Page 20 of Coming for the Champion
Malcolm tilted his head. “Do you not want me to come?”
“I do.” Rory’s heart galloped and damnation, he felt alive. “I really do. I would also like to spend time getting to know you.” He, all of a sudden, knew he could have what Mr Gilbert and Lord Lawndry had, and what Mr Mardin and Lord Benningtonhad. They were a perfect match in bed sport and perhaps—hopefully—a better match for a life lived together.
“Then you’d better put in a good word for me with the owners, and get me a decent job on this new project of yours.” Malcolm frowned.
“And if it doesn’t work out, I need to know that you are going to have a plan and somewhere to go.” Rory couldn’t have Malcolm’s wellbeing and finances tied to Rory. It was unequal and unfair and might mean he’d stayed when he didn’t want to stay anymore.
“What do you mean?”
Rory reached up and brushed his fingers over Malcolm’s jaw. “I know that good things can end badly—”
“Like your fight with Johnson.”
“Yes. It destroyed me for a long time and I don’t want...” He paused. “I can’t control the future and I need to know that if we do this, that you are free to walk away at any time. That if things go badly that you’ll still have a future. I want this set up so that I know you are staying for me, and not because you have no other options.”
Malcolm squeezed his thigh. “Thank you. Mixing a job and this, us, is a big risk.”
“I think it will be worth the risk.”
“Does this mean you want me?” Malcolm asked.
“Yes.” It was that simple, and he leaned over to kiss him.
“When dinner is over, will you come to my rooms?”
The answer was incredibly easy. “Yes. Tonight and every night.” Rory kissed Malcolm and it was everything, a glorious homecoming of a kiss, and it went on and on until someone cleared their throat.
“Shall we dine? Cook doesn’t want the food ruined by waiting anymore.” It was the butler, whose presence made more sense now that Rory knew about Mr Gilbert’s charitable works. Dinnerwas a pleasant affair. Mr Gilbert was a fine conversationalist and he indulged Lord Lawndry’s occasional interjections that he couldn’t believe Malcolm was giving up horology to go and run a coal mine.
“There’s a big future in coal.”
And finally, Rory and Malcolm, stomachs full and hearts happy, grabbed a hackney cab back to Malcolm’s rooms.
Once they were safely inside where no one could see them, where no one would remark on two men staring hungrily at each other, Malcolm apologised for the size of his room.
“I like it,” Rory said.
“Why?” Malcolm frowned.
“The small room makes you seem even bigger. The Colossus filling the whole space, like the champion you are.”
Malcolm shook his head but was smiling. “What nonsense. You are a champion too.”
“Yes.” He was. And one day he’d be able to own that title without the taint of his last fight, or maybe he wouldn’t but he was here with someone who understood the complexity that came with his career.
“Are we really going to do this?" Malcolm asked.
“This being sex right now, because I hope so.”
Malcolm smiled. “Definitely that. And also ... Are we going to live together and run a business?”
“Yes. My castle is big enough that if it doesn’t work out, then we’ll be able to avoid each other while still running the business.”
Malcolm reached up and cradled his face. “Stop being so negative. Not everything ends in disaster.”
“I hope you are correct.”
“I have enough hope for both of us.” God, this man would humble him forever with statements like that, and so Rory did the only thing he could. He leaned down and kissed Malcolmand poured all the sentiment that he was still only beginning to understand into the kiss. He ran his hands over The Colossus’s broad shoulders, over his heavy muscles and rounded stomach formed from years of sitting behind a desk, and he worshipped Malcolm with his hands and his mouth, to try and say all the things he needed to say.
