The Captain and the Baker

by Catherine Curzon

  I can ask, can’t I? And he’ll probably say no, but…

  “Why don’t you stay here until it’s died down?” Jake cupped Locryn’s firm buttock and pressed him closer. Cream horn, baguette, whatever euphemism worked, Locryn’s erection was very tempting indeed. “What I’m basically saying is…stay the night?”

  “I want to, but…” Locryn studied Jake’s face, that soft smile playing on his lips. “I have an early start in the bakehouse tomorrow. It’s not fair to you.”

  “The joys of dating a baker!” Jake gazed at Locryn, stroking the pad of his thumb over Locryn’s lips. “I don’t mind, really.”

  Locryn kissed Jake’s thumb, then said, “You might think you don’t mind. But eventually you will.” And in that, Locryn filled in every question Jake might have had about why his gorgeous, generous new boyfriend was single.

  Because he has to get up early.

  “But we’ll see each other tomorrow, won’t we?” Locryn asked. “And I don’t have to get up early every day.”

  “I don’t mind an early start,” Jake told him. “I fancy a jog along the coast. I’ve got lots to think about now I don’t have a producer.”

  But Locryn was shaking his head. It was a no. And Jake knew that it was a no because some other fucker had made his life hell for those early starts. Bastard.

  “I’ll pop into the café,” Jake promised. He tried not to sound disappointed. “Dorothy, Uncle Locryn’s heading off now!”

  She seemed to understand and approached with a questioning miaow. Locryn scooped her up and kissed her on the tip of her tiny nose, then he handed her to Jake. Without a word, Locryn reached out and stroked his fingertips gently down Jake’s cheek. Then he said, “Sweet dreams, darling.”

  “May your dough rise and may your oven be warm.” Jake gave him a gentle kiss, then they headed for the hallway. Dorothy wriggled free and darted off, leaving Jake to open the door. Locryn stepped out into the cold night, buttoning his coat as he went. He knotted his scarf then, with one more kiss for Jake, took Betsy from where she was leaning against the wall.

  “May your pirate ship be ever…” He paused, then grinned. “Strong-masted. Cheerio for now, boyfriend.”

  “Night-night, you sexy bastard.” Jake winked at him then, with a pang, closed the front door. It wasn’t forever, of course, just for tonight, but the irony of it was that Jake had a feeling he’d be wide-awake early anyway. After all, if Locryn was in the café tomorrow, then where else would Jake drop in for a coffee after his run but there?

  And it had been a lovely night, so he had nothing to complain about.

  Jake leaned back against the wall, smiling like a giddy teenager. Maybe he’d stand there for an hour or two, just thinking about Locryn and remembering his kiss.

  Or maybe he’d answer that light, melodic knock at the door, unless he’d imagined it? But as the knock sounded again Jake knew that he hadn’t, even as he told himself not to get his hopes up.

  Jake yanked the door open with such enthusiasm that the handle nearly came off.

  His voice was hoarse with desire when he said, “Locryn?”

  “I’m very light on my feet when it comes to my early starts.” Locryn’s smile was small, teasing. “You won’t even hear me leave.”

  “Oh, come here!” Jake pulled him into his arms and pressed his lips to Locryn’s smile. Locryn’s arms encircled him as their kiss grew deeper, slower now they knew that they had all night to enjoy each other. Jake dragged Locryn into the house and toed the door closed without breaking from their kiss.

  Then they stood in the hallway, tight in each other’s arms, their kiss slow and deep and lingering. The fabric of Locryn’s coat was cold from his jaunt into the night but his lips were warm, hot even, and his hands settled on Jake’s back, one sliding down to caress his bottom.

  Jake moaned into their kiss. He slipped one hand under the collar of Locryn’s coat and began to encourage him out of it.

  “Come upstairs?” Jake whispered, before kissing him again. There was a soft swish as Locryn’s coat slipped down his arms and landed on the floor then Locryn’s hands were on him again, sliding beneath Jake’s T-shirt and across his naked back. This time it was Locryn who gasped, the sound sending a jolt of fresh desire through Jake.

  He’d happily hear that sound over and over and over again and would never get bored of it.

