Page 30 of Vanquished By A Viscount
Charlie felt the slight acutely. He stared across the table at Robert, willing him to do something.
“My dear,” Robert said with too much impatience in his voice.
Barbara did not stay where she was long enough to receive whatever censure Robert intended to give her. She burst into tears, clapping a hand to her mouth, and dashed from the room, leaving a table full of stunned guests behind her.
“Well,” Lady Sandridge said, summing up everyone’s thoughts for them.
Robert quietly got up and left the table as well. Charlie thought about going after Barbara. Indeed, that was his first inclination. But his earlier thoughts about the necessity of Barbara learning to seek out the solace of her husband above her brother won out.
The meal continued in awkward half-silence. The few conversations that filled the tense silence were short and contained mostly dull platitudes and comments about the rain stopping. Even the footmen serving at table seemed motivated to get the meal over with as swiftly as possible so that the guests could retreat to their rooms to put the awful day to bed.
The end of supper came quickly, and once it did, the exodus was swift.
“That might be the most awkward supper I’ve ever attended,” Gray muttered to Charlie as the two of them fell into step as they made their way up the stairs and off to the family wing of the house.
Charlie stared at Grayson with wide eyes. “You did nothing to help the situation and everything to make it more awkward,” he snapped.
“Me?” Gray recoiled.
“You would rather have been trapped in a carriage with someone capable of conversation?” Charlie demanded incredulously.
“I had to say something,” Gray hissed.
“You did not have to say that,” Charlie grumbled as they approached their bedchamber doors.
“Would you have had me speak the truth?” Gray asked, glaring.
“Of course not, but you could have said anything else.”
Charlie stopped in front of his door. Gray did the same.
“So does this negate our arrangement?” Gray asked, peeking up and down the empty hall.
Charlie considered for a moment only. Blast him, but arguing with Gray had only fired his desire further.
“No,” he said, grabbing the front of Gray’s shirt and tugging him forward.
He reached behind him to turn the doorhandle, then pulled Grayson through the door with almost enough force to have them both spilling to the floor. They managed to stay upright, though, and as soon as Charlie had the door shut, he shoved Gray up against it then dove into him, slamming his mouth over Gray’s.
The aggressive gesture felt good. More than good. He threw himself into the role, bruising Gray’s lips with his kiss and thrusting his tongue into the frustrating man’s mouth as commandingly as he could, all while scrambling to undo the buttons of Gray’s jacket.
Gray countered Charlie’s forcefulness by melting against the door, submitting to Charlie’s aggression. That only encouraged Charlie in his efforts to kiss the air out of Gray’s lungs and to undress him as quickly as possible.
He finished with the buttons and tugged Gray’s jacket from his shoulders so hard something ripped. The excitement of that sound spurred him on. He stepped back, tugging Gray away from the door and toward the bed.
Somehow, they managed to shrug and struggle out of their clothes between powerful kisses. As they stumbled across the room to the bed, they left a trail of shoes, shirts, and trousers behind them. Charlie did not care a bit about any of it. He wanted his hands on Gray’s skin, his fingertips digging into his flesh. He wanted to feel the heat and leave bruises.
“I missed this,” Gray gasped between kisses as they reached the bed.
Confusing feelings of anger and heartache welled up alongside Charlie’s blind lust. How dare Gray interrupt what was supposed to be a base exchange with that sort of expression of feeling? And how dare his rebellious heart beat faster upon hearing those words.
“On your knees, then,” Charlie growled in response, pushing Gray downward.
Gray sank to the floor in front of Charlie eagerly, gripping his hips and going straight for what they both wanted. He scooped his hand around Charlie’s heavy balls and lifted his already rigid cock to an angle that allowed him to wrap his mouth easily around the tip. Charlie made an inadvertent sound of pleasure as Gray swallowed nearly his entire length, choking a bit when his lips were near his groin.
Gray pulled back slightly, sucking as he did. Charlie hissed, grasping a handful of Gray’s hair and urging him to plunge down again. When Gray did just that, his throat convulsing around his tip and sending indescribable pleasure through him, Charlie tilted his head back and closed his eyes to revel in it. This was what he wanted. This was what he adored. It was pleasure he was after and the sense of power he had over Gray, all while knowing it was what Gray wanted, too.
Tell-tale signs that he wouldn’t last long snapped Charlie out of his revery, and he opened his eyes to look down. The sight of Gray handling himself vigorously while bobbing on his cock, lips pink and wet with saliva, did nothing to ease the sense of impending explosion in Charlie. The two of them were so well-suited for each other’s tastes that it was any wonder they hadn’t both come as quickly as they had in the carriage.
