Page 47 of Counterpoint
The walk with Adrian had been enlightening and humbling, and had set Dom’s head spinning. They spent some time watching a pickup basketball game, found a spot neither of them had eaten at before for lunch, and on the way home had even bought a pie from a place Adrian claimed was the best pie shop in all of New York.
All the while, Dom marveled at the man next to him, the one with the huge heart and stunning eyes. The one with old pain in his past, and a touch that could be tender or commanding.
He still wanted to kneel beside him, wrap his arms around him, and give him as much of himself as he could.
But he didn’t know howmuchthat was. He talked a little about his childhood in New Jersey, how supportive his parents had been when he’d come out in high school and realized that his infatuation with boys wasn’t atalla phase. He talked about his friendship with Ray, though he didn’t name him. Trips to the shore. His love of music and history, graduating with a bachelor’s in the latter and a minor in the former. How he’d waited tables while at Montclair State University. His trips into New York with his classmates. Clubbing. Listening to the buskers whenever he saw one.
“Did you ever busk?”
Dom shifted on the stool by Adrian’s breakfast counter. They were in his kitchen again, with Adrian at the stove working on dinner. Lamb chops and stir-fried vegetables. Seasoned rice. The place smelled fantastic.
“No. I...get stage fright a lot, especially performing solo. It’s not so bad in groups.” Thrilling even, now that he had Domino to put on. Much better than the wreck he used to be in public. He looked down at his nails. Most of the time on tour he painted them random colors that would chip as soon as he played, even when he used a pick. He hadn’t worn polish in months.
“Hence being in a band.”
Dom heard the question in Adrian’s voice...and ignored it. “Exactly.”
Adrian shook the skillet of vegetables on the stove and mixed them again. “You have a passion for more than history I think, given your interests in literature.”
“I haven’t met a book I didn’t like.”
At that, Adrian turned around completely and raised an eyebrow in utter disbelief.
Dom couldn’t help laughing. “Okay, yes I have. There’s a lot of books I can’t stand. But I’ll start pretty much anything you put in my hands, and read until I can’t.”
“I do hope you have a good level ofcan’tbecause there’s so many books in this world...”
And so many two floors above his head in that lovely attic of Adrian’s. “When I was young, I used to read everything to completion, but now? Yeah,can’tcomes a lot faster than it used it. A lot.”
Adrian’s lips twitched a bit. Subtle, but Dom still caught the smirk he was trying to hold back. It was rather like the ones both Ray and Zavier got sometimes. “What?”
Adrian glanced over his shoulder, eyes a mockery of innocence. “Oh, nothing.”
Dom slipped off the stool and joined Adrian at the stove. He placed his hand at the small of Adrian’s back. “Nothing?” He nuzzled at that tempting neck. “I don’t think so.”
Adrian hissed. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to distract the cook?”
“It’s nothing,” Dom said.
Adrian turned off the gas on the burner, set down the wooden spatula. The next thing Dom knew, his arms were pinned behind his back and Adrian had him up against the fridge, scattering magnets and papers to the floor, thigh between Dom’s legs and mouth inches from his own. “Not nothing at all.”
“You first.” Dom licked at Adrian’s mouth, and that earned him a groan. Adrian’s thigh pressed against Dom’s swelling cock.
“You’re not at all old.” Adrian kissed the side of his mouth. “And you’re delectable. After we eat, I think I want to savor more of your ink.”
That didn’t help the state of Dom’s dick. Or did. Depended on which way he wanted this to go.
“Your turn.” Adrian sucked on Dom’s neck.
“Fuck.”
That only earned him a chuckle and a nip to his earlobe, which made him unable to think at all. He squirmed against the refrigerator and Adrian’s hard body, his limbs on fire. Felt so good, so real, so right.
“Want me to make you come, babe?” Adrian’s hot breath tickled his face and his teeth scraped against Dom’s stubble. “An appetizer before dinner?”
God, Adrian could make him hard and hot in an instant. “What...whatever you want.” Because he couldn’t decide. Waiting was its own pain and pleasure. But this—oh god, he would die from this, too.
Adrian let out a breath that was pure bliss. “Ah, thank you for that.”
