Just a Little Temptation Read online

  Luckily for him, it was easy to cool down while carrying a tray of stew and rolls up through the great hall while ravenously hungry little girls all but attacked him in their hurry to eat. Max didn’t have a chance to think of anything but avoiding being bitten and stopping skirmishes from breaking out between the girls. He’d never seen them in such a mood before. Not that he’d been with them long. It was a miracle that he, Stephen, Mrs. Ross, and Annie were able to eat their own suppers before the new trial of getting everyone up to bed, washed, and tucked in for the night began.

  It was well past dark by the time the last girl had her hair braided, her nightgown tied, and her pillow fluffed for her. Max had never nestled a child into bed for the night before, but he found the whole thing charming. Mrs. Ross and Annie were so exhausted by the end of it all that they dragged themselves straight to bed in the upstairs room they shared. That left Stephen and Max to walk back downstairs together, shaking their heads and laughing tiredly at the chaos of the day.

  “They’re not usually like that,” Stephen laughed, rubbing his eyes under his spectacles.

  “Even if they were, that’s still the most enjoyable evening I’ve had in a long time,” Max said as they reached the downstairs hall. He glanced toward the door, but found himself dreading the thought of leaving.

  Stephen smirked at him. “You wouldn’t have rather spent your evening at some fancy ball, pretending to court high society ladies?”

  Max laughed. “God, no! That’s the last thing I would ever want to do.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Stephen’s eyes sparkled with raw emotion. His lips twitched into an inviting grin. For a long moment, he looked as though some sort of inner debate was raging behind his ardent stare. Max held his breath, heart pounding until Stephen asked, “Do you want to spend the night?”

  Joy and relief shot through Max. “Do you have a spare bed?” he asked, knowing the answer.

  “No,” Stephen answered, staring straight at him, unflinching and hot.

  A giddy sort of relief shot through Max. Finally. He launched himself at Stephen, wrapping his arms around Stephen’s torso and bringing his mouth crashing down over his. It was like the floodgates had been opened at last, for both of them.

  Stephen made the most delicious sound of carnal acceptance deep in his throat as Max thrust his tongue against his. Stephen clung to him, digging his fingertips into Max’s sides as they tumbled toward the closest wall, pressing up against it for support as their mouths ravaged each other. Max had never wanted to be a part of someone else the way he wanted to meld with Stephen. He tugged at Stephen’s clothes, moaning in triumph as their lips pressed together, teasing and exploring each other.

  “I want you,” he panted, freeing Stephen’s shirt from the waist of his trousers and stroking his hands along Stephen’s bare flesh. “I’ve wanted you from the moment I first saw you.”

  “And I’ve wanted you too,” Stephen echoed restlessly.

  He followed his words by reaching for the front of Max’s trousers and stroking his growing erection through the fabric. The jolt of pleasure that hit Max had him groaning loud enough to wake anyone upstairs.

  “Ssh.” Stephen silenced him playfully with a kiss powerful enough to take Max’s breath away. But he also increased the pressure of his stroking, driving Max mad with desire. So much for being a mild-mannered, sweet, father-figure. Stephen was a fiend when it came to temptation.

  “We’d better move,” Stephen said at last in a shaky voice, prying himself away from Max. He grabbed Max’s hand and led him quickly down the hall, past the kitchen, and on to a quiet bedroom at the back of the house.

  Max knew in an instant it was Stephen’s room. Everything about it, from the furnishing to the decorations, were pure Stephen. The single bed was neatly made with simple but well-made linens. The plain curtains were drawn over two, small windows on one side of the room while a wardrobe and washstand stood against the opposite wall. None of the furnishings or the carpet matched, and they were all clearly second-hand, but they’d been well taken care of. One entire wall held small photographs of girls, presumably ones who had grown up under Stephen’s care, then gone off into the world. The display was tender and adorable, and it made Max want Stephen even more, in spite of its sweetness.

  “Will anyone hear us in here?” Max asked the vital question as he advanced on Stephen, his hands going straight to the buttons of Stephen’s disheveled jacket.

