Authors: TJ Nichols
He liked having that effect on people.
He wanted to know what effect he was having on Kyle. He’d seen the desire in his eyes, they’d had a nice dinner and surfed after class all week, but there was a distance that Roone couldn’t quite work out.
There was no point in dancing around if he liked someone. He let them know. If it wasn’t returned, then there was nothing lost, or at least that was how it worked at home. Humans seemed to be a lot more cautious, as though they only got so many chances or every rejection was going to cause injury.
Were elves careless with their affections?
Or simply more willing to take a chance?
He glanced at Kyle as he drove. Kyle was paying attention to the evening peak hour traffic and trying not to swear out loud. The words were forming silently on his lips. His nose scrunched as someone cut him off.
Roone didn’t say anything, but he was sure that had he not been in the car the cursing wouldn’t have been silent. Kyle was being good without even realizing.
Maybe that was part of the problem. “Do you often get together with students?”
Kyle’s gaze flicked across and then back to traffic. “No. Never. I’m there to work, and they are there to learn how to surf and survive in the surf.”
“I’m glad you broke your rules for me.” Roone wanted this one last affair. Then after Christmas he was going to sit down and think about what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. He had until the last day of the year. While everyone else partied, he’d be having a meeting. He’d start the new year either as a human or an elf in the North Pole.
He’d much rather be an elf in the human world, but that wasn’t really an option.
Kyle’s shoulders dropped a fraction. “What about you? Been sleeping your way around the world?”
Roone laughed. Yes, he’d had lovers on every continent. Beautiful men who had all shared something of their lives with him and let him experience their passion for art or history or horse riding or music or dancing. Those glimpses were important because he was trying to work out what he loved, and what he wanted to do with his life. “I’ve been making the most of my year off.”
“Tell me more. I’ve never even left the state.”
“Really?”
“Really. I make enough to get by, but not enough to pack up and take off for a year.”
Depending on where Roone had been, he’d got by on very little. Other places he’d done everything and spent a lot. But there was always money on the card, and no one from the Pole had ever come and told him off. He hadn’t run into another elf or even ex-elf on his travels. Would he have recognized an ex-elf? He didn’t know. If he became human, his ears would lose their points. He almost reached up to check they were still there, hidden by his hair.
“Where do you want to hear about? Europe is full of history. You could spend years there and not see it all. The castles, museums. Towns perched on hillsides. Vineyards for miles.” His toes curled as he remembered stamping grapes and the kisses that had followed. “Africa is full of the wild… going there I imagined that must have been what most of the world had once looked like many years ago. Small tribes, forests and jungles.”
“You really have been around the globe.”
“I haven’t even mentioned America yet, or Asia.” The only place he hadn’t been was the South Pole. But he’d been trying to avoid snow this year.
He was kind of missing the cold.
“Now you’re just making me jealous.”
“So if someone gave you a holiday for Christmas you’d take it?”
Kyle was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know. This is everything I know.” He shrugged. “Besides, I never got what I wanted for Christmas.”
Roone frowned. “Never?” That wasn’t right. Kids who believed always got what they wanted. It wasn’t direct the way it had once been, because they wanted different things. Instead the suggestion was whispered to the parents.
Kids who didn’t believe, well, they couldn’t be helped because the elves couldn’t hear their heart’s desires.
Had Kyle been a nonbeliever? The idea was horrifying. He’d never been with anyone who had never believed. Kyle would never believe in him. It was a reminder that, as much as he was enjoying their time together, it was just for fun. He shouldn’t want more anyway. If he couldn’t make up his mind about his own life, he didn’t get to drag anyone else along for the ride.
“Never. I had a few different foster families, and money was always tight. My second family would take me to the shopping center to sit on some old dude’s knee, and I’d play along, but I knew it was never going to happen.”
“But kids naturally believe.”
“Only if their parents don’t burst their bubble. My bubble got busted early by my real parents.” He parked in a bay behind a white block of flats. “I don’t normally speak about this stuff.”