  Jake gripped the hem of his T-shirt then pulled it off over his head and let it fall. Then he ran his hand through Locryn’s hair. Should he have stripped off? Locryn had seen his chest before and Jake suspected he’d be perfectly happy seeing it again. And from the look of anticipation on Locryn’s face as he swept his gaze over Jake’s body, he knew that he was right.

  “Upstairs?” Locryn suggested, his voice an excited whisper. He was already unknotting the scarf he wore, the house as warm as the night had been cold. Jake joined his hands to Locryn’s and helped him to unknot it.

  “Upstairs,” Jake replied. It was easier said than done when neither could keep his hands off the other. They kissed their way up the flight of stairs that led to the landing and there were more of those heated gasps from Locryn, his kisses filled with the enthusiasm that Jake would never have expected of him.

  Jake pulled Locryn through the door to his bedroom and they nearly lost their footing. Jake laughed as he righted himself and drew Locryn inside.

  They collapsed onto the bed, the duvet like a crisp cream meringue. Jake spent a moment wondering what Locryn would think of the room’s plain decor with its muted nautical theme, but that vanished as quickly as it had arrived in his mind. Instead, he wondered what Locryn would make of him as the evening wore on. It wasn’t quite as nerve-wracking as worrying about what the locals would think of his pasties though. Few things were.

  Locryn turned his head on the pillow and met Jake’s gaze. He blinked, then said playfully, “You’re a very difficult man to pedal away from.”

  Jake toyed with the button on Locryn’s shirt. As he went around with the first three unbuttoned anyway, Jake didn’t have far to go until the shirt was gone.

  “What changed your mind?”

  “I don’t do anything without thinking about it first. And sometimes I spend so long thinking about it that the moment’s gone.” Locryn drew his fingertip down Jake’s chest. “I didn’t want to lose this moment.”

  Jake shivered with pleasure at Locryn’s touch. “I’m glad. And you haven’t.” Then Jake untwisted Locryn’s next shirt button and his view of firm, haired chest increased. Locryn looked down at Jake’s hands almost shyly, the intensity of his breathing increasing with every passing moment. Then he kissed Jake again, one hand moving to rest tenderly against his face.

  Jake kept going until all the buttons were undone, then he gently parted the fabric and bared Locryn’s chest in all its glory.

  “You should do a topless segment on your shows, Loc, really.” Jake smiled. “Wow.”

  “I’ll leave that to you and all those time to change into my whites segments,” Locryn told him, bashful again. “I don’t know if the world’s ready for shirtless baking just yet.”

  But Jake suspected differently. The world would definitely be ready for this, but he was more than happy not to have to share.

  “Off?” Jake whispered, taking the edge of Locryn’s shirt. In reply, Locryn sat up just enough to allow Jake the slip the shirt from his shoulders. He threw it aside and took Jake in his arms again, crushing a hungry kiss to his lips.

  Jake almost let go of Locryn in surprise. This was passion, and it was coming from Locryn. And Jake could only respond in kind, his kiss fiery and urgent. Jake pressed his bare chest to Locryn’s and tangled his legs with his. He hadn’t expected his evening to end like this.

  Locryn’s hands, so elegant and accomplished, so thoughtful in their every movement, now reached for Jake’s belt. He was already tugging it free of the buckle when he seemed to remember exactly who he was, though there was no timidity in his voice whe
n he asked, “Can I?”

  Jake’s hips bucked toward Locryn. He wanted him so much. “Fucking hell, yes!”

  With a delighted laugh Locryn unfastened Jake’s belt, his fingers falling to the button of his jeans without wasting a moment. He nudged it from the buttonhole then teased down the zip as he admitted, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since you stripped off in my kitchen. Things like that don’t happen in Porthavel.”

  “Even with all the rain you keep getting?” Jake laughed. He shifted his hips to bring down his jeans and kicked them off. All he was left with was a lewd pair of shorts.

  “Even then.” Locryn settled down against the pillows, drawing Jake back into his arms for another kiss. This time is was slower, sensuous, and Locryn pressed his body to Jake’s, circling his hips to tease him with the hardness of his erection.

  “Trousers off?” Jake whispered. He ran his hand over the tempting shape that he’d felt press against him while they’d attempted to knead bread—and had only managed to end up kissing. Locryn gazed up him, his large eyes filled with excitement and affection.

  He nodded and whispered with just a hint of devilment, “Aye-aye, Captain.”

