Page 57 of Seduced By a Scoundrel

At that, Derrek stepped back and said, “We should make a move to get everyone settled.”

That was all that was needed to set things in motion. Leaving Artie to tend the shop in case the gentlemen outside came in, the rest of them headed upstairs to begin shifting around belongings and furniture so that everyone would have their place.

It was a surprisingly pleasant afternoon, despite the strain of moving bedframes and mattresses between rooms and from one floor to another. The lads were content to take the upper floor, and Miss Jones was beyond delighted with the room on the first floor that looked out over the street. Derrek was delighted that enough space separated them all that he and Jeremy would not be overheard, should they choose to enjoy in certain loud activities.

“It is not our cottage in the woods,” Jeremy said as he undressed for bed that night, once everything had finally settled and the lads had all gone out to the pub, taking Miss Jones with them to show her what London at night was like. “But I think it will do.”

“It will do nicely,” Derrek said, pulling his shirt off over his head and laying it over the chair in the corner of Jeremy’s room.

He had whispered to Jeremy that they should stay home instead of going out with the others on purpose. He had plans for his dove, things that had been left undone between them. By the coquettish look Jeremy sent him as he turned down the bedcovers then sat to remove his shoes and stockings, he knew what those things were.

“I cannot tell you how relieved I am that everything came out right in the end,” Jeremy said as he folded his stockings and set them aside. “I will confess that for a few days, I’d no idea whether we had reached the end or if we were just at the beginning.”

“That is partially my fault,” Derrek said, setting aside his desire for a moment to sit, shirtless and stockingless, on the bed with Jeremy. “I am sorry that I was overprotective of you and that I underestimated your strength.”

Jeremy smiled bashfully at him. “I gave you no reason to think I was capable of standing up for myself,” he said. “I allowed you to take me off to the countryside, then I fell too easily into a passive role. How could you think anything but that I was weak and needed looking after, like a child.”

“You do not,” Derrek said, combing his fingers through Jeremy’s silken hair. “And you are one of the strongest men I’ve ever met.”

“Me? No!” Jeremy laughed.

“You have the courage to be who you are, which is far more than most men can say, and I love you for it.”

Derrek had not expected those words to be spoken just then or in that manner. He’d planned to wait until they were in the throes of passion before confessing his heart to his beloved. But being caught unawares felt right and made the words somehow more genuine.

“Oh, Derrek,” Jeremy said softly, lifting a hand to cradle the side of Derrek’s face. “I love you, too. I’ve wanted to say that for quite some time now, and I?—”

Derrek silenced whatever else Jeremy had to say with a kiss. There were some things that words simply couldn’t convey, and love was one of them.

Their kiss quickly turned heated. Derrek shifted so that he could pull Jeremy more comfortably into his arms and deepened the kiss, exploring Jeremy’s mouth with his tongue.

Jeremy sighed and moaned, spreading his hands across Derrek’s chest before raising them so that he could thread his fingers through Derrek’s hair. He was as open and needy as Derrek had ever known him to be, and within seconds, the two of them shifted until they were horizontal.

“I want you,” Jeremy whispered, sweeping his hands over Derrek’s body and pressing his hips up so that Derrek could see just how ready he was. “We should have been together like this a long time ago.”

“Agreed,” Derrek said before dipping down to kiss him again.

He tugged at Jeremy’s clothes as they kissed, managing to pull his shirt from his breeches. It took a bit of stretching and clumsiness, but they were able to tug and stretch and bend so that they could undress entirely, discarding their clothing wherever it might land.

It felt wonderful to feel Jeremy skin-to-skin, to taste the salt of his body and feel the heat of his cock as they rubbed together. Derrek had always fancied himself an excellent lover, but he could already feel the pulsing need of desire sending him straight to the edge as he kissed his way down Jeremy’s neck and shoulder to tease his chest and nipples. The gasps and sounds Jeremy made as Derrek loved him were intoxicating, and if he wasn’t careful, the whole thing would be over before it began.

“More,” Jeremy panted, wriggling under Derrek and spreading his legs to underscore what he wanted. “More. I want to feel you in me.”

Derrek growled, rubbing his face against Jeremy’s stomach, where he’d been slipping ever lower toward what he wanted. He changed his mind about treating Jeremy to his mouth and raised himself up, stroking his dove’s cock with his hand instead.

“Anything you want, dove,” he said before kissing Jeremy once more.

The kiss was blinding, and for a moment Derrek forgot his ultimate goal. He remembered when a pulse of pleasure as Jeremy grasped a hand around his balls nearly had him coming. If he wanted to enjoy their mating, he needed to get on with it.

He made a hungry sound as he reached for the small jar on the bedside table that he’d noticed Jeremy discreetly place there earlier. His hands shook just a bit as he pulled out the cork, then took enough of the substance to coat himself and to use on Jeremy’s hole. The slight crudeness, which was in such contrast to Jeremy’s usual character, as his dove grasped his legs under his knees and pulled himself up and out so that what Derrek wanted gaped for him only spurred Derrek on.

Jeremy was tight, but he made feral sounds of enjoyment as Derrek worked to loosen him. Derrek took extra care to stretch him as much as he could, but when the moment came and he could not hold back for another second, his lover was still tight as he pushed inside.

“Don’t stop,” Jeremy panted through the wince that pinched his face as Derrek pushed and thrust as gently as he could.

Once he was past the initial resistance, everything changed. Jeremy cried out in pleasure and his body relaxed slightly as Derrek increased the pace of his thrusts. The two of them were together, melded as one, forever a part of each other. Their physical joining was only a symbol of everything Derrek felt for the clever and beautiful man beneath him.

“I love you,” he panted as his orgasm rushed at him. “I love you so much.”

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