Page 89 of Nine-Tenths

Dav licks his bottom lip, leaving it plump and shiny and so very fucking tempting. His tongue is split and purple. Usually when Dav loses control of the shift, and some of his more serpentine traits slip out, it's the precursor to funtimes. Right now, though, I think it's the possessiveness, his desperate draconic need to hold, and protect, andpleasecoming to the fore. His ears have elongated a little, the pointed ends sticking out of hair that has turned into a golden-red halo by the last of the sunset. Tiny, ruby scales freckle his hairline. When he shiftshis grip on my arm, his nails are sharp and the beds dark, but not quite talons.

"Please let me keep you," Dav whimpers. "Colin, I couldn't bare it if you came all this way, and didn't want--"

I kiss him.

Partially, because it's all I've been thinking about since I saw him standing there in that pool of light like something out of a cinematographer's wet dream. But partially because I don't know if I can answer his request the way he wants me to. I don't know if I'm capable of just... being his. Like that. With no information, no clarification, no understanding of what it is that he's actually asking for, or telling me.

And this is easier.

Falling into bed with him issoeasy.

And I missed him.Fuck, I missed him.

Missed his warmth, the taste of his skin, the smoky-amber scent of his happiness filling my nose, the weight of his body on top of mine, the rumble of his purrs under my cheek as we laze together in the afterglow.

We've been away from each other so long, I can only imagine how hard he must be fighting the urge to shove me down onto the floor and pin me there for a few hours.

Actually, that sounds like the perfect way to deal with both of our nerves.

Sex doesn't make you mine, any more than it makes me yours,he'd said. But it would go an awful long way toward settling the nerves that were making our words stilted and our touches tentative. It would bring us back to where we were before we were forced apart, forced to hurt one another, forced to have to start over.

Look at me, being all introspective and shit. Dr. Chen would be proud.

Decision made, I ball my hands in the fabric of his horrible boring vest, and tip us backward. Dav realizes what's happening quickly enough to get his hand behind my head, toppling a small stack of tomes to make room for us on the carpet. He digs his fingers into my hair immediately, tugging my chin up so he can get a good look at my face.

"Colin, darling, what are you--"

"I missed you," I tell him, because it's true, because it’s echoing through the chambers of my heart with every pump of my blood, and because he deserves to hear it. "You left me behind, and I'm still really fucking mad about that, but you're here now, and I want you to behere."

"I want you very badly, Colin," Dav groans, sliding forward until his knees are on either side of my hips, propping himself up on one elbow and sinking down into a filthy, filthy kiss.

"You can have me," I pant back into his mouth, when he leans back so we can breathe a small eternity later.

"I want tokeepyou," he adds. When I don't answer immediately, he pulls back to check my expression, eyes roving over my face. "Colin?"

"We'll talk about that later," is what I finally settle on.

"Are you sure that is wise? Should we not…beforewe—"

"Later," I insist, and punctuate the decision by cupping the distracting bulge in his terrible, boring black trousers.

"Cheat!" Dav makes an obscene sound, grinding down into my grip and dropping his head to press the blunt flats of his teeth against my neck, just shy of actually nipping. "Tease.Minx."

"Fuck me," is how I reply.

It's not teasing if I mean it.

Dav sucks in a breath, startled and incredibly turned-on sounding. Or at least, I assume he is, because I definitely am. Then he drops his body down on top of mine—finally—slotting us together from knees to nose. His thighs are a hot brand alongthe outside of mine, stomachs and chests pressed together, arms cradling my shoulders, hands carding hair made wild by his own explorations off my face.

"I have nothing to ease the way," Dav whispers hotly in my ear. "Unless you were very optimistic about our reunion and have stashed something in your pockets?"

"What, no extra bottle of lube hiding between the stacks?" I ask, chuckling, and grabbing a double handful of his arse to make it clear that I have no intention of letting him go long enough to check.

"If I have hidden some in the library, it would have been so many decades ago that even if I could remember where the bottle was, it would have dried up by now. It has been..." he hesitates, then huffs and finishes with a soft: "Many, many years."

"Plan B, then," I say, wriggling a hand between us to get at his fly, then mine.

He gets with the change of plan fast. While I'm working on our pants, he leans up just enough to strip off first his waistcoat, then his shirt, only undoing enough buttons to allow him to escape inelegantly, before wrestling me out of my Henly. Neither of us bother with our shoes, just bunch our pants down to our knees and call that good enough.