The Stars Over Bittergate Bay

Chapter 30

30

S idney woke from a deep sleep, curled under Jonas’s arm. Morning light eked in through the seam in the curtains. Or maybe it was afternoon. Sidney shifted beneath the blankets and smiled when Jonas’s grip on him tightened. He slid closer to Jonas’s chest, tucking himself beneath Jonas’s bulk. Sidney inhaled the warm scent of Jonas’s body, his gaze on the narrow space between them. He’d never been so comfortable before.

The lines of ink on Jonas’s chest rose and fell slowly with his breath, and Sidney watched them, wondering if it was possible to feel this way every morning. To want nothing except the man already laying next to him. If Jonas had meant what he’d said the night before at dinner, if he really wanted Sidney to stay, Sidney would be a fool not to accept. And Sidney could tell himself he was doing it for access to the library, to the telescope, for his dissertation. But truthfully he was doing it for opportunity to have more mornings like this one.

Sidney ran his thumb along a tattoo that followed the shadow of Jonas’s pectoral muscle. He kept his touch light, but Jonas still blinked open his eyes. For a moment, his gaze was so soft, so open, that Sidney nearly couldn’t breathe.

“You’re a menace,” Jonas mumbled as he lay his head back down, his eyes closing again.

“I wasn’t doing anything,” Sidney protested, letting his fingertips trail up over Jonas’s nipple. Jonas’s eyes opened slowly above a smirk, searching Sidney’s face, like he was expecting to see something unusual.

“How are you feeling?” Jonas asked. Sidney yawned.

“Nicely achey.” He nudged his knee between Jonas’s thighs, tugging himself closer to Jonas’s body until they were flush hip to chest. He could feel Jonas’s length hardening, and he couldn’t help but be a little pleased about that. “How are you feeling?”

“Like this conversation is entirely pretense,” Jonas murmured as he leaned into the soft caress of Sidney’s fingertips. “I have some errands to run today.”

“I need to go into town and meet with the harbormaster.” Sidney ran his palm over Jonas’s hip, skating lower, but not too low.

“You can take the truck. I’ll borrow one of the cars from Elmmond House.”

“Where are you going?” Sidney asked. Jonas was watching him again in a peculiar way, like he was waiting for a certain reaction.

“Visiting a friend,” Jonas said. Vague. Sidney arched an eyebrow and then let it go.

“Will you be home for supper? I could pick something up when I’m in town.”

“Not sure,” Jonas said. “But don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine either way.”

“Alright,” Sidney shrugged. It was, somehow, the oddest conversation they’d ever had. But also, Sidney couldn’t bring himself to care about that at the moment. His hand snaked low enough that he could run his fingers along Jonas’s shaft, and Jonas moaned as Sidney did so. Christ, Sidney could have lived with that sound in his ears all day. He leaned up, kissed Jonas, teased him again, shivering at the whimper of desire hidden just behind the pant of Jonas’s breath.

Sidney rolled onto his back, desperate, aching. Jonas followed him, crowded him back against the pillows and the sheets, pressing bruising kisses against Sidney’s mouth, and the column of Sidney’s throat as Sidney arched into his touch.

When Jonas pressed inside Sidney this time, they were face to face. Sidney couldn’t help but meet Jonas’s gaze, enraptured by the intensity of it, the way Jonas watched him. Jonas was beyond careful, pacing himself, reacting to each and every one of Sidney’s sounds and movements. Meanwhile, Sidney was making noises he’d never heard himself make; barely sensible, the longer Jonas was inside him.

Jonas fucked him slowly, but not too slowly, and Sidney came apart beneath him. It could have been ten minutes; it could have been an hour. All Sidney knew was Jonas’s mouth on his neck, one of Jonas’s massive hands against his hips, his body taut under Jonas, straining in pleasure. Jonas slid into him at precisely the right angle, and Sidney nearly came untouched.

“Jonas! God!” Sidney grabbed for his shoulders, and Jonas ducked his head and thrust again. Sidney groaned, and then gasped as Jonas took him in hand.

“I’ve never wanted someone like this.” Jonas’s lips brushed against Sidney’s neck, the praise nearly tipping Sidney over the edge. “I need you, Sidney. Please.”

