Page 53 of Your Pace or Mine
Jamie wanted to distract him, to break the tension he felt crackling in the air like static.
Darius tilted his head, his gaze flicking up and down Jamie’s frame with a deliberate slowness that sent heat crawling up Jamie’s neck. “Jamie,” he murmured.
Something in his tone—soft but charged—made Jamie stop. He met Darius’s eyes, his breath catching at the way they darkened, at the subtle shift in his body language.
“You’re really something, you know that?” Darius said, his voice quieter now, his accent wrapping around the words like velvet.
Jamie’s heart stuttered. He tried to laugh it off, but it came out shaky. “Something good, I hope.”
“Definitely good,” Darius said, his lips curving into a smile that sent a pleasant shiver down Jamie’s spine.
Jamie stepped closer, his knees brushing against Darius’s. “I think you’re something good too,” he replied. “You make it incredibly hard to focus on my training, though.”
“Do I?” Darius asked, reaching out to lightly hook a finger in the belt loop of Jamie’s jeans. “How hard?”
The touch was barely there, but it was enough to make Jamie’s breath hitch. He leaned down, his hands braced on either side of Darius, their faces now inches apart. “You have no idea,” Jamie murmured.
Darius grinned, his other hand coming up to brush Jamie’s cheek, his thumb tracing a line along his jaw. “I think I might.”
“Is this okay?” Jamie asked. “I mean, we agreed we aren’t going to be seeing anyone else while we’retogether,right, so…”
“Are you asking me to be your fake boyfriend with benefits?” Darius joked.
“If I were?”
“I think I’d be up for that,” Darius replied. “Like you said, we can’t see anyone else, and I wouldn’t expect you to go without.”
“So selfless of you.”
“That’s what everyone says, ‘there goes Darius Hewitt, he’s so incredibly selfless.’”
Jamie’s response was a soft laugh that turned into a sigh as Darius closed the gap between them, his lips brushing Jamie’s ina kiss that started tentatively but quickly deepened. Jamie sank into it, the tension in his body melting away as Darius’s hands slid around his waist, pulling him closer.
Jamie pulled back for a moment, setting the box of cake gently on his desk before turning back to Darius. “Can’t risk the mocha cake.”
“Of course not,” Darius replied, gravely.
Jamie smiled at Darius and twined their hands together. “Shower?”
“Well, that is why we’re here, isn’t it?”
“Together?” Jamie asked, just to confirm.
“Lead the way,” Darius replied, allowing Jamie to lead him out of the bedroom.
Jamie didn’t have an ensuite, but his flatmates were still out, so he led Darius down the corridor to the shared bathroom. The ancient boiler took a while to kick in, but as the water warmed, Darius pushed Jamie backwards until he was perched on the edge of the sink and kissed him again. “I think I like these benefits,” Jamie whispered.
“Great benefits, best ones,” Darius sighed in response as their kisses grew more urgent.
The small room seemed to fade away, and all that mattered was the warmth of Darius’s touch and the way he made Jamie feel—wanted, desperate, and utterly unguarded.
With a strength of will he hadn’t known he possessed, Jamie pulled away, hopping down from the counter and pulling Darius towards the shower with him. Clothing was shed quickly, and they moved under the spluttering stream together.
God, Darius was perfect, with his soft brown skin and miles of lean muscle that Jamie wanted to trace with his fingers.
They didn’t stop touching for even a second.
Jamie washed Darius’s chest slowly as he kissed down the smooth column of his neck, pressing himself so close he couldfeel every hard plane of Darius’s body against his. His cock throbbed as it rubbed up against Darius’s hard length. They took their time, cleaning and exploring each other’s bodies. The bath beneath them was slippery, and as they kissed again under the stream of water, Jamie lost his footing. He cried out, more in shock than pain.
