“Can we do something different tonight?”
Lucius glanced up in time to watch as Toby rose restlessly from where he had been seated on the chaise in the bay window of Lucius’s study. He had believed Toby was busy sketching while Lucius worked on the necessary paperwork for the estate and dealt with the letters that were delivered daily from London and required his attention.
He could not believe how quickly the past week of being in Kent had passed. In the mornings, they had continued to help bring in the harvest. Afterwards, they went for a swim, had luncheon, and then rode about the estate. In the evenings, they dined together, and afterward played a game of chess—which Toby invariably won! They then retired to Lucius’s study for a couple of hours, as they had this evening. It was usually time to retire together to Lucius’s bedchamber sometime between ten o’clock and eleven, at which time they continued to explore all of Toby’s sexual fantasies.
Almost all of them.
Lucius had still not made love to Toby completely, even though he ached to do so.
Because he knew, once he had penetrated Toby’s body, been accepted inside all that heat and beauty, physically become a part of this wondrous man, there would be no going back, for either of them.
Toby would no longer be a virgin.
As for Lucius… He already lived for these hours he spent with Toby, and could only imagine how much worse that obsession would become if he had claimed the younger man fully.
Looking at Toby now as he restlessly paced the room, he knew his decision had been the correct one.
It had taken only eight days, and the same number of nights spent in sexual exploration, for Toby to become bored.
With Lucius as well as the quiet pursuits of Kent. That much should have been obvious to him during dinner this evening when Toby had seemed full of complaints about the food, and his trouncing of Lucius at chess seemed more an act of aggression than competitiveness.
Lucius schooled his features not to reveal how much it hurt to think of Toby no longer wanting him or to be with him. He placed his pen carefully back in its holder before giving his full attention to watching Toby as he paced. Their mornings spent outside working had deepened the gold of Toby’s skin, bringing out hitherto unseen freckles across the bridge of his nose. His lithe form was more muscular, something Lucius was fully able to appreciate when they were naked in bed together. His overlong curls were now sun-kissed at their tips, giving Toby an angelic glow in the candlelight.
But none of those changes altered the fact that Toby had now as good as announced he was tired of Lucius and wished for more exciting company and pursuits.
The jolt that caused in Lucius’s chest rendered him speechless for several more minutes. He wasn’t yet ready to relinquish Toby, either back to his friends in London or to another man. He doubted he would ever be ready to accept the latter.
Toby had proven to be an adventurous as well as eager lover. No matter what Lucius asked of him sexually, or sometimes demanded, Toby met each of those requests with challenge and pleasure. He had not, as Lucius had once suspected might be the case, buckled under the fierceness of Lucius’s excessive passions. Instead, Toby had not only met the force of those desires but exceeded them.
Lucius now leaned his elbows on the desktop and steepled his fingers in front of him. “Perhaps you would care for a game of cards? Or, tomorrow evening we could accept one of the many dinner invitations we have received from a member of the local gentry.”
Toby stilled. “We have received invitations to dine with your neighbors?”
Lucius’s jaw firmed. “We have received at least half a dozen such invitations, for myself and my ward, since we arrived in the area.”
“Why—” Toby broke off to eye him suspiciously. “Are you avoiding introducing me to your friends?”
“They are not friends but acquaintances. And I had thought—”
“Yes?”
A nerve pulsed in Lucius’s tightly clenched jaw. “I thought you preferred us to be alone here and private together. But as that no longer seems to be the case, I shall accept one of the invitations for dinner tomorrow evening.”
“Who says I no longer wish to be alone here with you?” There was a disgruntled and accusing glare in Toby’s eyes and an angry flush to his cheeks.
Lucius smiled sadly. “I do.”
“I do not know what gives you the right to draw that conclusion for me.”
“Possibly because this evening, you are restless and spoiling for a fight.”
“I am not!” Toby drew in a hissing breath at the realization that was exactly what he was doing. “Okay, so I was a little tetchy during dinner.”
The duke’s brows rose as he moved to stand in front of his desk. “You sent the soup course back because it was too cold, then when it was returned to us, you stated it was too hot and refused to eat any more of it.”
Yes, Toby had done both those things. He had also complained to Lucius that the beef was tough and the dessert, an elaborate concoction of strawberries and pastry, was too sweet.
All because he was beyond frustrated and bordering on desperation to have Lucius make love to him fully. A hunger the older man seemed in no hurry to satisfy.
