The Hero and the Hidden Royal - Renae Kaye Page 0,12

kissing them.

But here he was, Derek Carson, sliding his arms around the shoulders of the beautiful stranger he only knew as Sam Jeffries, the man he’d known for less than an hour, and was kissing him. He went up on tiptoe to enable him to fall deeper into the kiss. Sam responded by wrapping both arms around Derek’s slight body and lifting. Then Sam turned and walked them both back to the table. Derek was hardly aware of moving, only that suddenly there was something solid under his backside and he was now sitting. The tightness around his torso eased, which was something he wasn’t happy with. He wanted to be wrapped up tight in Sam’s arms. In Sam’s embrace he felt cherished. He felt wanted. He felt safe.

He pulled back to look. He was sitting on the edge of his kitchen table and Sam was standing between his splayed legs. Sam stopped too.

“Huh,” Sam said with a bit of a sigh. “Not aroused enough yet. I can only see your clothes.”

Before Derek could protest—which of course he didn’t want to do—Sam set about kissing him again. This time there was a subtle difference. Derek was concentrating on Sam’s mouth and what those beautiful lips were doing, so it was a shock when he felt a hand on the bare flesh of his back. While he wasn’t thinking about it, Sam had pulled the shirt from the waistband of his trousers and now had access to touch and explore under Derek’s clothes. He gasped at the sensation and Sam took the opportunity to explore more of Derek with his lips. He traced tiny kisses along Derek’s jawline to his ear. Derek shivered and gave a wordless cry at the sensations this elicited. Then Sam was moving on to the soft flesh of his neck, pressing kisses to the racing pulse he found. Derek clasped Sam closer as his mouth nibbled at Derek’s neck. He arched as sensations arced through him.

“You know,” Sam whispered, “you’re allowed to touch as well. I give you permission.”

Touch? God, yes.

Sam’s shirt was ripped from his fight and so Derek found it was easy to run his hands down Sam’s front and—voilà! Touching skin. Touching flesh. Touching Sam.

Sam’s chest was a study in contrasts. The skin was soft, but the muscles underneath were hard. Derek ran his hands over the slope of those pectoral muscles again and again, loving the feel of the smooth curve that rapidly dropped off and dipped to those rippled stomach muscles. A large hand found his and directed Derek’s attention to a specific place—Sam’s nipple.

“Oh, yes,” he groaned and circled the tight nub with his fingers.

“Oh, yes, indeed,” Sam agreed as his hand squirreled back under Derek’s shirt and reciprocated by finding Derek’s nipple.

The sensation shocked Derek into absolute stillness. After a moment he realized Sam had stopped too and opened his eyes, ready to protest. Sam was staring at his face.

“I can report that yes, when you’re aroused, you’re visible. Very, very cute and very visible.”

Derek felt like he was trying to think while on a high dose of morphine. His thoughts were gluggy and took a while to come to him.

“Why did you stop?”

Sam reached out and traced a finger down Derek’s cheek, skirting over the fullness of his lips and coming to rest on his chin. “Derek?” he whispered. “I hope my question doesn’t embarrass you, but have you done this before?”

Derek’s mind was still foggy, but he had enough brain power to shake his head slowly. “No. I’m sorry.”

Sam smiled. It was sweet. “Please, you need to stop being sorry for things that are just you. I’m not upset with you. But it simply means that I’m going to kiss you once more, and then I’m going to leave.”

“Leave? But why?”

“Because I need to know that you want this with me and it’s not just the hormones driving you.”

“I want this,” Derek cried and tightened his grip on Sam’s neck.

“So do I. But there’s no gold medal for rushing things. No crown for finishing the course early.”

With despair, Derek threw himself at Sam, hugging him tightly.

“Can I come back tomorrow and visit you again?” Sam asked as he wrapped his arms around Derek and squeezed lightly. “Maybe bring some dinner with me and we can sit down and talk?”

“Just talk?” Derek said with anguish in his voice.

Sam chuckled. “No. I’m thinking that there will be more than just talking. But that will come after the talk. I’m