Chapter 62: Kiss

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Kiss

"I am trying to understand what happened to you."

Sebastian glanced down at himself.

"Medically or personally?"

"Personally. Medically, I have approximately seventeen specialists sending me reports."

"That sounds healthy."

"It is extremely healthy for you."

"For them?"

"Debatable."

Sebastian laughed softly.

Nero’s expression shifted again.

It was almost comical.

This man had spent years yearning after him with the determination of someone conducting a military campaign, had engineered meetings, leaked information, manipulated timelines, cornered Sebastian politically, and generally behaved as though persistence itself should eventually earn him a medal.

Now Sebastian was sitting beside him, willingly touching him, and Nero seemed deeply suspicious of success.

"You wanted this," Sebastian said.

Nero’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Yes."

"And now you look confused."

"I am confused."

The honesty made Sebastian turn toward him fully.

Nero rested one arm against the table, posture relaxed enough that anyone else would have believed him completely at ease.

Sebastian knew better.

"I expected resistance," Nero continued. "I expected conditions, arguments, gradual tolerance, and perhaps occasional affection after I demonstrated exemplary behavior for a ridiculous period."

Sebastian smiled.

"I did not expect you to decide yesterday that you wanted me and then start touching me like this today."

"Like what?"

Nero gave him a look.

Sebastian leaned closer, deliberately reducing the space between them.

"Charming?"

"Dangerous."

"That sounds dramatic."

"You know exactly what you are doing to people when you smile at them like that."

Sebastian’s eyebrows rose.

Nero gestured toward him with his spoon.

"You have been getting away with murder socially since adolescence because everyone with functioning judgment likes you."

"That sounds like jealousy."

"It is observation. People trust you almost immediately, which is infuriating because I have to threaten them first."

Sebastian laughed again, warmer this time.

Nero’s gaze caught on his mouth.

Sebastian reached up and tucked a section of Nero’s long hair back behind his shoulder.

Nero stopped speaking.

Sebastian let his fingers linger briefly at the side of his neck.

The pulse beneath the skin jumped.

That pleased him considerably more than it should have.

"You really are malfunctioning."

Nero caught his wrist, but not to stop him; instead, he turned Sebastian’s hand slightly and pressed his cheek into the palm with an ease that should have made the gesture less vulnerable than it was.

"I spent years wanting this," he said quietly. "I am allowed an adjustment period."

The humor in Sebastian softened.

That was the danger with Nero.

Beneath the arrogance, beauty, manipulation, possessiveness, and instinctive certainty that the world could be negotiated into giving him what he wanted, there had always been this unbearable capacity to yearn without embarrassment.

Nero had wanted him openly.

Relentlessly.

Even when Sebastian gave him almost nothing back.

Now Sebastian could feel how careful Nero was being despite every instinct demanding more, and the realization made something warm settle beneath his ribs.

Nero released his wrist slowly.

Sebastian looked at him.

He could have returned to lunch.

Probably should have.

Instead, he decided he still required entertainment.

He leaned closer.

Nero’s eyes sharpened, but he did not move, apparently unwilling to risk misreading whatever Sebastian intended.

That restraint made the decision easier.

Sebastian placed one hand lightly against Nero’s jaw.

"Still confused?"

"Profoundly."

"Good."

Then Sebastian kissed him.

Not the brief experiment Nero seemed to expect.

Sebastian closed the remaining distance, his mouth settling over Nero’s with enough intention that Nero went absolutely still beneath his hand.

For perhaps half a second.

Then Nero reacted.

His hand came up to Sebastian’s waist, broad palm spanning his side through the green shirt, while the other slid carefully behind his neck without pulling him closer until Sebastian did it himself.

That restraint lasted only because Nero had clearly remembered the physicians.

Sebastian could feel it in the tension beneath his fingers.

The enormous amount of control being spent on not simply dragging him in.

Sebastian smiled against his mouth.

Nero made a low sound of protest.

"You are laughing at me."

Sebastian barely drew away enough to answer.

"A little."

"Cruel."

"You’ll survive."

"Debatable."

Sebastian kissed him again before Nero could continue.

The first had still contained curiosity, Sebastian testing the unfamiliar shape of something he had apparently denied himself for years, but the second carried none of that hesitation.

Nero’s mouth was warm, surprisingly patient for a man whose instincts had been trying to claim Sebastian since adolescence, and Sebastian found himself leaning into him more heavily as Nero’s hand moved from his waist to the center of his back.

Warmth spread immediately through his receptors.

His body recognized Nero before Sebastian’s thoughts could catch up.

That should have bothered him.

Instead, he threaded his fingers into the long white-blond hair at Nero’s nape and kissed him deeper.

Nero inhaled sharply.

The room changed around them.

His pheromones slipped loose, not enough to overwhelm but enough that fire, smoke, and something darker settled warmly through the air, wrapping around Sebastian until the edge of his medical discomfort dulled beneath it.

Nero’s control snapped somewhere very specific.

Sebastian felt a hand secure around his waist, the chair shifted beneath them, and then he was moving.

He broke the kiss with a startled breath.

The next second, he was sitting across Nero’s lap.

Sebastian stared down at him.

Nero stared back.

Neither spoke.

The absurdity of the position took a moment to register.

Sebastian was hardly small.

At almost two meters tall, he had spent his entire adult life looking down at most people and had never experienced the particular humiliation of being physically relocated mid-kiss as though his size were a technicality.

Unfortunately, Nero was two meters and thirty, and built on the assumption that ordinary proportions were optional.

Sebastian planted one hand against his shoulder.

"Did you just move me?"

Nero looked almost offended.

"You were far away."

"We were kissing."

"Exactly."

"You moved an almost two-meter man because twelve centimeters offended you."

"Yes."

Sebastian stared.

Nero’s expression remained perfectly sincere.

A laugh escaped Sebastian before he could stop it.

Nero’s arms tightened around his waist automatically, though still carefully enough that no pressure touched the places the physicians had warned about.

"You are impossible."

"You are in my lap."

"That was not voluntary."

"You have not left."

Sebastian opened his mouth.

Then stopped.

Annoying point.

Nero noticed.

His smile turned unbearable.

Sebastian caught his chin.

"Do not."

"I said nothing."

"Your face did."

"That sounds familiar."

Sebastian rolled his eyes, but his hand remained against Nero’s jaw.

Then Nero lowered his head.

Sebastian expected another kiss.

Instead, Nero’s face disappeared against the side of his neck.

His nose brushed slowly beneath Sebastian’s ear before he inhaled, warm breath moving over sensitive skin while his arms settled more securely around Sebastian’s waist.

A long, almost embarrassingly contented nuzzle against the place where Sebastian’s scent was strongest.

Sebastian went quiet.

Nero had spent years wanting him, and apparently this was what receiving permission looked like.

Nero holding him close enough to breathe him in.

"You are very strange," Sebastian murmured.

Nero’s answer came muffled against his neck.

"You like me."

"Unfortunately."

"You kissed me."

"Twice."

Nero lifted his head just enough for Sebastian to see the satisfaction in his eyes.

"Three times would be statistically more convincing."

Sebastian stared at him.

There was the negotiator. Apparently neurological function had returned. That seemed unacceptable.

Sebastian curled his fingers into Nero’s hair, tipped his face upward, and kissed him again.