Page 30 of Inferno
“Gods, you’re beautiful,” Nerik muttered, his eyes roving up and down Yorin’s body. “I should have asked you out months ago.”
“Why didn’t you?” Yorin asked.
“I thought you’d say no.”
Yorin blushed and looked down. “Maybe I would have done,” he admitted.
A frown settled on Nerik’s face, a tender hand stroking Yorin’s cheek. “What are you so afraid of?”
It was a question Yorin had asked of himself a thousand times, when he’d avoided making conversation with Nerik, or thought about flirting back, only to squash the idea. “I thought I wouldn’t be good enough for you.”
Nerik rocked back on his lap, his face incredulous. “You own your own business. You have customers lining up at your door to order clothes from you. And you’re… You have this inner conviction about everything you do. I’ve seen you talking to the warriors. You don’t let them push you around. You stand your ground and demand respect. You’re amazing. Shit, Yorin, I’m the one who wouldn’t measure up to you. I’m a messenger. I’m from a little hamlet that doesn’t even exist anymore. I have no history and no family and… and everything terrifies me.”
That last revelation came as a shock. Nerik had always seemed so confident, so self-assured. But Yorin didn’t doubt the truth of his admission. He knew from his own experience that it was perfectly possible to appear calm and cool on the outside, while shaking like a leaf on the inside. It happened to him every time he said no to a warrior, or explained to a warrior’s wife that he expected full payment, despite her station.
Despite the seriousness of the conversation, a crooked little smile crept onto Yorin’s face. “It seems we have quite a lot of getting to know each other to do,” he said, realising just how much there was about Nerik that he didn’t know – not just his past and his daily life and his likes and dislikes, but his character; his fears, his desires, his goals, his regrets.
But Nerik didn’t respond with a smile, or a light-hearted quip, or even a kiss to distract him. Instead, he looked deeply into Yorin’s eyes. “Really? You really want to know who I am?”
“I really do,” Yorin said, acutely aware that they were still sitting there, half undressed, with Nerik in Yorin’s lap.
That finally earned him a smile. “I’ll look forward to it, then,” Nerik said, leaning in for a gentle kiss. “One step at a time.”
Yorin nodded, suddenly feeling more raw and exposed than if he’d been entirely naked in front of Nerik. Then he felt a sly hand creeping up his thigh.
“Maybe we could start with finding out how you react when I do this,” Nerik said, then his hand landed squarely over Yorin’s groin and squeezed gently. His erection had flagged a little while they’d been talking, but it sprang back to life now, and he couldn’t help the moan that escaped his lips. The hand increased in pressure, and Yorin found his hands suddenly cupping Nerik’s ass, entirely without his permission. Based on last night, Nerik wouldn’t be wearing any underwear beneath his trousers, and Yorin’s heart skipped a beat as he wondered what Nerik would look like naked. Well, okay, he’d technically seen Nerik naked already, but he’d most certainly not been aroused at the time. He didn’t think he’d ever actually seen another man in an aroused state. Would Nerik look like him? Or would he be bigger? Or smaller? Or darker, maybe? Nerik’s skin was naturally a shade or two darker than Yorin’s, though he had to wonder whether that was because he spent more time outdoors, and so had a tan. The firelight last night hadn’t really been bright enough to give a good indication, and…
“Like what you see?” Nerik asked, and Yorin realised he’d been staring at Nerik’s groin.
“Oh, gods, I’m sorry, I…”
Nerik laughed, then tilted Yorin’s head up so he could kiss him. That distracted Yorin from both his embarrassment and from the sight of Nerik’s erection pressing against the seam of his trousers. Nerik moaned into his mouth, and Yorin responded by opening his mouth wider, his tongue tangling with Nerik’s. Nerik moaned again, and then Yorin felt clumsy fingers fumbling with his belt buckle, and then with the buttons on his trousers. He tried to part his legs to give Nerik more access, but found his thighs confined by Nerik’s knees.
He pulled back, putting a gentle hand over Nerik’s to still his actions. “Wait, wait…”
“Fuck, sorry,” Nerik apologised, immediately withdrawing his hand. “Sorry, I should have asked…”
Yorin laughed. “No, it’s fine. It’s great, actually. I just thought this would be easier if we had a little more room.”
“Oh! Right. Yeah. Do you want to… Um… We could go into the bedroom?” Nerik didn’t sound particularly comfortable with the idea, and after a second or two of consideration, Yorin realised that he wasn’t, either. This was already moving rather quickly. That wasn’t to say they couldn’t enjoy themselves, but…
“Maybe just sit over here,” he said, nudging Nerik to slide over onto the sofa seat beside him. “And then, um… May I…?” He reached for the button on Nerik’s trousers, tugging the waistband a couple of times to let Nerik know what he had in mind. Internally, Yorin’s heart was racing like a startled rabbit, but he managed to keep breathing almost normally, and hopefully his hands weren’t shaking too much.
“Uhh… Yeah…” Nerik replied, eyes wide, his gaze darting around from Yorin’s mouth, to his chest, to his groin, and then down to his hands, where they were slowly undoing Nerik’s trousers. “Oh gods,” Nerik breathed, one hand clutching at the cushion repeatedly.
Yorin froze, entirely unsure whether the response was excitement or apprehension. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked, looking for clues in Nerik’s expression.
“No. Oh gods, I just… No, I…. Keep going. Please keep going.” Excitement, then. Keeping his eyes on Nerik’s face, Yorin slid his hand inside the man’s trousers, somewhat shocked about how very warm everything inside there was. His hand found the long, hard length of Nerik’s erection, and he carefully drew it out, wrapping his hand firmly around it.
As he stroked his hand up and down, Nerik’s eyes drifted closed and his head fell back a fraction.
But then suddenly, Nerik’s hand was covering his own. “Wait, no… hang on…” He hastily undid Yorin’s trousers, looking Yorin in the eye as he drew his erection out of his cotton shorts, a cheeky smirk on his face. “No reason we can’t both enjoy this at the same time.”
Somehow, in Yorin’s mind, there was something far more erotic about them both holding each other’s dicks, rather than just one of them at a time. Yorin drew in a deep, half-startled breath. “Oh, this isn’t going to last long…”
“I’m okay with that,” Nerik said. A hazy part of Yorin’s mind wondered what time it was, and whether he was going to be late in opening the shop… and then a much larger part told his need for punctuality to shut the hell up and enjoy this.
He’d stroked himself enough times that the motion came naturally, albeit that he had to reach further over to grip Nerik’s erection. There was a slight delay between the motion of his own hand and the sensation on his cock, and that little hitch made him so much more aware that he was doing thiswith another person.