Page 66 of Binding Their Hearts

He hadn’t even begun retrieving their eventual dinner when the opening strains of Ravel’s Boléro reached his ears. Odd. After a few seconds, the music stopped. And began again, louder. He followed the sound to the front door and pulled it open.

Jay stood under the lamplight, his bike leaning against his thigh, the straps of his helmet dangling. An easy grin curled across his face. “Hey, I hope I have the right house. I’m new to the neighborhood.”

“Was that you?” Leaning into the night, Henry pressed the doorbell. Boléro. “It seems Cousin Randolph’s wife truly is enamored of all things French.”

“Our bell plays music?” Jay gazed up as though the ceiling might hold the answer.

“That does seem to be the case.” Taking in the creeping chill outside, he swung the door wider and waved Jay forward. “You have the key I gave you?”

“Yeah, no, I do, I just…” Jay bumped his front tire against the doorsill. “New house and all. I couldn’t tell if I could get to the shed without cutting across other yards, and this house is fancy, and my bike gets gunky sometimes, and—”

He snatched Jay’s shirtfront and stopped his mouth with a kiss. His firm impulse to reduce Jay’s anxiety softened into a tender welcome, until he stood in the open doorway in mid-November making out with his soon-to-be husband. Not a terrible place to be, but he could conceive of better ones.

“This house is ours. And your bike belongs where it always has.” He gestured behind him, refusing to break eye contact with Jay and his delicately uncertain squint. They’d had no time to set rules for the new house; unsurprising that Jay would return to a tentative mindset, unable to predict what might be asked of him. Their rituals would adapt as they reviewed them together. But his brave boy needed time to settle in first. The surfaces might change, but the depths would not. “To the right of the door rather than the left, accounting for differences in the architecture—but always, always, the place where you belong, my dear boy. Not relegated to a shed.”

With an extra wriggle in his step, Jay rolled his bike inside and whistled at the new setup. “I don’t remember this from our first visit.” As Henry shut the door, Jay expertly unfolded the top of the rack, popped his bike onto its back wheel, rolled it into position, and swung the system sideways, minimizing its intrusion into the entryway. “Slick. You got this for me? Installed and everything?”

“I may have handed off the assembly process to our quite competent movers.” He knew his spheres of expertise, and handyman was not among them. “But yes. We have experienced significant upheaval, for all that it is in service of a greatly desired outcome.” He smoothed the wrinkles from Jay’s zip-up windstopper. The two-tone blue emphasized Jay’s silhouette, hugging his chest and arms, revealing the powerful strength at Henry’s command. “You deserve to come home to a true home.”

Sidling closer, Jay flipped his helmet from his head, laid it on the bench, and shook out his hair. “I’m, uh, probably all grimy and gross.” Jay excelled at projecting a coy stance, his head slightly bowed, his hips subtly thrust forward to draw the gaze downward. “Guess I should strip down and shower. Might be hard finding it in this place. I don’t know my way around yet like you do.”

“Very hard,” he murmured, as he pulled the jacket zipper down its track. The toggle slipped loose just below the waistband of Jay’s leggings. The padded crotch gusset concealed evidence of arousal, but he needn’t see Jay’s cock to recognize the excitement humming under his skin. Their usual practice would be to send Jay to shower while he fixed dinner. But the deli dishes demanded minimal preparation; reheating the hearty chicken soup would be the greatest call on his attention. With splayed fingers, he grasped Jay’s flanks and slid upward, delighting in the hitching breaths as he stepped in close and pushed the fitted jacket down Jay’s arms, temporarily trapping him in the fabric. “There’s much to teach you.”

Jay tugged his bottom lip with his teeth. Such a tempting target. “I’m told I’m an eager student.”

Finding Jay’s hands, he gripped the jacket sleeves and inched them onward. Their chests brushed on each indrawn breath. His slow pace, sensual though it was, had less to do with generating arousal than with speedily contemplating the ramifications of tossing aside tradition and joining Jay upstairs.