  Jake saluted him, then began to unbuckle his belt. He went as slowly as he could bear to, all the while his hands trembling with desire. He’d been wrong to question Locryn’s passion, he knew, especially as Locryn’s lips skimmed over his jaw and throat to his shoulder. Every kiss was as gentle and heated as the last, that soft mouth tracing the contours of the muscles that he was savoring.

  With Locryn’s trousers undone, Jake helped him to wriggle out of them, and he was treated to the sight of Cornwall’s best baker wearing nothing but a pair of jolly tartan shorts. They were more cheerful by far than Jake’s plain, no-nonsense black ones and Jake couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “You’re wearing the happiest shorts in the universe!”

  And not only happy, but very much aroused, too.

  “Not very Cornish, I know.” Locryn lifted his head from Jake’s shoulder and smiled. “But I couldn’t find any with a pasty and scone pattern. And I did look.”

  Jake slipped his thumb inside the waistband of Locryn’s shorts. “Would you like to go first, or should I?”

  But Jake suspected he already knew the answer to that. This was Locryn, after all, bashful, considered, careful. The man who thought things through. He wasn’t going to be the first one to lose his shorts tonight.

  “I will.” That was another surprise, not the first of the evening. With a shrug he added, “So long as you don’t object?”

  “Why would I?” As Jake pulled Locryn’s shorts down, he felt as if he were about to indulge in a delicious, forbidden pudding. And finally, Locryn was naked, and Jake kneeled up beside him, gazing down and taking in the decadent view.

  “Fucking hell. That’s quite a sight.”

  “A nice one, I hope?” Locryn reached over and drew his fingertips over the shape of Jake’s erection. “You’re not about to shout at me, are you?”

  “The only thing I’d shout is I’ve got the fittest boyfriend in Cornwall! And he’s got an amazing cock!” Jake closed his hand around Locryn’s very impressive erection and gently began to stroke. As Locryn sank back into the pillows Jake roamed his gaze over his lover’s body, watching the tell-tale quickening of the rise and fall of his chest as he surrendered to Jake’s touch. Those enchanting blue eyes slipped shut and Locryn gave a soft murmur of pleasure, his hips shifting instinctively.

  “What would you like, Locryn?” Jake asked, his voice soft as butter. He didn’t want to ask how long it had been since Locryn had been with a man, but he had a feeling it had been a while and Jake didn’t want him to look back on their evening together as a damp squib of an encounter.

  Locryn opened his eyes, his gaze languid as he watched Jake. For a few moments there was nothing but silence, then he said, “Lots of kisses to start with. I just really want to spend the night in your arms.”

  Jake lay down next to him, one arm loosely around Locryn as he went on caressing him.

  “Like this?” Jake asked, as he returned his lips to Locryn’s. He answered with a nod, his palms sweeping over Jake’s chest. With every extra moment that went into the kiss, Locryn’s touch found a new confidence, and Jake heard his breath catch as he teased his fingers beneath the waistband of Jake’s shorts.

  Jake groaned with desire. He usually got straight to the point, his no-nonsense approach extending to the bedroom. But not with Locryn. Jake had discovered a whole new pleasure, that of patience.

  “Can we take these off?” Locryn whispered. “Is that all right?”

  “Yes, please, before I burst through a seam,” Jake said. Together they stripped the last scrap of clothing from him and he basked in the appreciation of Locryn’s gaze, which roved over his body. He could hear Locryn’s breath grow hoarse with desire as he closed his fingers around Jake’s erection and began to stroke him. All the time he was pressing kisses to his jaw and lips, his touch no longer tentative.

  Jake tangled his legs around Locryn’s, keeping him close, admiring the strength in his limbs. Who could’ve imagined this? Apart from Jake, in bed with a cream horn. And in that bed now there was no room for innuendo at all.

  “You’re not scary at all,” Locryn murmured. “You’re lovely. But I won’t tell anyone.”

  “I am now, at least. You’re rubbing off on me.” So much for no innuendo. Jake started to laugh. Locryn laughed too, burying his face against Jake’s shoulder, and snuggled Jake even closer, holding him tight.

  The strength of him and the scent of him were a heady mix, and Jake’s laughter faded as he kissed Locryn with passion. “I want you,” he whispered between kisses. Locryn’s hand still caressed his erection, and he groaned softly into their kiss in response, the need in that simple sound intoxicating. He was all instinct and sensation, his heart pounding beneath Locryn’s palm as he stroked Jake’s chest, teasing his nipple between his fingertips.

