Page 33 of Your Pace or Mine (Running for the Romance #1)

Jamie smiled at him. “Does anyone truly do charity work without some kind of motive?”

“Cynical much?”

Jamie shrugged. “It’s true. Like, I started raising money to impress a producer. Mark is trying to show up some guy at his work. Chi’s raising money for cancer because they survived it as a child.”

Darius stopped dead. “I didn’t know that.” Darius thought he had been doing well, getting to know his group, but he realised he only knew the surface things. He promised himself there that he would do better.

“My point is, everyone has something motivating them, Darius. Maybe you could do more, now that you’ve realised. I know I want to.”

“The centre means a lot to you now, doesn’t it?” Darius asked.

Jamie nodded. “Yeah, just something about seeing those kids got to me, you know?”

“I know, me too.”

Darius felt completely raw. He clung to Jamie’s hand like a lifeline as they continued to walk.

Finishing their stroll around the garden paths, they returned inside hand in hand.

Darius navigated Jamie deftly through the maze of corridors, slowly winding their way through the house towards the East Wing, where the family quarters sat.

By the time they entered Darius’s room, Darius was overwhelmed by the need to touch Jamie again, to feel connected to him, or just to feel something other than wrung out.

Jamie must have been feeling the same because they had barely shut the door behind them when their lips found each other.

Clothing fell quickly around them as they raced to get their hands on as much skin as possible.

“I need to taste you, can I?” Darius asked as he kissed his way down Jamie’s throat.

“Fuck.” Jamie groaned. “Yes, I think I might need your mouth on me more than I need my next breath.”

Darius directed Jamie over to his childhood bed and knelt in front of him on the intricate Persian carpet that covered the oak floors of his room.

He kissed the inside of Jamie’s thighs and spread his legs further before tracing his tongue up Jamie’s cock.

He hummed as he swallowed him as deep as he could, and Jamie bucked involuntarily in his mouth.

He pulled out all the stops, focusing on nothing but Jamie, the timbre of Jamie’s moans guiding his motions.

Jamie’s voice sounded wrecked as he gasped out a warning to Darius, but Darius just sealed his lips around Jamie’s shaft as his thrusts stuttered and his salty taste filled Darius’s mouth.

His own release wasn’t far behind, spilling over his hand and marking the expensive rug beneath him.

They went to clean up together in the en-suite, and the gentle cleaning quickly turned more heated. Reluctantly, Darius pulled away, it was too bloody good, and at this rate, they wouldn’t be getting back to London before morning.

“Need to get back,” he whispered.

Jamie nodded. “I know, I know, I’m getting dressed, I swear.”

The clothes still piled on the floor ten minutes later, as Jamie lounged naked in Darius’s bed, said otherwise, but he was hardly going to call him on it. It was a great view.

Eventually, Darius pulled himself away and made quick work of locating a suitable dinner suit in his closet whilst a now-fully-dressed Jamie perused the rest of his wardrobe.

Being here always left Darius off-balance, but today more than ever. It was messing with his head how easily Jamie seemed to slot into every area of his life.

But he couldn’t get used to it.

With Jamie’s award show tomorrow night and the marathon just weeks away, he assumed the terms of their arrangement would fast come to an end.

At best, he figured he could eke out an extra month of Jamie’s time before he’d want to stage an amicable separation and go on his way. The thought made Darius’s stomach roll.

He’d gone and done the one thing he absolutely shouldn’t have.

He’d fallen for him.

“Find everything?” Jamie asked from where he had buried himself in the walk-in closet.

Darius nodded. “I think so.”

With a look at the simple black suit Darius held in his hands, Jamie arched a judgmental brow. “That’s it? You have this closet full of amazing things, and you’re just going to go with basic black?”

“I like it, and the night isn’t about me anyway.”

“Okay, that’s fair. But how is it you own something like this and keep it hidden away here?

” Jamie asked as Darius watched him reach deep into the farthest corner of his wardrobe and pull out a mint-green velvet tuxedo jacket.

The velvet was rich and soft. Satin trim edged the wide lapels and cuffs, gleaming with a subtle sheen, while a single black button and slim pockets added a sharp contrast.

Darius groaned. “Selena forced me to buy it on a family trip to Milan.”

“It’s amazing.”

Darius looked Jamie in the eyes and saw that his enthusiasm was genuine. “You should try it on. I’ve never worn it.”

