Page 27 of Sparring Partners
Outside, Luca leant against the wall, his eyes closed.
“Luca?”
“Jonathan will be back soon. You know, the man I’m having dinner with this evening?” Luca opened his eyes. In the fading evening light, their blue was more grey, and the colour of an approaching storm.
“You’re not interested in him. I can see it in your eyes.” Adrian moved in closer, crowding him, so close the heat of Luca’s breath wafted against his throat. “Whatever you might be telling him, he wants one hell of a lot more than friendship. What’s the point of giving him false hope?”
“Who the hell do you think you are?”
Adrian staggered back from the sudden, unexpected force of Luca’s shove.
“I like him. I’ve told you, he’s?—”
“Pleasant. Nice. The most soulless words in the dictionary. Is that what you want?” Adrian moved closer, his voice dropping low.
“No, I?—”
“Good.”
Adrian crushed his lips to Luca’s. A moment’s hesitation, and Luca was kissing him back.
Their lips moved together, their tongues pushed deeper. White lights exploded against the solid blackness behind Adrian’s closed eyes. Their breaths were short, sharp and ragged, as they chased each other’s wet heat.
Adrian’s hands roamed down Luca’s back, tracing the contours of his spine before slipping beneath his shirt, skin on skin. He moaned into the kiss as his hands dropped to grip and squeeze Luca’s firm, round arse. Their bodies pressed close as though desperate to merge into one. Adrian groaned, his hips rolling as his solid arousal met Luca’s. Nothing else mattered, only this moment of pure, raw, unadulterated need.
Adrian forced himself to pull back, his chest rising high and falling hard with each laboured breath. “Put him off tonight. Say you’re feeling unwell.”
Luca shoved him away. He was breathing hard, his lips spit slick and swollen, the pupils of his eyes blown, but not enough to disguise his rising panic. Frantically, he ran his hands over his hair.
“What do you think you’re playing at? I’m not going to lie. I promised I’d have dinner with him, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Then tell him the truth. You’re already telling him lies, whether you admit it to yourself or not. Every time you accept an invitation for a drink, or a trip to the theatre, or a plate of Luigi’s fucking best spaghetti alio e olio, you’re lying to him.”
“The truth? And what the hell is that, exactly?” Luca hissed.
“That it’s not him you want to be with tonight.” Adrian planted his hands on the wall, either side of Luca, boxing him in. “If you did, you wouldn’t have let me kiss you. And you wouldn’t have kissed me back.”
Luca sagged against the wall, all his energy and fury deserting him. “Adrian, why are you doing this? Why are you?—”
“Luca? Are you there?” Jonathan’s voice drifted towards them from the pub, coming closer.
“Tell him, Luca. Tell him the truth. Please.”
Luca ducked out from under Adrian’s arms.
“Forget about what just happened. Forget all of it. Because I don’t just bail on people at the last moment. That’s not what I do.”
“But what youaredoing is agreeing to a date with a man you have no interest in, when you know he has other ideas.”
“I’ve told you?—”
“Luca? Is that you out there?” Jonathan’s voice was growing louder.
“Yes, sorry.”
The door burst open. Jonathan’s brows lifted in surprise, before falling into a frown. “Is everything all right out here? Luca, is anything wrong?” Jonathan wrapped an arm around Luca’s shoulder, and Adrian clenched his fists to stop himself from knocking it away.
“Everything’s fine.” Luca smiled up at Jonathan, his now calm voice at odds with the flush staining his cheeks. “It was a little warm inside, that’s all, so we came out here to chat. Let’s go. Good night, Adrian.”