  “The room above this one is for storage,” Stephen panted, shaking his head and fumbling with Max’s buttons. “Though I don’t recommend screaming.”

  The very idea of screaming as the two of them made love made Max dizzy. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself,” he said, throwing himself into Stephen’s arms once he’d unbuttoned his jacket and waistcoat.

  Momentum sent them reeling backward. The back of Stephen’s legs knocked against the side of his bed and he lost his balance. They both spilled across the bed, still trying to grope and undress and kiss each other clumsily. It was madness, and it was magnificent. Max couldn’t contain his laughter as he pulled at whatever piece of Stephen’s clothing he could get his hands on, fighting to expose flesh and peel away layers. Stephen did the same with him, and Max wriggled and writhed to shed his jacket and everything else. Their struggles only served to grind their bodies against each other, heightening the pleasure.

  “God, I’ve wanted to touch you like this for so long,” Stephen panted, sliding his hands up Max’s sides under his shirt. It was all Max could do to wriggle out of his shirt as quickly as possible. Stephen’s touch burned like magical fire across his skin.

  He felt exactly the same, but was too far beyond words to express it. Instead, he yanked Stephen’s shirt up over his head, knocking his spectacles askew as he did. Stephen tried to straighten his spectacles as Max threw his shirt aside, but Max stopped him. His hands shook with need as he gently removed Stephen’s spectacles and reached to set them on the bedside table.

  “How well can you see?” he asked, balancing himself over Stephen, who looked beyond perfect on his back, chest bared.

  “Well enough,” Stephen answered, surging up to grab Max’s face and to draw him down for a kiss.

  Max groaned as their mouths melded, tongues exploring each other. Kissing only satisfied him for a moment, though, as amazing as it was. He told himself that he would spend hours upon hours just kissing Stephen in the future, but in that moment, he wanted more.

  He broke away from Stephen’s lips, kissing a trail down his neck to his chest. Stephen sucked in a breath, arching into him. There was so much about the man to love—his unfettered reactions, the delicious scent of his skin, the pleasured sounds he made as Max kissed his way lower, stopping to flicker his tongue across one of Stephen’s nipples as he did. Max wanted to slow time down so that he could relish every last detail of their first time together, but the urgency pounding through his own body wouldn’t let him.

  He shifted lower, climbing off the bed for a moment. Stephen looked worried, until Max picked at the laces on his shoes and pulled them off his feet. He paused to remove his own shoes, then shamelessly shucked his trousers and dropped them as he straightened.

  Stephen let out a sound of pure joy. “I knew you’d be beautiful,” he said breathlessly.

  Max grinned, taking his time approaching the bed to give Stephen a look. His cock stood up eagerly, and since Stephen was drinking in the sight, Max stroked himself slowly to give him something more to feast his eyes on. Stephen made a wild sound of need in response, fumbling with the fastenings of his own trousers.

  Max leaned toward the bed, pushing Stephen’s hands aside so that he could do the honors himself. Once the fastenings were undone, he grabbed hold of the useless trousers and tugged them down. Stephen’s impressive cock sprung up, sending a shudder of need down Max’s spine. He tore off Stephen’s trousers entirely, then stroked his hands up Stephen’s thighs, nudging them apart as he did, to reach
his goal.

  He’d waited for what felt like so long to touch Stephen, to feel his heat and hardness in his hands. Stephen was impressively large, thick and straight. Max’s arse tightened in anticipation of how Stephen would feel inside of him.

  “Do you have anything we can use as lubrication?” he asked breathlessly, lowering his head toward Stephen.

  Stephen made a strangled sound. “No. I haven’t needed it for years.”

  “Me either,” Max said, answering the unasked question of how long it had been since he’d had a lover himself. “Never mind,” he went on, bending close enough for Stephen to feel the heat of his breath against the head of his penis. “I don’t want to risk us hurting each other, but there are worlds of other things we can do.”

