James was so startled that he almost missed Danni crying out in the other room. Without forethought, James retrieved his crutches, stood, and headed toward Danni’s room. He paused just before he turned the corner to look at Seth. What the hell? He couldn’t believe Seth had done that, not even considering what had been said.
“Seth, I expect that cleaned up when I get back out here,” James said, his tone low. His hands hurt from how tight he held his crutches due to his anger and fear. “We need to talk.” With that last cryptic remark, he headed to Danni, hoping it was a regular nightmare and not that she had heard Seth’s misbehavior.
By the time he made it back out to the great room, Seth had indeed cleaned up the broken phone and sat quietly on the couch, toying with his own cell.
Seth looked up, regret clear in his eyes. “James?”
“Do I need to worry about you hitting or throwing anything else?” Like me?
“No,” Seth answered, not meeting James’s eyes. “I didn’t mean to do that. I don’t want you afraid of me. Please,” he added as he patted the couch next to him.
James looked him over, contemplating how to handle this. “I will sit. And yes, we are going to talk, but I will not tolerate violence, Seth. Not from anyone, but especially not from you.” His hands shook slightly, but he managed to get all the words out.
“Agreed.” Seth watched as James moved over and sat beside him, half turning on the couch so they could face each other. “I will get you a new phone tomorrow, baby.”
“Don’t, Seth. You can’t buy your way out of this,” James countered, barely able to restrain the growl that wanted to break free. “I swore I wouldn’t let anyone hurt me again and I definitely won’t let anyone hurt Danni. You can’t just buy something to ‘make it all better.’”
James nearly apologized for his words when he saw the stricken look on Seth’s face. But, no. He had to do this.
“I didn’t mean I’d buy you a phone to fix things. You need a phone and my poor behavior lost you yours,” Seth explained. “And I really did not mean to do that. Chase just made me so angry. I tell Mel I won’t do that to you and somehow Chase finds out and blabs but gets all the details wrong.”
“What—what do you mean? What parts did he get right?” he asked, trembling at the idea of any of what Chase had said being right. He’d been so certain that Seth loved him, even if he didn’t exactly say it. He showed it in so many ways.
Seth sighed and ran his fingers through his hair roughly. “Mel did suggest I marry you, but I told him no.”
He had never thought about marriage, not considering his track record, but suddenly the idea that Seth would reject the suggestion caused tears to spill again and his heart to lurch painfully. God, he felt like such a child!
“No, no, baby,” Seth begged. “You have it all wrong. I would love to offer you a life together, a real family, but not for the reasons Mel brought it up. Not to convince the courts I’m a stable parent or to simply protect Danni. I won’t do that and I told Mel so. How that turned into me marrying someone behind your back, I have no clue.”
“Wait! You would want to marry me at some point?”
“Er, um, well… yes,” Seth mumbled, his hands twisting together nervously. “I just—”
James let out a happy whoop and suddenly landed in Seth’s lap. He peppered his face in kisses while laughing, relieved that Seth wasn’t leaving him for some mystery person.
“Baby, calm down,” Seth laughed.
“But, that means you love me, right? And you’re not leaving me,” James added as he beamed at Seth.
“Yes. No! Wait, why on earth would I do that?” Seth reached out, placed his hands on either side of James’s face, and feathered his lips across his beloved’s. “James, I love you. I would never have moved in with you and let Danni get attached to you if I didn’t. I thought you would understand that even though I had never said the words quite so blatantly.”
“Well, he mentioned prenups and marriage and well, he said Sam from Mel’s office is who told him so….”
“I will deal with Sam and Mel tomorrow. For now, please believe that you are loved, wanted, and my only.” Seth pulled him to his chest for a moment. When he pulled back, he frowned. “Baby, why are you crying now? I though you would be happy.”
“I am, love. These are happy tears. Promise,” James explained as he leaned in to seal his mouth over Seth’s. He still trembled from the revelation that his Seth loved him.
