Page 62 of Love By Design

We sat in silence for a minute, the spread in front of us quickly getting cold. I tapped my fingers against Lincoln’s thigh, and he offered me his hand. Threading our fingers together, I lifted his hand to my mouth and kissed his knuckles.

“I love you,” I whispered, dropping our joined hands down to the small gap between our thighs.

“I know,” he said. “I love you too, Si.”

“Should I be worried about you?”

He squeezed my hand. “Not yet.”

“You’ll tell me?”

On top of my head, I felt him nod.

“Promise?” I asked.

“I promise.” Lincoln cleared his throat and untangled himself from me fully. “Now help me pack this all into the fridge. Sounds like you have a hot date.”

CHAPTER 20

MARSHALL

Silas arrived later than I’d expected. I wasn’t more than ten minutes away from texting to check on him when he showed up on my porch in a pair of low-slung gray sweats and a threadbare USC t-shirt, messenger bag looped around his neck like usual.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said with half of a shrug.

“We never settled on a time.”

I stepped out of the way to let him in, knowing his first stop would be getting his shoes off and kicking them into a neat pile by the door. Next, he slipped off his messenger bag, ready to set it on the floor, but I took it from him before the leather could hit the tile.

“I’ll go put this in my room.”

His cheeks pinked and he nodded.

“Why don’t you head into the dining room? I poured us some wine.”

“Thank you,” he said quietly, padding off in the opposite direction of my bedroom.

I carried Silas’s bag into my room and set it in the closet, then I found him perched on a stool with the wine in hand. Hespun the glass around in a circle, aerating the bubbles, but not taking a drink.

“Is this all I get for the night?” he asked.

“That depends.”

“On if we fuck?”

I sucked in a silent breath and sat down beside him, not sure where his defensiveness was coming from but more than ready to find out.

“On if we fuck the way we both like.”

Silas cocked his head to the side and asked, “Do you think you wouldn’t like fucking me normally?”

“I’m sure I’ll like fucking you every way I can.”

He finally raised the glass to his lips, taking the smallest sip imaginable. “If you’re my boyfriend and my Dom, doesn’t that make everything a scene?”

The question made me wish I’d poured us both a whole bottle and not two ounces.

Instead of answering his question, I made an observation. “You seem uneasy, Silas. Did something happen at dinner?”