  He followed his statement by kissing the head of Stephen’s cock before drawing it slowly into his mouth as though it were candy. Stephen made the most delicious sound Max had ever heard as he gripped the bedcovers on either side. His hips jerked up, driving him deeper into Max’s mouth. He found the involuntary gesture hopelessly erotic and carried it farther by seeing how deep he could take Stephen.

  It truly had been years, but Max remembered exactly what he needed to do to make the experience as pleasurable and comfortable for both of them as possible. It helped that Stephen’s taste drove him wild, as did the desperate look of pleasure that pinched Stephen’s face as Max sucked him. Taken as a whole, every bit of evidence of Stephen’s pleasure only fired Max’s own, making him reach for his own cock even as he gripped the base of Stephen’s.

  “I can’t hold out,” Stephen panted, suddenly reaching for Max’s shoulders. “I don’t want….”

  Stephen couldn’t finish his sentence, but Max understood that he wasn’t ready for the whole thing to end yet. He let Stephen’s cock go, sliding up so that their bodies touched in as many places as possible. He kissed and nibbled at Stephen’s chest and shoulder on his way up to his lips. Their mouths met with such passion that Max felt himself as dangerously close to the edge as he felt Stephen was.

  “God, I love you,” Stephen gasped, grabbing a handful of Max’s backside with one hand and digging his fingertips into Max’s back with the other.

  The declaration hit Max like a tidal wave, filling his heart with the same pre-orgasmic fire that had his groin poised, throbbing on the edge of release. He couldn’t remember a time when anyone had said they loved him, anyone at all.

  “I love you too,” he panted, jerking his hips against Stephen’s in a deliberate effort to speed things to a blissful completion.

  Stephen gripped Max’s thigh hard, spreading his legs enough to slip his fingers against the pucker of his arse. It didn’t take much more than that, laughable as it seemed on one level. With their bodies entwined, rutting against each other, their mouths and tongues tangled, and their hands reaching and groping, it was only a matter of moments before Max careened over the edge, spilling himself across Stephen’s belly. Stephen gasped as he did, and moments later cried out in release as he came as well.

  It was clumsy, messy, and almost amateur in its artlessness. In Max’s mind, they’d hardly done anything to achieve such a spectacular result. But they’d both been so hungry for each other and, he suspected, hadn’t experienced any pleasure at all for so long, that it seemed like the blink of an eye before they were lying in a tangled, sweaty pile, desperately clinging to each other as they fought to catch their breaths.

  “That was surprisingly good,” Max panted as they shifted to lie in each other’s arms, limbs entwined, stealing kisses between breaths.

  “It was,” Stephen said with a smile that was both satisfied and mischievous. “And once we’ve recovered, we can try again and do even better.”

  Max had never heard anything so wonderful in his life. He hummed deeply in agreement before surging against Stephen for another passionate kiss. He had the feeling that it wouldn’t take long for either of them to be ready to go again, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

  Chapter 10

  Stephen couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept so hard. In more ways than one. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so exhausted either. The girls had run him ragged during the day, and Max had pushed him to his limits through the night. It was pure bliss to wake up, still feeling groggy but utterly content, with Max stretched beside him, one arm thrown over his chest, the deep, slow rhythm of his breath against Stephen’s shoulder.

  Somewhere deep in the recesses of Stephen’s mind, the thought that he should feel guilty for waking up naked in a bed with another naked man tickled him. He instantly pushed it aside in favor of a lazy smile. In spite of the wild way they’d made love the night before, there was nothing salacious or wicked about being with Max. In the throes of passion, they’d confessed their love for each other. It had come as a surprise to Stephen, but he stood by everything he’d said, every kiss, every touch, every soul-deep orgasm they’d shared. Max was his heart, and nothing could possibly be righter than the two of them being together. Better still, Max loved the girls as much as he did. That alone was so unlike the tragic affair of his past that he wondered why he and Max hadn’t ended up in bed sooner.

