Vigil (15 page)

an imp?
Is
an imp. Why didn’t you tell me that more things exist

besides vampires?”

“Are you very angry with me?” Donte crossed to the desk and

poured them each a drink.

“Not angry, exactly. Maybe disappointed. Unhappy.”

Donte sat on the smallish bed and invited Adin to sit next to

him. Instead, Adin indicated he should put his feet up and rest his

back against the headboard, then straddled his thighs, effectively

sitting in his lap. He still held Donte’s gift, so he laid it on the bed

beside them as he took the drink from Donte’s elegant fingers.

Donte met his eyes. “I struggle everyday to decide how much

98 Z.A. Maxfield

to tell you.”

The anger Adin experienced every time Donte made a

unilateral decision about him began to build, but he squashed it

flat before it could surge to the surface and ruin their truce. “I

wish you’d tell me all of it. Every last thing so there aren’t any

secrets between us.”

“I’ve thought that would be what I would do if I had a second

opportunity.” Donte looked at the drink in his hand. “I hoped I

would get one.”

“Surely you knew you’d have that, Donte.” Adin cupped

Donte’s chin and raised it so they met each other’s eyes again.

“Surely you knew I wasn’t going to—”

Before Adin could form another coherent thought, Donte

kissed him, his lips still damp from his drink. Adin licked the

strong, strange cognac taste from them and begged for entrance.

Donte tasted of alcohol and doubt, and Adin wanted nothing

more in the world than to reassure him. He used the palms of

his hands to press Donte back into the headboard and part the

elegant fabric of his robe.

“As often as I tease, I will usher in the era of full disclosure

by saying that I love these dressing gowns of yours.” Adin kissed

Donte’s skin as he unveiled it, starting at the base of his neck,

nuzzling at the hollow of his throat. He ran the pads of his

thumbs over Donte’s chest, grazing his nipples and eliciting a

gasp from Donte, who stroked Adin’s hair with one hand, and

held on to his upper arm with the other.

“I’ll have some made for you, shall I? I’d like to wrap you in

fine things, and I would quite enjoy peeling them off you.”

“I’d like that too,” Adin murmured, traveling lower, biting and

nipping at Donte’s skin, leaving a tiny pinch each place his fingers

had traveled. Donte squirmed under him, uncharacteristically

playful as he held Adin back and tugged at his hair. Adin caught

his hand and kissed his thumb, watching Donte’s eyes lose focus

as he enveloped it with his mouth and sucked on it, fellating it as

thoroughly as he planned to do with Donte’s cock.

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Donte’s head dropped back and his eyes closed. “
Caro
.”

Adin splayed his hands across Donte’s chest and slipped

lower on the bed until he was a breath away from Donte’s hard

shaft. He peeled back the silken fabric that bound it and buried

his face in the nest of hair there, inhaling Donte’s rich and earthy

scent as he wrapped his lips around his cock, using his tongue to

slick and worry the loose foreskin, teasing the dark, velvety head

into revealing itself. Donte thrashed beneath his hands, and Adin

gripped his hips so tightly that on any other man there would be

bruising.

“By all the gods.
Adin
,” Donte whispered, clutching Adin’s

hair with one hand as he peeled one of Adin’s hands away from

his hip with the other. He brought it to his mouth and sucked

in two of Adin’s fingers, swirling his tongue around them and

getting them slick.

Adin took his cue when Donte let go of his fingers. He sought

out the sensitive skin hidden behind Donte’s heavy sack and

stroked his way toward the dark pucker of Donte’s hole, teasing

it with his damp fingers. Donte closed his eyes and lifted his hips,

begging to be inside Adin’s mouth even as he gave himself over

to Adin’s thorough manual exploration. It wasn’t long before

Donte was rocking, writhing between Adin’s mouth and his

fingers as they surged and penetrated, sucked and soothed. Until

Donte was cupping Adin’s head between his hands and fucking

his mouth.

