Joe put the glass down, stared at it for a time, then looked anxiously back to Percy. “Because that wasn’t my first French kiss.”
“Villain,” said Percy.
Joe let go a nervous laugh. “I mean, it wasn’tjustmy first French kiss. It… It was actually… my first kiss… of any sort. That I wanted to have…” Bold eyes hit Percy’s unflinchingly. “With you.”
Percy very nearly dropped his glass. “You’ve never kissed anyone before? Not ever?”
“No.”
What had been fun, for Percy, shifted into something else at the revelation. He said softly, “I’m honoured you chose me. And I’m sorry I did it.” He ignored the protest in Joe’s eyes and ready-to-object lips, and nodded to the lounge. “You can sleep there if you’d like. It’s coming down pretty heavy outside.” He cast an eye over Joe’s wet clothing. “I’ll get you something to change into.”
Percy turned to go, but then heard Joe utter one of the very few sentences that could have stopped him in his tracks. “Wouldn’t you rather I keep it on?”
What the hell kind of wet dream had Joe Bruno just walked out of?
He, clearly, was planning to make things very, very hard for Percy.
CHAPTER THREE
MILD PANIC
Joe couldn’t believe he’d just said that. He knew he had because Percy—Percy Ashdown, who looked and moved and spoke like a god—was looking at Joe Bruno the way he was. The way Joe had dreamed of him looking at him a thousand times over. But what it was to be under that gaze now—hot and lustful and completely terrifying.
Percy stalked a little closer and Joe prayed to God, whom he may or may not have been betraying horribly, that Percy would kiss him again.
If Percy did kiss him, he would take it as a sure sign from God that he was doing the right thing, and go ahead with his plan.
But if Percy didn’t kiss him… Well, it wasn’t as though God had nothing better to do than watch over Joe’s lack of a sex life and guide him using the miracle of Percy’s lips, so that could hardly mean anything.
Maybe he should just go ahead and kiss him first. Because God helps those who help themselves. Or something…
Before he could think another of his panicked andmeandering thoughts, Percy spoke with a voice so sexy and so close to his ear that his breath almost melted Joe into a pool of incoherent tingles. “You’re very beautiful. There are so, so many things I would love to do with you, right here, right now.” The sex in his voice dropped away, and though it remained warm, it became unmistakably cooler. “But you’re making a big mistake.”
Joe shifted his head towards Percy, their lips almost brushing. “I don’t believe that.”
Percy’s fingers slid down Joe’s stomach and curled around his belt. “If we start, I won’t stop unless you tell me to. So if you’re looking for someone to save you from yourself, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong man.”
How Joe craved his touch. Craved more of him. His fingertips behind his belt, so close to his desperate cock, impossibly cruel in their distance. “That’s not why—that’s—it’s because—um—” Percy’s gaze wandered over his clinging shirt, then met his eyes with a spark that forced Joe to gather himself. “I don’t want to stop. That’s why I came here. That’s why I came to you.”
Percy let go of him with a bitter laugh. “Because I’m the only bastard you know who’s immoral enough to follow through?”
Joe caught his arm before he could turn away, the cruel sneer of Percy’s lips in profile setting his heart apace. “Because you’re so beautiful.” Percy’s blue eyes cut back to Joe’s, and the statement was so true it almost brought him to his knees. The dark hair, wild and thick and tossed to the side after a tumultuous night. The cheekbones that were too chiselled to be real. The fire in him—in Percy and Percy alone—that made him so utterly exquisite. “I want it to be you because I can’t—” He quickly corrected himself with the flash in Percy’s eyes. “Icanresist you. But I don’twantto. I was—I thought I was okay with this. This choice I made, this celibacy, and maybe I was. For awhile.” He placed two hands on Percy’s chest, tentatively now, the soft, expensive poplin of the charcoal shirt inviting him to press a little firmer as he looked deeply into Percy’s eyes. “But since the day I met you, it’s like there’s this fire in my chest. It’s burning, and it never stops burning, not whenever you’re around. It’s you and it’s you and it’s always been you, and…” He heard the words on his lips, felt the unmoving body beneath his fingers. He let his hands drop in hopelessness. He knew what he wanted to say, but the troubled apology that had appeared across Percy’s brow shut him down.
He moved a few steps away, his stomach folding in on itself when Percy spoke. “I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”
“I’m not looking for a boyfriend.” He was amazed how easily the lie rolled off his tongue. All he wanted, all he fantasised about, was Percy being his. And he felt so, so stupid.
Percy Ashdown—beautiful, beautiful Percy Ashdown—didn’t want Joe Bruno for a boyfriend.
Of course he didn’t.
What a ridiculous notion that had been.
Percy must have seen that he’d crushed Joe, because he began to make excuses. “I’m not in a good place right now,” he said. “I haven’t been for a long time. It’s not about you.”
“Oh, I know.” Joe gave an unconvincing, brutally embarrassing fake laugh, and wanted to die when Percy rushed to blunt the sharp edge of his rejection.
“If I was in any sort of a position to be with someone?—”
