talk to you for a minute? Before you get started on dinner?"

"Of course."

Geoffrey led him to a room he hadn't been in before, but once he was inside Beau knew it must be the man's office. He sat in a stiff chair and Geoffrey took the seat on the other side of a modern desk. He had several computer monitors in addition to a panel of monitors showing the exterior of the penthouse and some areas of the condo building Beau didn't recognize—elevators and a private entrance that he hadn't seen in the lobby.

I haven't been downstairs in almost three weeks, Beau realized with a start. It was far less time than the rest of them had spent in the penthouse, but it was still bizarre to think about. He'd barely even been out on the balcony.

"So, you've been worried about your brother," Geoffrey said.

---