“I think about you all the time,” I said quietly. “I dream about us too.” Without blinking, I very carefully placed the palm of your hand against my mouth and kissed it, then slid it along my cheek until you were cupping my face. A vision came to me of us doing just this, only I was looking up at you from on my knees. My dreams were confusing my reality.
“Is it because we’re brothers?” I asked.
“No,” you said softly.No?I’d thought that was your major hang-up. It had always been mine, at least.
“Do you think I’m too young?”
“Yes. And you don’t know…” You drifted off again. Your eyebrows drew together in an expression of pain and longing.
“Don’t know what, Henri?”
You sighed forlornly, so I placed your hand flat against my chest and shivered from the contact of your warm palm against my sensitive nipple. Your eyes flicked down for only a second. I ignored my guilty conscience. You wanted this. I saw the hunger in your eyes and smelled it in the air. I was only helping you let your guard down a little. I was giving you permission.
I stepped forward and leaned down until our faces were just inches apart. I placed both your hands on my hips. They were so big they practically encircled me. It felt so right, like your hands belonged there.
“You can kiss me if you want,” I said softly. I stared at your mouth and willed you to close the distance between us.
“Vincent.” You said my name in such a graveled tone that it vibrated through me, sending sparks up and down my spine. Lust pooled in the pit of my stomach, and blood rushed to the surface of my skin. And my cock… I wanted you to touch it. You leaned closer with your lips parted, and I closed my eyes.
“Vincent.”
One sharp command, and my seduction was broken. I whirled around to see Papa in the doorway, a fiery look on his face.
“It was me,” I said. I glanced back to see your confusion. You squinted at your hands still gripping my hips, then slowly removed them and closed them into fists. Your body stiffened, and you refused to look at me. Shit.
“Go back to your party,” Papa ordered in a low, stern voice.
I snuck one more glance at you and immediately regretted it. You looked… wounded. Betrayed. And then your expression hardened. Your anger encircled me like a chokehold. You werefurious.
“I’m sorry,” I said weakly. “I… ”
I had no excuse, so I fled the room. How badly had I fucked up? Would you ever forgive me?
But in the sunshine, surrounded by my friends and loud music, my guilt was chased away by a rush of exhilaration.
You wanted me too.
11
HENRI
“He’s come into his powers,” Xavier said quietly.
The room was thick with tension. The smell of your skin clung to me like a lover’s perfume, damning me more than any spoken admission. We’d come here to clean my eye. I recalled the sensation of your gentle ministrations and then…
Then it was a fog.
“I’m not sure what happened,” I admitted. I should have seen this coming.
“He was seducing you,” Xavier said simply.
I was horror-struck that I’d let it happen. A flood of shame overwhelmed me. Judging from my still-racing heart and the throbbing in my genitals, I was clearly aroused by whatever had taken place. What had I said? What would have happened had Xavier not interrupted us?
“I’m so sorry.” I stared at my fists. My knuckles ached from the pressure I was exerting. Xavier pulled over a chair and sat down across from me.
“It’s not your fault,” he said and, while I was grateful for his mercy, I surely didn’t deserve it.
“What are his powers?” I asked. It was a potent seduction, for me to surrender myself so completely. Perhaps it was because my defenses were down?