Oh, they had enjoyed so many other things together. Had sucked each other’s cocks morning, noon, and night.
As well as that friction of rubbing their cocks together.
Lucius had also repeated his exploration and penetration of the rosette between Toby’s bottom cheeks with his fingers and tongue.
He had denied Toby’s orgasm until the younger man thought his cock would explode if Lucius didn’t release him and let him climax.
Lucius had also posed Toby provocatively on the bed while he knelt between Toby’s parted thighs stroking his cock until hot streams of cum shot all over Toby’s chest and abdomen. The act of then having Lucius lick all that cum from his body, his tongue a sensual rasp against Toby’s sensitive nipples while he pumped his cock, had resulted in a spine-arching climax.
They had not been able to keep their hands from each other for more than a few hours at a time.
Toby loved all of it.
But what he wanted now, what he needed more than his next breath, was to have Lucius inside him, stretching him, claiming him completely.
Something Lucius showed as much interest in doing as he would in consuming a bowl of unripe raspberries.
Toby gave an inner groan at the realization he was now likening himself to a bowl of unwanted fruit. And yet it seemed sometimes as if that was what he was. First with the boy he had believed himself in love with at school, and now his uncertainty as to where his relationship with Lucius would end. If it ended… “None of those things means I am dissatisfied with being alone here with you.”
“Then what does it signify?” Lucius’s gaze sharpened as Toby’s gaze avoided meeting his. “Talk to me, Toby.” He grasped the tops of Toby’s arms. “Tell me what you want, love, and if it is within my power to give it to you, then please believe I shall do so.”
Toby didn’t deserve the older man’s patience and understanding. But God, how he wished Lucius did love him rather than merely used the word as an encouragement. Although Toby wasn’t sure he deserved Lucius’s understanding either, after his disgraceful and petulant behavior this evening.
“I want… I want…” His gaze dropped from meeting that piercing silver one. “I cannot say it!” He groaned in embarrassment.
“Nothing you wish to say to me could possibly be worse than the belief I had that you have tired of me already.”
Toby’s gaze flew wildly to the older man’s face. “No!” he stated vehemently. “I will never tire of you, Lucius. Never, do you understand?”
Lucius very much doubted Toby had any idea how much he wished that was the truth.
Because, after their week together, Lucius now knew he was in love with Toby. Deeply and irrevocably in love, and the emotion was so bone-deep inside him, Lucius doubted he would be able to function at all if—when—Toby left him.
The younger man grasped hold of his arms and shook him. “I shall not leave you unless you order me to go, and even then, I will fight against going with every breath in my body,” he assured vehemently, as if reading Lucius’s mind.
Or perhaps Lucius had spoken some of his thoughts out loud? But not all, thank God. He did not need to burden Toby with the depth and intensity of the love Lucius now felt for him.
He smiled blandly. “Oh, I think I shall manage to amuse you for a little longer.”
“Stop it,” Toby rasped. “Do not dare attempt to belittle what we have found and now share together,” he instructed fiercely.
“I am being practical—”
“I said stop!” Toby snapped, his gaze fierce as he glared at Lucius. “You asked me what I want. Well, what I want is you inside me. Deep inside me, as deep as you can go. And afterwards, I want to be inside you, equally as deeply. So there is no Toby or Lucius, only us.”
It felt as if all the air had been sucked from Lucius’s chest, making it impossible for him to draw that air back into his lungs so that he might speak. If he did this, if he gave Toby what he asked for, then Lucius knew he would no longer be able to deny what he felt for the younger man. That he would belong to Toby as irrevocably as Toby would belong to him. The two halves of a single whole. An us.
But was that not already true?
Was the thought of Toby no longer being with him as companion and lover already too devastating to even contemplate?
To be inside Toby, to be a part of him, to be joined to him as one, to be an us, was a temptation Lucius could not deny either of them. “Yes,” he answered quietly instead.
Toby’s eyes widened. “Yes?”
Lucius chuckled his relief at being able to hear that lilt of happiness return to Toby’s voice.
Keeping his distance from the younger man be damned. “Yes,” he repeated firmly.
Green-gold eyes glowed with anticipation. “Then let’s leave all of this here for now.” He waved a hands in the direction of his drawing book and the papers on Lucius’s desk. “And go upstairs together.” He stepped back to hold out his hand in invitation.
“Let’s.” Lucius grasped that hand, allowing Toby to blow out the candles and take him up the stairs. The fright he had received earlier at the thought of Toby leaving him now made it imperative, urgent, he claim Toby in every way possible.