SETH grasped James’s chin and pulled him into a soft kiss. James responded eagerly, trying to deepen the kiss, but he held James steady, controlling where the kiss went. James tugged at Seth until he could shift to straddle his lap.
Seth allowed James to manhandle him, reveling in the passion and love he felt radiating off his lover. He didn’t want to do anything that might worry or frighten James. He let his hands slide up James’s arms, then down his sides until he could shift James back a little. “Pet, bedroom, now,” he panted between kisses.
James groaned. “Right, Danni,” he all but whined. “Hurry up, then, please. I need you, sir.” It took only a few moments for them to get into their bedroom and shed all clothing.
Before James could do more than sit on the edge of the bed, Seth stretched and moved him until he was in the center of it. All the rush seemed to go out of Seth as he took in the kiss-swollen lips and half-lidded hungry gaze of the man before him. The man he wanted to make his, in all ways. Leaning in, he again took James’s lips, but in a slow, achingly tender display that left them both shaken and in awe.
It was forever yet not nearly long enough when Seth pulled back again. He reached out to trace James’s lips with his fingers, completely overcome with desire and tenderness—an odd combination in his experience.
“What do you want, baby,” Seth inquired, dragging his eyes back up to meet James’s.
“You, only you.”
He moved his body to settle between James’s legs, then rolled his hips to grind their cocks together. “The things you say,” Seth said, diving in to take James’s lips in a demanding kiss. He felt more than heard the rumble of James’s moan as he took what was his.
He could feel how James’s body reacted to him as he kissed lightly down his neck and chest to lick and nibble on the tiny bud. He reveled in how James moaned and squirmed as he continued to lavish attention on his nipples and rock their bodies together.
He continued his sensual assault of James’s senses as he slowly slithered his way down his body until he was even with James’s weeping cock. Seth leaned in to swipe his tongue across the head, lapping up the musky, viscous pearls seeping from the slit. James cried out and moved his legs wider apart as he begged for Seth to either suck him or fuck him; he didn’t seem to care which.
Seth chuckled and nuzzled James’s sack before he pushed his legs up and flicked his tongue down James’s taint to finally swipe across the tight, fluttering pucker there. He worked his tongue in alternating stabs, licks, and swirls to open James up before he slowly added first one finger, then another.
James writhed and rocked against Seth’s fingers, begging him to please fill him before he died. “Please,” he keened.
“Oh, I’m going to fill you, alright, but pet,” Seth said as he twisted his fingers hard inside James. “Listen to me, baby. I’m going to fuck you, but you are not allowed to come. Understand?”
James let out a desperate cry but nodded obediently.
Once he had James’s agreement, Seth quickly sheathed his cock and lined himself up. He used his thumbs to open James as he slowly pushed inside, reveling in the sounds coming from his lover as he took everything James could give him.
James gripped the sheets tightly as his thrusts became harder, deeper. Seth felt James wrap his legs around his hips and arch up, obviously trying to get some stimulation on his own cock. Seth shifted angles to keep James from succeeding, amused at the disgruntled growl James let out.
His strokes sped up as his r
hythm faltered just before he lost his battle and came deep inside James, the sheer pleasure whiting out his vision for a short time. As the world came back into focus around him, he leaned down to capture James’s lips in another scorching kiss before he slowly pulled out, careful of the condom.
He shifted back and took in the quivering body stretched out before him. After a moment, Seth reached out, producing a second condom, which he quickly opened and rolled down James’s twitching cock.
“Seth?” James asked, confusion and frustration clear in his lust-hazed eyes. No answer came. Seth simply climbed up James’s body, kissing and nibbling as he went until he was seated against James’s groin.
Seth drew in a deep breath as he lifted, reached back, and grasped James’s cock before he began to slowly sink down onto it. His eyes closed at the pleasure-pain that ripped through him as James stretched and filled him. Even though he had just come, he had to remind himself not to get too wild or loud as James began his slow and sensual thrusts up, moving inside him wordlessly as he levered himself up and down to meet the overpowering pleasure that only joining their bodies together could produce in him.
