“All right.”
“I still want a cigarette.”
Jono didn’t care for the smell of nicotine, but he’d deal with it until he could convince Patrick to break that habit. He reached over and settled his hand high on Patrick’s thigh, fingers stroking lightly. “Think I can distract you from that craving.”
“Huh.” Patrick spread his legs a little and Jono took a deep breath, smelling arousal beneath the underlying bitterness in his scent. Even after weeks apart, he still smelled good. “You might be onto something.”
The drive back into Manhattan was excruciating, not just because of traffic. Patrick wasright there, and Jono couldn’t do anything about that until they made it to their new home. It took almost an hour for them to finally arrive there. Jono found a parking spot on the street a block and a half away on the side that wouldn’t have street cleaning tomorrow.
They got out and Jono grabbed the luggage again, waving off Patrick’s attempt to take one. “This way.”
Jono led Patrick home, his mood lightening with every step that brought them closer to the front door. The townhouse itself had a brown façade and stairs leading up to the entrance. Nearly every window facing the street had an air-conditioning unit set into it. Jono didn’t mind the heat as much as most people, but he’d turned the air-conditioning on that morning for Patrick.
“Keys are in my pocket,” Jono said as they reached the front landing.
Patrick took that as the invitation it was to step closer and slide his hand into Jono’s front pocket. They stared at each other through their sunglasses as Patrick did his very best to drag his fingers alongside Jono’s clothed cock while searching for the keys. The touch made his cock harden a little in anticipation.
“Where’s my set?” Patrick asked when he finally pulled his hand free, keys dangling from his fingers.
Jono’s jeans were definitely too tight now. “Upstairs.”
“Lead the way.”
Jono lowered the handles of the heavy luggage and picked up each one as if they weighed nothing. Patrick opened the door for him, and they stepped inside the tiny entranceway. Jono ignored the door to the first-floor tenant and started up the stairs to the right, bypassing three more landings until they reached the fifth floor.
Their entranceway at the top landing was small, made more crowded by both of them and the luggage. Patrick tossed Jono the keys, and he unlocked the door. Shouldering it open, Jono carried the luggage inside and deposited them near the wall.
Patrick didn’t immediately enter, standing just beyond the front door with both hands on the doorframe. He stared down at the floor with a look of concentration on his face, pale blue light flickering at his fingertips. Jono expected to feel something through the soulbond as Patrick cast magic, but he didn’t.
Guess it’s only when he needs to tap a ley line that I’ll feel it, Jono thought.
They’d talked a little about what happened before Patrick left for Washington, DC, three weeks ago. Figuring out the extent of the soulbond was going to happen through trial and error. It wasn’t something either of them could flaunt in public, and Patrick was reluctant to even try channeling his magic through Jono’s soul still.
Jono was adamant that they work on it. In a fight, Jono needed to know what to expect when magic rushed through his soul. He needed to know how to handle it. The only way to do so was to experience it firsthand.
For now, Jono could wait.
“Okay, threshold is set,” Patrick said, finally stepping inside and taking off his sunglasses. “The broker was right. This place has strong anchor points.”
Jono watched as Patrick took in the flat in person for the first time. The door opened up on the long open-plan living area. The living room was to the left, the blinds over the windows facing the street pulled high to let in the sunlight. The kitchen was located off to their right, with an island separating it from the dining area. The windows there overlooked the garden out back.
Directly across the way from the front door was a tiny hallway leading to the master bedroom and its private bathroom, as well as the smaller room and second hallway bathroom. Most of the furniture was Patrick’s, but a few new items had been purchased from a local department store, and Jono had brought over one or two of his own pieces. The sofa was new, as was the king-sized bed Jono had been sleeping alone in for too long. The flat had only smelled like him for the past week and a half since officially moving in, and Jono was determined to fix that today.
He closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around Patrick from behind. Jono dragged one hand down Patrick’s chest to cup his dick with strong fingers. Patrick let out a hiss, arching into the touch in a delightful way.
Jono ran his nose against the arched line of Patrick’s neck up to his ear, breathing in the scent of him. “There’s a brand-new bed I’ve been wanting to break in.”
Patrick raised an arm to tangle his fingers in Jono’s hair as he turned his head for a kiss. “Yeah?”
Jono slanted his mouth over Patrick’s, kissing him with a need he wasn’t ashamed of. His hardening cock pressed against the top curve of Patrick’s ass, and Jono couldn’t wait to bury himself in the other man.
“Bedroom,” Jono growled.
“You’ll have to stop trying to get me off right here if you want us to getthere,” Patrick said, grinding back against Jono.
Jono turned Patrick around and easily hauled the leaner man over one shoulder. The undignified yelp Patrick let out had him chuckling.
“I willkill youif you don’t put me down,” Patrick snarled.
