Page 21 of Lance
“Yeah. That’s the one I’d pick, too.” Jamie winced as a camera flash went off almost in their face, and for a moment, Lance couldn’t see. Even when his eyes recovered, there were little spots of black dancing in front of them. “God, how do you deal with this all the time? Let’s get out of here.”
With one more look at the cats through his watering eyes, Lance nodded. There was a high-end clothing shop nearby, he’d found it on his phone earlier, and it was to there that he led Jamie. A place like that had some advantages, namely that they weren’t likely to let the paparazzi in to harass their patrons. Right at the moment, that seemed like a pretty damn big deal.
When they stepped inside, it was blessedly cool and almost silent, with just the subtle tones of some classy music playing in the background. The air conditioning was a relief from the early summer heat outside, but more than that, there was no one shoving cameras in their faces, no one demanding things of them.
“Okay. So what’s your style?” Lance asked, and Jamie stared back at him, as though he didn’t know what Lance was talking about. “I mean, what kind of clothes do you like to wear?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie admitted, and as sometimes happened, that mask slipped, the one that the guy always seemed to be clutching close. In those moments, Lance got even more of a glimpse of who this man was, and started to like him more than ever.
What was it Jamie had said, that he had been too poor to buy clothes? Lance sensed there was more to the story than that, but he supposed that Jamie was entitled to his secrets.
“Okay, no problem,” Lance spoke briskly, not letting any of the pity which he felt seep through. That was the last thing that Jamie would want, and this day was going too well for him to want to ruin it like that. “Go get a changing room. I’ll put some things together.”
Jamie nodded, and was that a bit of a thankful look that he shot at Lance before he went? Yes, Lance was pretty sure that it was, and he held that look in his heart, enjoyed the warmth it gave him, as he went around the store. He didn’t know Jamie’s size, but he had been spending quite a bit of time studying the other man’s body, and he could make a good guess.
Finally, arms full, Lance went to the back where there were a few changing rooms. And by rooms, he meantrooms. Not little cubicles with flimsy curtains covering the door, but actual, full rooms, with doors that shut and locked. There were four of them, and at this time of day, there was only one which was closed.
He didn’t have to be Sherlock to figure out that Jamie must be in that one, so he knocked briefly and then opened the door, hanging the clothes on the pegs that were set around for just this purpose.
“Here, try these on,” Lance instructed and then turned to look at Jamie, who honestly looked a little bit terrified. The man hadn’t been lying about it having been awhile, though that wasn’t the whole story. Lance was more sure of that than ever. “Take your time.”
He turned to leave, his hand resting on the cold, silvery metal of the doorknob, and he was just about to leave him when Jamie spoke.
“You’re going to go?” There was this tone of voice Jamie got—Lance was starting to realize—when Jamie was scared about something, and he wanted to ask for something but didn’t know how. What had made Jamie this way? Why was he so scared to ask for what he wanted?
There was a story there, and it was a story that Lance, a little to his own surprise, wanted to hear. Even thinking about how angry Ken would be that they were growing closer didn’t bother him that much.
How long had it been since he’d been this happy to be around someone? How long since he’d sincerely cared enough to want to know someone else’s story? He knew the answer to that. Not since Amy, and maybe that was what scared him so much.
“I don’t have to,” he spoke softly, his voice pitched just above a whisper. Slowly, trying to brace himself for the contact of their eyes once more, he turned around and looked at Jamie.
Only Jamie had, in a very short time, stripped down to nothing but his underwear. He stood, illuminated by the bright, merciless lights of the shop, and yet he was utterly stunning, despite lighting which was flattering to no one. Pale and slender, with tight, sexy, toned muscles, he could have been a model. He was the complete epitome of everything that Lance could want.
“We decided …” Lance started, and Jamie shook his head, the fire, the embers, burning in the depths of his hair glinting.
“I remember last night, and I bet you do, too. We’ve already done what we said we weren’t going to do,” Jamie pointed out, and that shut Lance up really fast. It wasn’t like he could exactly deny that, though as quickly as Jamie had taken off the night before, he had sort of thought that the other man wanted to ignore it.
“Look, I’ve been thinking …” Lance took a moment to think about if he wanted to do this. Jamie had stripped down, all on his own, so Lance figured there was a good chance that Jamie would agree to this, but was this what he really wanted? When he examined his own heart, though, he didn’t really have a doubt.
“Yeah?” Jamie prompted, and Lance took a deep breath and started to strip down as well. There was no excuse for it since he wasn’t the one trying on and purchasing a new wardrobe. No reason he could give other than the truth, which was that he desperately wanted this man, and it wasn’t a desire that he seemed to be able to control.
How many times would they just keep falling into bed? How long could they pretend that what was going on wasn’t going on? So Lance took his clothes off, including his underwear, and stood, vulnerable and not a little freaked out, in front of Jamie.
“I’ve been thinking that maybe it’s none of anyone’s business what we do with each other in private,” Lance murmured. Not that this was exactly private. These moments between them kept on happening in places where they could technically get caught, which reminded him. He reached around and pushed in the lock on the door, giving them some assurance of privacy.
“I think I like where you’re going with this,” Jamie murmured, his face lighting up, a boyish grin on his lips.
“Obviously we have a lot of sexual chemistry. And denying that isn’t going to change anything.” Lance stepped forward until his bare chest was brushing over Jamie’s, and their skin kissed and slid together, and he could smell Jamie’s fresh, clean scent with just a hint of something beneath it, something musky and intriguing.
“Oh yeah,” Jamie whispered, and he pressed his beautiful body tightly against Lance’s. Lance let his fingers hook into the elastic waistband of Jamie’s underwear and drew them down off of the unprotesting man’s body.
“So let’s just go with it. We can keep it secret. It can just be about sex, right?” Lance let his lips graze the sensitive, vulnerable shell of Jamie’s ear. He sucked the earlobe between his teeth and grazed it lightly, delighted when he felt Jamie shiver against him.
Just sex. They could do that, right? Or maybe sex and friendship. Friends with benefits. Only no one could know, not Lester and not Ken. Especially not Ken.
That could work. They’d kept it a secret so far, after all.
“Okay. Sounds good,” Jamie groaned, and this time it was Lance who went down onto his knees, Lance who nuzzled at the full hardness of Jamie’s cock, which was every bit as pretty as the rest of him. He let his lips caress over the blunt head, tasting the precomewhich had started to leak out.