He gasped wordlessly as James increased the speed and started slamming up into him. The sounds James made as he continued to thrust mixed with the desperate way he clawed at his back had Seth half-hard and writhing before James trembled, slamming deeper and deeper up once, twice, and one final time before Seth felt James’s cock twitching inside him as he came, finishing inside him just as he had in his James.
Seth rolled his hips to draw out the pleasure for them until James whimpered below him softly and pulled free with a plaintive gasp.
“I—I can’t believe you did that again, love,” James said with a sigh.
Seth lowered himself slowly to the bed and gently curled around James, relishing the aches he felt now and oddly looking forward to the ones he would have tomorrow. “Did what, pet?”
James stretched in his arms and shook his head. “Shared yourself with me like that, sir. Every time I think I have you figured out, you do something like this,” James explained as he snuggled deeper in Seth’s arms.
“What? You don’t like when I bottom from the top?” He laughed at the incredulous look on James’s face.
“No, I love that, though I never expected to do such a thing. I just—no one… I don’t know how to explain it, Seth.”
“Relax, baby. I understand. You never expected to be the giver, it’s okay.”
“That, yes. But, um, thank you for sharing your body with me,” James added so softly Seth nearly missed it.
“Oh, my love. That is something you never need say thank you for,” he explained and kissed James tenderly. “I love you, James.”
“And I, you. But—” James paused. He nibbled his bottom lip a moment before he asked, “Seth? Did you really mean what you said?”
As he looked into James’s eyes, Seth could see the love and desire there. He also saw the worry buried deep inside. His beloved feared he would leave still, ridiculous.
Finally Seth reached out, lacing their fingers together, and kissed his gently. He squeezed James’s hand as he put their joined hands over his heart, and whispered against James’s ear, “You are mine, James, just as I am yours. Always.”
James sniffed as he nodded against Seth’s cheek.
Twisting their bodies together, Seth wondered if James would ever truly believe him, that he honestly did love and desperately want him. “Sleep, baby. I’ve got you. Forever,” he offered quietly as he felt James drift off.
Chapter 16
JAMES and Chase sat together on the couch in the great room of James’s stone cottage for the longest time. His best friend listened to everything he’d said about proposals, anger, the phone, even the apology and explanation—he only left out the part about the sex, and how special he thought it was. But Chase remained skeptical of “Seth’s intentions,” as he put it.
He understood where Chase was coming from, but he simply could not believe that Seth was lying or using him. James offered to take him and Danni in; Seth had never asked. He gave him a key to the house before that, Seth hadn’t asked for one. Arguing with Mel over marriage, considering the reasons given, made sense to him. And Seth was right, he would have wondered if Seth really even wanted him or if he was just a means to an end. Not a way to feel or live, in James’s opinion.
So there they were, Chase on the couch, situated at the end, James lying with his head in Chase’s lap as they talked. Seth would be home soon, but Britt had asked if she could have Danni sleep over. At least he didn’t have to worry about anything they said being overheard. Of course, he figured Seth had probably put Britt up to it, but appreciated it nonetheless. He needed to talk things out with Seth, but had gotten a little sidetracked the night before. In a good way. He felt his cheeks warm slightly. But sex couldn’t fix things, just delay them, he reminded himself.
“What are you thinkin’ about that’s got your face so red, huh?” Chase asked with a leer.
“Nothing.”
“Okay, now pull the other one,” Chase quipped.
James knew better than to continue to dodge—it never worked with him. “Just thinking about last night, but before you ask, no, I will not tell you anything! So quit. Right now I need to focus on what happened before bed last night and just before you got here today.”
Chase’s face sobered at the reminder, sort of.
“Jamie, are you sure you want to do this whole ‘Having it out’ thing with me still here?” Chase asked as he absentmindedly continued to play with James’s hair. “I don’t mind but….” He trailed off, right eyebrow arched and a mischievous grin in place.
