Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Brand promised, and told himself he wasn’t aching inside, wondering.
Wondering if Ash would now pretend it had never happened, leaving Brand burning for having known the first taste of what it could be like to possess Ashton Harrington, and tie them both into this desperate need inside him.
Ash stared at him, wide eyes so very liquid, his heart an open book—though he shielded the pages by ducking his head again, the shaggy fall of his hair half-hiding his face. “It just feels weird. I’ve known you…three days now? Four?”
“How long did you know the men you slept with in the past before you took them to bed?”
Ash flinched, but said nothing. Brand sighed, pushing himself up and twisting to lean against the headboard; he stretched his arm along its back, offering Ash a place against his side—if he wanted it.
As much as he wanted to hold Ashton, to have him, to possess him, to control him…
He needed him to be willing, first.
“That was not meant as a barb, young Master,” he said. “I only mean to reassure you that it is of no concern. If anything, it means you have the assurance of confidentiality that you did not have before.”
A weak smile flickered across Ash’s lips. “Practical about everything, aren’t you.”
“A fatal personality flaw, some might say.”
“…yeah.” Ash took a shaky breath. He always seemed to do that when he was nerving himself to be brave—and Brand was finding his young Master chose bravery more often than not. “What if…” Ash peeked at him from under his lashes. “What if I asked you to not be practical about it?”
Brand’s breaths stilled. “Pardon?”
“I mean…you’re with me every waking and sleeping moment.”
Ash wrapped his arms around himself as if he could shield himself; Brand so desperately wished to be the one doing the shielding, but he couldn’t. Not until he heard what Ash had to say.
“It…I…” Ash shook his head. “It’s hard looking at you all the time when I can’t just walk away from you after sex. Not like with everyone else. I feel weird and I don’t like it, and you’re being practical like it’s nothing at all.”
“I did not say it was nothing,” Brand pointed out gently.
“No? Then ignore me.” Ash’s laugh was harsh, hurting. “I’m a fucking wreck and it’s making me all needy. Like I said, I’ve known you for three or four days. A quick fuck doesn’t mean anything.”
“You are allowed to be ‘needy,’ young Master.” And Brand couldn’t stand it anymore. He touched his fingertips beneath Ash’s chin, tipping his face up, and leaned in to kiss him. Just a moment, but for that moment Ash went deliciously soft and pliant, leaning into him, before Brand drew back. “You may be needy with me, if you wish.”
In that breath Ash looked as though he might cry with relief, before he managed to pull himself together, visibly composing himself. Yet the look he fixed on Brand was filled with a naked longing Brand ached to answer, and Ash edged closer to him, eyeing him sidelong.
“Can I…?” he asked softly.
“I have been waiting.”
In less than a heartbeat, he had an Ash-shaped burr stuck to him; Ash tucked against his side, curling up small and fitting himself in close, his smooth, warm skin against Brand’s naked chest. Brand curled his arm around his shoulders, drawing him in closer, and Ash buried his face in Brand’s chest with a little whimper and slid one arm across him.
“You could’ve,” Ash mumbled against his skin. “You could’ve just…”
“Not yet.” Brand brushed his lips to the top of that messy head of dark hair. “That sort of thing comes with time and familiarity. Until then, I wait for your permission.”
The tension in Ash’s body eased slowly, until he went more and more loose against Brand. After several shaking moments he calmed, and turned his head to rest his cheek to Brand’s chest, the warmth of soft skin soaking into him. “You don’t seem like you like to ask permission for much. Which is weird, for a valet.”
“It is not overly in my nature with my lovers, at the very least.”
“Then why with me?”
“I want you to be ready, first.”
Ash tilted his head back, looking up at Brand with wide, shyly curious eyes. “Ready for what?”
Brand considered—considered telling him, considered asking him, but when this was raw and new and they didn’t know where the edges were…he thought it might not be wise. Not just yet. So he only brushed another kiss to Ash’s lips, then answered neutrally, “That depends on you.”
“Oh.” Ash’s lashes swept downward, his cheeks flushing in soft dashes of pink. “Are we lovers, then?”
“If you would like to be.”
That tension came back—subtle, yet he could feel it where body touched body, absorbing into him. “Brand…?”