  He wasn’t sure how long he lay there, grinning over his brilliant good luck, before Max stirred awake. Max stretched and sucked in a breath before lifting his head and glancing around with a confused frown. He looked utterly charming with his dark hair a mass of messy curls and one side of his face pink from pressing against the pillow, his lips still swollen and shapely from a thousand passionate kisses. Stephen’s heart leapt in his chest as Max rubbed his eyes with one hand and propped himself on his other arm.

  “Where am—” he started, then glanced down at Stephen. A lazy, almost silly smile spread across his bleary face. “Oh.”

  He bent to kiss Stephen, in spite of the fact that they could both use a good scrub and their teeth cleaned. Stephen didn’t mind the lack of cleanliness at all. There was something intimate about it. He slid his arms around Max’s back as Max shifted to cover him, sneaking one hand down to caress Max’s backside.

  “This is a lovely way to wake up,” he said when Max broke their kiss and settled his head on the pillow beside Stephen’s, evidently still not fully awake.

  “Are we awake?” Max asked. “Because this feels more like the most beautiful dream I’ve ever had.”

  Stephen chuckled, holding him closer. The vibrations of his laughter sent eddies of pleasure through him. Judging by the way Max caught his breath and by the stiffness of his cock as it pressed against Stephen’s belly, the feeling was mutual. His own arousal was rushing to the point where he would have to do something about it…a sensation that filled him with excited anticipation.

  “I want to wake up like this with you every day,” Max said, inching closer and nibbling on Stephen’s earlobe.

  The gesture was so erotic that it blasted the last haze of sleep right out of Stephen. He muscled to his side, flipping Max to his back and covering him. “Who’s to say we can’t be like this every day?” he asked, grabbing Max’s thigh and hiking it over his hip. The movement brought them into such intimate contact that Stephen couldn’t help but jerk against him, reveling in the sensation of their pricks pressed tight between them.

  “That would be heaven,” Max sighed, reaching up to thread his fingers through Stephen’s hair.

  Something bitter squeezed its way into the pleasure and joy of the moment. The implication of a thousand difficulties in the two of them just being together and greeting every day the way they were, was too great to ignore. Innocence and ignorance could only protect them if they protected themselves by keeping their distance. At that moment, distance was the very last thing Stephen wanted.

  “If I could change the world so that the two of us could be together freely,” he said, reaching between them to stroke Max’s penis, “I would in a heartbeat. You know that.”

  “I do,” Max said with a groan, sliding his hand down to hold
Stephen’s erection.

  “You’re all I’ve ever wanted,” Stephen went on, finding it hard to speak as Max teased him to greater and greater degrees of pleasure.

  Max answered without words, sighing loudly and stretching up to capture Stephen’s mouth in a fiery kiss.

  There was no telling how long they had. The pleasure they sought to give each other was as rudimentary as it got, but they kept at it, stroking and caressing each other while trying to kiss between increasingly desperate panting. Stephen longed for more, for the most intimate joining they could manage, but that took planning, and at the moment—

  The door to his room banged open, causing him to tense so abruptly that he was surprised he didn’t pull several muscles. Max jerked beneath him, hissing a curse. A tell-tale burst of liquid warmth spread between them. It would have made Stephen laugh if Mrs. Ross hadn’t charged deeper into the room with a look of uncharacteristic fear in her eyes.

  “The two of you need to finish up and get your sore arses out to the great hall,” she said, utterly nonplussed by the sight in front of her.

  Stephen twisted to the side, his cock still throbbing with imminent release that had been stopped cold, pulling the bedcovers up to his shoulders like a priggish young miss. “Jesus, Mrs. Ross,” he gasped, glaring at the fuzzy shape of her that was all he could see without his spectacles.

  “I…I can explain,” Max stammered, out of breath and red-faced.

  Mrs. Ross clucked and shook her head. “I didn’t fall off the turnip cart yesterday, Lord Hillsboro. I dare say I know more about what the two of you have been up to than you do. That’s not the point.” She shifted to frown at Stephen as he reached over Max to grab his spectacles from the bedside table. “Jane is missing,” she said.