Page 15 of Ice & Sweet

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Luke

“Shall we go for a walk?” André asked after we’d finished breakfast and managed to sort our room with reception, who’d happily allowed us to keep André’s room for another night. There were definitely fewer staff around than over the past few days, and the ones who had managed to make it in seemed understandably stressed as fuck. I was surprised the hotel was still running as well as it was.

“You want to go outside?” I asked, peering out of the front door to see whether it was still snowing. It was. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. It would be good to get some fresh air.”

“Or we could stay inside where it’s warm, go back to our room, and have sex.”

André chuckled. “We can do that afterwards. Trust me, I have plans.”

“That sounds interesting.” I leant in to give him a kiss, not caring if anyone was watching. Austin and Kane had already figured it out and practically begged us to keep fucking, so I wasn’t worried about ruining their weekend. I was a little surprised after Kane had initially suggested I hook-up with one of Austin’s friends, but then again, if he’d mentioned anything about André I’d have absolutely shut that shit down.

Maybe that had been his plan all along: suggest one thing and casually push me towards the one person I’d always wanted. And it had worked too. Sneaky twat.

André put his arms around my waist, stopping my thoughts in my tracks and I hummed at the feel of his body against mine. He was so warm and solid, and it was comforting to have him pressed against me.

And he smelt so fucking good it made my mouth water.

“It should be,” André said. “But I want to go for a walk first.”

“Is this your way of telling me that you love snow? Are you going to insist we build a snowman?” I grinned as I kissed him again because it was fucking impossible not to smile around André. He’d always made me smile, even when I was trying to pretend we weren’t anything more than casual friends, but now I didn’t have to deny how I felt, all my emotions seeming to have quadrupled in strength and size.

My feelings were too big to quantify and I didn’t know how they fit inside me without splitting me at the seams.

I knew it was ridiculous to feel this way after such a short space of time. Logically, I was probably lust drunk on dick and the lingering ghosts of my desires from seven years ago, but I didn’t want to bring logic into the equation.

I’d already told André not to let me go and I’d meant it. Sure, we were different people from when we’d first met and I’d spent hours fantasising about what kissing him would feel like, but with age came experience and maybe this was the right time for us to give a relationship a shot.

“I don’t mind snow,” André said. “And snowmen are cute. But also, it’ll be nice to spend a bit of time together without being ambushed by our friends, random acquaintances, and beautiful porn stars you can’t speak to without blushing.”

“Point taken.” I wondered if he’d seen me squirming at breakfast when Theo had come over to speak to us, but it wasn’t my fault I’d suddenly remembered him and Austin filming a scene involving a dining table, a maid’s outfit, lace panties, a sparkling dildo, and velvet ribbon used as handcuffs.

I’d watched it at least four or five times, and every time I’d come ridiculously hard.

I wondered how open André would be to using a dildo on me or letting me ride one while I sucked his cock. Maybe he’d even tie my hands too. And maybe we could try it the other way around too, because while I loved bottoming, I wanted to know what André looked like stuffed full of cock and begging to come.

“Let me get my coat,” I added. “Then we can go out.”

“I’ll grab mine too,” André said as he led me towards the lifts. “I need to message the director too, just to let him know I’m not going to make it in tomorrow.”

“Do it now before you get sidetracked.” I smirked as we stepped into an empty lift. “Because I plan on distracting you as soon as we get back inside.”

“Good, then I can distract you too.”

He kissed me hard, his fingers sliding into my hair and tugging, making me melt against him. “Sure you still want to go out?”

“I’m sure. It’ll be more fun if you have to wait.” He winked at me as the lift came to a smooth stop. André released me to step out onto the landing, leaving me reeling, and he looked every inch the smug, sexy bastard he was.

It took me a few steps to get my bearings enough to follow him, but if I’d been hoping to pounce on him as soon as we got into our room, I was sorely mistaken. Housekeeping were already working on the rooms nearest to us, and I suddenly realised I needed to move everything out of my room and into André’s so it could be cleaned and tidied for new guests.

