Page 37 of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
He wasn’t sure which of them moved first to close the gap, but that was a lie because it was definitely Kit, it was definitely, lamentably Kit who put his hand to the back of Percy’s head and held it there very carefully when he leaned closer. He moved slowly, carefully, as if giving Percy a chance to think twice.
His hand slid into Percy’s hair at the same moment their lips met. It felt familiar—not the brush of lips over lips, not the fact that he thought Percy might actually be smiling—but everything else. The way their bodies fit together. The sound ofPercy’s breathing. The way he smelled like lemons and soap. The sure grasp of his hand at Kit’s hip. All the fighting had made them familiar with one another’s bodies, and God knew they were used to wanting one another, so the only thing that was different was the actual fact of their mouths touching, the pure sensation of it.
And Percywassmiling, damn him. Kit could feel it with his own lips. It was probably that smug little smile that Kit really shouldn’t like half so much, and Kit was going to tell him to stop it, he really was, and that was why he opened his mouth. He got distracted by Percy’s teeth closing around Kit’s lower lip and biting down, not particularly gently. Kit gasped, like an idiot, like someone who needed to have the mechanics of kissing and possibly the anatomy of mouths explained to him, maybe with charts.
Percy licked into Kit’s mouth, and that was when Kit realized he wasn’t in charge of this kiss, not in the slightest. And that was good, but it was also like falling out a window, so he backed Percy up against a very conveniently located tree. He kept his hand at the back of Percy’s head, so he didn’t get hurt. Percy grabbed Kit’s hat and threw it to the ground. “In the way,” he muttered against Kit’s mouth, as if Kit needed an explanation, as if Kit gave a damn about hats, or anything that wasn’t Percy’s mouth.
Their bodies were flush against one another, and Kit was simultaneously relieved and embarrassed to discover that they were both hard. He felt like he ought to be cataloging all the ways this was different from kissing a woman, but it wasn’t, really. Not in any of the ways that mattered. He thought that he might be on the verge of some kind of profound revelation when Percy slid aleg between his own, and all Kit’s thoughts evaporated, only to be replaced by thefinally, finally, finallythat his heart seemed to say with every thumping beat.
Kit dragged his mouth away from Percy’s and began kissing his way down to the hinge of his jaw, then to the soft curve of his neck. He felt the flutter of Percy’s pulse beneath the thin skin there. He bit that spot, then gentled over it with his tongue. Percy groaned.
Kit pulled back to look at him, to take in the sight of Percy with his eyes half-closed and his lips swollen and wet, his cheeks red from rubbing against Kit’s stubble.
“I should stop,” Kit said.
“You should fuck me,” Percy countered. “You can, you know.”
There was something about Percy’s tone on those last words—prim, matter-of-fact—that made Kit feel slightly hysterical. He started to laugh.
“Oh, delightful,” Percy said. “Precisely what a man wants to hear in the middle of a tryst.” He shoved Kit half-heartedly with one palm.
“I can, can I?” Kit asked. “Christ. Everyone who’s spent more than a quarter of an hour at the coffeehouse over the past month knows I can. My God, you are a lot of things, but subtle isn’t one of them.”
“I am plenty subtle. Just not with you, because you’re clearly not a man who understands nuance. I take it you aren’t interested in fucking me.”
“I’m very interested,” Kit said with a helpful gesture toward his prick as corroborating evidence. “But we’re in the middle of the woods.”
“It’s really more of a stand of trees,” Percy said, hooking afinger into the top edge of Kit’s buckskins and tugging him close again.
“Oh, well, in that case.” Kit rolled his eyes.
“You have a spider the size of a duck egg living in your stairwell. I thought you’d feel quite at home.”
“We are not fucking and then getting on horseback,” he said firmly. “I have abed.”
Percy’s counterargument was a slow, filthy kiss as he ground against Kit.
They were interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats and carriage wheels. Kit had nearly forgotten what they were doing there in the first place. He broke the kiss, pausing with his forehead against Percy’s as they caught their breath. “Your turn,” Kit said, gesturing at the road.
Stepping away from Kit, Percy peered out toward the road. “I would step out into the road at three, two,now.”
“Very good,” Kit said. “You’re a quick study.”
That made Percy go still, made the tips of his ears turn pink. “I try,” he said lightly but not meeting Kit’s eyes. They were a few steps away from one another now, and neither of them made any attempt to close the gap.
“That was really all I wanted to show you,” Kit said. “I wanted you to see for yourself, so you can get a picture of it in your head when we plan out the next stage. The actual robbery won’t be here, of course, but somewhere nearer to Cheveril Castle.” He swallowed, and for a moment the only sound was the rustle of dry leaves in the surrounding trees and the call of a distant bird. “But the principle is the same.”
“I suppose we ought to be getting back,” Percy said, still not meeting Kit’s eyes.
Kit agreed and went to untie the horses. He glanced around for a tree stump or fallen log that he could use to mount the horse, annoyed that he hadn’t thought of that beforehand. He still wasn’t used to accounting for all the ways his abilities had changed since his injury, and was cross with himself for his lack of forethought.
“Here,” Percy said, making a cup out of his joined hands, as one would do to help a woman or a child mount a horse.
“I’m too heavy,” Kit said.
“Try me,” Percy said. And for lack of any better ideas, Kit did. He found that he wasn’t even surprised that Percy didn’t crumble under his weight. After he had a leg over the saddle, he felt Percy’s hands firmly grip his hips, steadying him. It ought to have been mortifying.
Maybe some of his thoughts showed on his face, because Percy squeezed his thigh. “Come on,” he said, mounting his horse and heading toward the road. Kit followed.
