Compromise is not a dirty word.
Table for Two, Book 2 French chef Luc Tessier once thought his worldclass cooking skills—and cleaver-sharp ability to strike sexual sparks—had won him the ultimate prize. The heart of his beautiful English boyfriend, food critic Daniel Sheridan. Little did he know the battle had only just begun. And now his most formidable foe has just shown up on their doorstep. Daniel’s mother. With Daniel still firmly in the closet and determined to stay, the chance that Luc will get laid any time soon is deflating faster than a failed soufflé. Daniel has learned to deal with Luc’s natural arrogance and domineering tendencies. What he can’t handle are the repercussions, real and imagined, of coming out before he’s ready. Hence his nightmare task
of juggling his nosy mother and his horny lover under the same roof. Seven days is a long time for anyone to be on his best behaviour, much less a Frenchman who’s only a touch away from one desperate goal—his lover’s bed. But getting what he wants could come at too great a cost. Daniel’s trust.
Warning: Take one hot French chef and mix thoroughly with his even hotter English partner. Season well with ego, frustration and denial. Add a liberal dash of mother-in-law and watch the sparks fly.
eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared or given away as it is an infringement on the copyright of this work. This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. Samhain Publishing, Ltd. 577 Mulberry Street, Suite 1520 Macon GA 31201 Second Helpings Copyright © 2010 by Scarlet Blackwell ISBN: 978-1-60928-245-5 Edited by Linda Ingmanson Cover by Kanaxa All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. First Samhain Publishing, Ltd. electronic publication: November 2010 www.samhainpublishing.com
Second Helpings Table for Two, Book Two
Scarlet Blackwell
Dedication
To my editor, who knows how to get the best from me.
Chapter One
“Don’t stop!” “The phone’s ringing. It’s putting me off my stroke.” “The machine’ll get it, just…” Daniel Sheridan groaned, arms flung above his head, hands clinging to the wrought iron headboard as it banged against the wall. His naked chiselled body shone with a light dewing of sweat, his cock leaking over his belly. “Please…I’m going to come…” Luc Tessier growled and redoubled his pace, biting at Daniel’s throat, leaving marks.
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From the living room came a click and Daniel’s clipped English accent asked the caller to leave a message after the tone. “Daniel, it’s your mother, I’m coming to stay on Saturday. Perhaps for a week or maybe longer, depending. Why are you so busy that you never pick up your phone? Call me back please.” Daniel gave a howl somewhere between horror and ecstasy, he wasn’t sure, and came over himself in long spurts, his body bucking beneath Luc’s. But Luc was already pulling free. “Merde. I lost my hard-on.” He fell onto his back by Daniel’s side, panting. Daniel turned his head to look at him, his chest heaving, glistening with his own fluid. “I’m sorry.” There was nothing nice about sex with Luc being interrupted, even if Daniel had come.
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“Peu importe.” Luc shrugged, pulling off his condom. “I have to meet the in-laws sooner or later.” Daniel bit his lip. He was silent a long moment. Shit. Was this moment really here? God, he’d tried his hardest to bury this problem as deep as it would go. Finally he rolled over so he was half on top of Luc, one hand stroking his chest in a placating gesture, ready for the explosion which was to come. “No, you don’t understand. She doesn’t know I’m gay.” Luc raised a sardonic eyebrow. “Why not?” “She’s a good Catholic, she wouldn’t understand.” Luc snorted. “So’s my mother, but she lives with it. I told her at sixteen, ‘Maman, I like cock. Deal with it or don’t’.” “My mother won’t deal with it. She’ll just disown me. And my father’ll have me killed or something. I don’t know what he does for a living, but I think he’s a
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spy. He carries around a locked briefcase. It might contain a gun.” Daniel had a vivid imagination from his earliest childhood. Luc rolled his eyes. He shifted to the edge of the bed, reached for boxers and stood to put them on. “I’m not getting involved in your family disputes and your double life. I didn’t sign up for this.” Daniel sat up, furious, as always easily riled by his partner. “Oh?” he asked glacially. “What did you sign up for then, Luc?” Luc turned to look at him and those silver-grey eyes were shuttered. When he didn’t want to let Daniel in, there was nothing Daniel could do to reach him. It made for a tempestuous relationship which, at any moment, seemed likely to spontaneously combust. “You on your back four times a week,” he said arrogantly. “Or more if you let me.”
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“You’re an arsehole,” Daniel told him. “Get out. I don’t want you here. Come back when you’ve finished being a twat.” Luc glared at him, pulling his pants up. “Whatever,” he said. “I’ve got an engagement anyway. Maybe the food critic I’m meeting will be interested in finishing what you started. You know how much food critics turn me on.” He took his shirt and walked across the room, and Daniel hurled a glass from the bedside table which shattered explosively against the doorframe near Luc’s head. Luc stopped and turned around with a deadly look on his face, and for a moment Daniel was afraid. Not that Luc had ever raised a hand to him during their often physical arguments. The most he would ever do would be to wrestle Daniel to the nearest horizontal or vertical
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surface and fuck that anger right out of him. No, what Daniel was afraid of was that one day he’d go too far and Luc would end their relationship. Luc carried on his way. Footsteps sounded down the hallway before the door closed and silence descended.
Luc sat in a cab making its way across London and stewed in guilt. He’d been wrong. It wasn’t the first time he’d put ideas in Daniel’s head about going to find another, less…challenging man, and it shamed him every time he did it. The truth was Luc had been completely faithful for six months, not even bowing to Guillaume and Raoul at the restaurant when they came begging for it. He didn’t need to look around for cheap thrills when Daniel satisfied all his needs. As Paul
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Newman once said, why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home? Luc would have preferred that the saying be a vegetarian one but he wasn’t sure that “why go out for carrots when you have asparagus at home” really cut it. Either way, he wasn’t interested in anyone else. What could anyone else give him that Daniel couldn’t? Well maybe a less complicated life, for a start. Daniel wasn’t out to anyone, never mind his parents. The amount of deception Luc had to suffer and having to keep his hands off Daniel in public gave him a headache. He despised Daniel’s choice and saw him as weak for not wearing his sexuality with pride. Once, in the heat of the moment, he had thrown something terrible at Daniel. He had said that if he’d known Daniel wasn’t out before they had got together, he wouldn’t have bothered. He regretted it as soon as he said it, but
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the damage had been done. Daniel had collected his things from Luc’s penthouse Paris apartment and was on the first flight back to London. It had taken Luc two weeks to persuade him to come back. He regretted many things about his dealings with Daniel. Sometimes he was thoughtless and cruel, and he understood why his words wound Daniel up into a frenzy. The pair of them were too much alike, that was the trouble. Both hot-headed and impulsive. It made for great make-up sex. Luc smiled to himself ruefully because he fully intended to have that great make-up sex that evening.
Daniel lay curled beneath the covers, seething. That bastard. Why did Luc have to consistently act like he didn’t give a fuck about him? Why was he so
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impatient and dismissive of Daniel’s in-the-closet status? Sometimes it felt like they weren’t even in a relationship, despite living together, dividing their time between Paris and London. Perhaps Luc would even deny that they were if someone asked him. Perhaps he would say Daniel was his fuck-buddy or some such thing. It wasn’t the first time the dreaded thought, I should get rid of him, came into Daniel’s head, and once there, it set up shop, whispering at him. He’s no good for me. As always, pain knifed through his heart at the idea of leaving Luc, because Daniel was as smitten as he had been from the very start. They had hated each other’s guts, of course, when they first met. Daniel the food critic who ripped Luc apart in the press, Luc the chef who had invited him to his restaurant in order to shut him up once and for all.
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Shut him up he did, after taking Daniel facedown over his work bench in the most exciting encounter Daniel had ever had in his life. After that Luc had pursued him relentlessly until Daniel had given in. Suddenly his diatribes
against
Luc
stopped,
and
professional
colleagues asked him why he had started to write nice things about the French chef he had once rated so poorly. It was amazing how blind a little love could make you. Hadn’t he once thought Luc’s cooking terribly poor and the man himself arrogant, selfopinionated and with no social skills at all to speak of? What had changed apart from Daniel now being more sexually satisfied than he’d ever been in his life? Didn’t he still hold these opinions on Luc secretly? Perhaps not the cooking, because Luc cooked for Daniel every day and Daniel had no complaints about the standard, but certainly he had been right from the off
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about Luc’s personality traits. The thing was, if you loved someone, you dealt with their foibles and weaknesses, and Luc had many. He made up for these with his generosity, his tenderness, his passion and sense of humour. When he wasn’t being an arsehole, he knew how to treat Daniel just right, in and out of bed. It was just that sometimes this tenderness could be a long time coming. Sometimes it didn’t show itself until after a fight or Daniel threatening to walk out. Perhaps a little of that hate that had brought them both together had carried over into this relationship and still burned strong.
In a room at Claridge’s after lunch, Luc watched the blond food critic on the couch opposite sit with legs spread, the bulge in his tight, pinstriped pants clearly
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outlined. It wasn’t as if Luc didn’t love Daniel. Of course he did. For sure he had never told him, but he loved him truly, madly, deeply. That wasn’t an issue. Or maybe it was. Maybe that was very much the issue. Maybe Luc loved Daniel so much that he strained against it, rebelled, not wanting Daniel to have this control over his heart. Not wanting to admit that actually, Daniel held him on a string. Maybe Luc hated him for that. He had always been determined no man would ever wield control over him, and Daniel did it effortlessly. He gave a loud sigh. The man opposite regarded him questioningly. “Mr. Tessier, is there something wrong?” “No, no,” Luc said. “Please go on. You were asking me about the restaurant.”
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The man smiled. A staff writer for Scran magazine, Jason Thomas looked about twenty-five and had almost white-blond hair and pale blue eyes with the freshest, clearest complexion Luc had ever seen. Luc’s cock stirred unbidden. “Yes, I just wondered if your friend Daniel Sheridan helps you at all in the restaurant?” Luc’s expression froze and he considered his response carefully. He had to always be on his guard against letting out their relationship in the press— according to Daniel. Spitefully, Luc felt like telling this man that Daniel helped him by bending over his work bench and letting Luc eat strawberries and cream from his arse. He grew even harder as he remembered some of the things he and Daniel had done in the kitchen after hours. “Well.” He cleared his throat. “Daniel always has a lot to say.” Which was true, and Luc usually shut him up
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by shoving his cock down his throat when he started. “He’s been very helpful to me with certain suggestions since he and I buried the hatchet last year.” Well, since I buried the hatchet. In Daniel’s tight arse. “What suggestions has he made?” Jason asked, pencil poised over his pad. Daniel suggested many things. Like that Luc go to hell, drop dead or boil his own head at least three times a week. Luc preferred to think of Daniel’s positive suggestions, like the time his lover had text messaged Luc to tell him he had handcuffed himself naked to the bed and Luc had ten minutes to get there. He had almost crashed his car that night. “He’s very good with menus. He gives me great ideas.” Luc never took Daniel’s advice on any subject because he didn’t believe a food critic could teach him anything. The ideas he got for his menus usually came
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from putting various foods together on Daniel’s naked body and seeing if they worked. “I see, and, er…” Jason coughed meaningfully. “Is it true that Daniel lives with you?” Luc looked him in the eyes a moment. “No.” “Ah. There’s, er, forgive me for being indelicate. There are certain rumours about the two of you. Your…tastes for attractive men are well documented. I wondered if…” “He’s too old for me,” Luc said dismissively. “I’m only interested in men under thirty. He’s over the hill.” He smiled charmingly. His own words were like bitter ashes in his mouth. He denied Daniel now, just the way Daniel always denied him. “Really?” The critic put his pad and pencil down and stood. “Well, it must be my lucky day then because I’m twenty-six.” He stepped across to Luc, and Luc,
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gaze on a level with Jason’s groin, eyed the thickening bulge in Jason’s pants. Jason dropped suddenly to his knees. Both hands ran up Luc’s thighs, hot through his pants. Delicate fingers traced the outline of his balls and hard cock. “I read an Internet blog where some German chef was telling how you’ve got the tastiest spunk he’s ever swallowed,” he purred. “Probably,” Luc agreed, watching the hand stroking him. Even Daniel agreed there, and he wasn’t big on swallowing. Luc got that as an extra treat when he’d not been too much of an arsehole. Both the critic’s hands went to his belt. They drew it open and unfastened his button. Then his zip came slowly down and a hand reached inside. The thumb smoothed over the head of his cock, leaving a damp stain on Luc’s Calvin Klein boxers.
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Luc shifted a little on the couch in arousal, watching as the hand withdrew his hard cock. Jason smiled. “Every time I see you on TV, I wank off,” he informed Luc. Luc wasn’t sure about people getting off while watching him make a soufflé, but he couldn’t blame anyone for needing to masturbate over him. At least the recipes were on his website later for those who weren’t paying attention. The delicate hand slid his cock through it slowly. A pearl drop dripped from it onto Luc’s pants. Jason leaned forward, running his tongue over his lips before opening his succulent mouth wide, white teeth gleaming. “Ah…” Luc groaned and pushed his head away. “Don’t.”
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“What’s wrong?” The critic sat back on his heels in evident surprise and disappointment. “Don’t you want me to blow you?” “Yes.” “Then let me.” “I can’t.” “Why not?” “I’m…promised to another.” Luc’s command of English seemed to have descended into late-Victorian speak. He cursed himself. “What? Who? Daniel Sheridan?” Luc stood, tucking himself away hurriedly and rubbing at the damp patch on his pants. “No.” Jason got to his feet. “It is. You’re a bad liar, Luc. You’re fucking Daniel Sheridan. I thought he was straight?” “He is.”
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“But he likes your cock in his arse at weekends?” the critic asked derisively. Luc turned on him, gripping him by the shirtfront. “Not one word,” he said. “I mean it.” Here he was defending Daniel’s pathetic secret life now. Damn him. Jason cackled. “Since when do you care who knows? He must really have you by the balls.” “He hasn’t got me by the balls,” Luc growled. “Oh no? You won’t even take a blowjob off another man because Daniel’s waiting at home.” Luc regarded him a moment, still holding his shirt. His cock throbbed with need after the aborted lovemaking of that morning. He always came with Daniel, every single time, no matter what. His heart beat a little too hard with guilt and wickedness. He took a deep breath. “Why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?” he asked and pushed the critic away.
