Lustful Gaze (London Loves #6) (20 page)

“You’re very wise, Harry,” Scott said. “I think you’re gonna be just fine in Brighton –
and
throughout your entire adult life.”

The musky smells of a new school year wafted through the air, and the leaves that had once sparkled bright green were now turning scarlet, gold and, copper. Scott was sad to see another summer folding itself away for the year, but London sure did look gorgeous in the autumn.

The hazy September sunshine had now replaced the scorching heat of August, but it was clement today – Scott felt warm dressed in his denim hotpants and sleeveless top this morning. Even Paul was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, looking casual and relaxed on this lazy Sunday. Scott held his hand as they waited with Edward for Harry to arrive, so they could all say their goodbyes.

It was always quiet and peaceful in the street outside their apartment building and Scott often forgot he was in Central London. Even though the building was brand new, the exterior had been designed with a rustic look, and it put Scott in mind of an old Jane Austen mansion. This leafy road was quite suburban, and they could’ve been standing in a secluded English village – if it hadn’t been for the sound of the police sirens that wailed up and down the nearby main street every few minutes. 

Edward’s head flicked around at the roaring sound of Harry’s rust-bucket car – which had just wheeled around the corner and was now drawing up alongside the sidewalk. Verlaine had assured Scott and Paul that the car was perfectly safe to drive – albeit rather clunky. Scott was proud of how keen Harry had been to help Verlaine patch the car up over the last few weeks. Verlaine had said he was glad to be rid of it before he left for India, but Scott knew he was doing Harry a favour by letting him have it for nothing.

Scott glanced through the rear windshield and saw that the backseats were jam-packed with the things he’d managed to grab from his parents’ house last time he’d popped back. He didn’t have much, but he had enough.

Harry climbed out of the car gracefully – like a superstar, as always. Edward hugged him and they kissed. They were so comfortable with each other now; it was as if they were destined to be together. Scott glanced at Paul, who was watching them with a proud smile.

“Should we give them some time alone?” Scott said. “I’m sure they’d like to say goodbye without us cramping their style.”

“Yeah. Let’s tell Edward the good news, then we can leave them to say their farewells.”

Scott and Paul stepped over to join them, so Scott hid the gift bag in his hand behind his back. Excitement washed through him – he loved giving people presents – especially sweet-tastic people like Harry.

“All packed?” Paul asked.

Harry shrugged. “I think so. Thank you again for lending me the money.”

Paul waved his hand. “Don’t be silly. Let us know if you need anything, okay?”

“Thank you.”

Scott sensed Harry was nervous about leaving. “Oh, hey, we got you a present!”

Harry’s gorgeous brown eyes lit up. “You didn’t have to do that!”

“I know, but we wanted to… here…”

Scott passed him the gift bag. Harry opened it and burst into laughter.

“What is it?” Edward asked.

Harry reached in and pulled out a can of hairspray. “Thank you, Scott and Paul – I shall treasure it!”

Edward laughed. “Just what he’s always wanted!”

Paul chuckled. “You’re welcome – we can’t have that quiff drooping!”

“There’s something else in there, too,” Scott said.

Harry delved inside and pulled out a silver photo-frame containing the best shot of Edward that Paul had taken on his first day with him. It seemed so long ago now – was it really only a month? Scott was thrilled with Edward’s progress, and he knew he was proud of himself, too.

Both boys gazed in awe at the photo. Harry glanced up and smiled. “Thank you – he’s so handsome, isn’t he? Perfect, in fact. I’ll keep this by my bed so he’ll be nearby always.”

Edward shot Harry a shy grin and they kissed. They gazed forlornly at each other.

“I suppose this is goodbye, then,” Harry said.

“I’ll miss you,” Edward said. “A week seems so long after seeing you every day.”

“I’ll miss you, too.”

Paul reached out and squeezed Edward’s shoulder. “You’ll be too busy this week to miss him.”

“Oh yeah,” Edward said. “The presentation for South Koreans… Paul, I’m not sure I’m up to it.”

“Course you are. And, furthermore, I’ve just been speaking to Sam…”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. We’d like you to work for us permanently – if you’d like to?”

Scott watched Edward’s expression freeze, then a delighted grin spread across his lips. His mouth tried to form words, but he was stunned into an uncharacteristic silence. He nodded frantically, just in case Paul changed his mind. “I’d fucking love to!”

Paul laughed. “Great! And we’d like to sponsor you through your exams. You can study your business qualification while you work fulltime for us. How does that sound?”