  “I want you,” Jake whispered again. He cupped Locryn’s buttock and gave a squeeze, a none-too-subtle hint.

  “I’m all yours,” Locryn murmured dreamily. It wasn’t until his hand skimmed round to rest on Jake’s bottom that it occurred to Jake that they might both be thinking along rather too similar lines.

  Oh sod it. “Loc, do you normally…erm…how can I put this? Loc, are you a top?”

  “Usually,” he replied, his tone light enough to suggest that the thought that they might both be hadn’t yet occurred to him. Until now. “Why— Oh.”

  And it had all been going so well.

  “Yeah…oh.” Jake tapped Locryn’s buttock. “I don’t. I mean, I have, but…” But this is Locryn. Sexy Locryn with the muscled arms and no manscaping whatsoever. And Jake fancied him and wanted him and desired him, cared about him and could only think of some sort of delicious blending of their bodies, and would it matter, would it truly, what went where?

  “You have, but you’d rather not?” Locryn’s tone wasn’t accusing, but all Jake could see was the possibility of the sculpted limbs and broad chest slipping away. It wasn’t that he had never bottomed, just that he would prefer not to. But did that mean that he and Locryn had to end here? Wouldn’t that be ridiculous?

  “I haven’t done it for a while. I wouldn’t—I wouldn’t want to be a disappointing shag, if I’m honest. Sorry, that’s not very romantic, is it!” And Jake laughed awkwardly.

  But Locryn didn’t laugh, he simply smiled and shook his head. Then he said, “Oh, I don’t mind! I’m what you might call versatile. A versatile baker.”

  “You’ve just become even more perfect.” Jake linked his fingers with Locryn’s and brought them to his mouth to kiss them. Locryn stroked his hair as he did, his hand gentle in its caresses.

  “Apart from pasty filling,” Locryn added as an afterthought. “I’m not versatile when it comes to that.”

  “I noticed!” Jake kissed Locryn’s full, tempting mouth, then d
rew his lips lower, kissing down his neck and onto his chest. He looked up at Locryn and asked, “Should I go lower?”

  “You can go anywhere you like,” was Locryn’s spirited reply. “I’m a tiny bit out of practice but it’s all coming happily back to me!”

  “It seems to be!”

  Jake kissed and nibbled Locryn’s nipples, tasting the salt on his skin. Beneath him Locryn sighed, something close to a purr slipping from his lips as his back arched up toward Jake’s mouth, chasing the touch of his kisses. With a hint of laughter he murmured, “Sorry!”

  Jake kept going, no longer teasing but enjoying, then he began to move lower and kissed a circle around Locryn’s navel before dipping the tip of his tongue inside.

  There was another soft purr of pleasure, the muscles in his stomach tensing and releasing on instinct. He whispered Jake’s name, caressing him more slowly as he surrendered to their shared pleasure.

  Jake couldn’t ignore Locryn’s insistent erection a moment longer. With one long sweep of his tongue, Jake traveled from his stomach to his erection and delicately took it in his mouth.

  The effect was electric. Locryn’s hips bucked up from the bed toward him and he gave a cry of sheer delight. And even that was plummy. Jake smiled, despite his lips being around Locryn’s erection, and he rose and fell on him, caressing with his tongue.

  Locryn wasn’t such a quiet man after all, it seemed, judging from the gasps and whimpers of pleasure. He clutched at the bedsheet with his free hand, his body writhing beneath Jake’s touch. Locryn’s obvious joy was a spur to Jake and he was even more enthusiastic now, gripping one arm around Locryn’s waist and the other about his thigh as he sucked and licked.

  And those thighs. Cycling everywhere paid off, that was for sure.

  When Locryn’s orgasm claimed him it was with a cry of Jake’s name, but it didn’t sound quite like the no-nonsense Jake. Instead it had transformed into a sound of decadence and joy, and it was wonderful to hear.

  Jake brought Locryn into his arms then, and planted soft kisses along his shoulder, catching the shivers that ran through Locryn’s body. He clung to Jake, his eyes closed, a gentle smile on his face. In fact, he was probably the most content man that Jake had ever seen.