Page 120 of Leather and Longing
“Oh, don’t deny it,” she flung back at him. “I’m well aware of your… proclivities.” When Adam stared at her, she snorted. “You think I didn’t see all those… things Dean was packing away in your apartment? What are they, if not evidence of a sick mind?”
Adam took several deep breaths, his fists clenched at his sides. “You know nothing of my lifestyle, beyond what you read in the tabloids or on the internet,” he said quietly. “With your background, your age, I wouldn’t expect you to understand, nor do I have any wish to explain one single thing to you. Not that I’d expect you for one minute to listen with an open mind.”
Before Adam could say another word, Dean rounded on him. “Why should we listen to a sexual deviant like you anyway? You’re just a sick, perverted fucker.”
Paul had had enough.
He leaped to his feet and placed himself between Adam and Dean. He glared at Dean. “Now you listen to me, you lazy fuck. You donotget to say shit like that about the man I love, you got me? Adam is worth ten, twenty of you, and if you come anywhere near us again, I will lay you out, so help me God.” He set his jaw and pulled himself up to his full height. “And if you think it would be just me coming after you, think again. There are people who care about us, even ifyoudon’t, and they wouldn’t hesitate for one second to pound you into dust.” He grabbed hold of Dean by his T-shirt and twisted it, tightening it around Dean’s neck. “Am I making myself clear?” Spittle flew from his lips and hit Dean in the face.
Dean swallowed hard. “Y-yeah, I got it.” Caroline was at his side, staring at Paul’s clenched hand.
Slowly he let go and stepped back. “Adam, we’re leaving.”
Adam moved to stand next to him. “Yes, we are.”
In silence, Paul led Adam from the house, past a startled, red-faced Caroline and a sullen Dean, and out onto the road. He strode along the pavement, Adam keeping up with him, the rage in him reduced to a simmer.
By the time they got to the car, he was calmer.
Paul opened the passenger door for Adam to get in, but he simply stood there, leaning against the car, his eyebrows visible above his glasses.
“What is it?” Paul demanded.
Adam’s face broke into a slow smile. “The man you love?”
Oh… Fuck.
Chapter Forty-Two
“We should probably havethat talk, right?” The slight quaver in Paul’s voice was adorable.
Adam laughed. God, he felt so fuckinglight. “No probably about it, but not here. And not in the car. I want to be able to concentrate.” He straightened and stepped closer. “But there’s one thing I will do before we go anywhere.”
“Yeah?”
Adam moved closer still until he could feel Paul’s heat. He stretched out his hand and met with Paul’s toned upper arm. Adam stroked upward, loving the way Paul trembled beneath his fingertips. He followed the vein in Paul’s neck that throbbed, moving upward to caress his jaw. Adam leaned in and brushed his lips over the warm skin there, before aiming higher to meet a pair of silky lips that parted for him without hesitation. Adam kissed him, conscious of being in public butfuck it, this was no time for hiding how he felt.
Paul wasn’t hiding either. He looped his arms around Adam’s neck and returned the kiss, his breathing quickening. When they finished, Adam took off his glasses, shoved them in his pocket and pressed his forehead to Paul’s, a poignant reminder of the previous day. “Say the words, babe.”
The hitch in Paul’s breathing made his heart beat faster. “Adam?”
Adam kissed him. “Say the words I’ve never heard from another man’s lips, not for me.” He laid his soul bare with that whispered truth.
“Oh, God.” Paul leaned into him, his body pressed up against Adam, so warm and vital. Paul brought his lips to Adam’s ear. “I love you, Adam Kent.”
Fuck.
It was heady. Intense. The most beautiful words Adam had ever heard.
He wrapped his arms around Paul’s waist and drew him close, inhaling his scent. There was an air of expectancy about Paul that sent a tingle down Adam’s spine. He knew why Paul’s respiration was rapid. Adam kissed him again, slowly and thoroughly.
“I love you,” he whispered, his heart soaring to finally say the words. Paul held onto him, so still that Adam couldn’t even feel him breathing. How long they stood there, their arms around each other, Adam had no idea. The noise of the traffic on the busy road filtered through into his consciousness, an unwelcome intrusion. “And now we’ve got the important part over with, let’s go home.”
Paul murmured in agreement before curling his hand around Adam’s nape to draw him close for one more kiss. When they parted, he sighed. “Does it sound crazy that I don’t want to move from this spot?”
Adam chuckled, his heart lighter than it had been in a long time. “Because it feels as though moving will break the spell?” He knew what Paul meant: there was a fragile quality to the moment, as if none of it was real.
“Yes,” Paul breathed. “Exactly.”