“Maybe you needed to.” It was sad that Kyle had never had the chance to believe in magic when it was real and all humans had to do was believe in it. Really believe, not just say they did. It had to come from the heart. Few adults seemed to be able to keep that faith alive, and instead it was replaced by rules and dogma as their spirits got ground down. That had been the bad side of his travels. He’d seen a lack of belief in magic and hearts that no longer wanted to feel. “I don’t mind listening.”
He wanted to give Kyle a chance to believe again, if only for a little while. Maybe give him a Christmas he’d never forget. But Roone could only do that if Kyle let him. Kyle didn’t know what he needed was so close… touching distance.
Kyle shook his head. “I don’t want to bring down your holiday. Maybe you should find someone who doesn’t suck this time of year.”
Roone put his hand on Kyle’s thigh. “I want you.” He leaned forward a fraction, then closer again. Would Kyle let himself be kissed, or would he resist?
Kyle didn’t move, but that meant he didn’t pull away either. His breathing quickened as Roone moved closer. Heat slid through Roone’s body, more potent than the sun. A first kiss was always magical. It could be the start or end of something—not every first kiss led to more.
He hoped this one led to more. Right now there was no other human he wanted and no other human who was so in need of a touch of magic in his life. The car radio was still playing, and the AC was cool on his skin as his lips brushed softly over Kyle’s.
Roone didn’t draw back straightaway. He left the next step up to Kyle. Kyle’s hand lifted to touch Roone’s jaw. Then he returned the kiss with equal care, as though expecting it to all fall apart.
The caution made Roone’s chest tighten with anticipation. He’d been with men who possessed and took control. It had been exciting at the time to incite such need. But this was more. In that soft kiss, Kyle had revealed a vulnerability. A need to be wanted without daring to hope.
For a moment Roone was tempted to seek more. To let his tongue dance over the other man’s lips and seek the wet heat of his mouth. But he didn’t. He eased back and enjoyed the growing hunger in his blood, knowing the need would be more than sated later.
Kyle released a shaky sigh. “Let’s go in before one of us gives in.”
“Yeah.” That was a very good idea. He opened the car door, and the warm evening air swept over his skin. Despite the breeze it was still hot. He lifted his gaze to the sky, the sunset staining the heavens a glorious pink and deepening to orange. He was glad he was ending his year in Western Australia. Summer and sunsets.
The other car door shut. “Come on. You can watch the sunset from the balcony.”
Roone knew that wouldn’t be happening. He followed Kyle up the stairs to the third floor. The complex wasn’t huge, not like the ones he’d seen in the States. Only four floors, but it was long and swept around in an L.
Kyle’s place was neat. Nothing expensive but just enough. He opened the sliding door to the balcony and gathered up the beach towels that had been hanging there.
“Occupational hazard. I always have wet towels, trunks, and wetsuits.” He dumped the dry towels on the sofa.
“When you live in snow most of the year, you get used to having wet stuff drying around the place.” Gloves and coats steaming in the heat, boots left by the door. “The cold is a good excuse to cuddle up with someone.” Roone gave Kyle a small grin.
“No excuses here… cold drink?”
“I’m good.” He stepped closer. “Maybe later when I need to cool down.” He put his hand on Kyle’s hip. Would he pull away or move closer?
His heart was going to break out of his chest with expectation and need. His body thrummed with lust. Kyle took one step closer. There was still a gap. That moment between hope and reality. If Kyle didn’t kiss him in the next three seconds, Roone was going to make the next move.
Another step, just enough that every slight movement brought their bodies into contact. Roone shifted slightly so he could feel the length of Kyle’s erection against his hip. There was no denying the attraction. But there was no rush either. Neither of them had anywhere to be later.
Kyle slid his hand under Roone’s T-shirt, around his waist, then tugged him closer. Body to body now, they kissed. Gone was the tentativeness of before. This was hard and hungry. His mouth was hot as his tongue sought entrance.
In a few quick motions, shirts were shed and tossed on the floor. It was one thing to see Kyle every day for the past week but another to have him in his arms and feel no doubt that they wanted the same thing. The last week had been a dance of attraction and glances without anything happening.