“Fucking awesome!”

Harry draped his arm across Edward’s shoulders and kissed him on the cheek. “Congratulations!”

“Thank you! Paul – this is the fucking best news. You and Sam are awesome!”

Paul fell serious. “Welcome aboard. You’ll need to commit to this a hundred percent, okay? Because if you don’t, we’ll not only retract the offer, but also you’ll need to pay us back for the exams. That’s how things work in business.”

Edward threw his arms around him. “I know – I’ll behave myself!”

Paul hugged him tight. “Don’t mess up.”

“Message received – I won’t.”

Scott hugged and congratulated Edward, too, then he hugged Harry. “Make sure you visit us often. And take care of Edward when he comes to see you. We don’t want him going off the rails.”

They all laughed at this, but Scott really meant it. He knew Edward still possessed a slightly unhinged streak. Harry’s calm stability was good for him; they were good for each other.

Edward turned to kiss Harry goodbye. “I’ll miss you.”

“Come with me,” Harry said. “Just for tonight.”

“I can’t. You’ve gotta get settled in, and I’ve gotta work tomorrow.”

Harry linked his fingers through Edward’s and tugged him gently towards the car. “I’ll drive you back first in the morning.”

Edward looked tempted, but winced. “Nah. This is something you need to do on your own. I’ll visit you next weekend, though. If I’m not busy.”

“Ha, you’d better come to Brighton next weekend!”

Edward smirked mischievously. “I will – just joking.”

“You’re so cheeky, Edward. That’s why I love you.”

Harry allowed this declaration to hang in the air, but Edward seemed lost for words – for the second time in as many minutes. He just stared at Harry with his mouth open.

Harry turned to open the car door. “Well, I’ll see you all soon.”

“Wait,” Edward said. “What did you just say?”

“That you’re cheeky.”

“No, but after that.”

Harry gazed into his eyes. “I said, I love you.”

“But you hardly know me.”

“So what? You can know someone for years and not love them. So surely it works the other way around, too? Don’t you love me?”

Edward smiled shyly. “Of course I do. I loved you the second I saw you.”

Harry grinned and threw his arms around Edward. Majestic jubilation zoomed through Scott’s heart – it was an honour to know that he and Paul had introduced these two young lovers. Perhaps
two
lives had been saved that night Paul had brought Edward home.

They broke apart and Edward threw Paul a pleading glance. “Can I have tomorrow off work?”

“No way. I want you at the office first thing in the morning. Nine a.m.”

“But
you
won’t even be there at nine!”

“No, but you will. I trust you. You wanna pass your exams, don’t you?”

Edward winced. “Yeah…” His face lit up and he turned to Harry. “Can you get me back to the office for nine tomorrow?”

“Definitely – we can stay up all night! Hop in.”

Harry climbed into the driver’s seat, so Edward ran around and jumped into the passenger seat, calling over his shoulder, “Don’t wait up, guys!”

Scott shot Paul a tender glance. “Young love, eh?”

Paul draped his arm around Scott’s shoulders and nuzzled his face into his neck making him giggle. The sound of Harry’s car rattling into life seized their attention, so Scott waved them off on their adventure until the car disappeared around the corner. But he knew they probably weren’t watching.

Scott felt reality shift around him. Suddenly they were Scott and Paul again – no longer needing to be the sensible ‘older brother’ types.

“Do you think Edward will get back on time?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. Brighton’s only ninety minutes away – and Harry won’t let him skip work.”

Scott wrapped his arms around Paul’s waist, pulling him close. “They’re good together. They remind me of us.”

Paul kissed him on the forehead. “Me too. Hey, it’s a lovely day. Do you fancy a walk?”

“Hampstead Heath?”

“I’ll get the sunscreen; you grab the towels!”

Paul sat on the dry grass, relishing the feel of the sun on his face. It was busy here this afternoon, which was normal for a Sunday, but today it was mostly occupied by older guys. Maybe all the students had fled London at the same time as Harry. Brighton was going to be a riot of fun tonight! Paul grinned, wondering what his young friends were up to. Probably something Harry’s dad would disapprove of.

The jovial sound of Scott’s laughter caught Paul’s attention, so he glanced towards the bathing pond. He smiled mischievously as his eyes feasted on the delicious sight of his husband – who was dressed in nothing but a very small towel wrapped around his waist. Scott had strolled over there five minutes ago with the intention of taking a dip, but now he was loitering by the water’s edge, flirting with a muscly guy. Paul’s cock firmed in his shorts. He wondered whether he and Scott would ever include other guys in their loving again, now that they’d enjoyed it once. Perhaps they’d wait until next summer – that seemed to be the season for pushing back their sex-life boundaries.

