“Don’t make fun of me, James,” he scolded while crying a little more. “I had to care for you for that whole length of time. I needed to feed you and check on you and comfort you and remind you to brush your teeth. And even though I was constantly worried, for your sake, I had to pretend that I wasn’t. All you wanted to do was sleep. Or cry. Sometimes you even criedwhileyou were sleeping, and I wasn’t the least bit prepared to know how to handle that.” Cassian paused to sniffle. “It was very cruel of you to fall apart for so long.”
Laughing lightly, James nuzzled Cassian’s nose with his own.
“God, I love you,” James said. “You must be the most self-centered person in existence, and I will never tire of it.”
“How am I self-centered? Didn’t you hear what incredible lengths I went to in order to care for you over the past two days?”
James could only laugh in response. Cassian began to laugh too, through his tears.
“Stop laughing at me,” Cassian said. “I’m being serious.”
“I know you are,” James said. “And that’s exactly why it’s funny.”
Cassian’s laughter faded, and then he let out another little half sob.
“You’re so selfish,” he chided. “Making me fall in love with you and then forcing me to coddle you while you were on that medication. I had no idea whether I ought to let you keep having it, either. I hated feeling like I might not have been handling things correctly.”
“You handled everything perfectly,” James reassured him.
“All of this was a lot for me,” Cassian said with one more sniffle.
“I know it was,” James said, stroking Cassian’s cheek. “But you were wonderful.”
Cassian and James shared a kiss, and then James tipped their foreheads together.
“Let’s have some soup,” he said. “Afterward, I want to pamper you.”
Cassian let out a shuddered breath and blinked back more tears.
“Are youcertainthat you’re feeling well enough for that?” he asked.
Threading a hand through Cassian’s hair, James took a moment to bask in Cassian’s continued care.
“I’m certain,” he said.
James climbed off of him. Over the next couple of minutes, the two men ate their soup. James was a little surprised that Cassian wasn’t fussing over the lack of choice he had in meals, but he supposed that the hours they’d spent freezing in the ocean hadshaken the man up enough to make him realize how lucky they were to even be having soup at all.
Once they were both full, they set their bowls back on the nightstand, and then Cassian wasted no time pulling James up onto his lap again. James laughed and hummed against Cassian’s lips as they kissed. Slowly, he unfastened the buttons on Cassian’s shirt. Peppering kisses along Cassian’s face and neck, James helped Cassian shrug out of it. He ran his hands up the front of Cassian’s chest, pushing his fingers through Cassian’s chest hair.
“You know,” James said in between kisses, “I never really finished giving you that massage back in the Turkish Bath Complex.”
“Ah, so isthathow you’d like to pamper me?” Cassian asked.
“For a start,” James replied. “If you’d want me to.”
“Yes, I very much would.”
Cassian helped James off of his lap. He began removing his trousers and socks, and the moment Cassian’s half-hard prick was visible, James’s cock began to stiffen, too. An image of Cassian fucking him from behind—rough and hard—flitted into his mind.
Dammit all to hell, he wished he’d had the wherewithal to find some cooking oil earlier.
Burying his frustration, James urged Cassian up onto the bed. Cassian rolled over onto his front while James scrambled up onto the mattress beside him. He pressed his palms onto Cassian’s back, coaxing forth the most beautiful moan as he began to massage him.
“Am I still exceptionally selfish?” James asked.
“Yes, but I forgive you,” Cassian replied, his voice muffled by the pillow.
Chuckling, James began to work the knots out of Cassian’s shoulder muscles, moving his thumbs in little circles. Cassian let out a contented sigh. He looked over his shoulder.
