Page 62 of Meeting Mr. Adorkable
“So I never looked amazing before my miraculous make over?” Lucian stood up and laughed, but it was nervous and unsure.
“I thought you were amazing from the moment I first saw you. Even with your glasses.”
He said it as a joke, to take the edge off whatever it was Lucian was feeling, but hadn’t that been true? As a flicker of doubt flared in Lucian’s eyes, he knew he had to do something, anything, to make Lucian believe him.
Arlo took his hand and led him out onto the porch. The night was clear and bright, the stars scattered diamonds, backlit by the full moon.
A full moon, when madness ruled the world. Arlo had never felt as sane as he did in that moment.
Sitting close, he could feel the warmth of Lucian’s body, and smell his cologne, heady with a soft hint of the roses Lucian loved so much; he breathed in deep, drenching his senses. All around them, the air fizzed and crackled with electricity, growing heavy as though a storm was rolling in from the mountains, gathering strength to break over their heads. But whatever sparked in the atmosphere, it came from them and them alone.
Arlo licked his lips and took a steadying breath.
“Tonight, I asked you something.” He stopped, as a sudden fear fell on his shoulders. The question he’d asked… Why the sudden doubt when there had been none earlier? Whatever the answer he’d been so confident of, he had to know for sure. He had to hear Lucian tell him, to confirm or deny.
“You asked me,” Lucian said slowly, carefully, as if finding his way, “if it was what I wanted. I don’t think you were asking about me being interviewed with you.”
“No.”
Lucian said nothing. Next to Arlo, he was so still, and Arlo hardly dared to breathe. Overhead, a shooting star burst through the sky. A shooting star was an omen, and as Arlo’s breath burned in his lungs, he could only hope and pray the omen was good.
“It is what I want.”
Lucian’s voice was so quiet, so small, Arlo could have told himself he’d imagined it, but as Lucian turned to him, the moon lighting up his face, illuminating his smile and glittering in the dark blue depths of his eyes, Arlo knew the only thing he’d imagined had been his own doubts and fears.
The kiss was the sweetest Arlo had ever tasted, as they opened up to each other, as lips brushed lips, as tongues gently entwined. Tasting each other, feeling each other as if for the first time. But wasn’t it a first time? The two of them together, being what each truly wanted.
Lucian held his hand out, and Arlo took it with no hesitation.
“Come with me.” Lucian’s voice, so often edged with hesitation, was clear and sure, sending a frisson dancing the length of Arlo’s backbone.
In silence, he let Lucian lead him through the house and up the sweeping stairway to the bedroom. The blinds were fully open, allowing the moonlight to stream through, painting the walls, the floor, the ceiling and the bed in warm, waxy light.
Lucian released his hand, and they stood facing one another, breathing the other in. Close, yet not touching. The only sound in the room was the rapid beat of Arlo’s heart.
“lt feels different. To before, I mean,” Lucian whispered. “Don’t you feel it too?
Arlo nodded. “Do you want it to be different?” he rasped.
“No. And yes. I sound stupid, don’t I?”
“You don’t. Maybe we should just let everything be what it’ll be.” Arlo took a step closer, cupping Lucian’s face and pressing a kiss to his lips.
Lucian sighed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Arlo’s neck, pushing his body close. Arlo’s breath hitched as Lucian’s arousal met his own thickening cock. Lust, desire, want, need, the strands weaving together, all of them held fast by something deeper and stronger.
It would be so easy to give themselves up to each other, to gorge like starving men. But… He stepped back and drew in a deep breath.
“Arlo?” Doubt filled Lucian’s voice, and Arlo pressed a finger to his lips.
“I wanna take this slow. I want us to remember tonight. Always.”
Every touch. Every caress. Every gasp, every moan, every sigh. He wanted to remember every moment, and lock it deep inside his heart.
“Let me undress you. Let me take it all off, piece by piece. Let me take you apart, piece—”
“By piece,” Lucian murmured against Arlo’s finger, before he sucked it into the molten, wet heat of his mouth.
“Jesus.” Arlo’s muscles twitched and jerked as Lucian sucked in a second, then a third, slipping his lips down to the knuckles, pulling back before again sliding down. His eyelids fluttered to a close. His cock pulsed in his boxers, its push to be free from the constraints of material exquisitely painful. Lucian moaned as he pulled away with a wet pop.
