Page 11 of Inceptive (Ingenious #3)

11

ZACH

D espite all odds, Zach had done it. He was twenty-five today and in control of all he owned. When the tunnel opened in about four months, he’d walk the muddy main road to town with Will and claim the mayorship.

The most dangerous stretch wasn’t the journey. It was the day after he arrived, when the council’s women would band together and try to trick him into marriage, or Astrid would coerce Will into a steam lodge while Zach was distracted.

“Talk fast when you take the mayor’s chair,” Will advised him. “Just put forward the proposals and announce that I’m the viceroy’s son. The news will stun their asses. As for Astrid spinning excuses to get me alone in a steam lodge for questioning? I’m indentured to the new mayor and answer only to him.”

Will’s confidence cheered him.

To start the birthday celebration, Zach allowed Will to trim his beard and hair, and he layered the long blunt bangs. He enjoyed Will humming as he snipped. Then Will wondered aloud what those broad cheekbones would look like above a smooth- shaven jaw. Finished, Will contemplated his work. “I bet you’ll look distinguished when shaved.”

Zach sighed. “Is that one of those euphemisms for sparing my feelings because you think I’m homely?”

“Unless I’m named a special envoy, we’ll have no excuse to meet each other after you’re married. This is the least hairy I’ll ever see you.”

“Will your father force you to marry Elliston when you return?”

“If Fort Hope passes a trading arrangement for fertilized soil, I’ll be free of Elliston and receptive to other flirtations.” He ruffled Zach’s bangs. “You’ll be married with children before we meet again, and I’ll have found a husband to love. You could convince your wife to make me an envoy for trade, but once I’m in a same-sex marriage, your town will reject me.”

Zach had no answer.

Supper was baked fish with fresh savory herbs and onions from the window box and served with the fried pone Zach loved and strong black tea. Evidently, Will had cajoled a wrapped fruit cake soaked in gin and sap from Bartley and had hidden it from Zach to celebrate— if they’d managed to live to celebrate this day.

Singing an archaic birthday song, Will unwrapped the fruit cake. The rich aroma of aged sap and gin infused with spices filled the room. The cake fell apart like moist pudding studded with chopped dried fruit. They ate it straight from the wrapper with spoons.

Zach licked the wrapper clean. “Thank you for the birthday supper. I’ve not celebrated since my parents died. Ma used to buy a wrapped cake from Bartley, and the crew would share it and wish me well.”

“Did the crew celebrate with the traditional birthday wish digestif?”

“A what?”

“Islanders have a tradition of making a wish after eating a birthday cake. I think blowing out candles was a part of an ancient ceremony but evolved into making a wish, then swallowing a mouthful of the digestif with eyes closed. If you didn’t cough, sneeze, or gag, the wish would come true. Having a strong gag reflex helped because the drink was often mixed with something vile to thwart the wish. Nowadays, you must swallow the unknown digestif, hold it down, then thump the table with a fist to win what you wished for. Of course, a well-behaved child who’s thrown out enough hints for a reasonable wish will have a sweet drink to swallow.” Will chuckled. “In the university, away from relatives, the digestif has become a game of friends mixing the vilest drink that will thwart your wish… usually a depraved sexual act because it’s always depraved sexual wishes with students. If the guests are… in the mood… the wisher will be served a potent gin that will go down sweet and warm and commence an orgy that ends with hangovers for all participants.”

Will produced a lidded cup and swished the contents. His voice dropped to a low-pitched rasp. “Your digestif awaits you, Mr. Mayor. Do you have the courage to wish?”

“If that drink contains crapberries, it’s you who’ll wish?—”

Will tapped the side of the cup, his innocent smile worrisome. “You can refuse.”

Zach massaged his throat. The digestif must be vile. There was capsicum in the window box. Something fiery would have him spitting out the drink. Like slimy fish roe mixed with capsicum. Zach grimaced, his tongue pushing out the imagined slime. “Hmmm. I must think of a wish worth the risk.”

“A reasonable wish. I’m not drinking a pint of nutrient gravy or letting you skip a bath for a week.”

“I dislike my stink, and I’d be the one to mop the puke if you drank a pint of gravy.” He stroked his beard, thinking.

“You aren’t obligated to drink the digestif,” Will reminded him.

“But if I swallow it, you’re obligated to give me what I wished for.”

“If reasonable. I can’t snap my fingers and grant miracles.”

Zach considered reasonable wishes. He stroked his jaw. “I’m thinking of… hmmm… wishing for advice. Perhaps I would ask when you’re with a man, are you nervous of… you know…”

“Anal sex?” Will grinned at Zach’s tight expression. “Pardon me. Deep sea fishing ? Yeah, I am. But I’m not waiting until marriage to try giving and receiving. I’ll be comfortable with sex on my wedding night.”

