Page 65 of Wear It Like a Crown

Joshua’s giggle was bright and happy. “Only if you let me drink tequila from your belly button.”

Leo grinned back without thought, felt a giddy laugh buzz behind his ribs. SeemedLeowas the kind of person who laughed during sex. Who’d have thought. “Deal.”

He passed the lube to Joshua, a little gel dripping onto his fingers. For a moment he hesitated, then took a deep breath, felt his lungs widen with it, and shoved his sticky hand into Joshua’s curls. “Dirty Princeling,” he muttered.

Joshua retaliated by rolling them over, a brief sense of vertigo, and then Leo found himself on his back, sprawled out under Joshua. Naked skin, so much of it, and Leo ran his hands down Joshua’s back. Another kiss. Joshua’s weight anchored Leo, kept him from floating away.

By the time Joshua moved down Leo’s body, stopping to nip on his Adam’s apple, then again to suck on a nipple, Leo’s muscles had loosened. “Is there,” Joshua asked quietly, mouth brushing over Leo’s ribs, “a story behind your tattoo?Sometimes things just happen. Sounds like there’s a story.”

“There is.” Leo tucked his fingers into the crook of Joshua’s elbow and inhaled deeply. “But it’s a sad one, and I’m not sad right now.”

“Happy,” Joshua mumbled, dipping down to kiss Leo’s belly button.

“Very happy,” Leo agreed without thought. He felt another laugh bubble up, a little desperate, and this time he exhaled around it,bright in the shadowed space of Joshua’s bedroom. His focus narrowed to the tickle of Joshua’s hair on his skin, the light, teasing touches and small bites that marked Joshua’s path—as though he intended to lay claim to Leo’s body, erasing all those that had come before.

In all the ways that mattered, he already had.

At Joshua’s prompt, Leo parted his legs and lifted his head off the pillow to watch. His heart throbbed like an open wound.

Joshua glanced up through his lashes, and his smile was mischievous. Fuck, he lookedobscenelike this, crouched between Leo’s thighs with his hair a wild mess, naked and unabashed. When he ducked his head, it pronounced the bony juts of his shoulder blades, and Leo could have easily counted the bumps of his spine and catalogued each one, committed them to memory so he’d never lose this. So he wouldn’t lose even a second of tonight.

Leo twitched when Joshua blew warm air over his cock, hips rising off the mattress. Pushing Leo’s body back down, Joshua’s fingers came to grip the base of Leo’s cock. Joshua’s voice was bright. “Careful there, darling. Relax, lie back and think of England.”

Leo was startled into another laugh. He choked on it when Joshua’s lips opened around the head of his dick, gentle suction as Joshua circled the tip of a finger around Leo’s hole, teasing. He seemed to get a kick out of Leo’s stuttering groan.

Jesus fuckingChrist, Leo was so in love with him. He was so, so in love with Joshua. But there was nothing here for them.

For one night, though, Leo could pretend.

His pulse skipped a beat, then resumed its hectic pace. He closed his eyes, head falling back into the pillow, and when Joshua nudged the tip of his finger inside, Leo exhaled and opened up for him.

* * *

Leo rolled the condom on Joshua using only his mouth. Yep, Joshua was ruined for anyone else.

His expression must have given him away, because Leo straightened with a smug little smirk, a contrast to those instances of uncertainty he’dshown at odd moments—instances that had made Joshua wonder just how much experience Leo actually had. Enough, clearly.

Joshua dragged him in for a kiss, and Leo stopped with his mouth just inches from Joshua’s. “I taste like latex,” he warned. Ignoring him, Joshua closed the gap between them.

Leo did taste like latex. Joshua kissed him anyway, licking into Leo’s mouth until the lingering hint of latex had faded, until they tasted like each other, pressed together from head to toe. The sheets rustled with each shift of their bodies.

Eventually, Leo shuffled up onto his knees, thighs on either side of Joshua’s hips, caging him in. He was gorgeous, Jesus Christ—all sharp angles. Joshua reached up to trace the curve of one arched eyebrow.

“Love your lashes,” he said. It came out too honest. Since it made Leo’s face relax into a smile, Joshua couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

“Flattery…”—Leo grasped the base of Joshua’s cock and lifted himself up—“will get you everywhere.”

With that, he sunk down.

Oh God, oh dear sweet mother ofJesus, holy—oh. Joshua squeezed his eyes shut and struggled to stay still, to not drive his hips up before Leo was ready to take him fully inside. The tight drag, excruciatingly slow, had him clench his hands into the duvet.

“Joshua.” Leo’s voice was quiet, but there was a hint of authority to it. “Look at me.”

Sucking in a breath through his teeth, Joshua pried his lids open. Leo was watching him. His skin was awash in bronze, and Joshua took in the sight—Leo’s flat stomach and the sharp curve of his collarbones, his eyes so very blue, clear and focused. The moment their gazes met, Leo twisted down, took Joshua all the way in, and Joshua couldn’t control the tiny, desperate twitch of his hips.

“Sorry,” he forced out, “sorry, sorry.”

Leo’s smile was brilliant. He clenched around Joshua, still watching him intently, and Joshua felt his stomach muscles flutter with it. “Good?” Leo asked, leaning down until their noses touched.