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“Danny? Mon amour?” Luc called softly as he stepped through the door, a bottle of pink champagne wedged under one arm, a box of Belgian chocolates under the other. He treaded carefully, looking out for flying objects and booby traps. He almost fell over two bags sitting by the door and, with a sinking feeling, he recognised them as his own. Oh no. Daniel was in the kitchen stirring a pan of pasta sauce. The air was laden with garlic fumes and a bottle of red wine stood open. For a critic, he was actually a good chef, Luc had been surprised to find out, but he rarely cooked for them. “We need a break. I want you to go back to Paris. Don’t come back until my mother leaves.” His voice was firm, remote, that icy tone he used when Luc had been really bad.
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Luc put his gifts on the kitchen table. “No Danny…” he began, his heart sinking, his guts clenching in misery. “Get out.” “Look, what I said this morning…” He put both hands on Daniel’s shoulders. Daniel turned fiercely. With his wooden spoon he flicked a small quantity of molten pasta sauce onto Luc’s bare arm. “Ah merde!” Luc cried, rushing for the sink and the blessed relief of cold water. “What in the name of God are you trying to do to me, psycho?” Daniel regarded him coolly. “Out.” “You’re crazy,” Luc complained. “I’m sorry, you know I am. Anything you want me to do to make it up to you, just say it. Anything. I can keep your double life a secret. I can behave in front of your mother, you’ll see.
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Let her come. We’ll have separate bedrooms. I won’t put my hands on you once until she’s gone. I swear.” Daniel stared at him.
“Really?” he
asked
sarcastically. “Yes really.” Daniel shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. You’re going to be my slightly eccentric friend from Paris are you? How exactly are you going to keep your hands off me?” “I don’t know,” Luc muttered, examining his arm. “How hard can it be?” The words would come back to haunt him. Even now his dick was half-hard at Daniel’s mere proximity. This man had made him walk around with a permanent erection for the past six months. “Fine,” Daniel snapped abruptly. “Move your stuff into the spare room now. I don’t want to see you for the rest of the night.”
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Luc dried his arm. He glanced at Daniel once before he slunk out of the kitchen like a guilty cat. Okay, it was true. Daniel did have him by the balls after all.
Chapter Two
The battle lines were drawn. Daniel’s bedroom was off limits. His delectable body was encased behind ice, his rosebud lips frozen frigid. Daniel was good at this. It was hardly the first time he had withdrawn sexual favours to teach Luc a lesson. This time it seemed doubly hard—literally—and Luc was in a frenzy of need by Saturday. Already he had jerked off in the shower that morning thinking of his wonderful Daniel beneath him and it had barely sated the edge of his desire. He made his way into the kitchen in his robe with hair still wet.
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Daniel stood unpacking bags of shopping on the work surface and threw him a cool look as Luc greeted him. “I’m going to pick my mother up from the station in a few minutes. I want you to vacuum while I’m gone.” “I don’t mind being your sex slave. I mind being your servant,” Luc growled. Daniel turned to face him, expression livid. “Because I ask you to do so much?” “Get a fucking cleaner. I’m not it.” “You live here too! It’s like being with a teenager.” Luc gave a rude yawn. He always knew exactly what to do to rile Daniel, but this time he wasn’t expecting his lover’s reaction. Daniel hurled a cantaloupe melon against the far wall where it broke open with a dull thud, juice and orangey flesh staining the paintwork.
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“Sometimes I really hate you,” he cried as Luc stared at the mess. “I don’t know why you get off on treating me this way.” Luc stalked forward. “No,” Daniel protested as Luc’s arms wrapped around his waist firmly. “Aren’t you listening to me? You think you can shut me up every time by fucking me. I’m done with you!” Luc lifted Daniel and dropped him, squirming, onto the edge of the table, pushing a bag of groceries onto the floor. “I decide when we’re done,” he told his lover. He simmered with a cold anger which threatened to drive him into territory he wasn’t all that interested in exploring. Namely, he wanted to spank Daniel and spank him hard. He’d love to see red finger marks on those pale, perfect cheeks. He’d love to see Daniel cry with the astonishment of finally getting what he deserved.
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Daniel struggled fiercely as Luc pushed his knees apart and stood between them. His chest heaved, his fists clenched against Luc’s shoulders. “Let me go. I have to…” “I don’t care what you have to do. I don’t care about your mother. I don’t care about your pathetic inthe-closet life or your laughable attempts to justify yourself to me. I don’t care about your temper tantrums and your always trying to start a fight. I only care that right now you’ve made me so mad that I want to spank your arse until you cry. And I never thought it would come to that.” Daniel paled. The anger drained from his face, and he hung his head, suddenly defeated. “Do it if you want. God knows, I’ve asked for it at times.” Contrite Daniel usually made Luc tender, even though it was a rare event. He was suddenly calm, all
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those finer feelings for Daniel flooding back. The ones which would never fade. He lifted Daniel’s chin gently and looked down into the violet eyes which were a little too shiny for his liking. Luc shook his head. “Don’t,” he whispered, brushing his nose against his lover’s. “It’s okay.” Daniel buried his face against Luc’s chest, arms around his waist. “I love you,” he said, voice muffled. “I know you do.” Luc stroked the dark head. “I know you can’t understand why I don’t come out, but I’m so afraid.” This was candid honesty indeed for the first time. It made Luc melt that little bit more. Daniel knew how to turn him to putty. He needed only to show a little bit of softness and Luc became the fierce protector. Sometimes Luc asked himself who was playing who.
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“I can understand, Danny. Only don’t put up these walls around yourself. You lock yourself away from me when I only want to be close to you.” Daniel lifted his head. “You do the same. I never know where you are or who you’re sleeping with. You take great pleasure in letting me think the worst.” A guilty lump appeared in Luc’s throat. His hands cupped Daniel’s face. “I’ve never been unfaithful to you. As God is my witness.” He didn’t count almost receiving a blowjob the other day as infidelity. Daniel scanned his eyes a moment, evidently trying to read the truth from them. Luc was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar. If he had been unfaithful, how difficult would it be to stand here now and say this with Daniel’s beautiful eyes fixed on his and reading his soul? Daniel’s fingertips touched his lips. Luc pursed up and
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kissed them. Daniel pulled his head forward and kissed him. Ah, the fight was worth it. Luc was triumphant, his base self overtaking all other concerns. He was going to get laid before the witch arrived and imprisoned her son in a castle of chastity surrounded by fire-breathing dragons and barbed wire. He returned the kiss, his hands holding Daniel tenderly, while his cock stiffened beneath his robe. The corresponding passion rose easily in his lover. Luc felt it in the trembling of his body, a low moan passing Daniel’s lips as Luc’s mouth sought his throat and his hands slid up his shirt. “I have to…” Daniel said again. “Your mother can wait,” Luc told him firmly. “I want to make up properly with you, Danny. I can’t keep
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away from you for a week without something to keep me warm.” “God, I can’t…” Daniel’s attempt to get off the table was half-hearted. Luc pulled his shirt open and zeroed in on one rosy nipple, sucking it stiff. Daniel clutched at his hair. “Oh God,” he groaned. “You’d better be quick.” Luc smiled to himself. Daniel could count on that. Even the material of his bathrobe rubbing against his aching cock threatened to bring him to climax. He hurried to unfasten Daniel’s pants. The two of them stripped Daniel off between them. He sat naked on the kitchen table in all his full glory. Even six months later Luc wasn’t tired of this amazing body. Even now he would choose it over any other beautiful man in the world—actor, rock star, sports star,
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model. Anyone. Because Daniel’s body came with Daniel. And Daniel was incomparable. Daniel usually became shy when Luc studied him this way, and today was no exception. He blushed, pulling Luc close, nibbling at his ear, his hands stroking Luc’s hips lightly. “Mon beau Daniel,” Luc murmured against his throat as the ecstasy rose in his veins, the excitement which never grew old. He took a tube of lube from the pocket of his robe before he let it fall to the floor. The tube had been there awhile, used for impromptu seductions at bedtime, but never had it been more useful than now. With firm hands he pulled Daniel to the edge of the table, spreading his legs farther, delving between them with wet fingers.
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Daniel arched below him and gripped Luc’s shoulders, groaning. Luc used his other hand to stroke Daniel’s erection. “Oh God.” Daniel braced himself on the table with hands behind him, head lolling back, his feet up on the edge and knees apart. The scent of his skin and the feel of his body aroused Luc like no one ever had. He gripped his cock and brought it to Daniel, about to thrust inside. Out in the hall, the phone started to shrill. Luc cursed, rested his face against Daniel’s neck, breathing hard. Daniel squirmed, grabbing handfuls of Luc’s backside, bucking against him. Luc’s cock slid between his cheeks and rubbed tantalisingly against his entrance as the answering machine clicked on and Daniel’s voice filled the air, asking the caller to leave a message.
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“Daniel, where are you? I’m waiting here at the station surrounded by all these terrible chavs and it’s freezing cold. Your time keeping hasn’t changed, has it? Call me immediately.” Luc froze, his erection withering. “Mon Dieu, your mother’s going to be responsible for my balls turning blue,” he hissed, leaning on the table and breathing hard. Daniel captured his head in one hand and kissed him on the temple. “I’m sorry, Luc. I have to go.” He slid off the table and retrieved his clothes, hurrying to drag them on. Luc watched the beautiful body being covered up and despaired of ever being inside it again. He pulled his robe on and put the lube back in his pocket. The only thing he would be using that for, for the next week, was jerking off into his own hand in his lonely bed. He bared his teeth in a grimace at Daniel as
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his lover looked at him apologetically before taking his car keys and hurrying out.
Luc did the vacuuming as he’d been asked. He didn’t want to aggravate Daniel any further now they’d made up, even if it hadn’t been the great make-up sex they were famous for. He even finished putting away the shopping and started on some lunch for their guest. Fresh bread was baking in the oven and a butternut squash soup simmered on the stove when he heard the door opening. He carried on tidying the kitchen until the general bustle of taking off shoes and coats and stowing bags in the spare room had been concluded, and then he turned politely to the door when he heard Daniel bring his visitor in.
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Daniel’s mother was about sixty-five, her white hair cut into a flattering bob, dressed in scarlet and black and dripping with jewellery. Her make-up was exquisite, her dark blue eyes skilfully outlined in black, her lips red. She raised one perfect eyebrow when she set eyes on Luc. “You look familiar. Haven’t I seen you on TV before?” Her accent was even more cut-glass than Daniel’s, if that were possible. She sounded like she belonged in Buckingham Palace. There was something rather condescending about her tone too, as though she found it tiresome to associate with peasants. “Mum, this is my friend Luc,” Daniel said hurriedly. “He’s in London on business and is staying here a few days.” The expression on Mrs. Sheridan’s face didn’t change.
She
continued
to
look
ever-so-slightly
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disapproving, her nose wrinkled as though there was a bad smell. “Luc? Luc Tessier is it?” Luc smiled charmingly. It hurt his face. He reached for her hand even though she hadn’t offered it and kissed it. “Enchanté, Madame Sheridan,” he said even though he was far from it. Clearly Daniel got his charm from his father, he of the locked briefcase. “Ah yes.” She snatched her hand back. “I’ve seen you on TV several times. There was that time about a year ago when you made that poor boy cry in your kitchen just because he couldn’t make a proper roux. How I hated you for that! I actually wrote a letter of complaint to the BBC.” Luc glanced at Daniel, who was looking dismayed. You should have seen what I did to the boy after the cameras finished rolling, Luc thought fondly. His tears were soon dry. He couldn’t get enough.
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“And you’re in the gossip magazines all the time. I couldn’t bear to repeat some of the things they say about you.” She stared hard at Luc. Luc stared back. “All true.” He smirked. Mrs. Sheridan’s mouth opened in perfect shock and outrage, a blush staining her porcelain features. “Luc,” Daniel growled. “Mother, come and sit down.” He steered her to the table. “Don’t listen to him, he’s teasing.” “No, I’m not.” “Shut up. Open some wine.” “Yes sir.” Luc busied himself with a bottle of wine and three glasses and tuned himself out from the conversation at the table. When he had put the glasses down, he started to dish up his soup and bread. Perhaps his food would melt the ice lady.
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“Is this butternut squash?” Mrs. Sheridan asked as she tasted the soup delicately. Luc nodded. He sat next to Daniel and across from his mother. His hand was in his lap and he had to fight with himself not to touch Daniel’s knee. “Yes, it’s Danny’s favourite,” he said. He sensed Daniel tense next to him, and his mother put her spoon down and looked at Luc. “I’m sorry, who’s Danny?” she asked scathingly. Luc frowned. “Your son.” “His given name is Daniel. No one calls him Danny.” “Oh. Well, I do.” He almost felt Daniel cringe beside him. “He’s a grown man, not a child. He doesn’t get called by a child’s name.”
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“Well, I like it.” Luc held eye contact steadily, coolly. “It suits him.” Mrs. Sheridan’s gaze settled like daggers on Daniel. “This man must feel he knows you awfully well, Daniel, to take such liberties with your name.” “It’s just a name, Mum,” Daniel said halfheartedly, sounding weary. “I don’t mind.” Mrs. Sheridan’s lip curled. She pushed her soup bowl away. “I have one of my heads coming on. I’ll have to lie down.” Luc and Daniel didn’t speak until she had left the table and the spare room door closed behind her. Daniel sighed loudly and put his hands over his face. “You didn’t tell me your mother was so charming, Danny. We’ll have to have her again. In fact, get her to stay a month or I’ll miss her too much.”
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Daniel shoved his chair away from the table, grabbed his mother’s bowl and launched it into the sink with a crash. “Shut up!” “Don’t blame me for her bad manners.” “Why did you wind her up about the gossip mags? She knows you’re gay, Luc. Christ, I might as well have put a sign on the door telling her I take it up the arse from my French boyfriend. You shouldn’t have stayed here. I knew this wouldn’t work.” Luc continued to eat his soup. “I slaved over a hot stove and this is the thanks I get. You’re both so ungrateful.” “Oh fuck off.” Luc put his spoon down and pushed his chair back, standing. “No, you fuck off,” he said dangerously.
