Page 38 of Just a Little in Love

Rowan still didn’t speak. Part of him worried he was in shock, and it was only stripping Gabriel’s own clothes off that caused any sort of reaction. He blinked when he realized Gabriel was getting undressed and took a hurried step backwards.

“I’m not letting you go in there on your own,” Gabriel said and stepped close, cupping Rowan’s cheek. “We’re going to get you all warm and dry. I’m going to make us some hot chocolate, then we’re going to snuggle up in bed.”

He kept the shower as non-sexual as he could even though he washed Rowan everywhere, including his hair. He stepped out first and briskly toweled himself dry, then turned off the water and took Rowan’s hand while he stepped out, then dried him gently but equally as thoroughly. He wasn’t surprised to see Rowan’s cock completely uninterested in any attention, but they would address that later. He tucked Rowan into his fluffy robe and headed to the bedroom, only to be stopped by Rowan.

“Pads,” he mumbled, and Gabriel’s insides clenched. He’d come so far in confidence this week, but tonight had probably set him right back.

“We will, but I want to put that special cream on you first.” Not giving Rowan a chance to answer, he steered him to the bedroom and laid a towel down. “Hop up. You can keep the robe on for warmth, but I want to check your skin.” Gabriel went back to the bathroom to get the Colloidal cream and in a few seconds, he was back. Rowan was on the bed, but the robe was still tightly fastened.

Gabriel took a breath. “What’s your safeword, boy?”

Rowan’s eyes widened. “Red,” he said hesitantly.

Gabriel nodded. “Then unless you safe-word, I’m going to make sure you aren’t sore and put this cream on.” Rowan didn’t reply at first, so Gabriel waited until he got a hesitant yes, then he undid the robe, took a second towel to check Rowan was dry properly, and unscrewed the top off the jar, breaking the seal. “Bend your knees, baby.”

Gabriel very gently checked the scarred areas on Rowan’s inner thighs, which looked a little red, and his creases, then got some cream on his fingers, warmed it, and then carefully touched Rowan’s skin. Rowan jerked, so Gabriel paused. “Did that hurt?”

Rowan shook his head.

“Give me a color baby boy”

Rowan hesitated. “G-yellow.”

“Good boy for being honest,” Gabriel praised, and Rowan managed a half-smile. “As your daddy, I explained that I need to look after my most precious possession. If you really hate this or it hurts, then I’ll stop, but I think it’s because you’re embarrassed after tonight. You can’t hide from your daddy.”

Rowan’s eyes widened but he didn’t respond.

Gabriel got some more cream and continued conversationally. “What you have to realize is—and I know this is hard—tonight wasn’t your fault.” Pink suffused Rowan’s cheeks, and Gabriel could see he wasn’t convinced. He wasn’t sure how to convince Rowan that Dennison was covering up for his own inadequacies.

“I got waylaid by a young woman on my way to find you. Someone from the club, but I didn’t know her name. Blond, curly hair, in her thirties, brown glasses?”

Rowan shook his head.

“So, not someone either of us know personally or is a good friend?”

“No, Daddy,” Rowan agreed.

“Well, she told me that you and a sub had bumped into each other, that it was no one’s fault, but that the older man—Dennison—was unnecessarily rude. Now, if it had been your fault, why would a stranger say it wasn’t?”

“I don’t know,” Rowan said.

“Exactly, they wouldn’t, so we’re putting that idiotic bully out of our heads now. No one else comes into our bedroom.” He glanced up at the shelf. “Well, maybe Frog and the two bears, but I’m hoping they’re not looking.”

Rowan’s smile was a little surer, and so was Gabriel’s hand, because he could feel Rowan respond to his touches for what might have been the first time. Lightly, because he didn’t want to scare his boy, his fingers crept closer to the hair surrounding Rowan’s cock. Careful not to add any cream because it would dry and pull, Gabriel talked about his job, his book, even that he’d ceremoniously destroyed it initially, although that was a tad dramatic as it was on his computer, but it had felt good at the time.

And Rowan responded. At first Gabriel didn’t even know if Rowan realized what was happening until Rowan let out a moan, and unable to stop himself, Gabriel bent and took those sweet lips in a kiss. Desperate to join the party, his own cock hardened, but apart from pressing against Rowan’s hip, he managed to keep it corralled. He would have a date in the bathroom with it once Rowan was asleep.

Rowan returned his kisses, hesitantly, shyly, but with each teasing swipe of his tongue, and pull of his fingers, Gabriel sent Rowan higher. He swallowed Rowan’s gasps, exulted in the breathless moans, and finally the pre-cum he teased gently from his tip. Gabriel almost lost himself in Rowan’s taste, in his smell, in the way he fitted so perfectly in his arms, until Rowan cried out and sticky warmth spread over Gabriel’s fingers. The towel he had abandoned would do, so Gabriel quickly wiped his hand, then hugged Rowan close as he trembled in his arms. Had he gone too far? Had it been too much for Rowan?

“I’m sorry if that was too much, too soon, but you don’t know what you do to my body.”

“What I do?” Rowan repeated incredulously, still coming down to earth.

Gabriel hugged him tighter. “I didn’t know I needed you till I had you in my arms.”

Rowan buried his head in the crook of Gabriel’s neck. “I’ve always needed you.”

Right there. That moment. Gabriel knew what he’d told Rowan about not promising forever, but he was all in. No one would ever hurt so much as a hair on his boy’s head ever again while ever he was alive to stop it.

---