“Yes. I don’t want to think I could be wrong about Seth, but—”
“But you have sucky taste in men and last night scared you?” Chase asked softly.
“This morning wasn’t any better, but I need to focus on Seth before stalkers.”
Before Chase could respond, they heard the front door open and then close quietly. James knew it could only be Seth or Rhys, but he hadn’t heard the bike. He looked toward the foyer, still laid out across the couch, as Seth came into view.
He held a small bag from the cell store in one hand. Across his normally sure and powerful features was an unaccustomed frown. He could clearly see the worry in Seth’s beautiful ever-changing hazel eyes.
“Hi, baby,” Seth said as he approached the couch. He paused as James sat up and made room for him to sit. He then looked over to Chase and added, “Hello, Chase.”
“Hey, Seth. I’m not here to cause trouble, but seriously? I know I screwed up last night but throwing things?” Chase asked with his head tilted, his tone snarky.
James reached over and playfully smacked the back of Chase’s head. “Shut up, you twit. If you hadn’t called, drunk I might add, and run off at the mouth without verifying anything first, none of this would be happening.”
He watched Chase rub the spot and smiled. When Chase scowled, he added, “You so deserved that, and you know it!”
“Eh, probably but that doesn’t excuse Mr. Break-Things-That-Aren’t-His and his little temper tantrum,” Chase added with a pout.
James started to snark back, but Seth interrupted him. “James,” he said softly and held up the bag he had entered the room with.
James stopped, looked from the bag to Seth, then snapped his mouth shut. “Um, thanks, I think.” He carefully took the bag and looked inside to see what Seth had gotten him to replace the now busted cell. What he found was a top-of-the-line smartphone, a carry case for it, and a new Bluetooth.
“Oh, cool, James. He got you pretties,” Chase teased and leaned over James to try to snatch the phone from his hands.
James smacked the grasping hands. “Hey, those are mine, brat. Seriously, Seth, you didn’t need to do all this. You only broke the phone, not the Bluetooth and this cost too much.”
“James, stop. I shouldn’t have broken yours but I also know t
hat you wanted this phone, so it worked out in your favor. But—”
“But we need to discuss last night,” James finished. He set aside the bag and its goodies. He took a deep breath before he mustered the courage to raise his eyes to meet Seth’s, more worried about what Seth would see in his than what he would find in Seth’s.
“I know it doesn’t excuse my behavior but between your tears and Chase’s attitude,” Seth explained. He looked past James to Chase to continue. “Do you even remember what you said to me last night? Or understand the condition I found your so-called best friend in?”
“Chill,” Chase snapped. “I know I screwed up, but that’s between Jamie and me. You need to fix what you did.” Chase sat back, arms crossed, as he looked at Seth and continued, “I pissed him off but you, you have the power to destroy him. I’m not going to just sit here and let that happen. I made a mistake last night and called to warn him about something that I believed was wrong, but the intention was good. He’s already done his yelling at me. You don’t get that privilege, yet.”
“But over the phone? Drunk.”
“Psh,” Chase said as he waved off the comment. “Throwing things. Breaking things. With a kid in the house, even? Hmm?” Chase countered.
James fought to not smile as he watched the two most important men in his life bicker over who had more to answer for due to the previous night’s stupidity. Seth opened his mouth to reply to Chase, but James placed his hand softly against Seth’s lips to hold the words back. “He already said he was sorry and promised never to drunk call for anything but a ride in the future. Okay?”
Seth nodded but let James keep his fingers against his lips. “Good. Now, do I need to worry about your outburst?”
Seth lifted his hand up to gently move James’s, twining their fingers together as he spoke. “No, baby. I know to you that probably seemed out of line but the tears and fear in your eyes…. It wasn’t you I was mad at, and while I thought about throttling your friend here, I would never actually do that.” They smiled at each other when Chase let out a low harrumph. “I was also upset that this came out of Mel’s office. I had already given him my no but that didn’t stop the damage.
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