Page 73 of Thomas
Cameron stared down at their clasped hands in Thomas’s lap. “I wasn’t sure how… how you felt about me and this circumstance, deep down. I worry about it, and your past experience—the nature in which we’ve come together.”
“I’ve told you before that none of that matters, and that I’m pleased with this arrangement.”
“Iknow. But I couldn’t reconcile it in my mind, and I worried about it.” He took another breath, steeling himself. “But just now, when you pulled my aura, you conveyed your affections so… openly and lovingly. You sincerely expressed your desires, and I want to give you what you want, but I—I’m honestly not confident that I can satisfy you. I’m strange and I’m not very… I don’t have much experience to draw upon when it comes to sex and I?—”
“Stop.” Thomas twisted his torso and lifted his hands to hold Cameron’s over warm face. “You don’t need to be experienced, Cameron. We can go slowly and learn each other with time, in whatever ways you’re comfortable with. There’s no need for you to feel pressure to ‘satisfy’ me. You already satisfy me in a myriad of ways—you excite me in ways I never thought possible.”
Cameron snaked his arms around Thomas’s waist. “I know my apprehensions are strange and unusual, but I do sincerely want to try.”
“You are not strange.” Thomas glanced to the side, considering. “However…”
Cameron’s eyebrow lifted. “However?”
“I want this.” Thomas wriggled his ass a little, indicating their present situation. “To be close to you in this way without being stressed that I’m offending you.”
“You can certainly have this,” Cameron said, smiling. “I’m not offended.”
Thomas leaned in and caressed their noses. “And I want this,” he said quietly, then placed a soft kiss on Cameron’s mouth. He didn’t linger there, but stayed close. “To kiss you, at least sometimes. Is that alright?”
“You can kiss me,” Cameron said, his gaze flickering down to Thomas’s lips before lifting back to his eyes. “I want you to kiss me. And I… I enjoy touching you.”
“Okay,” Thomas confirmed, wrapping a hand around to cradle the back of Cameron’s head. “Then we’ll start there. And anyway, I probably should not have agreed to release your aura while we were both naked and in an absurdly picturesque Roman bath surrounded by romantic firelight. We were asking for trouble—begging for it.”
Cameron laughed in a warm, humming sound from his chest, then lowered his head and pulled Thomas even closer. He hugged him tightly and buried his face in his neck and robes. The gesture was so openly warm and sweet that it made Thomas’s face flush.
Cameron didn’t say anything as he embraced him, but he didn’t need to. Thomas returned the gesture, closing his eyes as he held the handsome purebred in his arms.
The next morning, Thomas had breakfast in his room, showered and went to the upper library to do some sorting. He’d told Wyatt that he could come later in the afternoon for tea, and the prospective appointment was eliciting a pinched-nerve sensation in the back of his neck. Desperately, he needed a distraction.
Cameron had told him that he could look through the piles of books and decide if he wanted to keep anything. Thomas wasn’tkeen on advice about murderous gnomes, but he was happy to browse (he also elected to keepTheArt oftheKama Sutra, which was currently sitting on his bedside table).
He’d stolen an innocent kiss good night from Cameron when they’d returned to the estate after the bathhouse but hadn’t pressed for anything more. The fact that Cameron was at least open to physical affection was satisfying enough, so Thomas intended to keep his word and bide his time. They would go slowly.
Although, he eventually wanted to include sleepovers in his list of requests. Nothing salacious, simply sharing the same bed from time to time, as they had in Antibes.
He acquiesced internally.Everything in due course, you horny bastard.
Thomas was sitting on the floor with his legs folded and had just picked up another quirky novelty book when Cameron abruptly appeared in the door frame. He was casually dressed in another beautifully knitted cardigan, dress shirt and tailored pants, but his face was harried.
“Is thatyou?” he asked, a bemused expression occupying his features.
Thomas blinked, alarmed. “Iswhatme?”
Cameron stormed in with the intensity of a soldier carrying out his marching orders, his eyes zeroed in on Thomas as he stalked across the floor and over the remaining piles of books and files. When he dropped to his knees in front of Thomas and leaned in, sniffing, Thomas drew back and defensively hunched his shoulders.
“Cameron, what in God’s name?—”
“It is you! How can this be? This is…” He tucked his face into the curve of Thomas’s neck, and the tenor of the moment drastically shifted. Cameron caressed his nose up the length of Thomas’s skin, up to his ear and along his jawline, sniffing thewhole way. It sent a fierce spark of arousal up Thomas’s spine and straight to his cock.
“This is so strange,” Cameron whispered against his cheek. He brushed his lips at the corner of Thomas’s mouth and hovered there. Thomas couldn’t breathe. “Why do you smell like this?” Cameron asked, entranced. “Why do I smell you so… sostrongly? And suddenly?”
Incapable of providing answers or thinking straight, Thomas lifted his chin and kissed him. Cameron returned the affection, except his movement was studied. The nuance was exploratory and curious—more like tasting Thomas’s mouth than the simple act of kissing him.
It was eccentric and odd but wholly thrilling. Thomas exhaled a soft whine and gripped the lapels of Cameron’s sweater. He leaned back, pulling Cameron along with him until he was flat on the floor and Cameron’s weighted frame was pressed against his body.
They kissed in the pale yellow light of the morning sun, the subtle warmth of it encircling them as they lay on the old ornate rug. Thomas’s hands were wrapped around Cameron’s sweatered shoulders, but he wanted to touch him everywhere—he wanted to be touched everywhere. The length of Cameron against him was heavy and perfect and it made him feel stiff and needy. Thomas’s eyes alighted behind his lids as he consumed Cameron’s mouth and scent.
Cameron broke the kiss by gently lifting his head. He propped himself up on his elbow, and for several beats, he silently stared down into Thomas’s face and glowing irises in the sunlight. Cameron brought his free hand up and caressed his jawline. Thomas closed his eyes and tried to prevent his heart from bursting out of his chest.