Practicality had to overrule horniness, and by the time I’d shoved my clothes into my suitcase and dragged it into André’s room, he was already dressed and ready to go.

As we walked back through reception, I remembered to swap my room key for one for the new room and let them know my room was empty. It felt strange getting a key for André’s room, like it was some big step even though it was only for one night which we’d probably spend having sex.

I put the new keycard into my pocket before taking André’s hand, and the pair of us headed for the front door, glancing around and laughing like a pair of teenagers trying to sneak out. There were a few people around but nobody that I knew and none of them was paying attention to us anyway.

A blast of cold hit me in the face as soon as the front door opened, forcing a gasp from my lips as the chill sought out all the gaps in my clothing and nipped at any bits of exposed skin. After being inside for so long, stepping into the December air felt like walking across the Arctic.

The only thing that stopped me from walking straight back inside and heading to the snug to order a Baileys coffee or hot chocolate was André’s grip on my hand, steering me down the steps and onto the path that led around the front of the hotel to the gardens. Someone had cleared and salted the path, leaving a dark wet streak of stone curving through the snow.

It was still snowing but not as much as before, and the world felt heavy and silent despite the crunch and click of our feet on the path. The sky was thick with weighty grey clouds, but every now and then it seemed like light was trying to break through, tiny bursts of sunshine sparkling off the snow as if someone had covered it with glitter.

Some of the smaller bushes looked like nothing more than tiny bumps in the snow, the larger ones reminding me of cake pops dipped in white chocolate and dusted with sprinkles. The trees were slightly more recognisable, and the evergreens reminded me of the ones on traditional Christmas cards, branches groaning under a blanket of snow.

As we circled around the hotel, I saw the soft glow from the Christmas lights decorating the terrace and the potted bushes and trees that lined some of the walkways. These seemed to have been cleared of snow and I laughed at the idea of it being someone’s job to walk around brushing snow off bushes just for the aesthetic.

“So,” André said as we walked, circling around a beautiful frozen water fountain. “Do your Christmas plans just involve staying in and eating takeaway or do you have something else in mind too?”

“Probably just takeaway, terrible movies, watching porn, and eating my weight in Quality Street,” I said with a laugh that sounded hollower than I’d intended. “What about you?”

“Pretty much exactly the same. We’ve got a few days off from rehearsals, so I’ll spend most of it lying on my sofa and not bothering to get dressed. I keep telling myself I’ll also treat myself to some decent food, but in reality it’ll be whatever I can get from M&S two days beforehand. Are you working all the way up until Christmas?”

“Yeah. I’ve even got a delivery on Christmas Eve for a celebrity party. But it’s a huge order and they paid for the date, so I didn’t want to turn it down.” The money had been too good to refuse, plus the potential connections and orders that could come from it weren’t worth missing out on. Word of mouth was key in those circles, and although my availability for next year was already limited, it never hurt to have more interested eyes on my work. “I’ve got another for New Year’s Eve too, so I’ll only be off for a couple of days before I have to start baking for that.”

“Busy, busy,” André said with a soft smile and pride in his eyes. “I’m sure they’ll all love what you do.”

“They better.” I laughed. “It’ll be stressful, but worth it.”

“Stressful because it’s a lot to do or because of your expectations?”

“Definitely the second. I have perfectionist issues, remember?”

“You’re not the only one,” he said. “Get in line.”

I snorted. “Wow, thanks for the sympathy.”

“Eh, you’ll live.” He stopped and pulled me in for a kiss, a beautiful smile still on his lips. “Seriously, though, I hope you’re proud of yourself, Luke. You’re so bloody talented and I hope you know that.”

