Page 17 of Creed
I didn’t know what to do, so I did what I always did when I was uncertain.
I kept running my mouth.
“You’re upset. I get it. I would be, too, if someone kissed me without permission. I don’t have any excuse, but I just... I just couldn’t help it.” I started pacing, covering the diameter of our little camp in just a few steps before turning around and going the other direction. “I never should have even come on this trip. It was stupid, but when I realized you were gay, I thought maybe I had a chance, and I just had to come see you. My publisher was planning on sending me to the Himalayas, but I begged them to let me do a domestic piece. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied to you.”
My pacing was brought to an abrupt halt when Creed grabbed my arm.
“Stop talking.”
Before I could utter another word, he dragged me over to the tent and shoved me inside. I tripped and landed on the sleeping bags, which I’d thankfully, already set up. Rolling onto my back, the demand for an explanation was already on the tip of my tongue, when Creed pinned me down to the ground and kissed me.
We were roughly the same size, but Creed was built with a lot more muscle after so many years of training. I could barely move under him, and I had no hope of pushing him off.
Not that I wanted to. Once I realized what was happening, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him even closer.
For all of Creed’s confidence, he was surprisingly uncoordinated when it came to kissing. The man seemed to have no idea what to do with his tongue after shoving it in my mouth, and his lips didn’t move at all.
It was, truthfully speaking, a bad kiss.
That was all right. I was an eager instructor.
Cupping his head between my hands, I tilted him until we were at a better angle for our mouths to align. Gentle coaxing showed him how to coordinate his lips and tongue, and soon enough, the kiss turned from awkward to pleasant.
We eventually had to part for air, but I didn’t let him get far and continued to press small kisses to the corner of his mouth.
“This is great, Creed, but I need you to use your words,” I said between kisses. “Say that you want to sleep with me.”
One of his hands plucked at my shirt, tugging at it like it was a stress toy.
“I think I do.”
I pulled back from the kiss enough to look him in the eye.
“You think?”
An unfairly charming blush spread across his cheeks, visible even in the low light.
“I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. But, yes, I think I do.”
He tried to kiss me again, but I pressed a hand against his chest and pushed him back enough so I could sit up.
“Wait. You’ve never done this before? Like, never slept with a man? Then how do you know for sure that you’re gay?”
Sitting there in the tent that was barely big enough for the two of us, with his head brushing against the top of the canvas, he gave me the flattest look I’d ever seen.
“The same way that I don’t need to fuck a kid to know that I’m not a pedophile.”
The shock of his crude words made me choke on my own spit. I coughed violently for several moments until I could breathe again.
“Okay, first of all, ew.” Tears gathered in my eyes for the force of my coughing, and I knocked myself in the chest a few times to get my lungs working again. “But, point taken, I guess. So, you’re certain about this, right? I don’t want to suddenly regret things in the morning.”
To his credit, he did legitimately think about it for a moment.
“Yes, I’m sure,” he eventually said. “I wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping with a stranger, and the only other people I’m close enough with to even consider are Magnus and Brody, and they’re obviously not an option.”
I would have been insulted by his insinuation that I was simply the only option, except I knew Creed. The man did not settle for anything. He’d give something up entirely before he settled for second best. I’d once watched the man turn down a free sundae simply because they didn’t have the exact flavor he wanted.
Now, ice cream wasn’t nearly as important as sex and relationships, but the principle was the same. If Creed agreed to sleep with me, it was only because he’d decided that I was exactly what he wanted.
