Heart still pounding, Shae winds his arms around Arthur’s shoulders and pulls him in so he can taste himself on Arthur’s lips.
Arthur’s own untouched erection presses against his hip. He should probably do something about that, he thinks dazedly, even though there’s no way he could be anywhere near as good at this. But right now, he feels on top of the world. He can try anything.
He murmurs against Arthur’s lips, “Can I blow you too?”
“I want to just keep kissing you,” Arthur murmurs back, like a confession. “But I wouldn’t say no to your hand. Come here.”
Shae follows him to a patch of grass and winds up straddling Arthur’s lap, groin pressed to Arthur’s hard cock. His hands brace on Arthur’s chest, then slide down.
Unbuckling Arthur’s belt and unlacing his trousers is a feat in itself, with the way Arthur seems hell-bent on distracting him. Shae keeps losing focus, but he eventually gets Arthur’s clothes out of the way enough to draw out the man’s cock. It’s just as thick as it felt through his clothes, already slick with precome.
The angle’s awkward as Shae wraps his hand around it, feeling too hesitant and too forward all at once. But if he’s doing this wrong, Arthur doesn’t seem to care—he groans, jerking into Shae’s hand, and seizes Shae’s head to draw him into another kiss.
They barely part for air as Shae strokes Arthur’s cock. Arthur’s fingers tighten in his hair, and every once in a while Shae’s scalp stings, but the edge of pain just makes the kiss all the sweeter. He wants to devour every groan Arthur makes, wants to feel every shudder through their bodies.
He doesn’t realize Arthur’s about to come at first, until Arthur makes a brand-new, strangled groan against his lips, and spills. Shae breaks the kiss to watch the last pulse of seed shooting over his fingers.
Looking up, he finds Arthur staring at him. That smug expression from earlier is gone, replaced with something so soft and gentle that Shae doesn’t believe his eyes. He wants to, though.
“We should clean up,” Shae says eventually. They’re absolutely filthy, and he should probably rewrap his injured hand.
“Definitely,” Arthur agrees.
But instead of getting up, he pulls Shae down to the grass with him. Shae curls up under his arm. The cool grass tickles through his clothes, and the breeze from the river soothes the flush from his neck. They fit together like they were made for each other, and Shae could get addicted to this man’s touch.
He closes his eyes and savors the warmth.
***
By the time they get up, it’s too late in the evening to travel farther. Arthur takes care of Duchess while Shae awkwardly makes dinner with a hand and a half and spends the whole time thinking about Arthur’s mouth.
Then he spends the entire time they eatlookingat Arthur’s mouth.
“I was distracted for a while there,” Arthur says, “but I don’t like that your demon and the vaidkos were able to take us by surprise.”
“He’s not my demon.” Shae grimaces. He’d rather think about that perfect mouth around his cock, those bright green eyes staring up at him. “Unless both our magics are drastically malfunctioning, the most logical reason we didn’t sense them sooner is that they weren’t there sooner. They teleported in.”
“Really don’t like that.” Arthur swigs from his water flask. His throat moves visibly as he swallows. “Radiance, it’s too much of a coincidence that we’ve run across them this many times. Are you sure your warding’s working?”
“I’m fucked if it isn’t.” Shae twists the ring in question. “But I actually think they were looking for you this time. I just happened to be there.”
Arthur’s eyebrows rise. “Me?”
“They’re feeding on souls, right?” Shae gestures towards him. “So they went for the brightest soul within range.”
Arthur sighs. His hair looks fire-gold under the setting sun. “We’ll reach Lanwatch soon at least, and we can ask if they’ve had a problem with vaidkos too. Besides that, the most we can do for now is keep our guard up.”
They fall into silence, and Shae resumes his surveillance of Arthur’s lips until Arthur rubs his hand over his chin.
“Do I have something on my face?”
Shae jumps, nearly dropping his travel bread. He bites his lip, then says, before he can overthink his way around it, “What is this?” He waves his hand. “Us, I mean. Not the bread.”
Arthur tilts his head, a familiar smug grin spreading across his face. “I was going to wait until I’d blown you again before asking,” he says, uncapping his waterskin, then recapping it without drinking. “Make sure you were in a good mood. It’s up to you. If you want me to just be your hired mercenary and portable fireplace, and maybe we fool around a few more times before parting ways, I can do that.”
Shae has to forcibly unclench his hand from crushing the travel bread. “Is that what you want?”
“I want this to be the start of something.” Arthur leans forward, focused entirely on him. “And I’m not eager to part ways that quickly.”
