Page 47 of Lore and Lust
Mesmerized, Nino stares into his side profile. The hairs on his arms are standing on end, as if his body is charged with electricity. “I know…”
Looking down into his lap, Haruka rubs his palms against his thighs. “If we are choosing to alter the nature of our relationship, I want to be certain that I am not foolishly interfering in someone else’s love story again.”
Nino swallows, his throat tight from the image of his friend sitting there in the firelight, waiting for his answer. “You’re not. I promise.”
Haruka finally looks up at him and Nino takes a breath. He’d genuinely forgotten to.
“Nino, I deeply value our relationship. I have never experienced anything like this with another vampire.”
“Me neither,” says Nino, unmoving. Waiting.
Dropping his shoulders, Haruka lifts his head to the ceiling. “I am worried that if we are intimate, our relationship will change and we will lose this… our friendship. I sincerely do not want that to happen.”
Slowly, Nino scoots a few inches down the bed and toward him. “Things will change. But… what if the changes are good? What if our relationship gets even better?”
Haruka shifts his burgundy eyes to slyly meet his gaze. One corner of his mouth quirks up. “You are a romantic.”
“Maybe?” Nino hunches his shoulders. He smoothly moves down the bed until one leg is folded and lightly touching Haruka’s hip, the other hanging off the side of the mattress. “We won’t know unless we try? And we can go slowly.”
Haruka exhales a heavy sigh and folds his arms. Nino sits quietly. Breathing for a long moment and steeling himself as a simple question pushes to the forefront of his psyche. “Haru, do you find me attractive? I mean physically or within your nature… Are you drawn to me?”
He turns, his wine-colored eyes unblinking. “You are exquisite to my nature. Ineveryway.” Haruka looks forward again, as if he’s simply uttered a statement of fact and not something that has knocked the wind out of Nino.
He wants to tell Haruka he feels the same way—that being with him… talking, laughing and researching with him feels like getting a gift on some special occasion. A birthday or a favorite holiday where plans have been made and anticipation bubbles warmly in your heart.
But there are no plans. There are no gifts. It’s just Haruka. He is all there is and nothing more is needed.
He can’t say any of it. He won’t. Haruka hears these things all the time from desperate vampires who want to bond with him. Saying these things will make Nino seem as shallow and needy as the rest of them.
“Nino.”
“Yes?” Nino sits straighter, his eyes focusing on the dark male in front of him. The longer they sit here, the more Nino realizes how much he wants him. Not just as a friend, but as more. To be closer to him, freely touch him and hold him. To comfort Haruka and give of himself. Even more, Nino wants to feed from him and feel his true aura. To fully experience the lovely thing inside of him that he constantly keeps restrained and locked up so tightly.
“I think…” Haruka begins, taking a deep breath. “If you feel that I am acceptable, I would like to try. But you should not feel pressured in any way—”
“Stop.” Nino reaches out, placing his hands on either side of Haruka’s slim face and meeting his eyes. Pure bliss swells in his chest. “You are so much more than ‘acceptable’ to me. And yes, I want to try, too. Let’s just do what feels natural?”
“Natural…” Haruka shifts his eyes to the side, mulling it over. “I like this. Agreed.” He rests his fingertips against Nino’s chest, gently urging him to lie back against the bed. Nino complies, biting his lip in a weak attempt to stifle his overwhelming excitement.
It’s happening. The pounce.
He watches in awe as his friend moves like a shadowy, wild animal gorgeously lit by firelight. He slowly crawls onto the bed, settling himself at Nino’s side. Nino instinctively relaxes back, fully trusting in whatever is about to happen to him. He needs it. He desperately wants it with this beautiful male.
Haruka never takes his alluring burgundy gaze off of him as he sweetly rests his palm against his cheek. Nino closes his eyes from the simple contact, feeling his nature twist and writhe in his belly and lower back.
“It will not hurt,” Haruka says, his voice low and calm. “You know this?”
Nino grins, opening his eyes. “If it’s you, I know it won’t hurt.”
“You should relax. I will feed from you as usual, but gradually, I will pull harder at your skin.” With his fingertip, he draws a line down Nino’s jaw toward the base of his neck. Nino stretches the bottom of his spine against the soft bed, trying to ease the warm shiver there.
“When I feed deeper,” Haruka continues, “you’ll feel a distinct pressure in your abdomen to submit to me, but try not to do so. You should resist me for as long as you can. The release will be more satisfying for you this way.”
Nino laughs, already thinking this might not last very long. “I apologize in advance if I give in too early.”
“It’s okay,” Haruka assures him. “If you do, perhaps we could simply try again another time. Are we ready?”
Stretching his overheated body against the downy comforter, Nino wishes Haruka would shift over and lie on top of him. His groin aches from the thought of his weight and long body pressed against him as he feeds… but he probably shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