“You take instruction well, then?” Would Alice feel slighted? The apartment had belonged to him, and then to him and Jay, long before she had become part of their lives. The house ought to be theirs equally from the start. Christening a room—their personal bedroom—without her could allow a seed of resentment to take root.

“Try me?” In another submissive, the words might have been a challenge. From Jay, they were half plea, his body sharpening, alert for the merest hint of command from his master.

The windstopper dropped to the gleaming hardwood planks.

Tipping his head, Henry guided Jay’s attention to the puddled fabric around his feet, then to the row of hooks above the bench. “We hang our jackets properly here.”

“Yes, sir,” Jay whispered as though chastened, but his mouth curved into a smile and his eyes shone. “I’ll pick it up.”

“See that you do.” He injected a hint of sternness, dropping a neutral mask over his expression even as his mind raced in search of pathways that dealt neither Jay the sting of rejection nor Alice the pain of exclusion. Even were she leaving work right now, she would be at least thirty minutes from arriving. “Now, please.”

“Yes, sir.” His usually quick submissive sank without backing up or bending over. His slow slide turned a crouch into a master class of erotic movement. Breathing heavily, Jay balanced on his feet in a tight crunch, his legs a whisper from Henry’s, his cheek resting gently against his master’s thigh. “Is there anything else I could do for you?”

Jay’s hair slipped between his fingers. He could stretch foreplay long enough, and leave a trail of clothing as an invitation for Alice to come find them. Assuming she read the signals correctly. Stress had made her more temperamental. Ah. Did he have—he did, not elaborate, but certainly a notepad and a pen in the kitchen.

“A quick study indeed, seeking extra credit so soon.” Sending Jay to fetch materials would take a few minutes, and writing Alice a note as he’d done at the beginning of their arrangement would consume yet more time—set atop the newel post, the missive could invite her to start the grand adventure the three of them were embarking upon together. First night in a new home or no, it was, after all, a Friday. “In fact there is a service you could perform—”

The doorknob turned. Nearly silent, but the edge of the door pushing in could hardly escape his notice. Into a narrow gap slid Alice, shutting out the world behind her as she unwound a red knit scarf. Her smile found him through gaps in the removal process.

“Brrr. The temperature dropped to icebox after dark. Would you believe I almost got on the wrong train? Is Jay home yet?” Slinging the scarf over one arm, she reached for her coat buttons and went still, her gaze falling on the man at his feet. “Well hello.” Her posture shuffled, a glorious head-to-toe resettling as she stretched. “Fancy meeting you here.” She stepped out of her shoes, losing two inches yet seeming taller. “Will I get this homecoming every day now? Because I could get used to this.”

“You’re home!” Jay shot to his feet, oblivious as Henry tucked his chin to avoid a collision. With a quick hop over his jacket, he launched himself toward Alice, wrapped his arms around her thighs, and hoisted her into an embrace. “It’s not even six yet. How’d you manage that? D’you see the new bike rack Henry got me? Sorry for the funk, I haven’t showered yet.”

Alice’s giddy laugh rang out in the entrance hall. “I remember that shower from our tour. Didn’t we decide it could handle three people? Henry, you must’ve had a long day with the movers, too.”

“A shower before dinner would be delightful.” Weeks since both of his partners had been so exuberant, so open and playful in the evening. This unexpected convergence was more than he could have wished for on a day that might have been fraught with tearful leave-takings and innumerable frustrations. “You’re in high spirits, my love. Please, regale us with the tale of your escape from the office.”

Hands braced on Jay’s shoulders, she bent and kissed him with a sweet joy Henry itched to capture. “I started setting boundaries. Someone taught me that if I lead with confidence and compassion, others will follow.” Winking at him, she patted Jay’s shoulder. “Let me down, sweetheart. Were you doing something on the floor for Henry?”

“Oh, shit, yes—” He lowered Alice with care and lunged for the jacket. “Picking up after myself. And maybe something else, but I think we’re gonna get to that in the shower.”

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