Sidney came. He dug his fingers into Jonas’s shoulders and moaned, rolling his hips down until Jonas pulled out and spilled over Sidney’s hip crease. Sidney tugged him down into a kiss, the heat of Jonas intoxicating, his limbs all but turned to rubber.

“I don’t know what you’ve done to me,” Jonas murmured. His eyes were bright, wide like he was in shock. No one had ever said anything like that to Sidney before, and his orgasm addled brain couldn’t begin to imagine what it meant. So Sidney said the only thing he knew.

“I love you, I think.”

Jonas smiled for a moment. A small thing that faded as he leaned forward and kissed Sidney like he was drowning, and Sidney held the last supply of air in his lungs. It was a good reaction, Sidney thought. Not what he’d expected. Though he hadn’t really expected anything because he hadn’t planned on saying it. When Jonas pulled away, his head was bowed, looking down between their bodies. Jonas was touching him like Sidney was something precious again, deliberate and delicate, but it took him a moment before he met Sidney’s eye.

“I want you to stay here. Use the telescope.” It wasn’t, ‘I love you too.’ But it also was, in a way. Sidney smiled.

“Have you been drinking again?” Jonas rolled his eyes.

“You’ll stay? You’ll think about it, at least?”

“I’ll talk to Karolina. It may have to wait until the semester’s over.”

“I’ll cover your expenses,” Jonas said. Sidney laughed, shoved Jonas gently with the flat of his palm.

“I’m not for sale, Duke Rookwood. I’ll find a job.”

“Whatever makes you happy.” Sidney stretched up and kissed him.

“Remember that you said that.”

“Oh no.”

“Too late. You can’t take it back,” Sidney said, pushing Jonas off him, and rolling out of bed. “I’m going to go take a shower.”

By the time he was dried and dressed, Jonas was downstairs in the library with a cup of coffee. Sidney poured himself one as well, and cut an overly generous slice of carrot cake, which he’d eaten half of before Jonas emerged with a stack of paper.

“I found some charts I made, oh probably ten years ago now.” Jonas laid the pages down on the table. “Only about a month’s worth. But they’re from here. They might be helpful if you’re looking for a baseline to place against the tide charts.”

The charts were expertly composed, all thin lines and cleanly labeled. Sidney admired them as he took a swallow of his coffee to clear his throat.

“These are perfect.”

“Far from it,” Jonas said, though he was smiling. “I just thought you might want the dates so you can get those tables from the harbormaster too. Though, ten years back, they might be at the library or the historical society. I don’t know who keeps those records. Or if anyone does.”

“I can still borrow the truck?” Sidney asked. Jonas nodded.

“Of course. Keys are on the hook in the closet.”

“I can take one of the Elmmond House cars, if that’s easier.”

“Easier?” Jonas frowned.

“So, you don’t have to. For your errands.” Jonas’s mouth crumpled in a frown of confusion. “Visiting your friend?”

“Ah. Right.” Jonas nodded, his expression neutralizing almost too quickly. Suspicious. “No, I’ll be fine.”

“Do they live far?” Sidney asked. A reasonable question. Jonas shook his head, turning to look out the window.

“Not terribly. But if it looks like rain, I may stay put.” The sky was blue and cloudless. Sidney cut a bite of cake with his fork.

“Is your friend a real person? Or did you make them up?” He put the cake in his mouth as Jonas whipped back around to look at him, his cheeks pink.

“I—” Sidney cocked his head to the side, and Jonas sighed. “I didn’t know if you’d want space. After last night. And I just thought?—”

“You’d make up some errands to sound like you had other things going on that I couldn’t do with you.”

“I do have friends that I could visit,” Jonas offered. Sidney tried not to grin. “I know that just saying that makes it sound like I have no friends who could possibly want a visit from me, but?—”

“I believe that you have friends, Jonas,” Sidney chuckled. Jonas huffed and shook his head, turning around and going back toward the library.

“You’re insufferable.”

“Should I bring back dinner?” Sidney called after him.

“Yes,” Jonas replied. “From the Silver Platter.”

“Your usual?” Sidney asked. Jonas huffed.

“Surprise me.”