Elf Defence (Adventures in Aguillon #2) - Lisa Henry Page 0,40

Benji supposed he could get used to it for at least as long as they were in Tournel, however long that was.

He let a hand drift out and trace over Lars’s flat, toned stomach muscles. They really were impressive. Next, he trailed his fingers down through the soft thatch of blonde hair on Lars’s belly. It was nice. This was nice. Benji had never done nice, so he tried his best to work up a scowl just for the sake of it, and utterly failed.

He blamed Lars and all his kissing.

And then, just when he was summoning the energy to tell Lars how terrible he was for forcing them to all like each other, Lars stretched and sat up, and said, “Well, I’d better not be late for my council meeting. You two are coming too, right?”

And Benji discovered that as much as he wanted to stay melting pleasantly into the mattress, he liked Lars too much to tell him so.

Was this what being in a relationship was? Compromise and consideration of other people’s feelings? Benji had been in a relationship for under an hour now, and he wasn’t sure he liked it. At all. Apart, of course, from the warm feeling in his chest that expanded as Lars looked at him hopefully.

Benji groaned as he sat up, and muscles he didn’t know he had complained. He finger-combed his hair and forced a smile. “We would love to,” he said. It was a lie, he thought, but at the same time it didn’t feel like one.

This relationship business was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

“Calarian,” he said, and hit him with a pillow. “Calarian, get up. We’re going to a council meeting.”

“Can’t,” Calarian said into the mattress. “No bones.” But he struggled to sit up anyway.

Lars smiled at them gratefully, and Benji supposed that was worth the burn he was feeling in the back of his thighs. And he did get to watch Lars’s perfect arse when he stood and stretched, so that was something, right? Calarian must have felt the same because he let out an appreciative whistle.

“You should know you’re unfairly attractive right now,” Calarian said, “and if I wasn’t so worn out I would definitely be riding your dick for the next hour.”

Lars turned a delightful shade of pink and ducked his head, which was all kinds of cute and also weird, given that not twenty minutes ago he’d shamelessly had his tongue in Calarian’s arse.

Still, Benji leaned over and gave Calarian a shove. “It’s my turn next. You already had two goes.”

Lars blushed even deeper, but a smile quirked his lips. “After the meeting,” he said. “And maybe you could show me the reverse double paladin you mentioned?”

See, this was what being an envoy was really all about, Benji reflected. Sharing and celebrating cultural differences. And possibly foreign dick. Not that he wanted to share anyone else’s dick, only Lars’s.

Huh. Benji normally wanted everyone’s dick. (Except Scott’s of course, but he was the exception that proved the rule.) Benji only had a moment to wonder if this was part of the whole relationship thing before beefy hands were wrapping around his hips and lifting him bodily out of bed, and then Lars was kissing him, soft and quick, before setting him on his feet with a slap to his arse.

“Time to get up,” Lars said, while Benji tried not to faint from the sheer hotness of being manhandled—or was it elfhandled?

“Oooh, me next!” Calarian said, making grabby hands, and when Lars hoisted him out of bed easily, Benji discovered that watching Lars pick someone up like they weighed nothing was at least as hot as being the one lifted. He considered the structural soundness of the walls, and filed it away as something to investigate later.

They dressed, but it was a slow, messy production because someone had to keep stopping to steal kisses. It was Benji, and he wasn’t sure how to feel about discovering this strange new neediness for affection and warmth in him. It was as world-changing as the day he’d discovered proof of the impossibility of ethical consumption under late capitalism, except it didn’t come with a sudden rush of clarity. It was incredibly disconcerting, like the first time he’d stepped onto a boat and felt the deck rocking underneath his feet. It made him want to grab onto something for balance.

He grabbed onto Lars, plastering himself to his side and grinning at him. Lars grinned back, and put an arm around