A dishevelled blond head popped out. "I started without you."
The blood surged in Dorian's veins. "Did you now?"
"Yes." Benedict tossed back the covers. With legs spread and his hand around his cock, he smiled up almost demurely. The bottle of oil lay by his side. "I'm ready for you. Happy Christmas."
Dorian growled. He dropped his robe and Benedict laughed as he fell into his arms. They kissed deeply and Benedict sucked at his bottom lip before Dorian slid down his body, kissing all the way. Benedict's smooth skin puckered with goose pimples. He clutched Dorian's hair as Dorian slid down his shaft, swallowing him all the way to his stones.
Benedict was indeed ready. Dorian's questing fingers told him the whore had slicked himself with oil. He knelt back once he had Benedict suitably excited and poured some oil on his hand, rubbing his palm up Benedict's length.
Then he turned Benedict on his side with gentle hands and pressed into him. His lover uttered an oath. He pushed back, taking every inch greedily and Dorian reached around to stroke his prick while he mouthed his throat.
Benedict threw his head back, his skin burning hot, his face and chest flushed. He moaned steadily with every thrust into his depths. Dorian closed his eyes and let his climax wash over him shamefully fast. But Benedict followed hot on his heels, shuddering in his arms.
Dorian held him tight in the aftermath, a sticky hand over Benedict's heart and a silly smile on his face.
Benedict looked quite the proper gentleman in his suit and scarlet waistcoat, sitting facing Dorian at the dining room table and glancing across to see which knife Dorian used to butter his bread roll.
Dorian smiled at him. While Benedict took a leisurely bath, Dorian had looked in his jewellery casket to see if he had a suitable present to give Benedict at Christmas dinner. He wrapped a gold tie pin inlaid with a fiery ruby in a scrap of muslin and tied it with a black ribbon. Now he fished the gift from his pocket and passed it across the table.
"Happy Christmas."
Benedict paused with a spoonful of parsnip soup lifted to his mouth. "What's that?"
"A present."
Benedict looked suspiciously at it. "I don't need a present, sir. You paid me."
"This is extra. Because you saved me from throwing myself in the Thames last night."
Benedict's emerald eyes turned suddenly liquid. "Don't say that."
"It's true, sadly."
Benedict reached for the muslin with trembling fingers. He swept the back of his hand over his eyes before he pulled the ribbon free and let the tie pin drop into his hand.
"I would prefer you to keep it to remember me by, but if times become too desperate, you'll raise a substantial sum by selling it."
Benedict gulped. "I wouldn't sell it." He turned the pin over in his hand, held the ruby up to the light. He lifted his gaze. "Thank you." He rose from his seat and walked around the table, standing beside Dorian's chair. "Pin it on me?"
Dorian pushed the stick through Benedict's cravat. "How handsome you look."
Benedict looked down, admiring his present. Then he sank onto Dorian's knee and put his arms around his neck. Dorian kissed him on one closed eyelid. "Let's run away together, Benedict, you and I."
The prostitute stared down at him with disbelief all over his pretty face. "What?"
"We'll catch a train to Southampton and then take a ship from there. To France. Or New York if you prefer."
Benedict's open mouth was in danger of catching flies. "You're serious."
"Of course. Do you think I usually ask young men to run away with me?" Dorian smiled indulgently, feigning outward calm while his heart beat fiercely at the reckless words which had just fallen from his lips. They hadn't been in his mind until the moment Benedict's delicious weight settled on his lap, he swore they hadn't. He had never felt quite so carefree and excited by the future in his life.
"I… I don't know," Benedict stammered. "I don't think you're of sound mind, sir."
"I'm of perfectly sound mind," Dorian contradicted him. "I'll sell my house directly. I know a man with a family who is interested in buying it. We could go next week. Spend the New Year on the ocean." He slipped a hand up the back of Benedict's jacket and waistcoat to stroke him through his linen shirt.
"But… you know my dishonest trade. You can't think of making a life with someone as impure as myself."
"We're both impure Benedict," Dorian said. "We've both led wretched lives. But I won't be ashamed of what I am anymore. I can love you for as long as you want me to, if you say yes."
Benedict's jaw fell open again, perhaps at Dorian dropping the L word into the conversation. He closed his mouth, swallowed, tried visibly to compose himself. "All right then."
Dorian laughed loudly in glee. He pulled his lover close and Benedict clung to him, covering his neck with kisses. Dorian tasted wine as they kissed. Soup spilled across the table and dripped onto the floor as Dorian lifted Benedict onto the table's edge and divested him of his trousers and underwear. He fucked him there half-dressed, with Benedict's legs around him and a hand over his mouth to drown out his cries. The wine glasses shook and tipped, cutlery clanged together musically and the candles were snuffed out by a hasty breath from Dorian before they could burn the house down. The table rattled; bread rolls bounced onto the rug.
When Willis came to clear the
hors d'oeuvres
, he made no comment on the heap of sodden serviettes piled onto one plate or Dorian's request for more wine. He carried away the empty bottle without looking too closely at Dorian's guest's flushed, grinning face or the sparkling ruby in his cravat.
