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“You weren’t up here with me when I fell asleep,” Alexei pointed out mildly, his voice husky with sleep, as he tightened his arms almost against his will. Jay had definitely still been sitting on the floor in front of the couch when Alexei’s eyes had drifted shut.

Jay giggled, an absurdly adorable sound. “Well, you sort of pulled me up on the couch with you in the middle of the night.”

“I pulled you up in my sleep?” Alexei asked, incredulous.

Except that actually sounded just about right. His obsession with the barista—the vampire barista—was so deeply ingrained at this point he wasn’t at all surprised it had seeped even into his subconscious.

“I think so?” Jay answered with a shrug, his shoulder bumping up against Alexei’s chest. Jay’s back was to Alexei’s front, with Alexei’s erection nestled right up against that surprisingly pert little butt.

It took all Alexei’s willpower to resist thrusting into it.

“You were all grumbly and mumbly, and your eyes were only half-open. I don’t mind though.

” Jay said the last part tentatively, the tips of his ears going pink in front of Alexei’s eyes. “The cuddling is nice.”

Alexei snorted with amusement, unable to keep himself from bending forward to nose the back of Jay’s neck. “You’re just a literal cupcake, aren’t you?”

“Well, not a literal cupcake,” Jay giggled.

Right. Because Jay was a literal vampire.

An ancient creature who drank people’s blood and was somehow still a virgin after multiple centuries of living.

And while Alexei knew his brain should be more focused on the former, he was really having a hard time pulling his dirty fucking mind away from the latter.

He still couldn’t believe he’d been worried Jay was too young for him.

“We’ll consider the cuddling part of your…education.”

“Is cuddling a big part of sex?” Jay wiggled against him as he asked the question, and Alexei couldn’t for the life of him tell if he was doing it on purpose.

“Yes,” Alexei lied.

It wasn’t, not to him. He’d never opened himself up to the potential vulnerability of holding his former partners, had never stayed the night with them.

But he liked having Jay in his arms. For such a slender little thing, he was surprisingly soft, and he smelled unbearably good, and when he was nervous, he apparently did this odd wiggling thing like a little puppy, and that felt awfully nice pressed against Alexei’s dick right about now.

Except…

Alexei sighed, reluctantly loosening his hold. “I’m afraid I need to get up.”

Jay twisted his upper body until he was peering back at Alexei, his brows furrowed. “Oh,” he said sadly. “Did you, um, change your mind? About the sex stuff?”

“Fuck no,” Alexei said, a bit more harshly than he had intended, his arms tightening once more. He made an effort to soften his voice. “Not at all. I just need to use the restroom, kitten.”

Honestly, with all the water Jay had had him chugging the night before, it was a miracle Alexei had slept the entire night without having to get up to pee.

He sat up carefully, finally releasing his captive vampire, mindful of each movement of his potential hangover. He wasn’t in his twenties anymore. But really, Alexei’s head didn’t feel too bad, all things considered.

It probably had something to do with all the pizza bagels Jay had fed him.

Jay led him to the bathroom, although the guidance probably wasn’t necessary, considering there were only two possible doors to choose from. Alexei paused in the doorway, rubbing at the back of his neck. His hair had come loose sometime in the night. “Do vampires happen to use toothpaste?”

For some reason, the question seemed to delight Jay, who bounced up on his toes in his excitement.

“Oh! Yes to toothpaste. And I even have a toothbrush, never used.” He hustled into the bathroom and dug around in the cabinet, triumphantly brandishing a still-packaged toothbrush.

“I keep them for guests, but then I never have guests, so it’s just… here.”

Alexei took the toothbrush from him, lips twitching a little at Jay’s enthusiasm, and then they both just stood there, staring at each other. Eventually Alexei cleared his throat. “Still have to pee, kitten.”

“Oh!” Jay flushed. As of the past twenty-four hours, he seemed to do that quite a lot around Alexei. It was incredibly endearing. “I’ll get out of your way.”

Alexei did his business quickly, and by the time he came out of the bathroom, Jay had already arranged a tall glass of water and a plate of what looked like Pop-Tarts on the coffee table, standing off to the side like the ma?tre d’ of some fancy restaurant.

“For me?” Alexei asked, making his way over to the couch.

Jay nodded shyly, remaining standing even as Alexei sat, and Alexei gulped his water dutifully under the vampire’s watchful eye. He left the Pop-Tarts alone for the moment; he wasn’t interested in the food just yet.

“Come here, please,” he requested, patting the couch next to him.

But Jay, moving alarmingly fast, took his request in a much more interesting direction, and he was perched and straddling Alexei’s lap before he could even blink.

“Vamp speed?” Alexei asked, careful to keep his voice light. He didn’t want the little guy to think he was scared of him or anything.

“Uh-huh,” Jay answered absently, his gaze on Alexei’s mouth.

