Page 52 of Tender
“Who was it?”
Emmett smiled.“It was me.It wasn’t love at first sight, but it was something.We didn’t like each other very much because of it.It scared the shit out of us, and it took us forever to admit it.”
“Why is it different this time?”
Emmett’s grin got a little wider.“Because, sweet thing, we’re older.We’re wiser.We realized that trying to fight it only ended up hurting us.”
Miles couldn’t help the small shiver running up his spine at the sound of being called ‘sweet thing.’God, he wanted to hear that more.But not just from anyone.From Emmett.
And from Cosimo, he wanted…fuck.He didn’t know.
“What do you need me to be for you?” Miles finally forced himself to ask.
Emmett licked his lips, taking his time which Miles appreciated.“I want something more than what Mo and I have right now.I love being able to give him what he needs.I live for it.But when it stops, it sometimes leaves me…wanting.He doesn’t want to be taken care of in the ways I need.”
“So you want a broken man to fix?”
Emmett’s eyes went wide with offense, and he stiffened which made Miles immediately feel like shit.“Is that how I come across?”
“No,” Miles said in a rush.“I’m sorry.I just…I don’t understand.”
“I wasn’t looking for someone like you,” Emmett said, his voice a little stiff now.“If that were the case, Mo and I would have a long list of exes with trauma issues.But I think regardless of your past, you’d still crave something like this. I think the desire to be cared for and spoiled is simply who you are. Regardless of where you came from or how you lived.”
“How can you tell?”Miles’s voice felt thready and weak.He wanted to watch Emmett’s lips say the right words—the words that would make this all make sense.
Emmett traced a touch over his mouth, then down his chin, under his jaw, over his pulse.He went a little farther down, along his sternum, then to the waistband of his pajama pants.His stomach jumped, and his cock kicked against the tight fabric keeping it contained.
Emmett licked his lips, hungrily this time.“Because of how you react when I give you what you want. Being taken care of.Loved on.Doted on.Given rules,” he said, his voice darkening.“Obeying.Someday, maybe even being punished.”
Miles groaned.
“Being rewarded.”Emmett traced a line along the elastic at Miles’s waist, then tipped his fingers just under the band.“Cosimo needs me sometimes.I want someone who needs me all the time.”
“Yeah,” Miles said.He felt like he was in a trance, and yet his mind had also never been clearer.He could picture it in his mind—a perfect image of them.Except, one part was blurry.“Where does he fit in?How will he want to be with me?”
“Cosimo?” Emmett asked, and Miles nodded.“That’s between you two.He’s a quieter kind of caregiver.He likes to spoil—and trust me, you’ll see that soon enough.But he needs his space to be brought to his knees sometimes, and he needs someone in our lives who understands that.When he’s like this, you have to let him be this way.You can join in.You can comfort him after, when he’s been reduced to tears, a shaking mess from not being allowed to come for five days…”
This time, Miles moaned.Loudly.He shifted on Emmett’s lap and then let out a sharp gasp when Emmett laid his hand over the tent in his pants.
“This isn’t too much, is it?”
Miles shook his head.“No.”
Emmett didn’t rub, didn’t stroke, didn’t add more pressure.But the heat of his palm was almost enough to make Miles come right there.
“As long as you don’t put demands on him in the moments he needs this, he will love you with a ferocity that might not ever make sense.”
Love.What a wild concept.Wilder because Miles still didn’t believe he was worthy of having it.But his defenses were cracking.
Emmett said something so soft, Miles missed it. He brushed a gentle touch over Emmett’s lips.“I couldn’t…ah.I can’t hear when you speak that low.”
“I’m sorry.Tell me what you’re thinking, precious,” Emmett repeated, pitching his voice louder and stroking fingers over Miles’s jaw.
Miles let out a shuddering breath and closed his eyes.“This seems too good to be true.”
“I know what you mean,” Emmett said with a laugh.
Miles opened his eyes and looked at him.That couldn’t possibly be the truth, but the way Emmett was staring at him,and the uncertainty in his gaze, told Miles that yeah—he was just as off-kilter.
