“I think we could arrange that.” Beaumont took his mouth in a wild kiss and Duron groaned. His hands going for Beaumont’s ass to lift him closer so he could grind their cocks together.
A non-so-subtle cough brought Duron from the lust fueled moment. The woman at the door was scarlet and doing her best to look anywhere other than at them. “Erm… I’m… we’ve got a long drive back. Are youfinished?”
“No. We want to purchase the house and land. We’d also like to spend the night. Get a feel for the place.”
Duron bit his lip trying to keep himself from smiling when Beaumont did not stand on his own two feet. Remaining in Duron’s powerful hold and acting all professional.
The woman looked at them then. “Why, of course. I can bring back the paperwork in the morning.”
It took another few minutes to get her to shut up about the details and leave. The second the door shut on her back, Beaumont turned to look at Duron. His fingers going to the buttons on his shirt. A hunger in the depth of his eyes as they swept over Duron from head to toe. He toed off his shoes as he peeled off his button-down and dropped it to the floor. His hands going to his belt. “Now where were we?”
Duron, never having run from anything as long as he could remember, took off to the stairs, dragging his T-shirt up over his head and flinging it.
The sound of bare feet hitting wood followed and Duron’s heart rate took flight with the joy of being chased by the one person he wanted to capture him… only not too soon.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Beaumont
Whoever said money talks definitely knew what they were speaking about. The house sale was approved and went through without complications. Apparently, it was a deceased estate and no one in the remaining family wanted anything to do with a property so far off the beaten track. All that was important to Beaumont was getting the place furnished, and stocked with enough supplies, so when they retreated from the world, they didn’t have to worry about running out of anything.
Watching Duron spend money, or trying to get him to, gave Beaumont so many amusing memories. Duron was a man who knew what he needed to survive, and initially when Beaumont mentioned things like cushions for the couch, or pictures for their new walls, Duron just pointed to the amazing views through the windows and shrugged.
After spending time explaining about them stamping their personality on their new space, and another enjoyable chase through the house, Duron started shopping in earnest. It was so refreshing. Twice they went to malls, and Beaumont, who still hated shopping of any kind, had resigned himself to a long afternoon of watching Duron snarl at locals as he pawed through soft furnishings.
But no. Just as Duron had shown when they bought the house itself, Duron had an innate instinct about what he liked and didn’t like, and he made his decisions quickly. Both times, they were in and out with enough packages to fill the SUV they were using, in under an hour. Beaumont showed his appreciation afterward.
As for his own house, Duron insisted he had to see it, just once, before Beaumont put it on the market. He’d walked in, took one look at the painting Beaumont had commissioned decades before of his wife and family, and pointed at it. “That belongs in our new home.” Beaumont had to go and check the contents of the refrigerator, or what might fester inside. He didn’t want Duron to see his tears. The picture and Beaumont’s clothes were the only things they ended up taking, and while Beaumont didn’t understand why Duron hugged him so closely on the trip home, he appreciated it.
It turned out Duron had most of his clothes with him at the Thalassa compound, and when Beaumont asked about whether he needed to go back to his old place for anything, Duron just shook his head. “That wasn’t home, it was a place to stay,” he said quietly, and Beaumont accepted that for what it was.
The only personal effect Duron had was a picture of a bear in a cage, glued into a simple wooden frame. Beaumont had frowned when he’d seen it, feeling uncomfortable for Duron’s bear who was his mate’s most dominant, and admittedly with Beaumont, his most affectionate animal.
“Why the cage?” he’d asked when Duron set it on the dressing table in their bedroom.
“The door’s open.” Duron stroked that part of the picture. “The bear was just conditioned not to see it. It’s a reminder—there’s always a way to open the door if you look for it.”
Fortunately, the bed was right there. Beaumont still had rug burns on his knees from where Duron had taken him to the floor only hours before. The mattress was a lot more comfortable.
Everything about his life with Duron was new in some ways and comfortable in others. There were still things Beaumont was processing in the back of his head from their time in Paraguay, but it was easier to keep those thoughts shoved back there, when he was basking on a large rock to the side of their house watching Duron’s bear sniffing around the roots of a large tree nearby.
But today was the council meeting. There had been an email waiting for him when he got back from South America, confirming his appointment as the head of the council by an overwhelming majority. The position was a lifetime appointment unless he chose to step down at any time. Apparently, they’d vote in his absence, which Beaumont wasn’t worried about. He’d already known no one else was keen to take it after the last council lead had died in gruesome fashion, and Gareth, the deer shifter member, got eviscerated for his part in the awful treatment of Marvin.
Most of the council members were just happy to take the pay and turn up for meetings once a month. It wasn’t as though they ever wanted to do anything for that money. Chances are, the other members all had a private chuckle to themselves, thinking Beaumont was stuck with a position because he wasn’t present for the voting. As Beaumont dusted off his suit, he knew the joke was on them.
The shirt collar felt too tight. Duron had encouraged Beaumont to train with him in the mornings, and Beaumont had beefed up a bit. The tie would strangle him before the day was out. He left his highly polished Italian shoes in the closet and pulled out the sturdy boots Duron had bought him. They didn’t match the suit at all, but Beaumont was making a statement and those boots were part of his point. If there was any ass kicking to be done, Italian shoes wouldn’t cut it.
He smiled as Duron came in from outside, his hair mussed from the wind. His mate had decided the fine black linen button-down Beaumont had bought him worked best with black jeans and Beaumont wasn’t going to argue. Duron could wear a sackcloth and he’d still be magnificently capable in Beaumont’s eyes.
“Let’s do this,” he said, reaching for Duron’s hand. “Together.”
~/~/~/~
The council room was already full when Beaumont and Duron arrived, the members milling around talking amongst themselves. They had a lot to talk about—Beaumont had sent out an email to all members outlining the changes he was making. He anticipated some discussion around that. The biggest elephant in the room was Duron.
Ignoring the glares was easy. Beaumont grabbed an extra chair from the side of the room and moved it, so it was sitting next to his. Then he took his place at the head of the large rectangular table—another new development—and looked around at the now seated members.
“I didn’t know it was ‘bring your mate to work day’,” Ivor, one of the polar bear shifters, said. “I thought we were discussing council business.”