Jamie stuttered, “I, this is worth more than my entire wardrobe. I couldn’t.”

“Jamie, I’ll never wear it. And it would bring out your eyes, you want to impress tomorrow, right? Just see if it fits.”

Darius could see the hesitation on Jamie’s face, but another glance at the suit Darius had pulled from his closet had him nodding in slow, reluctant agreement.

He slid the jacket on; it wasn’t a perfect fit, but Darius could ring his tailor in the morning.

He’d been right, though; it did bring out Jamie’s eyes, and Darius quickly found himself getting lost in them.

Jamie studied himself critically in the full-length mirror at the back of the wardrobe. Darius wrapped his arms around him and kissed his neck.

“It’s pretty perfect, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Darius replied. Eyes never drifting from Jamie’s in the mirror. “Perfect.”

Darius took a step back, breaking the connection. It was too easy to get lost in the picture of the two of them together. “I’d like to stop in and see Selena before we head back, if that’s okay?”

“Of course,” Jamie replied easily. They packed the jacket into the dust bag with Darius’s suit, and Jamie took Darius’s hand and allowed himself to be led down the corridor to Selena’s rooms.

Selena sat cross-legged on her bed, her laptop balanced precariously on her knees and phone in hand as she scrolled through Darius’s Instagram feed.

She scrunched her nose in concentration, examining the caption on a photo of Darius crossing the finish line at an older race. “You should post more training content,” she said, not looking up. “People eat that up. Some slow-mo stuff—so it looks all dramatic.”

Darius groaned from the armchair, running a hand through his still-messy hair. “I run for a job, Selena. Not to feed the content machine.”

“You run for sponsors, big bro, and sponsors like the content machine.” She shot him a cheeky grin before glancing over at Jamie, who was perched awkwardly on the edge of a large yellow velvet sofa.

“Besides, you two are getting loads of good press right now, you should capitalise on it. Jamie’s much better at this than you, Darius. Maybe he can give you some tips.”

Darius groaned. “Please stop cyber-stalking my boyfriend.”

Selena just laughed in response. “He’s good at this stuff, though, and how else am I meant to find out anything about him?” she accused. “You don’t tell me anything!”

“I told you everything,” Darius argued.

Selena groaned, falling dramatically backwards on her bed. “Ah, yes, it’s all just pretend, casual . I’ve read that book before, boys. Don’t be stupid.”

Darius flushed. “Selena,” he replied with a pointed glare. The last thing he needed was his baby sister spilling his feelings to Jamie and ruining everything.

Jamie flushed, clearly uncomfortable. “Uh, so, back to the social media stuff? Slow-mo sounds… nice?”

Selena burst out laughing. “You’re too innocent. You’ll get eaten alive by this family.”

Darius rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide the faint smile tugging at his lips. “Innocent is not quite the word I’d have used.” He winked at Jamie.

Darius leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Aren’t you supposed to be studying? Or do American colleges not care about A-levels?”

“I’m multitasking,” Selena said breezily, clicking through another set of photos. “Plenty of time to prepare.”

“Plenty of time for Dad to convince you to stay here, or go to the old Alma Mater,” Darius muttered, his tone darkening.

Selena froze for a moment, then shrugged, her bravado firmly in place. “Yeah, well, he can shove it. Rowing at an Ivy League school isn’t exactly slumming it, no matter what he thinks.”

Jamie shifted uncomfortably, clearly picking up on the tension. “Rowing’s pretty intense, right? I mean, the training alone must be brutal.”

Selena grinned at him; her confidence returned. “It is. Which is why I’m going to crush it. And besides, it’s nothing compared to keeping this guy,” she jabbed a thumb at Darius, “from looking like a prat online.”

Darius snorted. “You’re lucky I let you anywhere near my accounts.”

“I’m your secret weapon,” Selena retorted, tapping her temple.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to brainstorm captions for this very sweet picture of the two of you that sells your absolutely not real relationship,“ she drawled, pulling up a candid shot of the two of them wrapped around each other in the gardens. Darius’s heart stuttered at the photo.

Selena was right, everything he felt for Jamie was written on his face, plain as anything in that picture.

Darius levelled her with a flat look. “You’re insufferable.”

“You love me,” Selena shot back, her grin unrepentant.

Jamie peeked out from between his fingers. “You’re terrifying,” he said, though there was a hint of a smile in his voice. “But could you send me that?”

“Of course,” Selena said with a wink.