“Forget advice! I don’t wish to know forbidden knowledge I’ll never use.”

“Why not? Couples should test their compatibility before committing to marriage. Like brewing tea and tasting lots of cups before tweaking the right blend for the palate. You know what’s right when you try it. I only refused premarital sex with Elliston because I had no intention of marrying him. The villain complied because he liked knowing he’d be instructing me.”

A totally doable, absolutely desirable birthday wish formed. Zach studied his hands, then blurted, “I wish for you to teach me how to kiss properly. But we don’t have plums. I’ve squished two tomatoes practicing.”

Zach’s admission had laughter bubbling out of Will.

“Please, Will. Teach me. It’s a reasonable wish.” Zach glanced down, then sideways at him. “I’ve been thinking I should learn how to strengthen my willpower against the matchmaking women who’ll trick me into being alone with a woman. I’ll get hard and agree to anything… and… kissing means marriage. I need to lose my curiosity about kissing and wait until I know a spark will be there.”

“The best defense is avoiding being alone. Sheesh. Walk away. Don’t offer excuses. Walk away.”

“What if she’s blocking the door, and there’s no other way out but a small window my body can’t squeeze through?”

Will stared. “You’ve given this considerable thought.”

“I should strengthen my willpower beforehand. Otherwise, my mind will weaken from the blood flowing to my cock, and the plans to update laws will fail.”

“The head sitting atop your neck makes the decisions, and you have a thick neck.” As if to be sure he wasn’t in rut, Will sniffed his pits. “Kissing me seems logical— is logical in a twisted way—but afterward, you’ll resent me. I like us being friends and allies. You could find kissing me disgusting.”

“Please. Test me with a kiss,” Zach coaxed. “Your lips are soft and plump and sweet, and they’ll slide like warm sap against mine when we take our time. I wanted to touch your skin when you undressed in your room above the saloon.”

“This curiosity imprinted because you thought I was a woman first. I like being a man.” Will tapped the cup as if annoyed he’d introduced the damn wish. “Miss Glorianna was an act. William van Diehn is not confused about what he likes. He’s enjoyed kissing men. He’s enjoyed jerking off dicks.”

“Please.”

Will looked ill. “Had I known… Well, dammit, I didn’t. You want advice? Don’t drink this.”

Zach held the cup, certain of a prank. He’d cleared acres of stinking, infested swamp, rid his cabin of spitting toads, and lanced boils on dozens of servants. If he could drink straight nutrient gravy for an energy boost without gagging, then he could keep this filthy potion down, and his pretty manservant would owe him an infinitely long night of kissing lessons.

He saluted Will, then rapped the bottom of the cup to knock what was probably a revolting glob straight down his gullet without touching his tongue. Nothing foul slid out. Instead, plain water splashed his tongue. He swallowed and waited for the burn. He tasted the pleasant digestif of mint. He thumped the table with a fist and bounced from his chair, trembling with anticipation. “I win.”

“Remember, this was your idea.” Will looped his arms around Zach’s neck and stood on tiptoe. “Bend down.”

Zach bent his knees until Will was at eye level. “Where do my hands go?”

“Wherever it feels natural. Now close your eyes and think of a young woman courting you.”

His eyes closed, and his heart pounded because he could only think of Will, who was leaning in with hips tilted back as if hiding how hard he was.

Will pressed his lips against Zach’s. Just a light sweet kiss to test the lesson.

Zach groaned, cupped Will’s ass, and lifted. He backed him against the door, feet dangling. His tongue swept inside and licked everywhere.

Will turned his head. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Lessons are unnecessary. You’ve nailed kissing.”

“The lesson is to practice until I have willpower.” Zach nibbled his jawline. “So smooth. Makes me forget you’re a man,” he said dreamily.

Will shoved. “Never forget that I am a man. Don’t close your eyes and pretend I’m a—eeeeek!”

Shifting so that one hand lifted Will’s ass, Zach’s other hand closed over Will’s rigid cock, squeezing and stroking. “You’re hard as ripe cane. Let me take it out and play with it while we kiss. It’ll keep reminding me you’re a man.”

“Oh, holy… oh, shit… oh-oh-okay.”

Zach kissed and fondled until Will was sitting on the table with his pants open and his legs wrapped around Zach’s hips. “Rub me like that,” Will whimpered. “Mmmmm… Feels so good, so good, sooooo good. Don’t stop, don’t stop. Reel this big fucker in… Ahh, ahh—” Will tipped over the threshold, splashing Zach’s palm.