Adin bobbed, allowing Donte so deep his nose nestled into

Donte’s soft thatch of pubic hair then drew off hard. When

he lowered his head again he breathed in the earthy, arousing

scent that was Donte’s alone and his own body tightened. When

Donte’s fingers tensed in his hair he swallowed, massaging his

lover’s cock while his fingers of his free hand dug into the hard

muscles of Donte’s buttocks.

Donte uttered a startled exclamation in Italian, puncturing the

silence. The words told Adin everything he needed to know as

come hit the back of his throat.

Adin took all Donte had to give him and held him in his

100 Z.A. Maxfield

mouth until he was soft again. He pulled his hand from Donte’s

flesh and drew away, still aware of a gentle hand stroking his hair.

He rested his head on Donte’s thigh, content to be petted while

they recovered. When he chanced a look he found Donte gazing

down at him. Something that looked very much like love settled

over his features.

Adin regretted getting up and heading to the bath, but he

wanted to wash his hands. He returned to Donte with a damp

towel to wipe him clean, then settled back into the spot where

he’d been, warm and content, lying between Donte’s legs.

“There will be times when we are likely to disagree,” Adin

murmured.

“No doubt,” Donte said drily. “Since you are often irrational.”

Adin growled, “And you are unreasonable.”

Donte sputtered, “Me?”

Adin gave Donte’s hand a squeeze and kissed the inside of

his thigh.

Donte grunted, but warmly. Adin knew the kiss pleased him.

“Times when you are entirely too human.”

“Mmhmm.” Adin moved up and kissed the crease where

Donte’s torso met his leg and then the hollow of his pelvis.

Donte’s muscles jumped when Adin’s lips brushed the sensitive

skin around his navel. He crawled up until he sat astride, resting

on Donte’s strong thighs. Donte moaned when Adin bit his

nipple. “I imagine you’re going somewhere with this.”

Adin reached for Donte’s gift and sat up, still astride Donte’s

legs but relaxed and happy, even though his own cock was a knot

straining under his jeans and it felt like a rock. “Here.”

Donte reached out and took the leather case, examining

it, running his fingers over the stitching and fastenings before

opening it.

“Well made,” he remarked as he opened it to reveal the black

cloth interior and the tiny silver opera glasses within. “Opera

glasses?”

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101

“Yes.” Adin smiled and reached for them, pulling them out

of the case.

“Ah, a hunting scene, how appropriate,” Donte murmured,

putting them to his eyes. “The optics are good.”

“Yes, but I’m well aware that yours are better.” Adin pushed

Donte’s hand down so that he could look into his eyes. “The

point is, my lover, that you sometimes need to look at things

differently. Even when I’m not right by your side, I’m yours.

Irrevocably, irretrievably lost in love with you.” Adin peered

into Donte’s eyes, wishing he could see through to his thoughts,

maybe his soul.

“
Sciocco
.”
Foolish
. If Donte could have blushed, Adin was

certain he would have. He seemed pleased with Adin’s declaration.

Donte’s cock twitched under Adin’s thighs, coming back to life.

“Promise me that before you believe the worst you will try to

see me clearly?” Adin pushed the glasses back to Donte’s eyes,

and found he was quite satisfied with the message they sent, even

if it wasn’t the one he’d originally intended. “See the man who

loves you, and look at me past time and distance and mortality to

my heart, which
belongs to you
.”

“
Adin
.” Donte pulled him close and rolled them both until

Adin was beneath him and the hard bone of Donte’s thigh

pressed deliciously on Adin’s cock. Adin sensed what was coming

and tendrils of arousal and fear wrapped around his spine. He

hooked one hand around Donte’s neck and pulled him in, even

as he clutched Donte’s ass with the other to press more firmly

against Donte’s thickly muscled leg.