Once extra candles had been lit in Lucius’s bedchamber and they slowly began to undress, the two men kept their gazes locked on each other.
Toby’s breath caught in his throat, as always happened when he gazed at Lucius’s naked body: magnificent wide shoulders, a defined chest that tapered down to even tighter muscles either side of his aroused and leaking cock, between long and powerful legs.
“You are so beautiful,” he breathed as he moved a step closer to the older man.
Lucius curved one arm about Toby’s waist and cupped the side of his face with the palm of his other hand, the soft pad of his thumb stroking along his lower lip. “And you are like an angel, kissed by the sun in daylight and bathed by the moon in candlelight at night.”
“If that is so, then I was a naughty angel this evening,” Toby acknowledged ruefully. “Perhaps I deserve another spanking?” he added suggestively.
The other man chuckled. “Is that what this evening was all about?”
Toby nodded. “And no matter how badly I behaved, you did not pick up on a single indication I wished for another spanking.”
“Nor shall I spank you now.” Lucius’s lips nuzzled the side of Toby’s throat. “For this evening, it is enough that you look like an angel.”
“Is it?”
“Oh yes,” Lucius confirmed softly as he gently claimed Toby’s lips with his own. “We will take our time over this, Toby,” he promised. “And if, at any time, you change your mind, then you must tell me to stop. Do you understand?”
Oh, Toby definitely understood. He just had no intention of ever telling Lucius to stop. He knew Lucius liked to tease him during their lovemaking, to make him wait or beg for release, but he didn’t have a single doubt that Lucius would never do anything to hurt him.
Lucius kissed and caressed him until Toby thought he might scream or go insane, breathing a sigh of relief as his lover took a bottle of lotion from his nightstand. He applied the soothing cream first to his cock and then to Toby’s fully stretched and prepared hole.
But, as Toby had requested previously, Lucius remembered his desire to be allowed to remain lying on his back when the other man moved to kneel between his parted legs.
The intimacy of staring into each other’s eyes as Lucius slowly but surely pushed the head of his cock against and then through that tight muscle and inside Toby took much of the sting from that invasion.
“You are being so good for me,” Lucius encouraged when he saw Toby bite his bottom lip to stop from crying out as Lucius’s long thick cock began to enter him one slow inch at a time. He knew from previous lovers that his cock was longer and thicker than most. “So, so good,” he praised again once he was completely seated inside Toby, his balls resting against the younger man’s bottom cheeks.
Lucius held still, breaking their gaze as he closed his eyes to drink in the sensation of being sucked in and held inside Toby’s hot and welcoming body. The feel of that hot, hungry channel surrounding and squeezing his shaft had Lucius on the edge of release already.
It felt heavenly to be inside his naughty angel.
To have his cock squeezed as if in a vise by Toby.
His Toby.
The man Lucius knew he loved with all that he was or ever would or could be.
“I am ready for you to move now.” Toby gazed up at Lucius almost shyly.
Toby felt so tight, so hot, Lucius remained on that fine edge of release as he first pulled out slowly until only his cockhead remained before thrusting just as slowly back inside that engulfing heat.
“Harder,” Toby encouraged after several minutes of this measured and excruciating torture.
“I do not want to hurt you.”
“You could never do that,” Toby assured. “Now please, fuck me harder, Lucius. Please!” He lifted his hips, impaling himself on that thick cock before lowering himself again and then repeating the motion, his movements becoming more and more desperate.
Lucius needed no further encouragement, taking over the rhythm of that invasion, pushing in to the hilt before withdrawing and then thrusting in again, harder still. “No.” He pushed away Toby’s hand as his fingers would have curled about his own cock. “That needs to remain hard to go inside me, remember?”
Toby gasped with excitement at the thought of being inside Lucius. “Are you sure?” The velocity of Lucius’s thrusts, fiercer and longer now, pushed Toby farther up the bed. “We can save it for next time.”
“Tonight,” Lucius grated between gritted teeth. “You now belong to me, and I wish to belong to you in the same way.”
Toby could find no argument with that. Indeed, he had no words at all when Lucius’s cock began to stroke that sensitive place inside him and the pleasure ricocheted through his entire body. All he could do was hold on to Lucius’s arms as the other man’s cock hit that same spot time and time again, thrust after thrust, until Lucius cried out and his body stiffened while throb after throb of his cum pulsed and heated inside Toby’s channel.
