Joe’s Adam’s apple flinched along his throat, and Percy’s fantasy from earlier that night came back on him full and fast.He traced a finger down Joe’s cheek, and he said, near and soft, “Whatever your most foul and depraved fantasies are, I’m your man. Whatever messed-up things you’ve been too ashamed to mention your entire life, do those things to me. Whichever limit you’ve been worried to push, tell me, and I’ll take you there.”
He awaited Joe’s response with bated breath.
Joe said, “The kissing was nice.”
And Percy was that much closer to completely lost with how much he adored him. He stepped away and took up his drink to help retain his authoritative, carefree air. “The kissingwasnice. And we can kiss. Definitely. But none of that other boyfriend bullshit.” He sloshed his drink about as his hands played out his thoughts. “No dinners. Not romantic ones, anyway. Maybe some takeaway, but only if we’re really hungry.”
“Okay,” said Joe, a small smile forming on his lips.
Percy wiped it away with a firm, “And no sleepovers. Sex and then we’re out.”
“All right.” Joe dropped his eyes to the floor and listened.
“No romantic strolls, no hand holding, no cuddling on the couch, and no feelings beyond this. What we have. This friendship. Which…” Joe’s downcast eyes did that annoying thing he kept doing to Percy’s insides, tying them up in that guilty, queasy knot. So Percy stupidly, honestly, blustered out, “Because I really like you. A lot. And I could easily catch feelings.” Percy hated himself when Joe looked up at him like a kid at Christmas.
But he was soon revived when Joe said, “No boyfriend bullshit. Got it. Can we get back to the kissing now?”
CHAPTER FIVE
BACK TO THE KISSING
‘Ireally like you.’
‘A lot.’
‘I could easily catch feelings.’
Well, Joe had already caught them, and he was determined to see Percy catch them, too. Terrified of Percy’s comparative sexual experience, which apparently amounted to the Sears Tower sitting next to an empty and crumpled matchbox, it took all Joe’s stubbornness and desire to make himself raise his chin in a suggestive attempt to draw Percy closer.
It worked as well as any magnet might. Joe tried his best to be sexy, to be alluring, and he hadn’t the vaguest idea what he was doing, but of course he didn’t realise that was the very thing that made him, to Percy, utterly irresistible.
He raised his lips for a kiss and he got it. And Percy, hands back on his hips, walked him backwards into the wall. He tilted his head and kissed Joe’s neck, and a powerful shock such as Joe had never once had the pleasure of experiencing took over his entire body, like a thousand tiny, aching bolts of electricity onevery patch of skin.
Joe was hard again, and he didn’t think he could take another rejection, another slowing of proceedings.
He didn’t know how the ‘not boyfriend’ thing worked, but he hoped it was okay to touch Percy’s hair. Was that too romantic? It felt romantic. Like something you should only do with someone you’re close to.
His fingers were tentative at the tips, and Percy’s hair was soft, and his fingertips moved slowly, deeper into the masses of thick, almost black hair, that he’d always, always wanted to touch. Percy seemed to react to it. He leaned into Joe’s touch, so Joe sunk his fingers a bit deeper, letting himself twist a little knot. Percy’s kisses became more urgent, his breath came a little deeper, and he pulled back with more desire in his eyes than Joe had ever hoped to see there. “Are you sure?”
“I’m so sure.”
“If you want me to stop, just say the word.”
Maybe the priest thing had been a bad idea, because as much as Joe liked the idea of them both naked, skin to skin, Percy didn’t take off his top. He kissed his neck, and he kissed his way down the fabric on his chest, and he dropped to his knees, and holy fuck but it was all of Joe’s daydreams come to life. Percy loosening his belt. Percy ripping his shirt up. Percy kissing his stomach, and Joe’s hands were lost in the precious strands of that immaculate hair the whole time. But he felt exposed, there against the stone wall of Percy’s enormous and lofty living room, and he sank to his knees in front of Percy, whose lips moved seamlessly from his abs to his mouth.
“Is it too much?” Percy whispered.
Joe’s heart began to ache almost as much as his dick, because Percy put his arms around him and he felt glorious. He felt safe, and he felt adored, and he wasn’t sure that was how Percy meant for him to feel. “Please don’t stop.”
Percy slipped his hand down Joe’s abs and beneath the elastic of his underwear, but then he did stop.
He pulled back, his mouth open in a way that would have been undignified on anyone else.
He caught Joe’s eyes with a humour that scared Joe half to death, then he pulled the waistband back again and peeked into Joe’s underwear. “Where the hell have you been hiding that?”
“Uh—”
“Can I even fit that in my mouth? Let alone anywhere else. Christ, but I’m willing to try.” His lips smashed into Joe’s, once, twice, then, “Am I making you uncomfortable?”
