Page 26 of Sinful Crimes for the Artistically Inclined
But before he could bring himself to turn away, Joe’s gaze shot across the room, their eyes met, and his face lit. And Percycouldn’t remember the last time someone had been so happy to see him.
Joe was already halfway across the room, and every step Percy took to meet him in the middle swept his doubts into nothing more than abstraction. He had his arms around Joe, his lips on his, his hand in his, and as Joe led him back, talking excitedly about their trip, Percy pushed down the simmering guilt.
Joe never needed to find out.
Everything would be perfectly fine.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KRAKÓW COUNTDOWN
Joe and Percy lay sprawled, naked on the four-poster bed of their Kraków apartment, gasping for air.
“I can’t believe I lived my whole life without that,” Joe panted.
“I hope I made it worth your sacrifice,” came Percy’s breathless answer.
Joe shifted over so his head was resting on Percy’s belly, Percy reaching down to play with the deep brown curls of Joe’s hair. They lay that way, perfectly happy, for about two minutes, until Joe said, “So, are you going to tell me what you do?”
“I told you,” was the soft and tolerant reply. “I traffic fine arts and artefacts.”
Joe turned his face to look up at Percy, whose eyes remained on the ornate curves of the bed frame overhead. “But whatspecificallywill you be doing today?”
“The less you know?—”
“‘The better.’ So you’ve said.”
Percy moved the conversation right along. “You’ll have this place all to yourself, Kraków all to yourself,and I’ll meet you this evening after work and we’ll go somewhere nice. Where do you want to go?”
Joe rolled over and leaned on one arm, taking his new partner in. Percy, of all people. He was spectacular. Joe had known it from the first, but he couldn’t understand how it had taken him so long to fall… in love? Or was it just lust?
That morning, through the gentle lens of pre-breakfast holiday sex, Percy’s eyes were so, so blue, his lashes were so, so long, and his lips were so very pink, all standing out against that crushingly enigmatic curl of dark hair about his cheekbones. He was incredibly strong too, a fact which Joe had discovered first hand on mornings such as theirs had been. Evenings and afternoons too, almost any time they were alone together in the week since they had decided to become a couple.
Joe shifted a little further up the bed, resting his chin on Percy’s shoulder, drinking him in, yet desperate to sate his curiosity. “At least tell me who you’re meeting.”
“Thieves and villains.” Percy kissed Joe’s forehead. It was a kiss in between long and short—a kiss that said, ‘I don’t want to leave your side, but I need to end this conversation right now’. He did exactly that, sitting up on the edge of the bed. “Where do you want to go tonight?”
Joe relented as he watched Percy pull away. “I don’t know. I’ve never been to Kraków before. Do you know anywhere good?”
“I do. Shall I surprise you?”
How magnificent he was, sitting up, his thighs and his abs, so firm and tight and muscular, his shoulders so wide, and that chest…
Joe couldn’t resist. He leaned across and kissed Percy’s back, his hip. “Surprise me.”
Percy cast his lovely, suggestive eyes down, and Joe wondered if he would always melt when Percy smiled at himlike that. He leant over, dropped one last kiss on Joe’s lips, then left to shower and dress.
Joe stretched in the expensive linen sheets, called room service, put on a robe, looked through an enormous window at the old red-brick and stone city under the crisp, blue day, then settled onto the lounge to wait, reflecting on his opulent surroundings.
Percy had said he was staying in this hotel whether Joe came along or didn’t, so Joe hadn’t paid a cent for what he assumed was an extremely expensive suite.
It was the best room (Percy said) in what had been a sixteenth-century palace. High ceilings, ornate mouldings, paint on the walls in dusky pinks and browns, artfully chipped to look elegantly aged. The wooden bed frame was carved lavishly and the soft mattress was clothed in some of the most luxurious fabrics Joe had ever touched. The breakfast, when it arrived, came ample and delicious-looking, on delicate and beautiful china. The thickest, softest-possible rug lay under Joe’s feet as he sank deeper into the maroon velvet couch.
It was all very strange and very good, everything that had happened so far in their fledgling relationship, until his eyes lit upon the hand grenade, poorly hidden by the clothes in Percy’s open suitcase.
Joe was somewhat perturbed.
He had known Percy to be a dangerous man, mostly through his own admission, but military-grade weaponry was not something Joe had been prepared for on this trip.
