Tor grinned at him. “Until you fell for my many charms. Which was inevitable, of course. For they are legion.”
Pel knew that it was meant to be a joke, but he couldn’t help but say, “You really are very charming.”
Tor’s smile faltered. “I’d say thank you, but that wasn’t a compliment, was it?”
Pel made a face. “I know you just finished telling me all the ways that you find me admirable, but it’s, uh, still a little harder than I want it to be to imagine why someone like you would want someone like me.”
He felt his face heating again and found that his gaze had slipped to the other man’s chest. Tor’s fingers under his chin gently tilted his head up so that Pel had to look him in the eye.
Seriously, Tor said, “Because you’re everything I didn’t know I was looking for.”
And somehow, that was the exact right thing to say, and Pel found himself relaxing. He couldn’t imagine anyone would set out looking for someone like him, but, just maybe, they could find him by accident.
He smiled a little tremulously. “I didn’t know I was looking for you, either. In fact, I’m pretty sure I actively avoided you for as long as I could.”
“You’re lucky I’m stubborn,” Tor said proudly.
Pel’s smile widened. “Yeah, I am.”
Tor was silent for a moment, and then he said quietly, “I’ve never told anyone about what happened on the mountain.”
Pel sobered instantly.
Tor blew out a wavering breath. “I didn’t admit it at the time, but even then, I wanted you to know the real me. There are very few people in my life who I can be myself with.”
Pel’s breath stuttered. That was one of the most flattering things anyone had ever said to him.
“I like you,” he blurted out.
Tor’s lips tipped up, though there were still shadows in his eyes. “Even when there’s things not to like?”
Pel swallowed. “Yes, even then. Nobody’s perfect. I’d so much rather know the real you. In fact, I wouldn’t be here now if all you’d ever shown me was the perfect Extraordinary High Prince.”
Tor considered this for a moment, and then he nodded. “That actually makes a lot of sense. I feel privileged and fortunate whenever you let me see some of the real you. And in case it’s not obvious, I like you, too. Very much.”
Pel could feel his face heat again, but it was so nice to hear. And even though Pel’s demons whispered that it was too good to be true, it was much harder to doubt when he was sitting in the man’s lap and they were having this conversation.
But… maybe it was time to give something else a try?
Pel cleared his throat and tried to sound confident. “I’m still in your lap, and I was sort of hoping that we could do… something.”
So that would be anoon Pel being at all charming.
But Tor’s eyes lit up, and his smirk was… friendly, somehow, like Pel was being invited to share the joke, not be the butt of it.
“I would certainly like to dosomethingwith you,” Tor agreed. “There are a lot of options.”
That was the problem.
Tor apparently picked up on Pel’s discomfort, his expression softening again into something that Pel would have said wasfond.
“Not sure what you want?” he asked kindly.
“Really don’t want to embarrass myself again,” Pel muttered.
He knew he was inexperienced, but he’d sort of hoped to be reasonably competent.
Tor smiled at him. “There’s no need to be embarrassed. Like I said, you’re fulfilling a nice fantasy of mine, letting me be the first person to get my hands all over you.”