Roone rolled his hips, enjoying the friction but wanting to feel skin. He tugged on Kyle’s shorts, inching them down until Kyle took over and pulled them off. He then finished undressing Roone. Naked, they tumbled onto the sofa.
Kyle lay beneath him, his eyes dark with lust. They had never talked about what was going to happen or how it was going to happen. Some people liked that; they had expectations and needs.
“Did you want to stay here?” Roone whispered against his lips.
“I think so.” Kyle rocked his hips, and the hard length of him rubbed against Roone.
He was not inclined to move either. Not if Kyle was going to keep moving like that. Roone took a deeper kiss and pressed closer, thrusting.
Kyle moaned; his hands gripped Roone’s ass as they moved together. There would be time for more later. To taste him, to find out what else Kyle liked. Roone liked it all. The connection. The magic that was created when two people opened up for a moment and shared something intimate. That would be what he’d miss if he went home. Magic was like air in the North Pole. It wasn’t special.
Kyle gripped him harder, their hips moving in synch. Kyle’s eyes closed as the shudder raced through him. Roone felt the wet heat spread between them as Kyle came, and it was enough to tip him over. He ground against Kyle as the need to come took over and left him breathless.
His arms felt weak and his skin too hot as he lingered, unwilling to pull away and end it so soon.
Kyle opened his eyes. “I have been waiting all week for that.”
“Yeah.” So why hadn’t they just dropped the pretense and gotten on with it? But he knew, and it would be too hard to explain to Kyle the way elves made people behave.
Roone tried to catch his breath, his chest still heaving. He kissed Kyle again. The desperate need was gone, but he still wanted to taste him. Kyle pushed Roone’s hair back and paused. A frown formed as his fingertips traced the angular shape of Roone’s ear.
For a moment Roone couldn’t move. What would Kyle say? If people noticed—most didn’t—sometimes Roone played dumb and said he had weird ears. His ears weren’t long the way they made elves’ ears look in movies. They were just a little pointy. Okay, quite pointy compared to curved human ears. Some humans had assumed it was surgical body modification, and Roone had let them believe that. The truth would be too much for them.
A few knew what he was when they saw his ears. They believed immediately. He wanted Kyle to be one of those people so he could talk about magic without sounding like an idiot. Roone’s heart tightened.
Kyle traced the shape of both ears now. Roone stared at his lover as the frown deepened. Then Kyle blushed and looked away.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have… I just….”
“It’s okay. I know I have odd ears.”
For a human, but then I’m not
, it was on the tip of his tongue to say. He wanted to share the truth so badly. But as they lay there with the sweat and come drying between them, now wasn’t the time to overshare and risk ruining the moment. “It runs in the family.”
Roone pushed himself up and stole another glance at the lean, golden body of his lover. If sunshine could be captured, Kyle would be it. From the top of his sun-bleached hair to the tan lines on his feet from wearing flip-flops. Kyle was right; Roone’s skin was still as pale as a snowflake.
Kyle glanced at Roone’s ears again, opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, then closed it and got up. He grabbed one of the dry towels and wiped his stomach before handing another over. “Bathroom is that way if you want to grab the first shower.”
W
HEN
THE
sound of running water filtered through Kyle’s flat, he released a sigh. Roone had a way of getting under his skin. No one else had ever seemed to know him or ever cared. Yet Roone was quite happy to be open about everything it seemed, including his cute but strange ears.
Elf ears.
Kyle couldn’t help the thought. It was Christmas, and fake elves and fake Santas were everywhere. Not that there were real elves or a real Santa. If there were, he was sure his stocking would’ve had more than shoes and candy.
He should join Roone in the shower, if only to rinse, but he needed the distance. Otherwise he’d start revealing too much again. Not that Roone seemed to mind.
However, Kyle did. He’d stopped letting people get close years ago. He’d built up a thick noncommittal armor and drifted from lover to lover, not willing to share more than a bed.
He’d known he needed to change before he met Roone. They’d only known each other for a week. One more week and he’d be gone. But in that short amount of time, he’d grown closer to a lover than he’d ever been, and it was unnerving.