Zach wrenched down his own pants, fisted his dick, and painted Will’s groin with a musky load of seed. He rested on his forearms and stared at the mess while his body shuddered with tiny climaxes.

Will unclasped his ankles, and his legs flopped off the table like dead fish.

Zach silently mopped up the spunk, then turned his back to Will and closed his pants. His body was rigid, and he tightly clenched his fists at his sides. Minutes passed before he strangled out, “Kissing was a stupid wish. Best for us both if you go to your loft, and we don’t talk about it.”

“Aw, Zach, don’t hate me.”

“Hate you?” Zach whirled around, feeling fierce emotions. “I can’t wait to have you again. I want more than hands and kissing. I want to bury myself inside you.”

Tears spilled down Will’s flushed cheeks. “More carries risks of betraying ourselves in public with how we look at each other. I’m climbing up to my loft and giving you time to come down from the high.”

“No.” Zach stripped his tee, kicked off his pants, and stood naked and semi-aroused, deliberately tempting him with his body. “I want to be your first. Want to go deeper. Harder.”

“No way are you getting that monster between my butt cheeks.” Will drew a breath, then unrolled the sleeping mat and knelt with his arms spread in welcome. He licked his lips. “Come here.”

A slow smile spread over Zach’s face as he guided his cock to Will’s mouth.

Will licked, widened, engulfed. Zach gazed down, bewildered by the raw emotions. His knees shook, and he gripped handfuls of Will’s hair as he grunted and thrust. Will gagged, pulled off, then wrapped a hand around the root and tried a new angle, joking that like playing the flute, this would take practice.

When Will pulled off to rotate his aching neck, Zach groaned, “Don’t stop… Please, Will… don’t stop. I’ll be gentle…”

“You’re a mouthful and then some.” Will tried again, raising to his knees on two pillows and keeping a hand around the root but using the other to squeeze a butt cheek for balance as he angled for a rhythm. “Work with me. You’re jutting up.”

“That’s why it’s called a cock stand .”

“I mean, it’d help me if it angled downward, offering some bending. How can you be stiff as iron so soon after jerking off? Lie on the mat to give me easier access.”

“Yes, yes. Anything.” He lay on the mat and spread his thighs to allow Will to kneel between them.

Instead, with a wicked grin, Will straddled Zach’s chest and faced his big feet. He planted his knees on each side until he could lick from root to leaking tip with the flat of his tongue. With a fist on the root to control the thrust, he used the other to jerk himself, his precum making juicy slaps of flesh that pulsed the veins in Zach’s cock.

The mmmmms flowed as fast as precum from each.

Will thrust his ass up and wiggled as he sucked and bobbed with all his wonderful mouth muscles stretched to the limit. Zach spread Will’s butt cheeks and tapped the smooth hole with a fingertip. The resulting moan around his cock spiraled Zach into a climax before he could warn Will to pull off.

Will gulped, coughed, swallowed. “Ugh. I should win a dozen wishes for keeping that load down.”

Zach was blissed out with his eyes closed, his chest heaving.

“Hey, Treetop.” Will swung around and faced Zach. He tugged his beard. “Don’t leave me hard.”

Zach feigned snores.

“Really? Falling asleep while leaving me aching?”

Zach bucked like a pony when wet stripes hit his face. Will fell off, gasping and laughing as Zach franticly wiped off the cum as if he’d been pissed on.

“Ewwwww.” Zach wrinkled his nose and gripped Will’s wrist when he offered a sticky thumb for Zach to clean.

Will slurped his thumb. “Tastes better than yours. Not as salty. Yours is…”

“Is what?” Zach prompted. Because he’d never tasted his cum.

“Tastes like bitter greens and shellfish.”

“Does not!”

“Only way to know if I’m lying is to taste your cum the next time you go fishing.”

They cleaned up, Will rinsing and gargling, before Zach led him back to the mat for more kissing because his birthday wasn’t over yet. Zach caressed his back, memorizing each vertebra, dip, and curve.

Hours after midnight, with Will tucked against him, swirling his chest hair and petting his brown nipples, Zach admitted to himself that he’d never known such deep contentment.

Will’s sleepy voice broke the peaceful silence. “This is the longest I’ve spent with a man after sex. The others liked blowing and jerking off the viceroy’s son. I just wanted to jerk them off because playing with a dick that wasn’t mine was fun. A quick one and done. I’ve kissed you more tonight than the sum of all the others.”

“Am I a quick one and done?”

Will lifted his head. “We aren’t done until the tunnel opens.”