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Daniel shook his head and took a step towards the door, but Luc barred his path. “Don’t leave me again on another fight,” he warned. “I’m not doing this again.” Daniel tried to step around him, but Luc caught him hard by the arm, shaking him. “Are you listening to me?” Daniel glared at him, flushed and furious. “You shouldn’t have stayed here. I want you to go back to Paris.” “No. We’re already falling apart, I’m not going to let us go any further down this road.” Daniel turned his face away. “Do you really think there’s anything to save?” This speared Luc’s heart mercilessly. Luc cupped Daniel’s cheek, forcing his lover to look at him. “Yes I do. I didn’t work so hard to get you to only get six
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months out of this, you know. I want more than that. I’m not tired of you, far from it.” Daniel swallowed. He looked like he was going to cry. “The only thing I’m tired of is your mother. Already. How can someone as delightful as you have sprung from a witch like that? If you were an orphan it would suit me just fucking fine.” It was the wrong thing to say. Daniel pulled his arm free and stalked from the room.
Chapter Three
Lying miserably on his bed, staring at the ceiling and dreading his mother awaking in the room next door and her next sparring match with Luc was not Daniel’s idea of a good time. His and Luc’s weekends were usually spent going out for a nice drive or walk, eating good food and then curling up in bed and pleasuring each other until neither could take anymore. It made Daniel hard just thinking about it. On those days, all phones and laptops were switched off and there was only them, cocooned in their own private world and wishing it would never end. Unfortunately reality had to
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intrude at some point, and this was it. His hellish mother and his obstinate, arrogant boyfriend. What was he going to do? His mobile phone beeped with a text, and Daniel reached it from the bedside table and flipped it open. It was from Luc. I’m going out to get drunk. Don’t wait up. Daniel growled and hurled the phone across the room just as he heard the front door close.
A pressure against him awoke Daniel. A body curled around his, a mouth breathing in his ear, an erection in his back. Luc, drunk and spooning him. “Danny, mon amour, mon cher, je t’aime, oh je t’aime…”
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Daniel grunted in annoyance and tried to pull away. How was it that Luc only said he loved him in French, never in English and only when drunk? “S’il te plait, j’ai besoin de toi…” Luc’s hand groped his groin through his pyjama bottoms. “Get the hell off me. My mother’s next door.” “Je t’adore.” “No you don’t, you’re drunk. In the morning you’ll hate me and my mother again.” Luc’s tongue licked his earlobe and made him shudder involuntarily. “Put me out of my misery, sweet Danny. I belong to you.” His hand steadily coaxed a thickening bulge in Daniel’s pants. “Luc, stop…” But Daniel was weakening, lust overtaking all rational fears of discovery. It had been days since he and Luc had made love and, despite what had happened between them, Daniel still needed it.
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Luc dragged Daniel’s pants down. He unfastened himself and rubbed his cock against Daniel’s backside. Daniel groaned and then bit his hand to stifle further noise. He reached behind him and gripped Luc’s thigh, and then he turned his head over his shoulder. Luc kissed him hard, breath loaded with brandy fumes and passion. He pushed forward, trying to penetrate Daniel, but the going was tough. “Jesus, get some lube,” Daniel protested. “Merde.” Luc rolled away and started to scrabble loudly in the bedside drawer through the collection of vibrators, handcuffs and other assorted toys. “Shhh,” Daniel hissed. “Daniel?” called a voice through the darkness. “What are you doing in there?” “Oh fuck.” Daniel yanked his pants back up, his erection well and truly gone. “Get out, get out!” He
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shoved Luc from the bed as light flooded the hall outside and footsteps sounded in the room next door. “Hurry up. In there.” He flew from the bed and pushed Luc into his wardrobe, slamming the door before diving back under the covers, sweating and breathless. The door opened and his mother stood framed in a halo of light wearing a ridiculous white satin robe with huge sleeves like a wizard and furry mules. “What’s going on in here?” Daniel blinked sleepily at her. “I had a nightmare. I was looking for some tissues.” He indicated the open drawer and prayed she couldn’t see its contents from where she stood. Although a silk scarf was draped over its edge, one which Luc often used to tie Daniel’s hands to the headboard. For a moment, her face softened. “Do you want me to make you some hot milk?”
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Hadn’t she told Luc earlier that her son was a grown man, not a child? He was irrationally irritated. “No thanks. I’ll just go back to sleep.” He pulled the covers up to his chin. “All right then. Good night.” She backed out and closed the door. From inside the wardrobe came a long, low groan. Daniel slid from his bed and crossed the room to open the door. Luc unfolded himself from the floor and climbed out. “I’m sorry, Danny, I jerked off in your wardrobe.” “Jesus Christ, you’re going to pay for every single thing to be dry-cleaned,” Daniel growled. “Relax. I only did it over that horrid stripy jumper of yours which makes you look like Dennis the Menace.” “My mother bought me that jumper for Christmas.”
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“Exactly. And now it’s my come rag. That’s what I think of it.” “Get the hell out.” Daniel pushed Luc across the room furiously. “Shush, you’ll wake Mummy up.” Luc grabbed Daniel and kissed him as he tried to bundle him from the room. “I’ll still worship you in the morning, mon amour.” Daniel closed the door as quietly as he could and made his way back to the bed and a long, lonely night of frustration.
Luc was lounging in front of the TV in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, shovelling bran flakes into his mouth when Daniel got up. His mother was sitting in the kitchen nursing a cup of tea, her mouth looking
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decidedly pinched. Daniel made some coffee and steeled himself for what was to come. “Your friend is half-naked in the lounge.” “Yes, I saw.” “Does he always walk around like that?” Luc usually wore far less. He liked Daniel’s eyes admiring him whenever he could get it. “Yes.” “It makes me decidedly uncomfortable, Daniel. I wanted to sit in there and I couldn’t because he’s there with his legs spread, scratching at his…” She stopped and blushed. Daniel sighed inwardly. “I’ll speak to him.” “Please do. And another thing.” “Yes, Mother.” “Tell him to put the toilet seat down when he’s been.”
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“Yes, Mother.” Daniel took his coffee into the living room, pushing the door almost closed. Luc remained where he was, chiselled torso on display, one leg hooked over the arm of the chair, the tight, white boxers framing the impressive equipment within neatly. Daniel swallowed. He had the sudden urge to drop to his knees and give Luc the blowjob of his life. He almost ached with the need. Luc turned his head and smiled, and the smile melted Daniel’s heart as it always did. “I’m sorry about last night,” he said softly. “I missed being in your bed.” Daniel glanced towards the door with paranoid eyes. “My mother wants you to put some clothes on,” he murmured, avoiding eye contact. “Right. Do you want me to put some clothes on, Danny?”
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Daniel sighed. He lowered his voice further. “You know I don’t, just…please, Luc. For me.” Luc reached out and lifted Daniel’s hand to his mouth, kissing the knuckles. “Anything for you,” he murmured, and then he got up and left the room.
Luc spent the day signing copies of his latest book at Waterstones. After that he accepted an invitation to dinner from someone at his UK publishing house in order to avoid going home. He sent a text to Daniel explaining he would be late. He hoped he could stay out so long that the dragon would be tucked up in her cave and he could creep into Daniel’s bed and fuck him swiftly and quietly, unlike last night. This time he needed a plan. He would go in prepared, condom in one hand, lube in the other. He would stand at the door and
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unfasten himself and put his condom on. Then he would crawl into Daniel’s bed with fingers already wet, reach between his lover’s legs perfunctorily, lubricating his little hole, and then thrust into him, hand over his mouth before Daniel even awoke. Daniel didn’t reply to the text, but Luc didn’t dwell on it. He had a fairly good paid-for dinner, and the waiter flirted with him all evening. He got nicely drunk, and the head chef of the restaurant came from the kitchen, all fawning subservience when he found out who was dining in his establishment. Most other chefs didn’t like Luc. He doubted this one was any different and would probably bad-mouth him to the press in the morning.
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Daniel and his mother sat down to dinner with Mrs. Sheridan in ebullient mood, talking about the sights she had seen in London today with some of her friends. Daniel was distracted. He missed Luc desperately. After a while, his mother stopped talking and changed the subject. “You know your friend sleeps with men don’t you?” Daniel turned his head away, blushing. Man, singular, he thought, there is only me and I hope there’s only ever me. “Yes.” “Then he’s a strange choice of friend.” “Why? I don’t have a problem with gay people, Mum. It’s Luc’s business.” “Aren’t you worried, having him sleeping here?” “What do you mean?” “You know what I mean. That he could come into your room at night and…take advantage of you.”
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Daniel almost shuddered. The idea right now of Luc coming into his room and taking advantage of him was too hot to contemplate. He wished for not the first time that Luc had completed his assault on him last night. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You make him sound like some sort of sex fiend who’s not to be trusted.” And he almost smiled, because if the cap fitted… Luc had to be the most sexual man Daniel had ever known. His mother clicked her tongue, looking disgusted. “He’s wilfully promiscuous Daniel. Why would you want a man like that at your house?” “Does promiscuity make a person bad?” Daniel questioned, growing irritated. “And besides, your gossip mags must be out of date. He’s in a monogamous relationship now.” He could have bitten off his own tongue.
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“Oh? Then why does he sleep here and not with his boyfriend?” “He’s…away. He lives in France,” Daniel said vaguely. Mrs. Sheridan studied him carefully. “I smell a rat.” “What?” “Is he here trying to seduce you while his partner’s back is turned?” “No. Don’t be ridiculous.” Daniel averted his gaze, his face hot. His mother tapped scarlet fingernails on the table. “You know, I’ve thought before now that you bat for the other team, Daniel.” Startled, Daniel’s eyes flickered to hers.
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“You haven’t brought a woman home in years. Why would you still be single at your age when you’re so physically blessed?” Daniel hung his head. He felt like crying right about now. “Still looking for Miss Right, Mum,” he murmured. “You should look harder. I’m impatient for some grandchildren. If you stopped spending all your time with…queers, maybe you might meet some women.” “He’s my friend, Mum,” Daniel said fiercely, glaring. “Don’t be so offensive.” His mother shrugged. “I’m just saying. The friendship isn’t healthy.” Daniel scraped his chair back. He took his plate and left it by the sink and then he went into his bedroom and closed the door.
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Luc was at the urinal peeing when the door opened behind him. “Mr. Tessier?” came a nervous voice. Luc glanced over his shoulder to see his flirtatious waiter. “I…just wanted a quick word with you. In private.” “Uh-huh.” Luc shook, zipped up and moved to the sink. “I’m training to be a chef and I wondered if you could give me a few…pointers?” Luc glanced in the mirror as he soaped his hands. “What sort of pointers?” The waiter, a brunette of about twenty-one with pale
green
eyes
and
lovely
features,
smiled
disingenuously. “I don’t know…perhaps…” He moved up behind Luc, and Luc felt the unmistakable press of an erection in his back. He turned around in surprise.
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“What are you doing?” he asked in amusement as he reached for a paper towel to his left and dried his hands. The waiter flushed and stumbled over his words. “I hoped that I could…I mean…I’ve heard things about you and…” “Out with it.” “Take your cock out and let me see.” Luc arched a brow. His cock was playing along with this just fine, thickening in his pants with interest. “Excuse me?” “I want to see your cock.” “Do you? Why?” “Because I wank over you all the time and I want to see if it’s true what they say about you.” “And what do they say?”
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“That it’s big and beautiful. That it touches spots no other cock can reach.” Luc’s ego was suitably stroked, but unleashing the beast here was only going to get him in trouble. He knew that. He shook his head. “You’ll just have to imagine.” The waiter groaned in frustration. He put a hand between his own legs and rubbed the bulge there. “Can’t I suck you off?” “No,” Luc said regretfully. “Why not?” “I’ve got a partner.” “So?” The waiter reached out, touched Luc’s steadily hardening shaft through his pants, caressing firmly and deliberately. Luc shifted a little, spreading his feet and holding on to the sink. “I can’t let you,” he said half-heartedly.
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“I swallow.” Luc’s great weakness, among many. He coughed, pushing the hand away. In his pocket, his phone shrilled. He cursed and pulled it free, flipping it open without checking the caller ID. “Where are you?” Luc groaned inwardly and pushed the waiter away. “Danny, mon amour. I’m just having dinner with my publisher.” The waiter started fondling Luc’s cock again, fingertips rubbing at his balls. “I need you to come home.” “What’s the matter?” Luc made a face at the waiter and tried to push him away again, but the man hooked an arm around his neck, pressing against him. “Nothing, I just…miss you. I want you here.” Daniel sounded miserable and forlorn.
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“I’m on my way.” Luc liked the knight in shining armour act very much. He liked to ride to his lover’s rescue when he needed him. “You could stick your cock in my arse if you want. I’m so tight. You could ride me bareback if you wanted. And I’ve got lube,” the waiter breathed in Luc’s other ear. “What?” Daniel demanded. “Nothing, I…” “Who was that?” “Nobody it was…” “Are you with somebody?” “No.” “Jesus Christ, you’re fucking somebody!” “I’m not!” “I just heard some bloke offering his arse to you, Luc! Oh my God.” There was something like a sob at
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the other end of the phone. “Don’t come back. Don’t ever come back.” The connection was broken. “Merde!” Luc shoved the waiter away savagely. “People like you will be the death of me and him,” he growled and realised immediately how ridiculous his own words were. In this situation, once again, it was him at fault and only him. It was simple, really—he either loved Daniel or he didn’t. And oh God, he did. Daniel was his heart, his soul, his life. He was the other half of him. “Excuse me.” He adjusted his rapidly fading erection in his pants. “I’m going home.”
Chapter Four
The hammering on the door and cursing started after Luc realised Daniel had put the deadbolt on the door. He rattled his key for a while and then started yelling. Daniel stood in the hallway watching the door shake. His mother came out of her room behind him wearing rollers in her hair and a different, but equally ridiculous, robe. “What the devil’s going on?” “I’ve locked Luc out.” “Why?” “We had an argument.”
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“Danny! Danny! Dieu, c’est des conneries!” “What’s he saying?” “He says it’s all bullshit.” His mother sniffed in distaste and turned away. “Danny, mon amour! Je t’aime!” Daniel stiffened in horror. His mother stopped and turned back. “Did he just say he loves you?” “He’s drunk, Mother. He tells everyone he loves them when he’s drunk. He’s insufferable.” Daniel’s face flamed. “Go to a hotel, you horrid man,” he called through the door. “Danny, Danny…” Luc’s voice dropped to a whimper. “I haven’t even got any clean underwear…” Daniel went into his bedroom and slammed the door.
