Page 28 of Love Around the Corner

Leo came back to himself as his body began to cool.

He was sprawled on a rug, gazing up at Christmas lights glinting through the boughs of a beautiful tree, pressed against the naked form of Alfie Carter.

The man he loved.

He’d been in love with Camaro89 for months, but somewhere between Alfie first kissing him in the snow outside his shop and coming apart in his arms, Camaro89 and Alfie had blended into one man. And Leo loved him.

“You okay?” Alfie’s hand rubbed lazily along Leo’s arm, his voice a bass rumble in his chest.

Leo tipped his head to look at him. “Yes. You?”

Alfie’s answering smile looked bemused, as if he couldn’t quite believe where they were. “Very much okay, yeah.” He rolled them until Leo was on his back, head cushioned by Alfie’s arm, and they kissed, tasting of sex and warm heat. “We should get dressed,” Alfie said, “before we freeze.”

They laughed and shivered as they hunted around the living room for their clothes, apparently scattered to the four winds, but eventually Leo had found underwear, jeans, a t-shirt and his sweater.

“Is this yours?” Alfie asked, holding up a billfold.

“Yeah.” It must have fallen out of his jeans, along with his phone.

Alfie set them both on a side table next to the sofa, reaching over with a distracting glimpse of bare midriff to switch on a lamp at the same time. Warm light flooded the room, glowing on blond wood floors, a grey stone fireplace and wood burner, dimming the lights on the Christmas tree that stood in the corner by the window. Outside, Leo saw the frantic whip of falling snow against the glass, heard the wind howl down the chimney.

Alfie reached for his flannel shirt and slipped it on. “It’s wild out there,” he said, following Leo’s gaze.

“It got pretty wild in here,” Leo said, earning a broad grin that melted him from the inside out.

Alfie crossed the room, padding over the floor in his socks, and tugged Leo into his arms. “C’mere,” he said, and just hugged him, breathing deep.

Hardly usual hookup behavior, but this was no hookup. This was something else entirely, this was the culmination of a year of slow-building friendship and love—only Alfie didn’t know it. Leo put his arms around him and squeezed, burying his face against Alfie’s shoulder, and let all his fears blow away with the snowstorm. They were for the morning, for the real world. Tonight, there was only them. And it was perfect.

Leo’s stomach began to growl and Alfie laughed, arms tightening before letting go. “Let’s feed the beast,” he said, poking Leo gently in the belly. “I think I’ve got a couple frozen pizzas.”

While they cooked, Leo nosed around Alfie’s living room, taking in the shelves of audiobook CDs.

“I’ve got most of them on my phone now,” Alfie said, slipping an arm around Leo’s waist and offering him one of the craft beers he enjoyed so much. “But I like being able to see them. They’re like old friends.” He cast Leo an adorably shy look, given what they’d just done together. “If you want to borrow any of them, feel free.”

“I would,” Leo said, running his fingers over the titles. “I can’t believe I’ve never thought of engaging with books like this.” Although, in the privacy of his own mind, he admitted that he’d had something of a snobbish aversion to the idea—as if the act of reading words on paper was inherently superior to hearing them read aloud. Stupid, now that he thought about it, but then rather a lot of his recent ideas had turned out to be stupid.

There were DVDs on the shelves too, and among them Leo spotted a number of familiar and favorite titles. “P&P,” he said, pulling out the case. “The Colin Firth version.”

“If you tell me you prefer the other one, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“Please.” Leo made a face. “Give me some credit.”

Alfie kissed him soundly on the temple. “I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

“Do you want to…?” Leo looked at him, caught those smiling dark eyes. He and Camaro89 had planned to binge watch the show together on Christmas day, and suddenly all Leo wanted to do was cozy up and watch together, in real life. “We could watch an episode or two maybe?”

“Absolutely.” Alfie’s face filled with astonished delight, as if the sun had chosen to rise in Leo’s eyes. “I think you might be my soulmate,” he said with a shaky laugh that did nothing to dilute the intensity of his words.

Leo’s heart juddered, losing its rhythm.I think so too, he wanted to say, but kept it to himself. Instead, he caught Alfie’s laugh, giving it back to him as he leaned in to kiss his smiling lips.

So they ate pretty decent frozen pizza snuggled up together on the sofa, while the snow fell outside and Darcy and Elizabeth began their to-and-fro courtship on screen.

It was impossibly perfect.

Later, when even Austen couldn’t distract them from each other, Alfie took Leo by the hand and led him upstairs to his bedroom. This time, they undressed with more decorum and slid, naked, beneath the heavy covers, finding each other between cool sheets, kissing and touching, sliding against each other in an intimate, unchoreographed dance.

They fit so well. Alfie’s gorgeous, muscled body seemed made for Leo’s touch, their legs entwined, hard cocks thrusting together in the spaces between them, hot and slick. Alfie’s hands ranged all over Leo’s back, into his hair, over his ass, his mouth a wet heat against the bolt of Leo’s jaw, his throat. “Incredible,” he murmured, breathing the words hot against his skin. “This is so… God, I feel somuch.”

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