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“Fuck, yes!” Nikolai gripped my hair, deepening our connection even more. It hurt, but I loved it, loved his bruising kiss, loved the way he sighed my name as the climax conquered his body.

With lazy strokes he wrung every last drop of cum from our cocks, mixing them together.

“Shit. I’m sorry, baby boy.” Nikolai’s distraught voice made me open my eyes.

Pain clouded his vision, and he stared at me as if he had seen a ghost.

“What’s wrong?” I slurred, trying to shake off the post-orgasmic haze.

“Your lip.” He inhaled a shaking breath, and touched a fingertip to my mouth. “You’re hurt. I am so sorry.”

“I don’t feel pain like a human being, Bunny.”

I hugged him when he still didn’t look convinced.

“It’s alright. I promise you there is no need to worry. My body heals impossibly fast. Give it an hour. You won’t even be able to find it again.” I stroked the stubble on his face.

Nikolai nuzzled his cheek into my palm. “Are you sure?”

“I am. And it was so hot.”

“Yeah, it was.” He gave me a reluctant grin.

“We better get into the house to clean up. Unless…” Nikolai’s eyes left my face, and they landed on the pond. “It’s pretty hot today.”

“It is,” I agreed. Within moments, we were both naked. We threw ourselves into the pond just like we had done on the day we’d gardened together. Nikolai had looked like sin incarnate in his sopping wet shorts and the crop top. Perhaps that was when I had realised how much I wanted him.

Warm hands turned me around and pulled me into a hug and a kiss that robbed me of all conscious thought. I wrapped my body around his, kissing him like no one else existed on the planet but him and me.

Forty-eight

Nikolai

Weletthesunand the warm breeze dry our bodies. Then, we pulled on our underwear and trousers. I picked up the rest of my things that I’d discarded in my excitement to feel Jules again, and we crossed the garden to the swing where we’d sat together before.

“What’s that?” I approached the newest addition. Rambling roses covered most of the sturdy wooden structure, and their scent filled the air around us.

“Do you like it?” Jules rested an arm around my hips and snuggled into my body.

“It’s beautiful.” He’d made us a bower in his garden: a mattress with a pile of soft cushions under a canopy of light pink roses.

Holy shit.

“I love it.” I stretched out a hand to brush one of the large blossoms with my fingertips. Their petals were velvety soft. “Thank you, baby.” I kissed him for a long time.

“You’re welcome, Bunny. I tried to keep myself occupied so that I wouldn’t feel too lonely while you were away.”

I was sure he’d just meant it as a harmless statement, but his words triggered something in me. Before I could get a glimpse of my emotions they flooded my head and something in me snapped.

They rose up my throat like bile and choked me until I was unable to draw breath. I backed away. Maybe putting some distance between us would let me breathe again.

“Nikolai?” Jules sounded mortified.

Finally, I got air back into my lungs and took shaking gulps.Fuck!I’d almost blacked out.

“Bunny, what’s wrong? Do you need anything? Are you ill?”

“No,” I snapped. I knew I should be sorry, but in the maelstrom of emotions I couldn’t make out a single one.