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Luc checked in at a hotel and spent a long and lonely night planning his next strategy like the commander of an army at war. For a war was what it was. A war against the dragon holding his beloved captive. But really, Daniel’s mother was only a small part of this. The war was against himself, his need for other men, his need to get the upper hand, his fear of relinquishing himself to Daniel. He ordered room service, a disgustingly cooked vegetarian dish which he immediately phoned reception about and told them he would not be paying for, and a bottle of expensive wine. He lay on his bed after a shower thinking of how he had loved Daniel from the first moment he had set eyes on him in his restaurant. Hadn’t he thought it was love at first sight then? Yes he had, but told himself it was lust. Of course it was lust, but it was love too. When he had introduced himself to
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Daniel and Daniel had bestowed that wonderful smile on him, he had made Luc feel like the most important person in the world. Which he already knew, but it was good to have it confirmed by someone as beautiful as Daniel. That was really good for his ego. Daniel had made it his mission to trim Luc’s ego down to more realistic proportions since, though. He didn’t bandy his compliments around. He didn’t tell Luc he was handsome, he didn’t tell him he was good in bed; he let his actions do the talking. When they were out together and pretending not to be and Luc was looking his best, Daniel let his smile across a crowded room tell Luc he thought he was the most attractive man in the place. Those smiles were better than any compliments Daniel could shower on Luc, and he lived for them. He knew Daniel adored him, and he also knew, uneasily,
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that Daniel hated the way he adored Luc. He guessed the two of them were alike that way. He breakfasted and then went out, buying a new suit and tie and that all-important underwear. He showered and shaved and dressed before he checked out and then he went to one of the most expensive jewellers in London. Predictably he brought the place to a standstill, the obsequious manager offering to close the store for him to browse at his leisure. Luc refused, embarrassed, and spent a couple of hours looking at rings and fighting off autograph hunters and housewives asking why their cooking was a disaster even though they followed his recipe to the letter. He chose a platinum band inset with three diamonds and then looked at his own hands, trying to gauge size. “This size,” he held up his little finger and was measured. Then he waited patiently while the ring
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was engraved with Daniel and Luc forever. As he left with the box in his pocket, he imagined the staff scurrying off to the papers on his exit. He’s getting married. No, he’s not gone straight; it was a man’s ring he bought. With the name Daniel.
Daniel shut himself in his office next morning early after breakfast and tried to catch up on work, relieved when his mother announced she was going shopping and the flat was left in silence. He finished off an article on a new restaurant in Dorset and then he idly surfed the Internet a while, sitting at his desk, still wearing his bathrobe, having no urge to get dressed. Finally he got up and commenced the task he had been putting off. He went into the spare room, took a hold-all and started to throw Luc’s clothes into it. Moving into
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his own bedroom, he took more clothes, books, CDs, articles of toiletry. He filled two bags and then he took out all the gifts Luc had ever bought him—diamond cufflinks, a Rolex, a platinum bracelet, bottles of cologne and an erotic collection of man-on-man photography. He threw them all onto the top of one of the bags and zipped it shut. Then he went out to the front door with the bags and opened it, intent on tossing them outside in the corridor where Luc would later find them.
Luc had his hand poised about to knock, the butterflies churning in his stomach. “Danny!” he cried as Daniel tried to slam the door in his face. The two of them struggled in the doorway, the bags impeding Daniel’s attempts to shut Luc out, and finally Luc shoved his way inside.
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“Get out!” “Please, listen to me.” Luc closed the door and stepped over his bags. “Last night…” “You were with a man who was offering you his arse. Offering to bareback for you. God, you almost fucked me without a condom the other day. I dread to think what diseases you have. I’m so stupid…” Daniel went into the living room, pacing, clearly fighting back tears. “Oh Danny, I swear to you.” Luc followed him in. “I never barebacked in my life before, and I never cheated on you. You have to believe me.” Daniel shoved him away. “No. Get your stuff and get out.” “Listen to me. He came on to me. He wanted to suck my cock. I said no. Then he offered me that and I didn’t take it. Dieu, I swear to you.”
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Daniel confronted him fiercely, tears streaking his face, his violet eyes red and swollen. “Don’t you think I have offers too? When I was in Ireland that time for the weekend, there was this bloke, and God he was charming and funny and I wanted him, Luc. He tried to kiss me and he groped me a bit and I let him grope me because I was needy and I missed you, and then I remembered how much I loved you and what I’d be throwing away for a cheap night which would never recreate what we have together.” “Exactly,” Luc said, grabbing his hands earnestly, even as thoughts of any man with their hands on his Daniel made him murderous. “And I feel the same way when these men come on to me. I think of you and I think,” and his voice shook suddenly with emotion and almost broke, tears flooding his eyes, “I think, why go out for hamburger when you have steak at home?”
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Daniel stared at him a moment and then he threw his arms around Luc’s neck, holding him hard. Luc gathered him close, closing his eyes, savouring this moment like never before. Daniel both wept and laughed. “Only you could make a food analogy sound romantic.” “Actually it was Paul Newman. I stole it.” “He loved his wife very much.” “He did. He was married to her for fifty-five years. I’d like us to last fifty-five years, Danny.” Daniel tightened his hold on his neck, his breath wet. “I love you.” “I know you do, mon cher, and I love you too.” The time had come. Luc’s palms were suddenly wet. “That’s why I’m here done up like a dog’s dinner to give you this.” He sank to one knee and tried to produce the box with a flourish, failing as it got hopelessly tangled in
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the lining of his pocket and he ended up tugging at it for some seconds while Daniel watched in confused trepidation. Finally he had it free, and he noted the shock on Daniel’s face as he eyed the box. This increased tenfold when Luc opened the box and flashed the ring. Daniel went so pale Luc expected to have to catch him as he passed out. “What are you…” he stammered. “What’s this?” “What does it look like? A ball and chain, mon amour. My promise that I love you and only you and I want to prove it. Marry me.” Daniel shook his head. “We can’t.” “Why not? It’s legal. I even heard we can get married in church now. Your fucking mother will love that!”
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Daniel’s eyes narrowed warningly a moment. Then softened as fresh tears spilled from them. “We can’t,” he said again. “You’re not giving valid reasons here, you’re just repeating yourself. I thought you had a good command of the English language?” Daniel sank backward onto the couch. He lowered his head between his knees and wept. “I can’t…come out so publicly. My mother and…my work. I can’t get married to you and keep it secret, Luc.” Luc knelt before him, hands on his thighs. “Danny, as I’m making the ultimate sacrifice for you, forsaking every other hot piece of arse on this earth for the rest of my life, so I want you to make the ultimate sacrifice for me. Tell the world—and your godforsaken mother—that you love me.”
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Daniel put his arms around Luc’s neck and sobbed. “I can’t, I can’t…” “Danny…”
Luc
stroked
his
lover’s
back
soothingly, “…you need to explain to me this misguided loyalty you have towards your mother when, to me, she doesn’t seem to care about you.” Daniel cried harder and clung on tighter. “She never loved me. My father was never there, and I looked all my life for her approval and her attention. I used to do anything I could to win it, even taking girls home in an attempt to force myself to be straight.” Luc sighed at Daniel’s misery. “I tried to find myself a wife. I thought if I got married and provided her with grandchildren then she’d be proud of me, but I couldn’t do it. The longer I stayed single, the worse she treated me. She sees me as a failure.”
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“No, she doesn’t,” Luc objected. “She does. A failure as a man. And I know she knows deep down I’m gay. She said as much last night.” “Then marry me!” Luc said in exasperation. “She’s lost to you, Danny. You’re never going to be what she wants you to be and she’s never going to love you.” This provoked a fresh bout of crying in Daniel. He trembled against Luc. “All right, all right, it’s okay.” Luc tried to push the box back into his pocket, but it caught once again on the lining of the jacket and bounced to the floor. Luc left it there. He held Daniel, stroking his head, feeling tender. This rejection wasn’t the end of the world. Daniel was still his. Luc had plenty of time to work on him. As he’d travelled back to the flat, he’d found himself having fond fantasies about the wedding he and Daniel would have. Particularly the catering. He’d have
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to make his own food. He couldn’t bear to eat anyone else’s. It would be the social event of the year if Luc cooked the food. Hello magazine would be clamouring for the rights. Imagine Daniel’s face at the publicity. He would probably have a nervous breakdown. Luc sighed. This wedding could never happen until Daniel had a radical change of heart and, in effect, changed his entire life. Daniel lifted his head. Luc gently wiped tear tracks from his cheeks. “I’m sorry,” Daniel said with that sweet contriteness that always undid Luc. He shook his head, fingers trailing down the lovely contours of Daniel’s face. “Hush. Don’t be sorry when I was at fault. This won’t ever happen again, I swear to you. I’m yours, Danny. Forever.” They stared at each other a moment, and then Daniel was on him with a ferocity Luc had never known
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before. He pushed Luc backward, skewering him to the floor, mouth plundering his, hands wrenching at the buttons of his expensive shirt furiously. Luc thought he had died and gone to heaven. He shrugged his jacket free and unfastened his tie and then helped Daniel with his shirt. Daniel sat back and let his bathrobe fall, his cock rock hard. Luc groaned, pulling him forward by the hips. “Sit on my face.” Daniel did as he was told, turning around, straddling Luc’s head, guiding his cock into his mouth. Luc grabbed Daniel’s buttocks as he felt Daniel’s hands unfastening his pants. He pulled Daniel forward, encouraging him to fuck his mouth. Luc wasn’t a selfish man. Daniel on his face was one of the hottest things ever. Even better if his tongue could stray to that tight little hole and work it open. Perhaps later. He licked at
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Daniel’s dangling balls and was rewarded when Daniel finally got his pants open and sucked his cock down. They sixty-nined for a good few minutes, Luc’s throat filled with Daniel’s cock, a finger massaging Daniel’s entrance. Daniel drew his head back, gasping. “I’m going to come. Fuck me, please, fuck me…” Luc growled. He pushed Daniel off him and debated how he wanted him. The wood floor was uncomfortable, and besides, he was dedicated to as many positions and places as he could. He climbed to his feet and pulled his naked lover up by the hand. Then he dropped his pants and boxers to his knees and lifted Daniel in his arms. He took a few steps across the room and slammed his lover against the wall. Daniel squirmed in excitement as a few feet away a picture fell, the glass shattering. His chest heaved, his mouth scorching hot on Luc’s. They kissed desperately,
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Daniel’s fingers digging into Luc’s shoulders. Luc spat on his hand. He rubbed it over the head of his cock perfunctorily before he thrust into Daniel. Daniel almost screamed, and Luc thought briefly of the neighbours. He wasn’t sure if it was a pain or pleasure scream, but Daniel left him in no doubt when he started to moan and gasp with every thrust Luc made into him, legs clenching him hard. With his face against the damp skin of his lover’s neck, Luc fucked Daniel as though he were on a mission. And he was. To finally get off before his lover’s mother could give him blue balls once more. “Oh God, oh God, Luc, Luc, I love you,” Daniel cried out, and Luc kissed him quiet, listened to the smothered noises he continued to make as Luc fucked him into ecstasy. Desperation certainly made it the best it had been in some time. Daniel clung to him with such
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passion and need that Luc was truly stunned. He had always been a little frightened at the obvious depth of Daniel’s feelings for him. Had always shied away from saying those three words in English. But not anymore. Daniel owned him completely, forever, with or without the ring on his finger, and Luc was never happier. He kissed Daniel’s jaw, pressed his lips to the pulse pounding at his throat and murmured, “I love you, Danny.” Daniel came without anyone touching his cock, spurting between their bodies, his head falling back against the wall with a bump. Hands-free, Luc liked to call it, and Daniel was the only man he’d ever found he had the talent with. But he knew by now how Daniel liked it and just what set him off, and that was what made this lovemaking better than any anonymous fuck he could have got from someone else.
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He bit Daniel on the neck as he came, moaning in adoration at the man who held his heart. Panting for breath, Daniel held him tight, eyes closed, a smile curving his sensual mouth. Luc watched his face a moment, and then a wickedness came over him. He let Daniel slide to the ground and then turned him to face the wall. “What are you…we haven’t time, my mother’s going to be…” “Shut up.” Luc grabbed Daniel’s hands, lifted his arms over his head and pressed them against the wall. Then he dropped to his knees and spread Daniel’s peach-like
buttocks
open
to
him,
contemplating
something he had never yet tried. Because yes, Luc had done this to Daniel many times before, but never without the use of a condom beforehand.
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Even Daniel gasped in surprise when he realised Luc’s intentions. “You can’t…” He tried to squirm away, acting coy, embarrassed. Luc ignored him, held him firmly by the hips. “Can’t I?” He smiled. He put his tongue out to taste the essence of himself leaking from Daniel. “Oh my God.” Daniel trembled all over. “You dirty, dirty boy.” “You’re damn right.” Luc said nothing further and set about his task with rather more relish than he might have imagined he would have. Simply put, tasting himself turned him on. Even more to find out he tasted quite nice. Not that he would have expected less. He smirked to himself as Daniel went crazy beneath his talented tongue, one hand around his own cock, jerking off. Truly Luc was a pervert, and the thought made him proud rather than ashamed.
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He stroked his cock eagerly in turn as he licked Daniel. He thought fondly of that first time, with strawberries and cream and chocolate from Luc’s fridge. That scenario had been repeated more than once. Daniel had squirmed around on that kitchen table his mother had been eating dinner at more times than Luc could count. He was going to come. This activity was too exciting for him, and evidently too exciting for his lover because Daniel beat him to it. With a loud groan, he bucked his hips forward, his wet entrance pulsing as Luc continued to lick it. He sagged against the wall, and a dribble of semen ran down his inner thigh. Luc got to his feet. Gripping his cock, he aimed it over Daniel’s backside, coming in long spurts over the perfect, plump cheeks. His head fell against Daniel’s and he held him with one arm around his waist.
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They were both silent, getting their breath back, and then Daniel spoke, looking over his shoulder. “How much more of your come are you planning on getting in or on me? I’m covered in it.” Luc drew back and admired his handiwork. “I could clean you up again.” He waggled his tongue, and Daniel’s eyes darkened. “My mother’s going to be home any minute.” Luc smiled and moved reluctantly away. He pulled up his boxers and pants and fastened up. “Why don’t you get in the shower?” he suggested. “I’ll come and scrub your back.” The suggestion was meant innocently. Daniel didn’t take it that way. His still half-hard dick twitched as he pulled his robe on, and Luc smiled at the sexual power they held over each other. “What?” Daniel asked.