The two of them continued to stare at each other for long trembling minutes until Lucius finally nodded and began to withdraw his softening cock slowly and carefully. “You now, love,” he invited before moving to kneel on all fours on the bed beside Toby. “Use the lotion,” he encouraged gruffly once Toby had moved to kneel behind him.
Toby was unable to stop staring at Lucius’s arse as he rubbed the lotion up the length of his own cock. It was more muscular than Toby’s and the rosette between those bottom cheeks was a dark and inviting red.
Lucius groaned, his arms collapsing and the side of his face resting against the bedcovers, the moment Toby’s lotion-covered fingers stroked against that sensitive flesh. Reminding Toby, if he had needed any reminding, that Lucius had never allowed any other man even this amount of intimacy, let alone the one that was to come.
Again and again, Toby stroked until the muscle, and Lucius, relaxed enough for him to be able to slip a finger inside. He thrust that finger slowly in and out before adding another.
“Now, Toby,” Lucius pleaded.
“I have no wish to hurt you by hurrying.”
Lucius had no patience for hearing the same words as he had spoken to Toby earlier. “Not being able to feel you inside me is slowly killing me!”
“God…” Toby groaned achingly. “Do you mean that?”
Every word, Lucius inwardly acknowledged. This, being completely open and vulnerable and aching for Toby’s possession was a torture Lucius could never have imagined.
“Yes,” Lucius confirmed fiercely. “I want you inside me now, Toby. Now, damn it!” he rasped in desperation, knowing his newly revived and throbbing cock was going to betray him and burst with release if he did not have Toby inside him in the next few seconds.
“This may hurt a little still,” Toby warned as he stopped stretching Lucius’s arsehole and moved to kneel behind him.
“I do not care!” He groaned at the feel of the velvet wetness of Toby’s cockhead against his sensitive flesh, that groan becoming an indrawn and hissing breath the moment the bulbous top breached the outer ring of muscle before popping inside.
Dear God, that fucking hurt!
Nor was Lucius concerned any longer about releasing prematurely. His cock had deflated at the first sign of pain and now seemed to have lost its enthusiasm for what they were doing.
How the hell could Toby have let Lucius fuck him with his fingers and tongue day after day, night after night, without protest? Then tonight have allowed Lucius’s long and thick cock to stretch and breach him until Lucius had been seated fully inside him?
Damn it, if Toby could do this to please his lover, then Lucius could do the same for Toby!
“More,” he encouraged when the pain had dulled to an uncomfortable ache and his cock showed signs of twitching back to life. “I want you fully, not half, inside me.”
“I will not hurt you,” Toby protested.
Lucius’s chuckle lacked humor. “Now you know the reason for the reluctance I have felt to breach you.”
“Yes, but— Dear God…!” Toby groaned as, impatient with the younger man’s hesitation, Lucius pushed himself back onto that beautiful cock, their mutual slickness allowing it to glide easily inside.
It was, Lucius realized instantly, the greatest intimacy he had ever experienced, to be joined in this way with the man he loved beyond everyone and everything else.
It became even more so as Toby gently eased Lucius first onto his side and then onto his back, all while keeping his cock buried fully inside Lucius. “I want to be able to look at you as I make love to you.” Toby moved down, taking his weight onto his elbows until their chests were aligned, their faces only inches apart.
Lucius felt fully seen. Totally vulnerable. But there was no possibility of him looking away from the beauty of Toby’s eyes, not even if his life depended upon it. Their gazes remained locked together as Toby slowly began to withdraw and thrust inside Lucius’s lubricated hole, bringing a return of arousal and pleasure such as Lucius had never known before.
It went beyond physical pleasure as their bodies continued to move in harmony together, no longer separate but forever joined.
It was beyond a shared intimacy.
Their lovemaking somehow ascended into an ecstasy Lucius had never experienced before.
To become both profound and beautiful.
“Come inside me now, love,” Lucius encouraged. “Take me harder and deeper and let me feel the heat of your essence releasing inside me.”
Toby had been fighting a losing battle for some minutes against the increasing need to both claim and mark his lover.
His cock now jerked inside Lucius’s heat, as indication Toby’s fight was about to be lost, the pleasure of his imminent release coursing through every single part of him. The moment Toby felt that heat pulsing inside his lover, he bit down on the juncture between Lucius shoulder and throat, hard enough to bruise but not to break the skin.
Claiming and marking Lucius as his.
Forever, if Toby had his way.