Page 34 of Beguiled

“Christ,” David whispered. “Murdo, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise.”

“I was stupid,” Murdo said, shaking his head. “And very naïve. I trusted someone I ought to have known better than to trust.”

“You are not to blame for others’ brutality.”

“I know that. But I know too what it is to be taken, for the first time, in a way that is not gentle. To be used, like a thing. I do not want that for you.”

“It wouldn’t be like that between us.”

“I know. But it’s not just that. I want it to be perfect.”

“Perfect? What would be perfect?”

“You and me, both wanting it fully, both certain.”

“Iamcertain.”

“I’m not sure you are. It’s no accident you’re asking for this after telling me about William and your father. You were upset—”

“I’m fine,” David interrupted.

“Yes, I could see that by the way you poured yourself half a gallon of whisky and drank it down like you were dying of thirst.”

David closed his eyes, suddenly aware of the taste of the spirit in his mouth. He was glad Murdo sat behind him, unable to see his face. “I do want you, though,” he whispered.

“Do you?”

“God, yes. I ache.” Inside him, a chasm of wanting yawned, both physical and not.

Murdo’s uninjured hand had been resting on David’s chest, but now he began to move it slowly downwards, stopping only when he reached the placket of David’s breeches. He stroked David’s shaft through the fabric in an unhurried way, tracing the shape of it with his fingers and bringing it quickly back to full hardness. David gave a soft moan and bucked his hips up into the air, needing more.

“Take it out for me,” Murdo breathed in his ear. “I want to see it.”

David obeyed, fiddling with the buttons until his breeches were open, drawing his cock out of his smallclothes. He was almost painfully hard now, his shaft ruddy in the firelight.

“Hmmm,” Murdo murmured, approval in the low sound. “Now let me see how you pleasure yourself when you’re alone.”

David leaned back a bit more, letting his head drop into the space between Murdo’s neck and shoulder. He took his cock in hand and began to stroke up and down in the familiar rhythm he used on himself.

“God in heaven, you’re gorgeous,” Murdo said after a while, his voice rough. “I want to see more of you.”

He deftly unbuttoned David’s waistcoat and peeled the garment from his shoulders, then grabbed handfuls of his shirt and hauled it up and over David’s head, tossing it aside to join the waistcoat on the floor.

Now David’s upper body was naked and his breeches and smallclothes were open, displaying his turgid shaft and tight balls and the springy, copper-tinged curls framing them.

Murdo shifted below him, bringing both arms around David’s body. He anchored his injured hand round David’s waist while he ran the other hand restlessly over David’s chest. His fingers brushed David’s nipples, lingering when David moaned, teasing the small buds gently and pinching them sweetly. The pleasure that simple attention elicited was absurdly intense, as though a wire connected David’s nipples to his balls. He arched up, wanting more. Murdo laughed softly and obliged him, turning his head to nuzzle the side of David’s neck. The scrape of his rough cheek against the soft flesh there was exquisite, the press of his hot mouth too.

“Keep stroking yourself,” Murdo muttered, bucking his own hips up against David’s buttocks so that David couldn’t miss that he too was intensely aroused.

David obeyed, tugging at his swollen shaft, his hand working more quickly now, the pleasure building in his cock, his balls.

“God, yes, that’s it. You need this so badly, don’t you? You can’t wait. Let me see you come all over yourself.”

And suddenly David was coming, crying out as he climaxed, his hot seed spattering his belly and chest, one drop landing shoulder-high, making Murdo laugh softly. “Oh you eager boy!”

When he was all wrung out, David lay, panting on top of Murdo, letting the slowly receding waves of pleasure ebb away, letting Murdo’s caressing hands and murmuring praise ease him back to the world.

Murdo’s own unfulfilled desire pressed underneath him, demanding and undeniable. David shifted, turning a little.