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“Nothing. I was just thinking of me and you. And how perfect it’s going to be from now on.” Daniel’s face melted into a smile. He put his arms around Luc’s neck. A key rattled in the lock. “Daniel, help me with my bags, dear. I’ve shopped till I’ve dropped.” Daniel flew away from Luc in horror, looking at the smashed glass a few feet away. Luc fastened his shirt quickly and smoothed it down. He stuffed his tie into his pocket and then picked up his jacket and threw it over the back of the couch. “I’ll stall her.” He slipped from the living room and pulled the door closed. “Madame Sheridan,” he said gallantly, reaching for a few overstuffed bags. “Allow me.” He led the way into her bedroom.
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“I thought you weren’t allowed back here? Where’s my son?” she asked suspiciously, following him in. Footsteps tried their best to tiptoe into the kitchen behind him, no doubt to retrieve dustpan and brush before the living room door clicked shut softly. “A tiff, nothing more,” Luc said. “We kissed and made up.” He smirked when he saw her face. “Danny’s lying down, he has one of his heads.” Daniel’s mother glared at him like she wished him dead. “Thank you for your help Luc, that will be all.” She spoke like she was dismissing a servant. She closed the door on him as he backed out, bowing sarcastically. Luc went to his room. He stripped, pulled on his robe and headed to the bathroom where he showered, finding his muscles were aching deliciously where he had held Daniel against the wall. When he came out, he
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thought of the ring and he looked around for his jacket, intent on hiding the box in a drawer. It wasn’t there because, of course, he had left it over the back of the couch. And then he remembered the box hadn’t made it as far as his pocket anyway. Oh God.
Chapter Five
“What’s this?” Daniel’s mother was holding the box, open, the ring on display. Luc stepped into the room. Please don’t take it out, he begged silently. Don’t look at the inscription. “It’s mine. I’m giving it to someone.” “It looks like a wedding ring.” “It is. I’m going to ask my boyfriend to marry me.” Mrs. Sheridan’s lip curled. “Whatever words you have someone say over you, it won’t be a real marriage. Not in the eyes of God. It will be nothing more than a piece of paper.”
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Luc closed the door behind him. He moved closer. “Do you think that because I love a man that my love for him means less? That it can’t be as real as if I loved a woman? Is that what you think?” His tone was deadly. Right about now, he felt like throwing Daniel’s mother bodily from the flat. “When you…lie with a man, you don’t do what nature intended. It can’t lead to children.” “Mrs. Sheridan, when I lie with my man, as you put it, I feel like he and I are two halves of the same whole. I feel like I’ve searched all my life for him. It feels more real and more right to me than anything else ever has before. I don’t know how you can say that’s wrong.” “You disgust me.” She thrust the box at him. “The sooner my son throws you out, the better.”
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“You know what,” Luc cried furiously. “Why don’t I tell you just why your son won’t be throwing me out in a hurry?” The door opened behind him and Daniel looked from his mother to Luc, his face pale and uneasy. “Go on then,” Daniel’s mother challenged him. “I’m all ears.” “Luc,” Daniel said. Both a warning and a plea. Luc gave a sigh. He felt suddenly exhausted beyond all reason, the elation of his make up with Daniel dissipated. “Just because he likes having me around, that’s all,” he murmured. “I make him laugh.” He left the room. Once in his room, he threw off his robe and climbed into his bed, pulling the covers over his head, holding the ring box tight in one hand. He prayed he
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would sleep until Daniel’s mother was gone and Daniel was his and only his once again.
Daniel and his mother were sitting at the breakfast table when Luc got up next morning. He passed them, flicked the switch on the kettle and waited for it to boil for tea. He looked at the back of Daniel’s head longingly. It felt completely alien to walk past his lover in the morning and not drop a kiss on his face or in his hair as he passed. It felt alien not to wake in Daniel’s arms. For a moment he was choked with regret and sorrow. Mrs. Sheridan was watching him closely. Daniel turned his head to glance at him, and Luc saw the softness and equal suffering in his violet eyes.
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Luc sighed. “Bonjour, Danny.” He laid a hand on his lover’s left shoulder and felt Daniel stiffen. His mother glared. “Bonjour, Luc.” Daniel turned his head away. “What are you doing today? I have to meet a chef about a new programme I’m doing. Want to tag along? There’ll be a free lunch in it for you. He’s pretty good, although not as good as me, obviously.” Daniel hesitated. “I’ve got some work to do but…yeah, I’ll come with you.” Luc smiled in triumph at the dragon.
“Where are we meeting him?” Daniel asked from the driver’s seat as he pulled out of his apartment complex and onto a narrow side street.
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Luc put a hand on his knee. He and Daniel were alone. It was as much as he could do not to drag his lover into the back of the car right now. Unfortunately Daniel drove a Mini Cooper. The only time they did car sex was in Paris, in the back of Luc’s roomy BMW. “The Dorchester. When are you going to change your car?” “What?” Daniel took his eyes off the road a moment in confusion. “What’s wrong with it?” “I want to fuck you in it and I can’t without sticking my arse out of the window.” Daniel smiled. “This again.” “Yes, this again. Get something more practical. The Germans can’t win a war, but they know how to make cars for getting laid in.” “I’ll bear it in mind, mein führer.” “I’ll buy you one.”
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“You don’t have to do that.” “I want to.” Daniel glanced over at him again. “You’re a very generous man, Luc. I don’t deserve all these things you buy me.” “You’re teasing me. You know exactly why I buy them.” “Because you’re a bastard and you’re salving your conscience.” “Exactly.” Daniel smirked. Luc squeezed his knee cruelly and then reached over, sliding his arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “Embrasse-moi, beautiful.” “I can’t. I’m driving.” “Just one.” Daniel turned his head and pecked Luc on the lips.
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Luc sank back with an exaggerated sigh. “Like water in the desert. I wish I could make your kisses into a recipe.” Daniel rolled his eyes, but a sweet smile enveloped his face. He reached over and entwined his fingers with Luc’s.
When they had parked at the hotel, Luc sat Daniel down in a quiet corner of the Promenade Bar. While he was ordering drinks at the bar, he took his phone out and made a show of pretending to read something on it, knowing Daniel was watching. He got back to the table, put the drinks down and then said, “That guy just sent me a text. He’s had to cancel.” Daniel regarded him sceptically. “There never was a meeting, was there?”
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Luc smirked. “No. It was just a ruse to get you here. I’ve booked a room.” Daniel’s jaw dropped open. “You want to have a dirty afternoon at the Dorchester?” “Yes.” Luc touched his knee under the table. “Drink up.” Daniel looked around with paranoid eyes. “Did you use your real name?” “Of course I did. I had to. I paid with my credit card.” “Shit.” Luc sat back, irritated. “Come on. Your name wasn’t mentioned. You won’t be on the front page of The News of the World. ‘Chef and food critic play hide the sausage in top London hotel’. Sorry, jumbo bratwurst.”
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“You think this is funny?” Daniel hissed furiously. “Is this your ploy to out me with my own collusion?” Luc frowned. “Now you’re getting too technical for me and I haven’t brought my dictionary. If you mean what I think you do, that’s not a very nice accusation, Daniel. I could have outed you any time this week, and I’ve kept your sordid little secret from your mother.” Daniel reddened. “You’re my sordid little secret, are you?” Luc folded his arms, looking away with lips pursed. The hard-on he’d had a few minutes ago was starting to diminish. “Go home. I’ll go up to the room, see if there’s any porn channels, wank off a few times and then check out.” “Don’t be an arsehole.”
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“I’m an arsehole because I want to make love to my boyfriend in private without his mother having a glass against the wall, am I?” Luc shot back. “You know how to lay on the guilt trip. It’s not as though we didn’t do it yesterday.” Luc gave a loud sigh. “Jesus, I don’t want to get you up to the room just to have sex with you. I want to be alone with you. I want to lie in your arms and talk to you. I want it to be just you and me, like before. Is that so bad?” Daniel played with the stem of his wine glass. He shook his head. “Listen, you’re fooling yourself if you think your in-the-closet act is going to be good for much longer,” Luc said. “What do you mean?” Daniel looked startled.
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“Come on, you might tune out gossip, but I don’t. We’re seen in public together plenty, even if you usually pretend you’re not with me. People are talking and it has been committed to print in one or two publications. You can’t keep a lid on this, Danny, it’s too late.” Daniel hung his head. He was silent for the longest time. “Now make your choice. Either be outed publicly for some embarrassing slip or be dignified and make an announcement.” Daniel lifted his head, gaze scanning Luc’s. His violet eyes brimmed with tears. “Don’t,” Luc said. He reached across the table for Daniel’s hand and was rewarded by having it snatched away. “My mother will never speak to me again.” It was little more than a whisper.
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“That sounds like a blessing to me,” Luc responded dryly. Daniel glared fiercely at him. “Come on, let’s go upstairs and talk about this there.” Daniel took a long time to respond. “I’ll go and get the key. I’ll text you the room number and see you up there. Okay?” Luc watched his reaction carefully. With his head lowered, Daniel nodded mutely. Luc downed his drink. He pushed his chair back and left the bar without looking back, taking the long promenade back down to reception. He crossed the foyer and approached the desk, giving his name, signing an autograph for the awe-struck receptionist. He took the key and got in the lift, taking his phone out.
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Daniel’s phone chirruped. He reached it out and checked the text from Luc. He glanced around the bar to see if anyone had noticed Luc leave and pick up a key from the desk. Apart from a woman giving him the eye in the corner, nothing seemed amiss. But the receptionist would see him. She would notice him getting in the lift after Luc and then Jesus Christ, she would ring The News of the World. His palms were wet, his heart hammering furiously. He wanted to run out and drive home, even if it meant going home to his godforsaken mother, as Luc had referred to her. He tried desperately to get a grip on himself. Come on, have some balls. What’s the worst that can happen? An afternoon with Luc, all your needs satisfied effortlessly, fucked into oblivion until you can’t even remember your own name. Isn’t that what you want? Oh God, yes.
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Daniel stood. He left the bar and strode into the foyer. He glanced at the receptionist, who was staring at him. He looked at the lift, gauged how many paces away it was, looked again at the receptionist, felt his face turn painfully hot, felt eyes on him from other people standing around. They all know, he told himself. They all know what I’m going upstairs for. I’m a fake and a fraud and I deserve my double life to be exposed for what it is. He turned around and fled from the hotel. After ten minutes, Luc called him. Daniel let it go to voicemail.
Luc didn’t come home that night. Or the next night. Daniel was convinced he had gone back to Paris, but no, his passport was still in the spare room. He was
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too afraid to call any of Luc’s London friends for fear of being ridiculed if they found out the true nature of the disagreement. And Luc didn’t answer his phone. Daniel took one of Luc’s shirts from his bag and slept with it, holding the material close to his face. His mother seemed delighted. She spoke of staying on longer now that her son’s disagreeable friend had left, as though she didn’t notice Daniel’s misery and anguish.
Chapter Six
Luc kept his room on at the Dorchester. The receptionist had known he was booking it for nefarious purposes that afternoon, he was sure of it, and looked surprised when Luc went down before checkout time next morning and asked to keep it on another three days. He needed time to think. Daniel had done him a great wrong by fleeing from the hotel that afternoon. He thought of going back to the flat for his passport and going off to France in a huff, but he doubted Daniel would follow him there, not with his fucking mother around his neck like an albatross. He needed to decide if
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this was worth it, because, at the moment, it didn’t feel like it. Not when there were a million men out there willing to lie on their backs for Luc, men who came with no baggage and no mothers, men he never had to see again once he had blown his load. But no one out there was Daniel. Luc knew that without looking. No one again in this lifetime would come close to having this hold over his heart. If he threw Daniel away, he would be empty for the rest of his life, his soulmate gone. He would be condemned back to his old life forever, the life where he fucked around indiscriminately and allowed no one to get close. He had thought that was the best way to be. Now Daniel had opened him up and showed Luc what love was, Luc would never be the same again if he lost him.
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Daniel grieved. The loss of Luc was like he’d had a limb amputated and still felt the phantom pain. He couldn’t sleep without Luc’s soft breathing beside him, and everywhere he turned in the flat, he expected to see Luc there. Most of all, Luc’s non-presence in the kitchen was an anomaly. The room seemed wrong without Luc slaving over a hot stove or furiously chopping vegetables on the work surface. Daniel’s life seemed wrong without Luc in it.
Luc finally came to a simple decision. He would go back one last time. He would put his key in the door. If the deadbolt was on, he would have Daniel’s decision loud and clear. He would ask Daniel to post his passport through the letterbox and then he would go back to France to lick his wounds. Perhaps one day the pain of losing Daniel might subside a little, just enough for him
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to be able to function again. He doubted it. Before he set off, he bought two bags of the finest ingredients with which to cook his way to Daniel’s heart that night.
Daniel was at his laptop in his robe, trying to write a review for a restaurant when he heard the key in the door. He froze, straining his ears. As he stood, the door unlocked and opened with a creak. Daniel rushed out into the hall. “Luc,” he cried, “Luc,” when he saw his lover’s pale, strained face. He threw himself into Luc’s arms, crying, and Luc dropped his bags, immediately gathering him close, murmuring softly in French. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Daniel told him over and over, and Luc shushed him, lifting his face, thumbs
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stroking over his tears while his silvery eyes studied Daniel’s. There was a heartbeat of silence and then, as they were about to kiss, Luc murmured, “Where’s your mother?” “In the shower.” “Merde.” Luc drew away just as, down the hall, the bathroom door opened. “Look what the cat dragged in,” Mrs. Sheridan said scornfully. “It’s nice to be back, Madame Sheridan,” Luc responded between his teeth before he picked up his plastic bags and turned towards his bedroom, shutting the door without a backward glance. Daniel stood a moment in the hallway, looking at the closed door with sorrow before he went into his own room, ignoring his mother.
