“That’s enough?” Honest curiosity tinged his voice.
“Yes, but if you’d feel more secure, there are also metal shutters as a backup.” Rafe walked far enough into the room for his face to be illuminated by lamplight. The vampire was his usual devilishly handsome self, but he was also tired. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what gave away his fatigue. Maybe the few lines along his forehead or the way the playful smirk on his lips failed to light his beautiful blue eyes. The subtle slump of his broad shoulders.
Philippe wanted to do more than give Rafe pleasure. He wanted to pull away that cloak of exhaustion for just a little while. For both of them. Philippe’s life had not gone how he’d thought it would—as a human or a vampire. He took on the responsibility of caring for others who’d been hurt, but that had meant pushing down his own desires and hopes for too many years.
Tonight, he wanted to reach for something that would just be for himself. Didn’t he deserve at least that after all this time?
Closing the distance between him and Rafe, Philippe stood for a moment, looking at the creature before him. There was such an arrogant grace to him, as if he was fully aware of the fact that he’d been put on the earth to be worshiped for his physical beauty.
But that arrogance was just a protective shell to safeguard the tenderness and insecurity hidden within. Rafe was a creature who treasured his freedom and loved so very deeply. He loved his brothers. He loved the trio of vampires he’d claimed as his own. And by some surprising grace of God, he loved Philippe.
Rafe had earned their love and devotion in return. He laughed and called himself the reckless Varik. He continually disparaged his lifestyle and mocked himself, making all his life to seem a giant joke. But Philippe saw the truth. Rafe held the world at a safe distance, always standing a little bit apart, as if waiting for someone he loved to turn on him. Like his mother had.
Philippe wanted to prove that expectation wrong.
Reaching out, he slowly slid his hand along Rafe’s stomach, loving the way the muscles jumped and flexed at his touch. “Did you know that I missed you?”
The smirk still on Rafe’s lips turned into a true smile. “In the two, maybe three hours that we were parted.”
“Oh, I think it takes far less time than that for me to start missing you.” Philippe curled his fingers around Rafe’s hip, as if trying to hold him in place while he slid his other hand up the vampire’s chest. He wanted to map every inch of Rafe’s body like an ancient explorer in search of lost treasure. He wanted to uncover all Rafe’s secrets, but slowly, over long centuries.
Beneath his fingers, Rafe’s heart beat out a steady tattoo like an unknown code that Philippe couldn’t yet decipher. But soon. He’d learn everything soon.
“And what is it you miss?”
“You mean like your witty mind and loving heart?”
“I was thinking more like my haunting eyes and talented mouth.”
Philippe pursed his lips together and tilted his head to one side as if thinking over Rafe’s suggestion, but it was more to keep the laughter from bubbling out. “You do have a very talented mouth that I’ve enjoyed since the first moment we met. But I was thinking more about how I missed your thoughtfulness and concern for others.”
“There are also my incredibly nimble fingers,” Rafe suggested. He reached up one hand and said fingers danced along Philippe’s jaw in a breath-stealing caress that had Philippe’s eyes fluttering shut. “All those years of playing the violin have made them quite quick and agile.”
“Definitely,” Philippe whispered, trying to gather his thoughts back together like plucking leaves out of a playful breeze. “But there’s also your courage and incredible will.”
“I believe you’re mislabeling my stubbornness, but I’ll accept it.” There was laughter in Rafe’s voice where there hadn’t been just moments ago, and Philippe took that as progress.
The fingers touching his jaw moved to wrap around the hand Philippe had left over Rafe’s heart. He slid their hands down between them, stopping only when Philippe was holding Rafe’s semi-hard cock. “I think you are overlooking my most enticing asset.”
A small gasp left Philippe, and his own heart sped up while blood rushed to his dick. He massaged Rafe through his thin sleep pants, his fingers moving along the thick shaft and over the head pressing against the soft material. Rafe hissed and his hips punched forward, his body seeking more friction.
Philippe hummed a little, increasing the pressure on Rafe’s cock as he stroked him. “Again, it is something I have missed, but I don’t think it is nearly the most important thing that I’ve missed.”