Page 63 of The Company We Keep

“Hey — you trying to ruin my gift? It’s no Audemars, but I worked hard on this.”

“C’mon, it’s the thought that counts,” Carrow said, trying and failing to catch him in a kiss. “Why’d you let me free?”

The faux-anger dissolved and a dangerous smile played across Dust’s face.

“Because there’s nothing to tie you to on the couch,” Dust said. “And I’m really going to need you to stay still for the next part.”

They regrouped in the bedroom, and as Dust bound Carrow’s wrists again and then tied them to the bedframe above his head, Carrow silently thanked the past version of himself that had opted for a traditional headboard rather than a sleek, modern bed.

Dust marked up his neck as Carrow strained up against him, unbuttoning his shirt until it was laying open.

Still annoyingly clad in his briefs, then, Dust moved out of Carrow’s line of sight, fumbling with something in a drawer before returning. He smiled wickedly then, holding something behind his back with one hand and dragging his last garment off his hips with the other.

Finally, he returned to the bed, walking up on his knees.

Dust produced a bottle of lube from behind his back, letting some drip into his palm. He shut his eyes in pleasure then as he sat back on his heels and slicked himself.

“Why the secrecy?” Carrow asked, drinking in the sight of him, the way he rocked into his own hand as the muscles in his torso flexed.

“The lube isn’t the secret.”

Still, he was in no rush to reveal his plot yet — and Carrow groaned as he watched the man put on a show, entirely aware of how badly Carrow wanted to hold him by the waist, to push the momentum forward and satisfy them both. The denial had left him in an aching lust — and of course, that was the whole point.

Dust closed his eyes again, blushing as he moaned at his own ministrations. He was beautiful like that, exposed and maybe a little embarrassed. He slowed after a moment, dropping himself and reaching behind to retrieve what he’d hidden so far.

It was a toy. Sleek silicone, intimidatingly long, with a thick base.

“Don’t worry,” Dust said quickly, catching the inadvertent flicker of fear in Carrow’s eyes. “It’s for me.”

Carrow sucked a quiet breath at the realization of what he was about to watch, Dust turning so that his back faced the head of the bed. Carrow heard the flick of the lube bottle again, Dust’s hands moving in front of his body, and then he was holding the toy behind himself, lining it up, arching his back and—

“Fuck,” Dust said quietly at the first stretch.

The sight wasbeyonderotic. Carrow could see every muscle in the younger man’s back as he moved to take it, sinking down slowly. The quality of Dust’s breathing changed instantly, too. He was sucking breaths the way he’d do sometimes before he came, shuddering a little.

It was so different from the way things normally progressed — from the way Carrow always forced the pace slower when it was time for prep. Dust was so impatient, and it had always struck Carrow that the manhatedthe necessity. Somehow it hadn’t occurred to him to use anything but his hands, but watching how quickly Dust took the toy, how easily he seemed to sink back and the apparent pleasure he was getting from the quicker stretch… it was like watching a world of possibilities open up before him.

Maybe youcanteach an old dog new tricks,Carrow thought.

Dust stroked himself as he set a pace, fucking himself slowly on the toy as he adjusted. What had been just a dull ache for Carrow became profound and sharp. It was torture to look and not touch, to watch Dust be spread and not be in control of it. Soon, Dust was bobbing greedily there on the foot of the bed, and an awful thought occurred to Carrow.

“Are you going to finish without me?”

Dust looked at him, turning at the hip and catching him with a glance over his shoulder.God,it was evenworsethat way, the planes of his back twisting as he worked up and down, the way the position made his waist look so narrow even as his hips and shoulders flared.

“Would you like that better?” Dust asked.

“Fuckno.”

Carrow answered so quickly that it made Dust laugh.

“Then I won’t,” Dust promised, turning back away from him.

Carrow sighed hard. He could feel his pulse through his goddamn cock.

“Please, Dust,” he begged. “Watching you is going tokillme. You can’t have pity on an old man at Christmas?”

Dust laughed softly and slowed, rocking through his final strokes down.

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