Although he looked bewildered, he rose to his feet, allowing me to steal his seat. I held out both my arms and nodded at my lap.
“Now sit.”
His eyes met mine, then dropped to my lap. “Err, if you want that seat so badly, I can take the other one.”
The more he hesitated and resisted my instructions, the more the Dom inside me reared its head, but I squashed it. Not tonight. Especially when I still had no idea how much experience Charles had being with a man.
“We have a few rules tonight, Charles,” I said. “And the first is that you do exactly what I say. Think you can manage that?”
His brows furrowed together. “Is it this complicated to get fucked these days? Thought we’d go up to your room, and you know…just do it.”
I couldn’t help my laugh. “I’m sorry, but we’re not doing a Nike commercial here. My way is so much better, fun even. Now sit on my lap and be good.”
Charles muttered something under his breath that I didn’t catch, but he sat gingerly on my knees.
“More.” I handed him a glass.
He shuffled his ass right up against my groin and stiffened when my erection nudged his ass.
“Now isn’t that much better?” I wiggled a bit. “You can feel exactly what you want, but that’s all you’ll be able to do until we talk.”
“Then talk,” he growled out.
“Have you ever done this before?”
He took a sip from his champagne. “What exactly do you mean by this?”
“Sex with another man.”
“Not…really?”
“Explain.” I wrapped my arm around him and placed my hand high on his thigh, just next to the bulge in his pants. He tensed up at the close contact.
“Some experimental stuff back in college. A long, long time ago.”
“How far did you go?”
“Hand and blow jobs.”
“And since college?”
“Nothing. I’ve only been with women.”
“Curious, eh?” I teased him.
Even though he tried to hide it, I could hear the confusion in his tone. “I’m not exactly sure what it is. I mean, I experimented back in college, but then I met Declan’s mother shortly after and fell in love with her. I didn’t look at anyone else in all the time we were together. I know this sounds unbelievable, but after Miranda died, I was too messed up to take note of much of anything. I might’ve found some guys attractive but only ever slept with women.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have to figure this all out or even to label it.” I rubbed my fingers over his thigh. “Does this feel good to you? I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
“Not going to lie. You touching me feels better than anything I’ve experienced in a long time.” He relaxed more into my chest. “I probably shouldn’t even be enjoying sitting in your lap this much, but just so you know, I can be high-maintenance, so count your lucky stars this isn’t a relationship.”
“Well, I’m broke, so—”
“Not that kind of high-maintenance.”
“Then explain.”
He shook his head. “It’s irrelevant. This is just a casual fling. I have too much going on with Poppy and the baby for this to mean more.”
I sighed and decided not to pursue the issue. “That’s another thing. I don’t usually do this.” I gave his thigh a little squeeze. “Sleep with other women’s husbands.”
Charles laughed, shifted, and met my gaze. “Are you worried about Poppy?”
“Should I be? I don’t want to be accused of breaking up anyone’s marriage.”
He downed his drink, eased off my lap, and placed the glass on the coffee table, then returned to his perch. He seemed to have lost his earlier hesitancy in being in my lap, and I liked that.
“Listen to me, August. There’s zero affection between Poppy and me. Nobody gets to blame me for it this time either. She started sleeping with other people on our honeymoon.”
Fuck, that was bad. “I’m—”
“If there’s anything to worry about, it’s you being Owen’s son. That’s a bigger concern than Poppy, who I’ll be divorcing as soon as possible.”
“That’s a relief at least.” Not that he was in a shitty marriage but that I wasn’t the one who was wrecking it. Their marriage was over. It was not Charles saying that to have an excuse. I’d seen it with my own eyes at the wedding when she walked out with a man who wasn’t her husband.
“Now as for you being Owen’s son, we’ll be over by the time they get home. No one has to know.”