Donte growled and took Adin over. He shifted slightly and

trapped Adin beneath him, every inch the predator. Adin let out

a sigh that was more like a moan and succumbed, melted, as

Donte struck. His hips jerked at the exquisite pleasure/pain of

Donte’s mouth on his throat, as first the sharp sting of the bite,

and then the lapping, sucking sensation pushed through his body

and down his spine.

“Ah,
Donte
.” Adin jerked again, spasming as his cock spit

102 Z.A. Maxfield

come inside his jeans and his spine zinged again and again with

pleasure so indescribable that he could only hold on and claw at

Donte’s back. “
Lover
.”

After, when Donte pulled his teeth from Adin’s torn flesh

and licked the wound closed he didn’t let go, but clung to Adin,

burying his face into the junction of his neck and shoulder while

Adin held him, stroking and whispering soft love words as he

rocked Donte in his arms. Neither man moved for a long, long

time.

“What’s all this?” Adin asked. “Donte? Are you all right?”

Donte shook his head against Adin’s neck but said nothing.

Adin listened to the sound of more rain pattering lightly

down on the roof of the chalet. He’d been roused by Donte’s

restlessness at first, and awakened fully when he pressed a kiss

against Adin’s forehead and told him he was going to take a walk.

Adin had muttered, “How Heathcliffe,” and rolled over,

turning a tired back to his lover-who-didn’t-sleep.

Now he frowned into the darkness. He couldn’t quite put his

finger on what exactly was wrong, but as surely as he knew his

own face in the mirror, he knew that something bothered Donte,

and it wasn’t simply the usual inability to predict Adin’s behavior

or control it this time. In the past, Donte had been content to

draw while Adin slept. To write in his journal or read. Yet now

his wakefulness manifested itself into a restless desire to get away

by himself.

Adin had never seen him quite so concerned, and the nagging

worry that—once again—something important was bothering

Donte and he wasn’t going to discuss it, coalesced in Adin’s mind

and heart.

Adin threw the covers aside, unwilling to wake Bran or Boaz

if he could help it. He donned a T-shirt and flannel pull-on pants

before creeping downstairs, where he grabbed his pea coat on

the way out the back door. He smiled to himself as he walked out

into the rain and called, “Ollie, Ollie, Oxen Free,” in a breathy

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103

whisper.

Adin wasn’t surprised to feel a playful push of energy rock

him back, as though Donte were right in front of him, giving him

a teasing shove.

Within the blink of an eye, Donte stood before him.

“Ollie
what
?”

Adin smiled. “Ollie, ollie oxen free,” he said patiently. “That’s

what you say when you’re playing hide and seek. When you’re

done looking and you can’t find someone. I came out to walk

with you.”

Donte still frowned. “But what does this Ollie—”

“Never mind, Donte, it’s nonsense. A children’s game.”

“I should think they’d rectify that,” Donte took Adin by the

hand. “Children have enough nonsense to deal with. You’ll get

soaked if you come with me.”

“I won’t melt.”

“No, we’ve established you won’t melt in the rain.” Donte

attempted to hide a smile.

“What’s wrong?” Adin stepped off the cobblestone patio and

onto the grass in his bare feet, following wherever Donte led. “I

can tell you’re worried about something. Don’t lie to me anymore

Donte, and don’t obfuscate. I’ve more than earned your respect.

If I haven’t…” Adin let the sentence hang, but he knew Donte

understood. If he hadn’t earned Donte’s respect then all the love

in the world was futile.

“I’ve been trying to make sense of a series of things, caro.

I haven’t mentioned them because I don’t yet understand what

they could mean.”

Adin froze. “Please tell me if we’re in some sort of danger.”

“I believe we are, yes. Or I am, as always. This is nothing

new.” Donte swiped at a tumble of wet hair that had fallen into

his eyes as they meandered along the path that led to a small

orchard.

104 Z.A. Maxfield

“But you’re more concerned this time?” Adin pressed closer

to Donte as he began to feel the cold.

“I am,” Donte admitted. “Because of you. You’ll be