Paul watched eagerly as the muscly guy with Scott reached out and touched his toned pecs. He suppressed an urge to shout, “Get your hands off!” and instead, he knelt up and watched the scene, knowing plenty of other guys were watching with interest, too.

Scott laughed again, then he reached up and removed the man’s hand from his chest. He gestured lovingly to his ‘Paul’ tattoo. The guy shrugged – refusing to give up merely because Scott had indicated he wasn’t interested. Scott turned and pointed to Paul, grinning – and revelling in the attention. The muscly guy looked over and inspected Paul – seeming to finally get the message. Paul resisted waving.

Scott said his goodbyes, then he strutted back over – making a show of swaying his hips and parading in front of the men who were blatantly watching and enjoying.

He flopped down to the grass and kissed Paul theatrically on the lips. “Hi, lover.”

Paul wrapped his arms around him. “I saw you flirting with Mr Muscles!”

“He was admiring my tattoos.”

“Yeah, that’s not all he was admiring. Am I gonna need to remind you that you’re still mine, Scott Bradshaw?”

“Maybe.” Scott grabbed the bottle of sunscreen by their bag. “Why don’t you start by rubbing this into my shoulders? I’m sure everyone will enjoy it – especially me!”

Paul took the proffered sunscreen and squirted it into his palm. He positioned himself behind Scott, swished his long hair out the way, then started to massage his gorgeous shoulders. His skin was warm and soft, and his toned body was heavenly to touch.

“Ah, that’s nice,” Scott said.

Paul bent and nibbled his ear. “It’s nice for me, too.”

Scott raised his face to the sun. “Do you realise we’ve both been sucked off by someone else now? You by Harry; me by Edward.”

“Hmm, yeah, I suppose we have.”

“I wonder what’s next for our sexual adventures?”

Paul squirted more sunscreen into his hand then reached around to rub it into Scott’s toned pecs – being careful of his nipple-piercing. Arousal rushed through him – not only because Scott’s body was so fit – but also because a couple of men in front had dropped out of reality to watch.

“I’m not sure,” Paul said. “How about I slide my hands down the front of your towel and show those two over there how much I love you?”

Scott dropped his head back to Paul’s shoulder. “I like the sound of that.”

Paul kissed him on the cheek as his hands explored Scott’s sculpted abs, then he delved his fingers into the soft towel around his waist. He wrapped his fingers around Scott’s rock-hard beautiful cock and proceeded to remind him why they belonged to each other – already feeling optimistic about next summer, when something even more steamy was destined to unfold. Maybe they could both go down to Brighton to visit Harry and Edward and find some newer, even hotter experiences. But for now, there was pleasure to be enjoyed for them both in the glorious sunshine of Hampstead Heath.

The End

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About Julie

I write steamy romances that will make your heart pound hard and your thighs surge with desire!

There was a time, not so long ago, when all I wanted was to
stop
my heart pounding hard and my mind surging with fear. You see, I suffered with panic attacks. The fear debilitated me on a daily basis, and the feelings of weakness undermined my self-esteem. This ‘fear of fear’ became so immense that there were times when I was scared to even go outside of my home.

At those times, all I wanted to do was write, because my imaginary world of fiction provided a soothing escape from reality. The strong female characters I created allowed me to pretend everything was okay in
my
world. And the sexy men in my fictive imagination were protective, loving, and strong.

I’ve never been someone to give up! Even at my lowest, I knew I could and
would
recover. Thanks to a great support network, a wonderful self-help book (The Panic Attacks Workbook by David Carbonell), and my own patient determination, I experienced my last ever panic attack in January 2013. Then, in April 2014, I proved how strong I’d become by backpacking with a friend in the chaos and heat of India – something that had filled me with dread back when my fear was dominating my every waking breath.

But nothing in this life is ever a waste. During the years when I was suffering from panic attacks, I learnt to write well! I honed my craft, and when I came out the other end, I was ready to self-publish, knowing that if I can cope with panic attacks and survive, then I can become a successful indie author, too! My books are the products of this amazing journey that I’ve been on, and now I can’t wait to find out what other delights await me, just around the corner!

Never give up on your dreams, and don’t let the setbacks of today ruin your tomorrow! You can do it – just like me!

Happy Reading!