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As soon as he lay down on his bed, his mobile rang. “I love you.” Daniel curled up on his side, phone against his ear, whispering, “I love you too. I’m sorry.” “Stop saying you’re sorry. I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have stayed away.” “You were right to.” “No I wasn’t. I was being a twat.” Daniel was silent. “I think I’m going to lose my mind,” Luc said in a barely audible voice, French accent wrapping erotically around his words. “I need you.” Daniel clutched the phone tight, eyes closed. “You’re not crying again, are you?” “No.” “Are you lying?” “Yes.”
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“Mon cher Danny. I love you more than the moon and the stars. I love you more than crème brulée. I love you more than lightly roasted butternut squash on a bed of spinach with…” “I understand.” Luc sighed. His voice dropped a few octaves. “Are you lying on your bed?” “Yes.” “Do you have anything on under that robe?” Daniel’s skin started to prickle. “No.” “Why don’t you unfasten it?” Daniel rolled onto his back. He tugged the belt open and pulled apart his robe. “Mmm,” Luc said as though he could see down the phone. “Touch yourself.” Daniel shivered. He placed a hand on his chest. “Tell me what you’re doing.”
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“I’m stroking my pecs.” “And your nipples?” Daniel pinched one nipple so it stiffened, then the other. He wet his finger and ran it lightly over one hard peak. “They’re hard.” “Move your hand down your belly.” Daniel did as he was told. He undulated under his own hand as he stroked himself all the way down to his groin. “Is your cock hard?” “Half.” “Stroke slowly. Imagine my mouth is around it.” Daniel moaned. He took himself firmly in hand, stroking lovingly. “Luc,” he said softly. “Are you undressed?” “I’ve got my cock out. I’m wanking off.” “How hard are you?”
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“Hard enough to roll pastry with.” “That’s pretty hard.” “Yes it is. How hard are you?” “Hard enough to break a coconut.” “Oh mon amour, you know how to talk dirty to me just the way I like it. Is your cock leaking yet?” “Yes.” “Taste some.” Daniel gathered some pearl drops and brought them to his mouth. He sucked loudly so Luc groaned on the other end of the phone. “Get the lube out.” So it was to be the full-on dirty phone-call then. Daniel reached over to the bedside drawer. “And the black dildo.” Daniel shuddered in anticipation. He twisted the cap on the lube open, holding the phone between ear and shoulder as he poured some on his fingers.
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“Touch yourself.” He reached down, running a finger lightly around his entrance, flinching at the delicious coolness of the lube. “Imagine it’s my tongue.” “Oh God.” Daniel’s cock twitched against his belly. He ached to be filled. “I want you.” “I know, but today the dildo’s going to satisfy you. Lube it up.” Daniel did as he was told. The toy wasn’t as big as Luc, but it had given Daniel a lot of pleasure in the past. “Push it in. Slowly.” Daniel opened his knees. He rubbed the lubricated head of the toy backward and forward against himself for a few seconds, teasing, readying himself. Luc breathed heavily and groaned on the other end of the line. The toy slid slickly into Daniel.
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He lifted his hips, groaning, taking as much as he could. “Good boy,” Luc moaned softly. “Mon Dieu, I can almost feel your sweet body around me. Get the dildo against your prostate.” Daniel whimpered, squirming hard as he did as he was told. He cradled the phone against his shoulder again while he jerked off hard. “Faster.” “Oh God, Luc.” “Hurry, I’m nearly there.” “Call me Danny, please call me Danny,” Daniel begged breathlessly, both hands working swiftly on himself. “Come on, my sweet Danny, come for me.”
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“Oh Luc, I love you, I love you…” Daniel came explosively, the bed rocking fiercely beneath him, come hitting him on the chin. He collapsed, exhausted, listening to the French cursing on the other end of the line before Luc faded away into heavy breathing and panting. “Are you done?” “Yes. You should keep some toys in the spare room for me for next time I’m banished here, Danny. I just had to fuck myself with the cucumber I bought for dinner.” “What?” “It’s okay, I put a condom over it.” “You’re unbelievable.” “Needs must. I’m going to make you the best dinner ever, my darling. I’ll call you when it’s ready.” “Luc?”
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“Oui, mon amour?” “No cucumber for me, please.”
Daniel was sitting on the edge of the bed, tying his belt and trying to compose himself when there was a knock at the door. “Daniel?” He hastily threw a pillow over the dildo and lube. “Come in.” He knew he was flushed, his hair dishevelled. His mother pushed open the door. “Do you want me to cook, Daniel?” “Luc’s cooking.” Daniel avoided her gaze. “Is he?” She sighed as though it were a chore to eat the food of a five star chef for free. “Very well, then. What’s that on your chin?”
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“What?” Daniel flushed further, stammering, putting a hand up. “There, that white stuff.” “It’s…er…oh, it’s my hair gel.” “What?” “My hair gel. There it went. Thanks.” Daniel scooped the come off his chin and rubbed it vigorously into his hair. He gave his mother a Cheshire cat grin. “How do I look?” His mother frowned at him like she was concerned about his mental health and closed the door behind her. Daniel fell back onto the bed. Fuck.
Chapter Seven
Luc had put away the shopping he’d brought and was standing chopping at the kitchen work surface when Mrs. Sheridan sidled past him and poured herself a glass of wine from the fridge. Luc’s extremely expensive wine, as it happened, but he was too polite to say anything. He scowled down at his vegetables as she hung around behind him like a bad smell. “What are we having?” “Ratatouille.” She wrinkled her nose. “How boring.”
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“I made this dish for Danny when we first met. He liked it.” “Why, is it your anniversary or something, Luc?” He turned his head to find her watching him hard. Did she know? He didn’t see how she couldn’t fail to know after all the moaning and groaning which had just been going on in the bedrooms. “No,” he said nonchalantly. “I just wanted to show my appreciation for Danny for letting me come back.” “I wouldn’t have let you come back, Luc.” Their gazes held for the longest confrontational moment. “I know that, Madame Sheridan. I thank my lucky stars every day that your son doesn’t think about me the same way.” She scowled. “Perhaps I’ll just have a salad.” She opened the fridge and brought out ingredients from the
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drawer, laying them out on the table—lettuce, tomatoes, spring onions, cucumber… Luc smirked viciously to himself. Revenge was indeed a dish best served cold. “I could make you a nice dressing?” he suggested. “It goes wonderfully with cucumber.”
Daniel came and sat at the table when Luc called him half an hour later. Luc placed a large, steaming dish in the middle of the table and put two plates down. Mrs. Sheridan sat opposite Daniel, and behind her back Luc blew a kiss at his lover. A secret smile curled Daniel’s mouth and he got up quickly to get wine from the fridge. Luc squeezed past him deliberately on his way to the sink, one hand stroking his buttocks possessively, amused to see how red Daniel turned.
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Daniel brought the wine and two glasses back. He sat opposite his mother. “Aren’t you having the same as us?” His mother shook her head and spooned some salad onto her plate from a bowl. Daniel looked down at the plate. He turned white and then red in quick succession, before he stared up at Luc, frowning. Luc sat down at the table with a serene smile. “Your mother made herself a salad. I offered to make her a dressing, but she declined. Remember the secret recipe I have, Danny? It’s a bit salty, but full of protein.” Daniel spat out a mouthful of wine. “Daniel,
please,”
Mrs.
Sheridan
objected.
“Whatever is the matter?” Daniel got up from the table and ran himself a glass of water at the sink. Behind his mother’s back he
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mimed slitting his throat with one finger, then pointed at Luc menacingly. Luc continued to smile. “Hurry up before the ratatouille gets cold.”
Mrs. Sheridan finished her salad and took her bowl to the sink, rinsing it before putting it into the dishwasher. “I’m going to bed with a book now,” she announced, bending over Daniel and kissing him on the top of his head. “I’ll see you later.” She straightened up, sniffing. “That gel smells funny. I’d change it, if I were you.” She closed the door behind her. Daniel’s fork fell to the table with a clatter. “You gave my mother that cucumber,” he hissed at Luc.
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“She took it out of the vegetable drawer herself before I could do anything,” Luc said nonchalantly. “Why did you even put it in the vegetable drawer?” “I mustn’t have been thinking straight. That dirty phone call scrambled my brains.” Luc squeezed Daniel’s knee, smirking. “Jesus Christ.” Daniel shook his head. “First I have to rub come into my hair and then my mother eats the cucumber.” “What? Why did you do that?” Daniel put his hands over his face. “Don’t ask.” “Mon cher.” Luc stood. He put an arm around Daniel’s shoulders and leaned down to press a kiss to his head before stopping and drawing back, changing direction to put the kiss on his lover’s temple. “You’re stressed. What can I do to unstress you?”
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Daniel turned his stunning violet eyes up to his. “I don’t know,” he said solemnly. “Perhaps we could run away to a desert island together and never come back?” Luc stroked the back of his neck gently. “That’s a wonderful idea. However, cooking ingredients would be limited.” He drew back. “You need to wash your hair, it smells.”
Chapter Eight
“Where is she?” Luc looked around the kitchen suspiciously next morning as though Daniel’s mother would spring from the nearest cupboard like Inspector Clouseau’s manservant. “In the shower.” Daniel was pouring cereal into a bowl. On the table sat a large watermelon and a knife. Luc growled in delight and excitement and lifted his lover off his feet, swinging him around, kissing him hard. “Put me down.” “No, I need to kiss you while the dragon’s away.”
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“What did you call my mother?” Luc let Daniel slide to his feet. He turned away, sighing. Daniel regarded his turned back a moment. Luc wore, defiantly, nothing but a pair of boxers. His shoulders were broad, his back rippling with muscle, his arse hard and tight. Daniel threw his arms around Luc’s waist, pressing his face into his neck. Luc turned his face over his shoulder and his lips clung softly to Daniel’s. “My sweet, beautiful Danny,” he cooed. “How I adore you.” Daniel held him tighter. They were all right again—despite the cucumber, the come hair gel and his mother, Luc was still in love with him. They only had to last a little bit longer and they would be back to their blissful old lives. “I’m invited to a restaurant opening at twelve,” he said into Luc’s ear. “Come with me?”
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Luc turned around into his arms. “Of course, ma petite fleur.” They kissed gently, hands touching the other delicately on face and neck. Daniel’s hands soon travelled down the naked contours of Luc’s hard chest and abdomen. He cursed with need and pushed Luc against the table. Luc pulled him between his knees, hands kneading Daniel’s buttocks through his pyjama pants, reaching around to feel his stiffening length. “Oh God, don’t.” Daniel’s head hung back so Luc could devour his throat, and he panted helplessly, gaze straying across the hall. “I can’t help it.” Luc groaned. “Just feel what I’ve got for you.” He pushed himself against Daniel. The lock snapped back on the bathroom door and it opened. Daniel staggered away and turned to the work surface.
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The erection in Luc’s tight white boxers was eye popping, his thick shaft outlined deliciously like the most teasing of presents. As Mrs. Sheridan came out of the bathroom and stood suspiciously in the hall staring at them, Luc gripped the watermelon and held it in front of his modesty. “What are you doing?” she asked. Luc looked down at the fruit. “Just contemplating this lovely watermelon. Would you like a piece?” Daniel kept his face turned away, eyes closed, groaning inwardly, his own erection straining against his pants. “No thank you,” his mother responded tartly. “Not now it’s been against your nether regions.” “That didn’t stop you eating my cucumber,” Luc muttered, turning away. “Excuse me?”
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“Mother,” Daniel said brightly over his shoulder before Luc could dig himself any deeper. “What are you doing today? I have to go to a restaurant opening.” “I’m meeting friends,” Mrs. Sheridan replied, eyes fixed on Luc’s naked back in disgust. “We’re eating lunch.” “Good.” “Is it? Do excuse me, at least one person in this house needs to wear clothes.” Mrs. Sheridan flounced down the hall in her ridiculous robe. Daniel sighed. He poured some milk on his cereal and stood looking at it. “Danny?” Luc asked behind him. “Have you ever fucked a watermelon?” Daniel turned around, rolling his eyes. “No, but I’m betting you have, right?”
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“Correct. I’ve fucked lots of things.” Luc seemed particularly proud to confess he abused fruit. “Yes, don’t I know. Is there anything you haven’t stuck your dick into, Luc?” “Certainly.” Luc put the watermelon down, revealing his hard-on just as tall and proud as before. “I’ve never put it in an animal. Or your mother.” Daniel flew at him. Luc caught his fist before it could strike him. The watermelon rolled onto the floor and smashed open with a loud pop. “Okay,” Luc said, holding the scarlet-faced Daniel firmly. “Now it’s open, why don’t I show you how to fuck it while your mother’s getting dressed?”
The restaurant was heaving with celebrities and paparazzi. “Some of these people would go to the
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opening of an envelope,” Luc muttered in disgust as he and Daniel followed the waiter across the room. Daniel silently agreed. He almost ran into Luc when his lover stopped short as they reached the table. “What is this?” Luc asked the waiter imperiously with a typically extravagant Gallic hand gesture. The table, in a high-sided booth, was in the corner next to the toilets. Opposite was a pair of French windows. On the other side of these was a tall, black screen which effectively blocked out all the light. When the waiter looked confused at the question, Luc elaborated. “Do you know who this man is?” He pointed at Daniel. “Luc…” Daniel was embarrassed. Luc ignored him. “This man, the greatest food critic in your miserable country, has given up his
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precious time to come here to your poxy opening and you put us in the pitch black by the pissoirs?” The waiter glanced at Daniel then back to Luc. “My miserable country?” he asked, looking confused. “I’m from Italy.” “Regardless.” Luc drew himself up to his full height, towering over the small waiter. “What is this sorry excuse for a table? And this?” He gestured to the black screen outside. “I’m really sorry, signore.” The waiter shrugged helplessly. “This is all we have. The screen outside is part of the opening ceremony later in the garden. I’ll see if anyone’s cancelled, but as you can see, we’re full at the moment.” Luc glanced around. He looked ready to explode. He sat in the booth. “We’re having this on the house, I hope you know that.”
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“Whatever signore says.” The waiter bowed obsequiously, handed out two menus and scuttled away. “What bullshit.” Luc snorted. “It doesn’t matter,” Daniel murmured, looking at his menu. “It matters. Don’t they know they’re not even worthy to have you at their goddamn shitty restaurant?” Daniel slid closer to Luc. He put his head on his lover’s shoulder, an arm around his back. “But look how quiet it is here?” Luc turned his head. He smiled. He brushed a thumb over Daniel’s lips before he kissed him. “That’s worth celebrating. Let’s get some champagne.”