But Dorian looked. He devoured the beautiful Benedict greedily with once-jaded eyes and told himself this was the man for him. That he could begin to trust again. He had been deeply scarred by Richard and the viciousness of his reaction to Dorian's advances. He had sworn he would never love again, but maybe he could, somewhere nobody knew him, with Benedict by his side.
Benedict smiled over at him. "Tell me Dorian, are you going to pleasure me after every course?"
"Yes," said Dorian without a moment's hesitation.
"How many courses are there?"
"Five."
Benedict looked momentarily disconcerted, as though wondering how he might take it so many times. Dorian grinned at him. "There are many ways to pleasure a man, Benedict."
Benedict's smile was almost shy and it saddened Dorian to think that a seasoned Mary-Ann could be ignorant of pleasure. Perhaps it was why so many of Benedict's cries during lovemaking had sounded almost shocked. Like Benedict had never known ecstasy before. It was a crime that a man hadn't yet devoted himself full time to Benedict's pleasure. Dorian would change that.
He reached across the table and took Benedict's hand, interlacing their fingers.
"I want to start a new life with you," Benedict said, green eyes shining.
"And you shall," Dorian replied. "My prince."
Benedict blushed becomingly. Willis returned with the wine and while he set down the plates and returned to the kitchen for the food, Dorian poured them both a glass.
"To us."
"To us."
"Happy Christmas, Benedict."
Benedict lifted his glass. With the other hand he fingered the ruby in his cravat. His golden hair glowed in the candlelight.
Mist wreathed the slowly retreating English coastline, the dock shrinking as the ship nosed out of the harbour. Benedict and Dorian stood at the railing watching their country disappear.
That morning, watching Benedict drag his steamer trunk to their hotel room door, Dorian had stayed him with a hand on his elbow. Benedict had turned questioningly to him.
"It might be a while before I can kiss you again," Dorian said.
Benedict gave a soft murmur and folded himself into Dorian's arms. Dorian pressed him back against the door and kissed him. They stayed entwined that way so long that Dorian became anxious they would miss their ship. He drew back, cupped Benedict's flushed cheek in his hand.
"Is it wrong that I adore you so completely after only a week?"
Benedict smirked. "No. I'm an easy man to adore." But his eyes were soft, belying his arrogant words. He pressed his lips back to Dorian's, held them there.
They parted reluctantly, dreamy-eyed. All the way down the stairs with their luggage, Dorian watched Benedict's slender, elegant form in his black velvet suit and he admired this man with every fibre of his being for his grace, his strength of character.
The wind blew salt-scented spray against their faces. Dorian tasted it on his lips and longed to see if Benedict's lips tasted the same. He glanced around before he placed his gloved hand on his lover's.
Benedict turned gleaming green eyes on him. A scarf muffled his face as far as his nose and he wore a new, heavy overcoat. A top hat covered his golden hair and he carried the silver-topped walking cane, leaning on it. The cold weather made the pain so much worse, he'd told Dorian the day before, but massage made it better and Dorian had lifted Benedict's leg into his lap and eased the pain from his shattered kneecap with reverent fingers.
Benedict turned his hand over and entwined his fingers with Dorian's.
"Are you happy?" Dorian asked in a low voice, standing with his shoulder pressed to Benedict's, their faces turned towards the ocean, and away from prying eyes.
Benedict tugged the scarf away from his sensual mouth. "Yes," he said with a smile. "More than you know."
Dorian squeezed Benedict's hand. "My prince."
People had begun to drift away from the railing now that land disappeared into the distance and spray dampened them. Dorian took his hat off. He glanced around, making completely sure they were alone on deck. Then he dipped his head, eased the brim of Benedict's hat back with one gentle hand and kissed him.
The End
About the Author
Scarlet likes cats and hats and firmly believes that the only thing better than one attractive man is two attractive men.
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Also by Scarlet Blackwell:
Available at
Silver Publishing
:
Rescue Me
Anthology, Volume 1
Sanctuary
Snowbound
Solace
Lonely
(January 28, 2012)
I Am Fallen
(coming soon)
Men in Uniform: 911
(coming soon)
Poetry in Motion
(coming soon)
CLEAR WATER CREEK CHRONICLES
Into the Light
Smashed into Pieces
Snuff
(coming soon)
Finding Eden
(coming soon)
WAR TALES
Half a Man
Available at
Scarlet Blackwell's Website
:
"The Unlikely Vampire" in
Just One Bite, Volume 1
Available at
Decadent Publishing:
The Golden Haired Boy
Available at
Dreamspinner Press
:
Apathy
The King's Man
Secondhand Heart
Beached Hearts
"Of Genies and Sea Monsters" in
Myths and Magic: Legends of Love
Available at
Evernight Publishing:
Love Bites
Available at
eXtasy Books:
And So Is Love
On The Wings Of The Vampire
Available at
Samhain Publishing:
Life Class
TABLE FOR TWO
Just Desserts
Second Helpings
The Last Supper
Available at
Torquere Press:
The Vampire's Prisoner
Available at
Total-e-Bound:
Stand and Deliver
Sin Row
The Captain's Man
The Captain's Beloved
Sinful
(coming soon)
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