Page 31 of A Winter Awakening

Gael chewed, barely tasting the loaf. He stared at Orteo. Orteo kept eating. If he noticed Gael staring, he ignored it.

After they ate, Orteo moved around, straightening everything up. “Do you need me to do anything else?”

“No.” Gael stared at his lap, uncertain what to do. Orteo seemed determined not to bring up the previous day.

“Well, I should leave you, then,” Orteo said.

“Already?”

Orteo gave him a blank smile. An empty, wrong-feeling smile.

“What if I read to you?” Gael asked. Reading to Orteo had precipitated sleeping together and the kiss. Reading might make a kiss happen again.

Orteo hesitated. Then nodded. He picked up a book and handed it to Gael. But Gael rose and limped to the bed. He lay down and opened the book.

Orteo grabbed the chair and set it next to the bed.

“You don’t want to lie down?” Gael asked.

“Better not,” Orteo said.

Gael swallowed his disappointment. He opened the book. “Sirian is the only oread who speaks the human tongue.”

For a while, Gael read, but it lacked the intimacy and comfortableness of the other night. He glanced at Orteo. He didn’t seem to be enjoying it either. Orteo stared into the fire, expression closed off. He didn’t even appear to be listening to Gael.

Still, Gael read, hoping for something to shift between them.

“Sirian showed me his store of food today,” Gael read. “There was a large number of dried mushrooms, vegetables, and berries. He also has at least fifteen different types of dried fish and some dried meat, which I believe to be reindeer. There were also many different types of nuts. I’ve noticed, though, that the oreads do not smoke their meat.”

“I should go.” Orteo stood abruptly.

Chest tightening, Gael sat up and closed the book. “Are you sure?” Gael rose, putting his weight onto his uninjured foot, clutching the book to his chest.

Orteo nodded, still not meeting his gaze.

Gael tried to think of what to do or what to say to make Orteo stay with him. To make Orteo realise that Gael wanted him as a lover.

“Can…can you wash me?” Washing meant removing clothes, and maybe that would lead to sex.

“No.” Orteo’s jaw clenched. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

Orteo took a deep breath. He walked to the fireplace, staring down into the flames. Flickering gold-and-orange light played on Orteo’s handsome features.

“You don’t want to know what I think when you’re almost naked and I’m touching you,” Orteo said, voice husky. “You don’t know what you do to me. What you make me want.” His Adam’s apple bobbed.

Gael set the book down and limped towards Orteo. “What? What do you want?” he asked, feeling suddenly light-headed.

Orteo’s eyes met his, his silver gaze burning with intensity. “When I wash you, I want to peel the remaining clothes from your body.” His voice turned husky and deep. “Then I want to lay you out naked before the fire on a pile of blankets and furs. I want to touch you. I want to have my way with you.”

Gael inhaled, the words flowing straight from his ears to his dick.

Orteo jerked his gaze from Gael and stared at the floor. His shoulders and spine tightened. “I want to run my hands over every inch of your body. Lick your skin and taste you. I want to inhale you. Devour you.”

The words washed over Gael. Blood rushed to his cock.

The words didn’t make him nervous. They didn’t make him uncertain. In fact, it was the complete opposite.