Alexei bit back a smile. Jay was wearing worn sweatpants, incredibly soft-looking, and a T-shirt that had to be about three sizes too big.

It was easy enough for Alexei to slip his hands up under all that fabric, rubbing his thumbs against the soft skin of Jay’s stomach.

“Would you like to start with a kiss, kitten?”

Gray eyes met his, a fervid hunger in their depths. “Can we?”

Alexei barely managed a nod before Jay was leaning forward eagerly, pressing those sweet pink lips against Alexei’s own.

He took a long moment like that, just a light, steady brush of their lips.

Alexei let him go at his own pace, keeping the kiss soft and easy, the scent of peppermint washing over him.

And then Jay was slipping his tongue in Alexei’s mouth, and Alexei couldn’t help himself.

He groaned, a husky, desperate sound, wrapping his arms around Jay and pulling him closer, deepening the kiss.

Jay gave a soft, breathy moan of his own, melting into Alexei’s body, one hand gripping Alexei’s shirt as if to keep himself upright that way.

Alexei palmed the back of Jay’s head, doing his part to keep the vampire in place, plundering Jay’s mouth with days and days of pent-up lust and longing.

Jay met his pace, the eager thing, the greedy little noises coming out of his mouth an echo of the sounds he’d made feeding from Alexei the night before.

It was Alexei who broke the kiss first, out of a need for oxygen more than anything else. He stared, panting, at the little vampire on his lap. Never in his life had Alexei been so torn apart by a single kiss.

Jay was beaming at him, panting in turn. “I melted.”

“I’m sorry?”

“My first kiss with tongue,” Jay mused rather than explaining.

“That was your first kiss ?” In his lust-fogged state, Alexei didn’t quite manage to keep the shock out of his voice.

Jay stiffened in his arms, and Alexei regretted his words immediately. “My first kiss with tongue ,” Jay repeated, his sweet voice laced with defensiveness.

Alexei had so many fucking questions about Jay’s past he didn’t ever know where to start. “Can I ask why…” He trailed off, unsure how best to phrase the question, Why haven’t you had sex in over two hundred years? without sounding like a complete asshole.

Jay seemed to catch his meaning anyway. “You can, but I don’t feel like explaining this morning. This is a good morning.”

On that they could agree.

Alexei felt like he should offer truth for truth.

He kept stealing Jay’s secrets and giving nothing in return.

“I’m in hiding. From my brother. Our family business has some…

criminal elements to it. I pissed him off before I left.

” He cleared his throat, unsure of how much detail to go into.

“I don’t know if he’s even looking for me anymore, but if he found me… it could get dangerous.”

Jay’s gray eyes were serious, his nod solemn. “I’ll protect you, Alexei.”

Alexei couldn’t help it. He kissed him again, hungry and obsessive and wanting the vampire in his arms so much it physically hurt.

He broke it off first again, Jay giving the impression he could kiss for hours and never tire of it. “There’s so much I want to do to you. Jesus fucking Christ. I don’t want to go too fast.”

Jay licked his lips, as if chasing Alexei’s taste. “I’ve waited over two hundred years. There’s no such thing as too fast.”

“Well, exactly. But—”

Jay’s brow furrowed, and the hand in Alexei’s shirt tugged sharply. “I’m not a baby. I’m not naive. I’m not some ingenue. I’m just…inexperienced.”

“No, you’re not a baby.” Alexei pressed a kiss to Jay’s neck, then whispered in his ear. “You’re a kitten.”

Jay leaned back, a smile on his face, his defensiveness instantly forgotten. “You made a little joke.” He started stroking Alexei’s hair, lifting a strand between two fingers. “This is nice. I like it all down like this.”

Alexei allowed himself to close his eyes, reveling in the soft touch. How long had it been since he’d been petted, stroked, cared for?

He could feel Jay watching him closely. Alexei tried to gauge where best to start. He’d never…deflowered anyone before.

Might as well start with the basics. “So you’ve touched yourself, then?” he asked.

“Yes, I like to.” Jay continued his soft petting of Alexei’s hair. “Sometimes I do it a lot. I read my books and get turned on, or sometimes I watch porn, and then I stroke myself under the covers.”

Holy fuck. That had Alexei’s eyes opening, his cock suddenly straining against his zipper hard enough to hurt.

“Well, fuck. That—that’s great, kitten.” Jay was smiling almost mischievously at him, and Alexei had to wonder once again how much of the maddening little things the vampire was doing were on purpose.

He swallowed, mouth dry. “You want to show me how you do it?”

He figured Jay would maybe be more comfortable starting with what he knew, but Jay was already shaking his head, biting at that fucking lip again. “I’d like to—I want—” He heaved a breath, finding his words. “I’ve never touched someone else that way.”

Alexei let out his own slow exhale. “You want to touch me, kitten?”

Jay nodded eagerly, his hands clenching into Alexei’s hair, Alexei’s scalp stinging at the pull. “Yes. That.”