Page 51 of Epidermis

“Rest here while I finish dinner.” Konrad went to a closet and retrieved a soft-looking blanket that he laid over Jasper, rather than moving him from the one he was currently lying on top of. “I’ll be right downstairs.”

Jasper watched him put on a champagne-colored robe and closed his eyes once he was gone. The bed smelled like Konrad. Not so much his cologne, but whatever he used in the shower. Jasper rolled onto his side and pressed his face into the pillow. He wasn’t even surprised the pillowcases were silk. He’d bet the sheets were too. He stretched his legs under the blanket, feeling a pleasant ache between them, scrunching his toes as he yawned. The idea of taking a nap while Konrad cooked was painfully domestic, and he didn’t hate it.

He didn’t sleep for long. The smell of the coq au vin made its way upstairs and his stomach rallied to it. A quick glance around the room told him there wasn’t a convenient second robe, so he swung his legs off the side of the bed and walked over to the closet Konrad had retrieved the blanket from. It was a walk-in closet the same size as Jasper’s bathroom at home. Motion lights came on when he opened the door, illuminating more suits than any one man could ever need, and sleek drawers on both sides of the closet.

A quick but curious inspection found that the drawers on one side held socks and underwear, pajamas and the like, and the ones on the other side were home to ties, tie clips, watches, handkerchiefs, and other accessories that Jasper didn’t even know what they were. Fancy bastard. He pulled on a pair of navy boxers that rode too low on his hips and slid his arms into one of Konrad’s white dress shirts. It was too big and he liked that the sleeves hung low enough for him to tug them into his palms and play with the buttons on the cuffs.

He ambled downstairs, not bothering to button the shirt since he only wore it to keep his arms from getting chilled anyway. He leaned in the kitchen doorway and Konrad’s expression when he saw him was a meeting of tenderness and hunger.

“I’ve never seen you in white,” Konrad said, pouring the stew into a serving bowl.

“Don’t get used to it.” Jasper peered longingly at the coq au vin, but he really wasn’t looking forward to sitting on a hard chair. “Can we eat on the couch?”

Konrad looked nothing short of offended at the notion of not taking dinner at the table, his eyebrows lifting in a way that called Jasper and his entire bloodline uncultured. Then he said, “Very well.”

Jasper tried not to smile; Konrad let him get away with murder.

They took their bowls and new glasses of wine to the living room, where Konrad sat with his perfect posture on the couch, and Jasper curled up at the end with his feet tucked under his thighs. He breathed in the steam wafting from his bowl. “It smells amazing.”

“We make a good team.”

That was giving Jasper too much credit, but he knew if he refuted it, Konrad would only accredit him more to prove a point. He took his first bite and let his appreciative moan serve as sufficient praise. He didn’t speak a word, just ate and took the occasional break to take a sip of wine. Once his bowl was empty, Jasper put it on the coffee table and curled up a little more against the arm of the couch. If he thought he was sleepy before, it was nothing compared to now that he’d had a hot meal, and the stairs to Konrad’s room suddenly felt like Everest.

“Are you tired?”

“No,” Jasper said, his eyes closed.

He heard the clatter of their bowls being stacked together, Konrad’s retreating steps, and then arms slid under his body.

“What the—put me down,” Jasper said, more startled than truly upset. It was one thing to be picked up during sex, but Konrad had just scooped him up like he was a helpless little princess.

“I will once I can put you down on my bed,” Konrad answered.

He carried Jasper upstairs, using his shoulder to turn off lights as he went, pitching the vast house into darkness. Jasper didn’t know if he wanted to offer up another token protest or just be impressed that Konrad could carry him like this. As much as Konrad made him feel small by comparison, he definitely wasn’t.

Konrad sat him on the edge of the bed for a moment, turned the blankets down, and eased his shirt down Jasper’s arms before lifting Jasper to lay him out against the pillows—as if Jasper couldn’t slide those couple of feet up the bed perfectly well by himself. He switched off the lamp in the corner and joined Jasper in bed. Jasper pulled the blankets as high as their waists but he ran hot in the night, so he didn’t want to be any more covered than that. Especially since he had body heat to factor in; he didn’t have to sleep so close to Konrad, but it seemed like a waste to have his chest right there and not lie on it. So he did.

“Do you work tomorrow?” Konrad asked quietly, like he didn’t know if Jasper was still awake.

“Nope.”

“Good. I would like to make you breakfast.”

Jasper rubbed his cheek against Konrad’s chest, his stubble scratching against much softer hair. “I gotta go home and feed the dogs.”

“I can accompany you and make breakfast for all of us.”

Us. Jasper smiled, remembering Konrad’s comment about being a good stepfather. “Trying to win them over?” he asked.

“Of course. I feel I need their blessing to court their father.”

“Oh my god, shut up.” Jasper’s face was on fire. Court him. What a ridiculous, beautiful fucking thing to say.

Konrad kissed the top of his head. “Good night, elskede.”

“Good night.” Jasper almost called him sweetheart again, and it was the first time he’d thought to do so outside of sex. He’d never called anyone by pet names before, it just didn’t feel natural. Then again, he’d also never openly stimmed around a partner without feeling self-conscious as soon as he noticed himself doing it, but the thought of masking never even crossed his mind when they were together.

Maybe Konrad was different. Maybe this could be different.