They were cuddling in the booth, no near neighbours, no one walking past, when the waiter returned. Daniel blushed and sat up. Luc glared at the
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waiter and ordered the most expensive bottle of champagne on the menu. He ordered two starters and two main courses and then he dismissed the waiter with an imperious flick of his hand. “Now then, mon amour.” He pulled Daniel into his arms. “If the chef is any sort of chef at all—and looking around this place, I doubt it very much—he will take at least twenty minutes to make the starter. Just long enough for me to kiss you senseless.” Daniel thought he would swoon as Luc kissed him. He held his lover close and daydreamed about how it would be when his mother crawled back to where she had come from.
Luc toyed at the salad on his plate with a fork while waiting for Daniel to come back from the bathroom. The food had been boring, bland, just about
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adequate. Daniel was, without doubt, going to give his verdict in his own inimitably caustic way. Luc could only thank his lucky stars Daniel loved him so much that he had stopped ripping him apart in the press. Now that his stomach was full, his mind was wandering to his other needs. The only person to walk past the table in the last hour was the waiter, and Luc was starting to get wicked ideas. The waiter ghosted up. “Everything all right, signore?” He picked up the dinner plates and stacked the side plates on top. “Yes, thanks. I’d like half an hour before dessert.” “Very well.” Luc slouched back in his chair with knees open as Daniel came back. “Come here,” he said, pulling his lover astride his lap. “What are you doing?”
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“The waiter won’t be bothering us for half an hour. In that time I can probably make you come twice. Maybe more if you don’t puke.” “Luc…” Daniel tried to pull away from the mouth on his neck and the hands under his jacket. “No protests.” A squeal of feedback made them both jump, and the background music was turned down. A voice came over a microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re ready for the opening ceremony now. If you can all make your way out into the garden, we will be serving champagne and making the dedication.” Luc peered around the high side of the booth, watching as the guests of the restaurant filed out of an open fire door halfway across the room. He turned back, glancing at the black screen shielding them from the
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garden, smirking with confidence. “Now we’re totally alone, Danny. I can do whatever I want to you.” Daniel became breathless with excitement as Luc’s hands went to his belt. “You seriously want to fuck me in a restaurant?” “No, I want to make love to you.” Luc’s words were calculated. The romance crumbled Daniel’s resistance. Luc produced lube and a condom from his pocket. Daniel helped Luc pull his pants and boxers down, squirming as Luc’s fingers probed and wetted, grinding Daniel against his erection. “God, you’re so bad…” “I know.” Luc unfastened himself, put Daniel’s hand around him and pulled his lover’s shirt open, zeroing in on one nipple. Outside on a microphone, someone started a loud speech on the history of the restaurant, thanking all the
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people who had worked so hard to get it open, thanking everyone for coming. Daniel glanced nervously over his shoulder, perhaps aware that only the black screen separated him and Luc from public humiliation. But it was this thrill that got Luc off. He rolled the condom on. He unfastened his shirt, grasping Daniel around the waist so their naked torsos rubbed together. Daniel moaned softly, head back. He gripped Luc’s shaft and slid slowly down on it. Luc held him by his hips, thrust up into him, taking it nice and slow, mouthing Daniel’s neck, rejoicing at this feeling like a man tasting water in the desert. Their movements were slow and sensual. They slid perfectly against each other, in tune as always, and Daniel’s moans grew louder.
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“And now, I have great pleasure in announcing Carlo’s restaurant officially open.” Luc’s hands tightened on Daniel. This must mean people were going to start filing back in within the next few minutes. They had to step up a gear. He kissed his lover passionately. He increased his rhythm, listening to Daniel’s gasps. Sunlight fell suddenly over his face. Luc started, holding Daniel hard, blinking in confusion. The black screen had fallen away from the window. Behind it stood a hundred people holding champagne glasses, mouths slackly open as they spotted Luc and Daniel on the other side of the doors. On the front row wearing an ostentatious hat and dripping in jewels was Daniel’s mother. A dozen cameras flashed, some people jockeying for position.
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“What?
Scarlet Blackwell
Don’t
stop…”
Daniel
moaned
in
frustration, but Luc’s sudden stillness stilled him too. Perhaps he felt the sun on his back or saw the look on Luc’s face. He turned his head over his shoulder. The sound which came out of Daniel’s mouth was like nothing Luc had ever heard before. It was unearthly, stricken, disbelieving. Luc grabbed Daniel’s head quickly and held it against him firmly, shielding his lover from the stares of the people outside and, mostly, his own mother. Always maintaining his poise in the most difficult of circumstances, he raised a hand to the crowd like the queen hailing her subjects. Then he pulled the tails of Daniel’s jacket over his bare arse to preserve his modesty and lifted his lover, carrying him away from the table.
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Daniel was sobbing almost silently into Luc’s neck when Luc closed and locked the bathroom door behind them. He clung on with a death-grip, trembling violently, ashen-faced. Luc sat him down on the toilet and dressed him gently, tucking his shirt in, pulling his tie straight. “It’s okay,” he tried to reassure his lover helplessly. It really wasn’t okay. For Luc this was further publicity about his legendary appetite and public confirmation that he had the sexiest man in the world on the end of his cock whenever he wanted him. For Daniel this was ruination—professional and personal. He looked at the door, debating how to get the almost catatonic Daniel out. How to brave Mrs. Sheridan, who was probably waiting on the other side with sharpened stake and crucifix. Resolutely he
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climbed up onto the cistern and pushed the window open. He held his hand out to Daniel. “Come on.”
Chapter Nine
Luc had just about finished packing two bags and had both their passports in his hand when the front door rattled, opening and slamming closed. Daniel, lying motionless on his bed with face buried, flinched violently. Luc straightened up as Mrs. Sheridan stalked into the room. Her expression was glacial, her eyes red and swollen, her make-up ruined. She glanced at Daniel first and then focused her attention and wrath on Luc, looking at the passports in his hand.
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“So you’re running away, froggie? After you’ve corrupted and ruined my son, turned him into a pervert, you’re running away from your mess?” Luc drew himself up. “I didn’t corrupt your son, roast beef. Sorry to tell you this, but he was queer before me and he’ll be queer after me.” Mrs. Sheridan’s head snapped to Daniel. “Are you going to say anything, you vile little creature?” Daniel sat up, as red-eyed as his mother. “What do you want me to say?” he asked in a meek voice that Luc despised. He hated Daniel’s mother’s power over his lover. It was revolting. “I want you to explain how you came to show yourself half-naked and copulating like a beast to a hundred people and how you plan to deal with the ensuing publicity.”
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Daniel looked at Luc, then back at his mother. “Since you came here, we’ve had no private time. We’ve had to take whatever we could get.” His mother took a few steps to the bed and slapped her son hard across the face. Daniel gasped, and Luc flinched. “So you think it’s my fault you’re a limp-wristed little exhibitionist, do you?” she hissed. Daniel shook his head, lowering his crimson face. “Madame Sheridan,” Luc said furiously. “I love your son and I asked him to marry me, and now he’s out of the closet, I will marry him. And your name won’t be on the guest list.” Mrs. Sheridan flushed. “That ring I saw, that was for him, wasn’t it?” “Yes.”
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“Oh, you and he must have been laughing at me, carrying on your filthy little affair right under my nose.” “We weren’t carrying on anything. My balls are like watermelons, thanks to you.” Mrs. Sheridan’s expression turned ever more outraged. She went back to Daniel. “So you love this…man, do you? And I use the term loosely.” Daniel lifted his chin, suddenly defiant. “Yes, I do.” “And you’re going to marry him, are you, and make this family a laughingstock?” Daniel glanced at Luc, whose heart beat suddenly faster. “Yes, I am.” It was all Luc could do not to rub his hands with glee and do a victory dance in front of the dragon. “Then you’re not my son anymore.”
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Daniel’s face showed no response to this. “I wasn’t your son anymore when I slept with my first man when I was twenty-one. I’ve lived a lie for you since, and I’m glad it’s over.” Mrs. Sheridan’s mouth tightened as though she sucked lemons. “Send my things on,” she directed. “Goodbye, Daniel.” “One more thing, Mother.” Daniel’s voice stopped her in her tracks. “I like it when Luc calls me Danny.” Luc didn’t warrant so much as a look as Mrs. Sheridan flounced out of the room and slammed the front door behind her. Daniel fell back on the bed. After a suitable silence, with his usual tact and diplomacy, Luc asked, “So, this first man you slept with. Was his cock bigger than mine?”
Chapter Ten
When Luc looked back on Daniel’s unfortunate coming-out-of-the-closet a few days later, he was highly amused, which was wrong of him with his lover’s bruised feelings to consider, but still, it had been funny. If it had been up to Luc, he would have carried on fucking Daniel until they both got off, encouraging their audience to clap and cheer and video it. He had no shame. Daniel was taking it hard, though, and not from Luc’s cock either. He lay in bed at Luc’s penthouse, not eating, not speaking, his face ashen and drawn.
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Luc made sure no newspapers were delivered; instead, he read them at work. All the British tabloids had a picture of Luc and Daniel on the front page the day after the event, Luc’s cock sheathed in Daniel’s backside modestly pixilated out. On some, Daniel was looking over his shoulder in horror; on others, he was blissfully unaware, clinging hard to Luc in ecstasy. The headlines were predictable. Top French chef puts sausage in oven and One way to silence your critics. The more respectable papers like The Times and The Telegraph ran the picture a few pages back, only showing Luc and Daniel from the waist up. One ran a picture of Luc holding Daniel’s head tenderly once he had realised they had spectators. Luc admired this picture even more than he admired the others. There was a beauty about it which melted him. It showed their love starkly. As for the more salacious pictures, the full
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uncensored versions were available rapidly on the Internet. If Luc had been a porn surfer, he would have wanked over it without doubt. He and Daniel looked amazing. If he could have persuaded Daniel to post their own home video on the net, he would have done it eagerly. Even the French newspapers got in on the act. Le Figaro had the picture too, surmising this would not hurt Luc’s career in the slightest, but perhaps damage Daniel’s. Meanwhile, Daniel’s phone rang incessantly. Friends, colleagues, journalists. Luc politely told them all Daniel was unavailable and then got fed up after a few hours and switched it off. He had his security move on a few hardy journalists who had been camping out outside his apartment building.
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After a few days of leaving Daniel to his own devices, enough was enough. Luc came home early from work, leaving a pot of homemade chocolate sauce on the bedside table. A bargaining tool to bring Daniel around. He stripped off his clothes and crawled into bed with him, trailing a hand lovingly over Daniel’s shoulder. “Do you still love me?” Daniel sighed. He turned onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. “Of course I do.” “Then think of how you can show it in public now everyone knows. We can go out together. I can talk about you in interviews. I can dedicate my new dishes to my wonderful man on my TV show. I can let everyone know how much I love you. And we can have a wedding that makes Hello magazine cream itself.” “And my mother?” “Your mother’s going to burn in hell.”
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“See, there you go again. You’re not helping.” Daniel sat up. Luc slid over. He pressed his face into Daniel’s belly, holding his hips, dropping light kisses. “Mon amour, your mother has disowned you. All you have is me, and I’m here and I love you. You will never be lonely or feel afraid with me next to you. I will never, ever let you down, I swear to you.” Daniel looked at him. He stroked Luc’s hair tenderly. “I’m so ashamed.” His voice was almost a whisper. “My love for you is private. I don’t need to announce it from the rooftops. I don’t need people to know which way I swing. It was a thrill to come home to you at night and be safe behind locked doors. Now everyone knows about us, and they will never, ever leave us alone.”
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“Yes, they will,” Luc insisted. He lay Daniel down and held him close. “By the end of the month we’ll be old news, someone’s fish-and-chip papers. No one will be interested. I promise.” Daniel closed his eyes. He put his arms tightly around Luc.
Sometime later, Daniel stirred in his sleep. He felt soft lips against his face, pressing kisses to his eyes, his temples, his nose. For a moment he forgot his anguish as he turned his mouth to Luc’s, seeking. Luc kissed him and explosive desire ignited in the pit of Daniel’s stomach, shocking and sudden. He pushed Luc back fiercely, clambering on top of him. Their eyes met, his lover’s silvery eyes flashing with passion and adoration. Daniel pressed his weight
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down on him, his erection against Luc’s, holding his lover’s hands beside his head on the pillow. “You’ve ruined me as I always knew you would, but I still love you.” Luc lay still, looking up at him. It was not often his face wore such a serious expression. “Don’t say that. I haven’t ruined you. This is your gateway to bigger and better things. You can be a TV star. You can write for gay magazines. And who says you even have to work? I have enough money for you to be my kept man.” “So you’d be happy if I lay around your apartment all day doing nothing, would you?” “Yes, I would. You’re my man, why should you have to work?” Daniel smiled slowly. He let go of Luc’s hands. “Then perhaps I’ll take an extended break. I’m tired of eating food for a living. I’m getting fat.”
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Luc’s hands traced Daniel’s flat abdomen, then moved down to stroke his stiff shaft. “I assure you you’re not. You can help me at the restaurant.” Daniel caught his breath, pushing himself into the deliciously milking hand. “Oh really?” “Oui, you can be my muse. You can lie on my work bench naked while I’m preparing food so I can just look at you to get inspiration.” Daniel laughed. “I love you.” “And I love you. Helplessly, hopelessly and madly.” Daniel reached down to touch Luc. He slid Luc’s hard cock through his hand and then fondled his balls, rolling them, squeezing them, just the way Luc liked. “Can I make love to you?” “Of course.”
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“Thank you. But first…” Daniel slid beneath the covers. “I’ve been wanting to give you a blowjob for days.” Luc groaned. “Before you start,” he said as Daniel sucked him down eagerly, “I brought this from work.” Daniel lifted his head above the duvet to see Luc reaching a bowl from the bedside table. “It’s a new chocolate sauce I made with vanilla and amaretto. I wonder if you’d mind licking it off my cock and telling me what you think?” Daniel rolled his eyes. Some things never changed. His mother was gone, he was probably the talk of Britain and he had given up work. Some things which would always remain constant, however, would be Luc and his ego. And their love.
