Page 86 of The Runaway
Connor shrugged. “Surprised, yeah. God, this isnothow I thought the day was going to end. But upset? No. Not at all.” They both fell silent for a moment, just letting the news sink in, then all the minor details of reality began niggling at Connor’s mind. “So, um… what happens now?”
“Baron Bardet will have to come to the estate to confirm our bonding,” Gabriel said. “As well as Niles and Adalene. And then you’ll get your tattoo adjusted. You’ll get a black circle around your brand, like the one Dante has. And that means you can never be sold, ever again. You’ll be safe to live here, with me, for the rest of your life.”
“Yeah, but… I mean…” He frowned. “If we’re bonded, then where am I supposed to sleep?” He thought he already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it said out loud.
“You’ll be moving into my bedroom,” Gabriel said, with just a hint of possessiveness.
“What if I don’t want to?” Connor asked the question just to get a reaction.
Gabriel looked shocked for just a moment, then the uncertainty vanished. “Then I’ll move into the omegas’ quarters with you.”
Connor’s eyebrows rose. “You really would, wouldn’t you? If I said that’s what I wanted.”
“Honestly, I’d prefer a little more privacy than that would give us. But if you don’t like my room, we can pick a different room, or ask Antoine for a room in one of the cottages. I don’t care where we are, so long as you’re comfortable there.”
“We can stay in your room,” Connor decided, earning a wry smirk from Gabriel.
“I’m glad you think that’s a good idea.”
Silence fell again, and Connor waited for Gabriel to do something. To hug him, perhaps, or to kiss him, or to… But Gabriel didn’t move.
“So, um…” Connor found himself not quite able to meet Gabriel’s eyes. “Uh…” The problem was, with Gabriel being the profoundly polite and respectful man that he was, Connor was going to have to be the one to broach the next topic. Gabriel would never do it himself. “So when Niles and Adalene found out they were bonded, they went off to Niles’s room to ‘talk’ about it…”
Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up so fast that Connor was surprised they didn’t fly right off the top of his head. “Uh… do you want to…?”
“Yes,” Connor said, blurting the word out almost before he’d registered the question. “God, yes…” It had been a long week in Paris, a week full of tension and danger, and also full of nightly cuddles and the regular warmth of Gabriel’s arm across his shoulders, but with no opportunity to take things any further. Connor had spent hours pondering how to make their relationship work once they got back to the estate, so the news that he was simply to move into Gabriel’s room was like music to his ears. “Shall we go upstairs?”
Gabriel was across the room like a shot, but then he fumbled with the door handle, his hands shaking too much to get the damn thing open.
Carolyn was in the back hallway when they darted through the room, and she snorted as they passed. News around here travelled quickly, and it was no surprise that the head housekeeper had already heard about their bonding – and likely about Niles and Adalene as well. But Connor ignored her, far more interested in getting up the stairs and getting naked.
Inside Gabriel’s bedroom, Connor slammed the door shut, then simply threw himself into Gabriel’s arms. He kissed him with a fierce passion, both of them stumbling towards the bed as they tried to keep as little distance between them as possible. Once he felt his legs run up against the mattress, Connor pulled back a fraction. “Take your clothes off,” he murmured against Gabriel’s lips.
Gabriel reacted instantly. Shirt, pants, boots and socks all tumbled to the floor, then he threw himself onto the bed, lying back with a look of open anticipation – with the expectation thatConnorwould be the one to decide what they were going to do next.
Mustering all the willpower he could manage, Connor met Gabriel’s eyes and undressed, but he did it far more slowly than Gabriel had. His shirt was untucked in a few meaningful tugs, then dragged over his head in a long, slow move, exposing his skin inch by tantalising inch. He unbuckled his belt, smirking as Gabriel gritted his teeth. He toed off his boots next, just to make Gabriel wait a few seconds longer, then slid his pants down over his assslowly.
The moan that came out of Gabriel’s chest was a reward all by itself, but then Gabriel’s hand found his own erection, rubbing in slow strokes as if he could no longer restrain himself. “God, Connor, I want to feel you all around me…”
“You think that’s where this is going, do you?” Connor asked, climbing up on the bed and crawling on all fours until he was looming over Gabriel. “You think I’m going to straddle you, and rub your long, thick cock against my ass, and let you touch me like you own me?”
Gabriel muttered a few choice curse words, his head falling back as his hand picked up the pace. “I don’t own you,” he said, his voice entirely breathless. “As of today,youownme.”
Connor’s heart stuttered in his chest.
“Connor?” Gabriel asked, cracking his eyes open when Connor didn’t reply.
Connor surged forward, plastering his lips to Gabriel’s, pressing their groins together, desperate for the feel of Gabriel’s skin against his own. “I love you,” he whispered, feeling like his heart was going to leap right out of his chest. He felt tears prick at his eyes and tried to blink them back, but one fell anyway, down onto Gabriel’s cheek.
“I love you too,” Gabriel said, tenderly wiping the tears from Connor’s eyes. “You are everything I’ve ever dreamed of.”
Connor smiled at the words, but the mischief-maker in him had the sudden thought that he could probably make Gabriel’s dreams even more enticing than they already were. His ass was seeping fluid, and he felt a deep, visceral longing to have Gabriel inside him. So with little more than a slight wriggle and a sly movement of his hand, he had Gabriel’s cock lined up in the right spot. Then he thrust himself backwards, feeling that long, hard length fill his ass, brushing against all the right nerves so that with only that one stroke, he was suddenly on the brink of climax.
“Fuck! Connor… Oh God,” Gabriel gasped out, his hands suddenly gripping Connor’s hips. “God, if you move the slightest bit, I’m going to come…”
Taking pity on his alpha, Connor made a token effort to stay still, while he leaned down and kissed Gabriel again. Then he moved his head to the side, so that his mouth was right by Gabriel’s ear. “That’s the idea,” he whispered, then a moment later, he thrust backwards again, taking Gabriel to the hilt and feeling a surge through his own groin at the same time.
“Oh God… Connor, I… Connor!” Gabriel thrust upwards once, twice, helpless to stop himself, then his body shuddered with his climax. Connor felt the stretch of his knot expanding, letting out a low moan as the pressure intensified, and then his own climax was bursting out of him, his legs feeling like jelly as he straddled his alpha.