Page 20 of The Mission

“I really like you too.”

“But I’ve gone too fast, haven’t I?”

“Too fast, too slow, does it matter? Come over here.”

Arlo slid onto the lounger, facing him and Conrad pulled him in so they lay wedged together and as he leaned in for a kiss, Arlo’s arms snaked around to hold him tight. And as their lips met, all Conrad’s anxiety washed away. It felt so long since he’d been wanted by anyone.

“I love kissing you,” Arlo told him.

“Less talking, more kissing.”

Moments later, Arlo’s fingers were busy unfastening their coats, and Conrad could feel the hard length of Arlo’s cock pressed against him through their trousers. While their tongues tangled, they groaned into each other’s mouths and kissed harder. Even in his lust-fuelled state of desperation, Conrad knew they had to stop. Arlo’s family were probably glued to the window, staring down at them, taking all this in. All he needed was enough resolve to actually stop. But he wanted to keep lying there in the snow, him and Arlo pressing themselves together, kissing and kissing and kissing.

“Dinner’s ready!” a voice called from somewhere above them.

Fuck.Conrad was so close to the edge that in a short time he wasn’t going to be fit to sit and have dinner. Arlo was breathing hard and rocking against him.

“Arlo!” Conrad whispered his name. “We need to stop.”

“I know. “

But he didn’t.

“Arlo!”

“I don’t want to stop.”

“If we don’t, I’m going to have to go back to the hotel.”

“Why?” Arlo exhaled against Conrad’s neck and Conrad shivered.

“Newton’s third law.”

Arlo sat bolt upright, then nodded. “For every action in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. Ah. Right.”

He levered himself to his feet, brushed off the snow and took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to go back tonight.”

Conrad could think of nothing he wanted more than to stay with Arlo, but… How would that look? He couldn’t do it.

“All we’ll need to do is be quiet,” Arlo said. “Are you quiet? I’m not. Damn.” He whined.

“I’ll stay for a while and we’ll talk, but I didn’t ought to stay the night. Not this fast.”

Arlo whined louder.

“Ask me another day.”

“I’ll keep asking until you say yes.”

It was going to be hard to say no, but Arlo had to see that it wouldn’t be right.

The meal was fantastic. Fondueandraclette because there was disagreement among the brothers as to which was best, and for dessert,palatschink, scrambled sweet pancakes served with powdered sugar and stewed plums. Conrad had to make a conscious effort not to eat too much, in the same way that he was having to stop himself from touching Arlo, though their knees were pressed together under the table.

The kids watched TV while the adults did the dishes, then Conrad, Arlo and his four brothers ended up in the hot tub.

Conrad usually considered sitting in a hot tub at night, surrounded by snow—especially when snow was actually falling from the sky, which it was currently doing—as one of his favourite things. But under the scrutiny of five guys, one of whom was the big boss, and one of whom looked too edible to resist, he might end up rethinking that. There was no way Rurik would think he was good for his younger brother, even though Rurik had no idea just how pathetic Conrad had been over Mark.I hope.And he’d changed. He really had.

“That was good work on Blackshore,” Rurik said. “You saved us a lot of money.”

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