Elijah wrapped both arms around Shep’s left bicep, dropping his head to his shoulder. “Not yet. I need to sober up a little. I have plans for you tonight. Remember?”
Shep’s pulse quickened. He remembered. He dropped a kiss on the top of his head. “Then we’ll walk a little further.”
They wandered through a bookstore and a small gallery before Elijah stopped short outside of a storefront with a neon heart and crown. “Look, Sam. A tattoo place. Now you can get my name tattooed on your ass.”
Elijah giggled and started to walk again, but Shep stood frozen in place, staring at the sign. The thought of branding himself as Elijah’s sent a shock of adrenaline through his body. His cock hardened at the idea. Maybe Elijah hadn’t decided about Shep but he had most definitely decided about Elijah. “Come on,” Shep said, pulling the door open.
Elijah didn’t follow for a few minutes, just stood, mouth gaping. But Shep didn’t let that stop him. He spoke with the artist behind the counter who only grunted when Shep told him what he wanted to do and wrote out the phrase in plain block letters. “You want it just like this?” the guy asked, running a hand over his shaved head.
“Just like that.”
The bell jingled and Elijah joined him. “You don’t have to do this,” he said, catching his bottom lip between his teeth. “I was just kidding.”
Shep locked eyes with Elijah. “I know. I wasn’t.”
Elijah blushed, but smiled, dipping his head to press it against Shep’s jacket. They sat in the chairs just inside, Elijah holding Shep’s hand in a vise grip as he threw wary glances at the burly guy with his face tats and stretched lobes, hunched over a light box sketching Shep’s letters. When the man returned, Shep dropped a kiss on Elijah’s lips. The artist frowned at Elijah. “Hey, you look like that actor guy.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot,” Elijah mumbled.
“You stay here and sober up, rabbit. I have plans for you, too.”
The tattoo was rudimentary, and they were back out onto the street in thirty minutes with a more alert Elijah. Shep called the driver, and they wandered back towards the restaurant to wait for him. Elijah tugged Shep into an alcove between two store fronts, wrapping his arms around his neck and giving him a sloppy kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered against his lips, his voice less booze soaked but his eyes still glassy.
“For what, rabbit?”
“For giving me my first real date.”
It seemed impossible to imagine Elijah had never been on a date, but then, something occurred to Shep. “It was my first real date too.”
Elijah smiled, slipping cold hands under Shep’s t-shirt. “What does your tattoo say?”
Shep shrugged, wrapping his arms around Elijah, squeezing him tight. “It’s a surprise.”
Elijah giggled. “Did you really get it on your ass?”
Shep shrugged again, his voice giving away nothing. “It’s a surprise.”
“I cannot believe you did this.”
“I’d do anything for you, rabbit.”
“Anything?” Elijah asked, breathless.
Shep pressed him up against the building, dipping his head to capture Elijah’s mouth in a much dirtier kiss. “Things you couldn’t even imagine,” he promised.
“How do you want to do this?” Elijah asked.
They sat in the center of Elijah’s massive hotel bed, Elijah between Shep’s open thighs, back pressed to Shep’s chest, the laptop balanced on top of his bent knees so they could both see the screen. It seemed like a strange question, Elijah supposed. Was there any right way to watch porn with somebody? If so, he imagined half naked and pressed together was a good start.
Shep’s arms snaked around Elijah pulling him closer. “Just close your eyes and click,” he murmured, biting the back of Elijah’s neck until he squeaked.
Elijah almost didn’t want to choose. They’d both showered when they’d gotten back to the hotel, separately, at Shep’s request. He seemed determined to keep his new tattoo a surprise. Elijah was looking forward to finding it, but Shep’s skin was warm and he smelled so good that Elijah wanted to just close the laptop and figure it out the old-fashioned way.
Shep shifted behind him. Elijah sucked in a breath as he rumbled against his earlobe. “I can hear you thinking.” Elijah shivered, Shep’s voice strumming a chord deep inside him. “This was your idea. You wanted us to figure out what we like. Push the button. I’m getting impatient.”
Elijah was too. He closed his eyes and randomly clicked on one of the thumbnail images. When he opened his eyes, his mouth dropped. “Oh. My. God. Is that…”
“Uh. Yeah.” Shep seemed more curious than concerned.