There was a warmth to his words that made it feel like I’d stepped into a beam of sunshine or like I’d been lit up by a thousand Christmas lights. I’d always tried to be proud of my work, but hearing that from someone else… someone I cared about. It hit differently. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t used to having someone look at me the way André was looking at me now. “So, tell me about this musical you’re in,” I said finally, starting to walk again as I tried to find something to talk about that had nothing to do with me. “Did you get a lead? Is there a lot of dancing?”

“It’s actually a new production of Little Shop of Horrors ,” André said, glancing around to see if anyone was listening. “They’re doing a limited run on the West End from March. I think they’re announcing it this week and tickets go on sale in January.”

“That’s amazing!” He grinned. “That’s one I actually know. I remember my English teacher showing us the film at school. I never wanted to go to the dentist again! You still haven’t told me who you’re playing. Do I need to guess?”

“You don’t have to guess,” he said softly. There was a tiny flush across his cheeks but I wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or embarrassment. “I got Seymour.”

“You’re kidding me? Holy shit, babe, that’s awesome!”

“Yeah, it kinda is.”

“Have you told anyone? I’d be screaming it from the fucking rooftops.”

“Just you. Mostly because it doesn’t feel real yet. I’m not sure it will until the curtain goes up for the opening night,” he said. “And because I’m under contract, so I can’t say anything until they announce it.”

“Don’t you trust anyone to keep it a secret?”

“Yes, it’s why I told you.” He smiled again as he brought us to another stop in front of the trees sparkling with Christmas lights. It had stopped snowing, but the sky was still overcast and the world was silent except for the sound of our breathing. “ Little Shop is going to be hard, Luke. It’s eight shows a week, plus rehearsals and press appearances and all the other stuff that goes with it. It’s going to completely absorb my life for at least the next nine months.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Fear rose inside me, bile bubbling in my throat as my stomach churned. Was André already pushing me away? “Do you not want—”

“No, I do,” André said, pulling me against him. “I’m telling you so you know, Luke. So you can make a choice. I want to give this a try, but I can’t let you come into it uninformed. I’m going to be busy and exhausted and I might not always have time for you, for us. But—”

“I get up at five most days,” I said, quickly cutting him off. “Sometimes it’s four. And sometimes I don’t finish until ten or eleven at night. I know I work too fucking much and I take on too many orders, but that’s because I’ve got nothing else in my life apart from my plants, and to be honest they seem to do pretty well under my benevolent neglect. I’m not exactly the ideal partner either, André.”

“Okay… good… that’s good.”

“I get it. You’re worried that I’ll accuse you of neglect and treat you like shit—I’m pretty sure we both have experience of that.”

“Sadly, yes.”

“Then we’ll be aware of it,” I said. “I’m not going to let this fall apart before we’ve even started. I’ve been dreaming about you for so long, André, I can’t give this up without a fight.” I looked into his eyes and saw my fears and desires reflected back at me. “Look, maybe it won’t work out, maybe our jobs will get in the way. Maybe I’ll hate that you get back so late and you’ll hate how early I get up. Maybe we’ll fall out over something stupid like my opinions on Love Is Blind and Drag Stars or taking the bins out. Maybe we’ll just drift apart like so many couples and it’ll end with us being strangers in the same bed. Or maybe we’ll be like Kane and Austin, and we’ll make it work. No matter how hard it is. But we won’t know if we don’t try.” I grabbed the front of his coat. “So don’t fucking give up on this before we’ve started. Promise?”

“I promise,” he said, kissing me fiercely. “You’re right. I’ve wanted this since the first moment I saw you. I won’t let you slip away just because I’m afraid.”

“Be afraid. I’m afraid too. Just don’t fucking run away without talking to me first.”

“I won’t.”

“Good. Or I’ll set Kane on you. He’ll set your ass straight.”

André laughed. “Deal.”

I kissed him again, holding him close and reminding him of his promise.

But just as I was about to suggest we take this straight back inside and continue our conversation naked, a snowball hit me on the back of the head with a solid thud.