Lips parting, Jeremy tried to decide where he should start. He had a half dozen different positions in mind right this second. And that was before he even started to get creative.
“For the wall,” Harrison clarified, a teasing glint in his eyes.
A faint groan edged out of Jeremy as his eyes slid closed. “Right, the wall.” That settled it—pretence first, fucking later.
There was a hum of satisfaction, followed by the warmth of a hand cupping his cheek. Jeremy leaned into the touch as long fingers curled along the length of his jaw. He lifted his eyelids to see Harrison’s whole body had turned towards him.
“Not yet,” Harrison murmured as he leaned closer. His breath was quick and harsh against the shell of Jeremy’s ear. “Patience sweetens the taste.”
A small laugh huffed out of Jeremy’s chest. “Fucking hell, you do have a sweet tooth.” He was hard as a rock, his cock straining against the confines of his pants, as if reaching for Harrison of its own accord. And Lord knew the heat of Harrison’s body beckoned. Jeremy stopped short of pressing up against him—but only just. “I can be patient if you can.” He tried to mean it, but even as he said the words his head tilted until his open mouth aligned with Harrison’s. Their breath mingled between them as their lips almost touched, and Jeremy fought like the devil to keep his tongue to himself. “Or at least, I can try.”
“Yeah, me too.” Harrison’s forehead leaned against his for a moment, and then he moved away. “Okay, back to the wall.” He cleared his throat as he headed for the counter, putting the bag he’d carried in with him on top and rummaging around inside for a sketch book and pencil.
Jeremy took a moment to inhale some deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. When he could speak without begging, he stepped up to join Harrison. “I want the space to be a talking point for customers. Something people can have fun with. So, I was thinking of having a collection of quotes from different fandoms, painted in white, covering the whole wall. Maybe in different fonts, some vertical, some horizontal. What do you think?”
“I know what you’re after.” Harrison nodded his approval of the idea. “And you want quotes like,May the force be with you?”
“Yes, but more contemporary.Winter is coming, that sort of thing.” Seeing Harrison turn to a fresh page of his sketchbook, Jeremy grabbed the notepad he’d used to jot down the dimensions of the wall and handed it over.
“How aboutDriver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole?” Harrison suggested as he used Jeremy’s notes to rule up an appropriately-sized rectangle on the paper in front of him.
Jeremy grinned, loving that Harrison had picked up his idea so quickly. “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”
“How many of these quotes do you think you can come up with?” Harrison asked, as if he had his doubts. “Without searching for them on your phone, that is.”
“Enough to freak you out,” he said with confidence. “By the time we’re done you may rethink hanging out with the local geek.”
“You’re pretty sure of your status there, Jeremy,” he teased. “I may have to bring you down a peg or two.”
“You think so?” Jeremy raised his arms at the mock threat. “Look around you, man. There is no way a security guard is going to out-geek me.”
Harrison managed to look affronted before he announced, “Challenge accepted.”
Jeremy burst out laughing, recognising the line instantly. “All right, one point to you. Enjoy the lead while it lasts.”
Sharpening his pencil, Harrison gave him a nod. “I intend to.”
They got down to work and by the time two hours had past they’d almost finished developing the idea, fitting a dozen different quotes from various books, movies, and TV shows into the design. It would have taken a quarter of the time if they hadn’t gotten distracted by every topic that came up. Harrison’s dry wit kept Jeremy laughing until his sides hurt, although the other man held his own emotions close to his chest. Jeremy got the impression Harrison enjoyed his company, but he had yet to know what the man’s laugh sounded like and he’d barely glimpsed a smile.
“If I move this line up a little, we can fit one more quote down here at the bottom,” Harrison said as he studied his sketch. “What do you want to put in there? Maybe theWibbly, wobbly, timey wimeyline fromDoctor Who, orHave you ever tried schwarma?” he suggested. “The Avengersare popular.”
“No, they’re too obvious.” Jeremy shook his head. “My customers will be all over this thing. There will be kudos for anyone who can place every quote on the first try. I want this last one to be a little more obscure.” He thought for a moment, discarding another half dozen ideas as they came to mind, before hitting on a winner. “I’ve got it.” Leaning forward, he nabbed the pencil from Harrison’s hand and wrote in the last space, smiling when the words appeared to fit perfectly.
When he sat back, Harrison read the phrase out loud. “Everything changed when the fire nation attacked.” There was an uncertainty in the way he said the words, as if he’d never heard them before.
“You don’t recognise that one,” Jeremy guessed, eyes wide as he sat up in his chair. “Admit it.”
Harrison’s face scrunched up for a moment, his chin resting on an upturned hand as he considered the phrase. Finally, he shook his head. “No, I have no idea where it comes from.”
Whooping in delight, Jeremy clapped his hands together. “You’ve never seenAvatar?”
Frowning, Harrison looked at him askance. “You mean that movie with the giant blue people?”
“No. I’m talking aboutThe Last Airbender.” Harrison still seemed clueless and Jeremy grinned at him. “You have a serious hole in your education, man. We’ll be fixing that, I assure you. And by the way, in case you were wondering, yes I did out-geek you.”
“You did, I admit defeat.” Harrison lifted his arms up before bending forward. “And I bow to the king.”
Jeremy laughed. “I like the sound of that. Perhaps I should have you on your knees swearing fealty.”
Dropping his hands on either side of Jeremy’s chair, Harrison leaned in closer. Jeremy could smell the musky scent of man beneath traces of cologne and his head spun. “Jeremy, when I get down on my knees in front of you, you’ll be the one swearing fealty.” His gaze travelled over Jeremy’s body as he spoke in a gravelly voice. “To me. Between moans.”
And just like that Jeremy was hard all over again—painfully hard. Honestly, the man could turn his dick to rock in six seconds flat. But that didn’t mean he would fall for the same shit twice. Harrison said he wanted to be patient. Like hell was Jeremy going to break first. He slid sideways out of his chair, gulping air into his lungs as he backed away. It was a less than subtle escape, but it got him out of the danger zone. “I’m hungry,” he spat out, trying not to be obvious as he adjusted himself in his pants. “Are you hungry?”
Harrison winked at him again. “Starving.”
“Good.” He grabbed his bag before heading for the door. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll buy you dinner.”
