David closed his lips over Richard’s thumb with deliberate, tight suction, then released him. He spoke without hesitation, with almost a little too much control. “Shall I fuck you, Richard?”
“Yes. God, yes. Uh…it’s been a long time, though.”
“I’ll be delighted to remind you of the steps.”
The thought was a little unnerving, in truth. Dominic had always wanted to be fucked; Julius did not take either part. Richard’s only experience on that side of things had been years ago, with the tall and cheerful captain of a hussar regiment. They’d enjoyed several unsophisticated but enthusiastic weeks before the man had gone back to the wars, never to return. That felt a very long time ago now.
Richard hadn’t imagined playing at all fours for David. The few furtive thoughts he’d allowed himself on the subject had all been the other way about, as had seemed only natural for their positions and their relative sizes. Richard could not have pictured David asking to fuck him, still less himself asking David for it.
And now it had happened, it would happen, and Richard couldn’t think of anything else. David’s fingers were at work, groping through Richard’s breeches with dizzying expertise, and he felt suddenly weak with the need to put himself in David’s hands and throw over all responsibility. “Please,” he said abruptly. “I want this. Come to bed.”
“No. Here. I want to have you in this room.” David’s hand was almost painfully tight.
“Why?”
“Because I want you to remember.” His eyes looked very dark in the firelight. “Every time you come here, I want you to think of us. I want this room to smell of me forever.”
“You are the very devil,” Richard said hoarsely.
“I’ll make it good. Believe me, I’ll make it worth it.”
Richard caught a handful of David’s hair, jerking his head back, exerting his strength just enough to make David’s eyes widen. Enough to remind them both who was the bigger man, who was bending now.
“Then fuck me, you redheaded bastard,” he said, and felt David’s fierce, foxy grin like fingernails on his skin. “But at least let us lock the damned door.”
David went to do that, then to the adjoining bedroom. Richard stripped off his coat and cravat, threw them with deliberate carelessness onto a chair, and had shrugged off his waistcoat by the time David returned with his own coat and neckcloth removed. Richard pulled the shirt over his head and discarded that as well so that he was standing bare chested in candlelight, watching David watching him.
“Richard.” David reached to put a bottle of oil on the mantel, paused, then tipped some into his palm and rubbed it into his hands. He stepped forward and stroked his slick hands over Richard’s chest, tracing pectoral muscles, abdominal muscles, the curve of his ribs. Richard stood still under the warm, slippery touch, trying to control his breathing.
“There is so very much of you.” David’s eyes were on Richard’s torso as he circled a nipple with a finger. The oil matted Richard’s chest hair, tangled it. “I want all of it.”
“You have it.”
“Tonight.” David gave a fleeting smile.
“It’s more than I thought we’d have. I did not mean to offend you with my offer, David.”
“I know. We are of different worlds, and that is nobody’s fault. I was unreasonable to expect you to understand.”
“No, you were not. But I have had almost thirty-eight years as a lord and one night as your lover.” He tipped up David’s face with a finger under the chin. “Can you allow me to stumble now and then?”
David made a stifled noise. “When you say things like that, you make me almost believe—”
“In us?” Richard bowed his head to brush a kiss over his lips. “I wish you would. I wish I could see our way or that you would find it.”
“I don’t know how. We have tonight,” David whispered. “That will do for now.”
Richard took David’s earlobe in his mouth, gently tonguing the soft flesh, feeling David’s shudder. Julius and Harry were sporting matching earrings now, which Richard found foppish beyond bearing, but he could understand the urge to adorn his lover’s ears, because David’s were beautiful. Porcelain pale, the curves sharply defined at the top where they rose to a noticeable point and softer and gentler on the lower parts. He sucked on the lobe and heard David gasp.
Richard released the ear with some reluctance. “Did you mention fucking me?”
“I think I did. In due course.” David tilted his head, inviting attention to his neck, which Richard gave, kissing his way down until obstructed by the shirt. They stripped slowly, David declining to touch Richard’s boots or buckskin breeches with oily hands so that Richard had to undress them both, until they lay together on the great rug in front of the fire, kissing long and slow, with David’s slick fingers sliding over Richard’s thighs and beginning to delve between.