About the Author
To learn more about Scarlet Blackwell please visit http://scarletblackwell.com/default.aspx. Send an email to Scarlet at
[email protected] Look for these titles by Scarlet Blackwell
Now Available: Life Class Just Desserts
When at first you don’t succeed, turn up the heat!
Just Desserts © 2010 Scarlet Blackwell Table for Two, Book 1 French chef Luc Tessier is five-star successful. His cookery program on TV is rated as high as his restaurant, and casual flings are his specialty. The only stain on his toque is Daniel Sheridan, an English food critic who has made it his business to ruin Luc’s reputation. The only way to clarify this particular pat of butter is to invite the critic to dine and bury the hatchet— preferably in Daniel’s back. The moment he lays eyes on Daniel, however, Luc’s thoughts turn from sauces to seduction.
Daniel definitely finds Luc appetizing, but he plays it cool. He never wants to be anyone’s toy, ever again. Yet in the face of Luc’s relentless pursuit, he’s finding it harder to keep the flamboyant chef at arm’s length. A cooking competition on a remote Scottish island seems the perfect way to put some distance between them. Until Luc shows up to compete, determined to win not only the trophy, but Daniel’s heart… Warning: Ingredients include two extremely hot men determined to come up with a whole new definition for “sizzling”. Explicit use of food items could incite spontaneous nekkid food fights.
Enjoy the following excerpt for Just Desserts: It was seven-thirty. The restaurant was filled with women in jewels and men in tuxedos. Luc had a very
strict dress code, mainly because a man in a tux made him hard. It was only fair these guys should give something back to him after he had given them a gastronomic orgasm. He peeked through the serving hatch from the kitchen and watched people arriving, his heart beating far faster than it should. Soon he zeroed in on a man in a tuxedo being led across the room. Luc’s glance turned to a stare. If he had ever seen a more attractive man in his life, he could not remember. All his past conquests paled into insignificance beside this heavenly apparition. The man was about five-feet eleven-inches tall and perhaps thirty-five years old. He had a nicely proportioned body, not too lean, not too fat, a hint of muscle under his perfectly tailored tux, the shoulders and chest broad, the backside undeniably pert. He had
jet black, expensively cut hair, which was teased into luscious, shiny spikes by some no doubt outrageously expensive gum or paste. His skin was creamy white, his jaw strong and chiselled, shaved smooth as glass, his nose small and upturned, his mouth like a pink, pouting rosebud. Luc was quite possibly stricken with sudden love. If at least not love, it was definitely pants-splitting lust. He was so hard he could barely think for all the blood deserting his brain. He couldn’t see the colour of the man’s eyes. He thought that if he didn’t see them right then, he was going to die. He got a grip on himself firmly. Concentrate. This is how you will sabotage this evening, with your dick consumed with this patron instead of with the matter in hand. There would be time for getting to know this man
later. It would be his reward for pleasing Daniel Sheridan. Once the critic was going back to his hotel satiated, Luc would have all the time in the world to see what colour eyes the man with the black hair had when he was on his back beneath Luc staring up in adoration. He let his glance trail the man lingeringly for a few seconds more as he crossed the room, following Guillaume, weaving through the tables nimbly. There was another person with the black-haired man, a shorter blond man who was attractive, too, but in a less arresting way, and Luc wondered briefly if the two men were gay and idly toyed with the idea of having them both. Then Guillaume stopped at the table and pulled out a chair for the man with the black hair, and Luc’s heart about stopped on the spot. It was Daniel Sheridan’s
table, and it was Daniel Sheridan’s neatly place-marked seat into which the man lowered himself. Luc ducked back into the kitchen and pressed himself against the wall with the blood roaring furiously in his ears and his dick throbbing. No, he told himself, no. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. Why hadn’t someone warned him? All his staff must be in cahoots, that they hadn’t warned such a fearsome man-eater as Luc that Daniel Sheridan was the most exquisite specimen of masculinity on the planet. Even his manager and his agent had never remarked on Daniel’s obvious physical attributes, and surely they must have seen a picture of him before. It was some cruel trick, designed to sabotage the evening, Luc was convinced of it. Someone somewhere wanted him to fail tonight. How exactly could he cook
when all he could think of was his cock in the tight arse of his bitter nemesis? He groaned aloud. He rushed through the kitchen and out the door, where he climbed the spiral staircase at the back to his office. There he threw himself into his executive leather chair behind his desk and rapidly pulled his cock free from his black-and-white-checked pants. He leaned back, eyes closed, fist gripping his swollen flesh, pulling hard while he saw the man in the tuxedo behind his eyes. He adjusted his fantasies accordingly. This was Daniel Sheridan. Luc would have to dominate and possibly humiliate him. He imagined the other man down on his knees between his legs. Between sucks of Luc’s cock, Daniel would moan about how perfect the meal was and how it had made him so hard that he had
been touching himself beneath the table all evening. Luc would grip that perfect hair hard and force his head down over his cock. Daniel would take it without complaint. When Luc pushed him over the desk and ordered him to take his pants down, Daniel would beg him for it, telling him he was sorry for all the wicked words he had printed about him and pleading with Luc to punish him like the bad boy he was. Luc would find the nearest thing in his office—a ruler in his desk drawer—and strike Daniel on the bare arse several times until the food critic screamed in masochistic ecstasy. Then he would thrust into his depths, and Daniel would arch off the desk in delight, shouting that oh God, he was going to come right now and Luc was the best fuck he’d ever had in his life.
Luc growled and spurted over his hand and his starched white tunic. He settled back, panting, in his chair and then his eyes flicked open in panic. What in the name of God was he doing? His restaurant was full at seven-thirty on a Friday night and he was up here in his office spanking the monkey like a teenager? “Mon Dieu…” He moaned aloud in horror at his lack of self-control and jumped up, tucking himself away and looking for tissues. The time for this was later, when he intended to make his fantasies come true. When he intended to take true revenge on the Englishman once and for all.
The head waiter was in the kitchen screaming for him. Antoine Anelka, a middle-aged overwrought
Parisian native, had a temper to rival Luc’s and was the only one who dared to answer him back. “Zut alors, what are you doing?” Antoine cried when Luc rushed back and threw his apron on over the stains on his uniform. “Monsieur Sheridan is seated awaiting his hors d’oeuvres and you haven’t even started cooking them!” “Shut up and give him some canapés,” Luc muttered sullenly, opening the fridge and flinging out ingredients. “He’s already got them!” yelled Antoine. “He shows no interest in them whatsoever. He merely sits there with a face like a slapped arse and glares at me. Merde! What am I supposed to do?” He wrung his hands, pacing, his face scarlet.
“Someone get Monsieur Anelka a Valium please,” Luc said, surprisingly calm. “The time for breakdowns is later, Antoine. Pull yourself together or so help me…” And he brandished his favourite and sharpest knife at the head waiter to make his point. Antoine sank into an offered chair and mopped his perspiring brow with a spotted handkerchief. “Mon Dieu, you will ruin us all,” he muttered. Luc put some butter in a saucepan and ignored him. Much to his chagrin, he was thinking of Daniel Sheridan’s bare arse over his desk again and silently agreeing with Antoine’s assessment of himself.
Easy come, easy go…until the heart gets involved.
Pricks and Pragmatism © 2010 J.L. Merrow English student and aspiring journalist Luke Corbin should be studying. Instead he’s facing homelessness, thanks to the lover who’s just kicking him out of their posh digs. It’s not his first rejection—his father tossed him out at age sixteen—but Luke has no problem trading his favors for a home and security. Especially with rich, powerful, handsome men. Except now, with finals bearing down, there’s no time to be choosy. He needs a roof over his head and he needs it now. Even if it means settling temporarily for a geeky, less-than-well-off chemical engineer called Russell.
Luke's fully prepared to put out for the guy— because after all, in this world no one gets something for nothing. But Russell isn’t just a nerd; he’s an honourable nerd who wants to save himself for someone special. At first Luke is annoyed, but the more time he spends with Russell, the closer he comes to a devastating realization. He wants to be that someone special. Except he’s fallen for the one man he can’t seem to charm…
Enjoy the following excerpt for Pricks and Pragmatism: I clocked Russell the minute I walked in the door of the café. He was sitting on his own at a table in the corner playing with his mug, short stubby fingers moving nervously over the china. I was almost worried to say hello in case I made him spill his drink. Tom had
been right. Russell really wasn’t my usual type. He was… Well, he was a bit of a geek. Actually, he was a lot of a geek. Round face and too-long mousy brown hair, although at least he’d washed it. An actual beard to match; and we’re not talking a neatly trimmed goatee, either. He wore a shapeless sweater over a shirt his mum must have bought him, and glasses from Nerds’R’Us. No spots, thank God. He looked around thirty, although from what Tom had said he ought to be a lot nearer my age. Still, it wouldn’t be the first time Tom had given the truth the odd nip and tuck. Three weeks to Finals, I reminded myself. And beggars can’t be choosers. So I plastered on my best cheeky smile, pulled out the chair opposite him with a scrape and sat down. He looked up, startled, and just
managed not to drench me in coffee. “Hi, I’m Luke. You’re Russell?” “Er, yes,” he said, like he wasn’t really sure. “Nice to meet you.” He didn’t say anything else, just stared into his coffee cup as if helpful suggestions were going to spell themselves out on the foam on top. His fingers linked around the sides of the mug like he was giving it a cuddle. I wondered who’d taken away his security blanket. Maybe it was in the wash. “Coffee any good here?” I asked. Actually I’d been here a few times before and I knew it was shite. But they were really good about letting you hang around all day when it was cold outside, and one waitress in particular was always good for a free refill if you flashed her a smile.
Russell looked worried, like he thought it was some kind of test. “Not that I’m fussy, mind,” I added to put him at his ease. Never a truer word, and all that. “It’s—it’s all right, I suppose.” His eyes darted up to me briefly, and then returned to the safety of the coffee cup. “Their tea’s better,” he ventured. I shrugged. “Like I said, I’m not fussy. As long as it’s hot and wet, it’ll do me.” I leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table, and made my tone low and suggestive. Habit, really, more than an urgent desire to get into Russell’s C&A slacks. Russell blushed. Ye gods. Well, at least his innuendo detectors were working just fine. “Tom said…he said you needed somewhere to stay for a bit,”
he said, looking up briefly from under his hair and then ducking back down for cover again. “Yeah,” I said. “I know it’s a pain, but I need somewhere by the weekend. Tom reckoned you might be able to help me.” He still wasn’t looking at me, which wasn’t helping at all, so I made my voice as warm and seductive as possible and reached across the table to place a hand on one of his. He jumped a bloody mile and this time he did spill the coffee. “Shit! Oh, God, sorry!” “Hey, don’t sweat it,” I told him easily, seeing as about one drop had gone on my sleeve and the rest was soaking into his sweater. Shame it hadn’t gone in his lap, but I made the best of it. I must have used half the paper napkins in the place to mop him up, even the bits that didn’t strictly need it. He appreciated it. Believe me,
I could tell. “Come on, we’d better get you home and into some dry clothes,” I said, taking his arm.
Russell lived in a development near the docks. Not the posh end, by Ocean Village where Sebastian lived so he could go and wank over his yacht any time he wanted, but it wasn’t totally downmarket. His flat was on the second floor, up four flights of stairs. It was all right, I suppose. Nothing like Sebastian’s, of course, but I’d known I wouldn’t get that lucky again. There was a tiny hall that led into a smallish lounge/diner, with other doors off that must be to bed and other rooms. “Great place you’ve got here,” I said, slinging my rucksack on the floor.
Russell looked pleased. “You like it? I know it’s a bit bare—I haven’t had time to do it up much yet.” “No, it’s great,” I told him, walking past the squashy, lived-in sofa to the window. “That view is amazing,” I added, with a lot more sincerity this time. The flat looked out over Southampton Water, and you could see the lights of ships passing by underneath in the twilight. Farther up to one side was a bridge over the river with tiny little cars driving over it, visible only by their headlamps. Somehow it made me feel like we were right in the heart of things, but in our own little world; part of the city, but above it too. “It’s great, isn’t it?” Russell said, coming up behind me. “It’s why I bought the place. Just fell in love with that view. You look at that and you feel you can go
anywhere, do anything.” It was more words than he’d strung together the whole time in the café. “Yeah? You always lived here alone?” Russell nodded once, clamming up again. “I’ll just get changed.” He disappeared into what must be his bedroom, and I looked around a bit, checking out the bookshelves and the DVD collection like you always do, although hopefully I’d have plenty of time to do that later. There were the engineering books like you’d expect, and the complete works of Terry Pratchett snuggled up to Gormenghast and The Lord of the Rings, but there was also a whole shelf full of books in French, mostly crime stories, which made sense. You don’t need half as big a vocabulary to read thrillers in a foreign language as you do for science fiction. There were a couple of Arsène
Lupin paperbacks that looked familiar from my teenage years, and a solitary Maigret. It made me nostalgic for childhood holidays in Brittany. Back when my dad had still been speaking to me. “Do you speak French?” Russell’s voice had startled me, and I spun ’round. He’d changed into jeans and a baggy red T-shirt that made him look like his own kid brother. “Haven’t done in years,” I said, shrugging. He gave a shy smile. “You’d probably pick it up again all right if you tried. Um. Have you eaten?” “Not yet, no,” I told him with a smile, sitting on the well-stuffed sofa and putting my arm along the back. I casually rested my right ankle on my left knee, giving him a good look at my package. Laying my cards out on the table, so to speak. “What do you fancy?”
I watched him perch awkwardly on the edge of an armchair and tried not to sigh. He was like a tortoise, I decided. Retreating into his shell every time I tried to get close. Was he even actually gay? Still, as long as he let me stay here until the end of Finals, what did I care? I sat forward again. “If you’ve got some food in, I’m not bad at cooking. Or we could get a takeaway? If you’ve got the money, that is,” I added, as it was probably time we got the business details out of the way. “Tom told you I’m skint, right? So I can’t afford any rent, but I’m happy to pay my way in other ways. You know—you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Or, you know, any other bits you want scratching…” I left it hanging, but I didn’t lick my lips.
I’ve got some class. And he’d probably have run off screaming. I could see Russell’s Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed. “Tom said…he said you didn’t have any money.” He frowned. “But you don’t need to…you know.” He stopped, looking like he’d rather be at the salon getting a back, sack and crack. Shit. He wasn’t gay. I was going to kill Tom.
