Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
COSIMO
“He didn’t come to dinner.”
Cosimo sighed softly, trying not to be annoyed with his husband, but he couldn’t help it.
It had only been twenty-four hours and asking Miles to be social wasn’t fair.
Emmett had been second guessing himself all evening about whether or not to bring Miles into the house to stay with them, or to find him an apartment, then throw money at him until he had stable income.
“You need to give him time.” Cosimo, who had just finished up dishes, turned to face Emmett. Emmett looked imposing and gorgeous—an older version of the man Cosimo had fallen head over heels for. “He just ended a relationship—an abusive relationship.”
Emmett flinched. It was the truth, but Cosimo knew it was painful to hear about their daughter. “I know.”
“From what we know, he has no savings, no place to stay, he gave up his car for Selene, and he has no family. This is probably a lot for him.”
Emmett swallowed thickly. “What if it’s me? What if I bullied him into doing something he didn’t want to?”
Pushing away from the sink, Cosimo took Emmett by both hands and walked him down the hall and into their bedroom. He didn’t do this often. For all that he didn’t like to be comforted or doted upon, he also didn’t like doting on other people.
But it didn’t feel like a chore when his husband needed it, and right then, it was clear he needed it.
Bustling him into the bed, Cosimo took off the man’s house shoes, then his shirt, then his pants.
He slipped a careful hand beneath the waistband of his boxer briefs and pulled the packer from the little holding pocket and dropped it into the nightstand drawer.
Emmett sighed and stretched, nearly naked and on display. Cosimo loved him like this. He loved all of his soft edges that were growing even softer with age. Even at the peak testosterone he was taking, Emmett had never grown much hair, but what was there on his chest was now sprinkled with grey.
Cosimo ran his fingers through it gently before leaning in to kiss his pecs. He kissed around the surgery scars, then down his sternum, stopping just below his belly button where the elastic of his underwear was digging into his skin.
“Can I help distract you, Sir?” He hadn’t expected to use the honorific tonight. The one discussion they’d had, Cosimo had realized he wasn’t going to be okay going into their full time dynamic for this vacation.
Moments, maybe. If they could sneak them in without disturbing Miles, but they would need to be careful. Luckily, this whole thing was distracting enough that at least tonight, he didn’t need much. To service his beloved. To maybe be edged afterword, then stroked damn-near blind in the shower.
He shuddered as he kissed Emmett’s stomach again.
Fingers pushed into his hair, then Emmett’s soft, growling whisper, “Put your tongue on me.”
Cosimo wasted no time pulling the last bit of fabric covering his husband’s body, flinging it to the side as he situated himself between Emmett’s spread legs. The mattress was soft beneath him—just firm enough to keep from hurting his knees.
“Tell me what you need, Sir.”
“Suck me,” Emmett said. He pushed up on his elbows because he loved watching, and Cosimo loved being watched.
Licking his lips, he carefully spread Emmett’s legs farther, pushing them up toward his chest a little. He was fully exposed that way—his dick standing out stiff and proud, fat and so red with all the blood pooling downward.
He wasn’t very wet, but that was normal. Cosimo sucked on his fingers, then pushed two into his front hole to the first knuckle before leaning down and letting Emmett’s dick rest along his tongue. He firmed the muscle, then rolled it over the nub.
Emmett gasped and fucked his hips forward, gripping Cosimo tightly by the hair. “God look at you. My little cock slut. You’re fucking drooling.”
Cosimo shuddered, going hot all over. He rocked his hips down, stopping only when Emmett tugged on his hair so hard his eyes began to water.
“Did I fucking say you could get yourself off? After all this bullshit, you think your dick deserves that?”
Moaning softly, he doubled his efforts, and it wasn’t long before he felt Emmett twitching around his fingers. He sucked harder, rolled his tongue faster, spread his fingers just enough—just the way Emmett liked.
“Oh fuck. Oh fuck. I’m coming.”
Cosimo kept going until Emmett groaned and shoved him away, flopping back against the pillows as he fought to catch his breath. He was hard as hell still, but he didn’t do more than palm his dick before sliding up Emmett’s body and resting his head on his pec.
More fingers were back in his hair, not quite tender, but not painful. Just…there.
“She didn’t deserve him,” Emmett said softly.
Something hit Cosimo in the chest—a realization: Emmett had been thinking about Miles while getting off.
The idea wasn’t absurd. Miles was Emmett’s type. They’d had more than one younger man between them who shared the same look. But no one with their soul crying out for something that Cosimo knew only Emmett could give.
“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?”
Beneath him, Emmett froze. “…what?”
“He’s beautiful.” Cosimo lifted his head and looked into Emmett’s face. “Anyone can see that. He’s…different.”
Swallowing heavily, Emmett glanced away. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”
Cosimo didn’t elaborate. He didn’t need to. This would need to be a slow and steady burn if it was going to work, and for now, they had time.
He didn’t know how much, but hopefully, it would be enough.
Cosimo assumed that after a day or two of rest, Miles would start to come out of his shell a little bit.
But, if anything, he seemed to get worse.
He was more profoundly aware of it because he was home on his vacation.
He’d only been called in once for an emergency for one of his patients, and that had turned out to be a false alarm.
So, while he normally had work to distract him, he was now profoundly aware of their lodger in the pool house.
He caught glimpses of Miles late at night, waiting until he thought everyone was asleep. The younger man would creep into the kitchen with the dishes Emmett had left at his door, scraping plates and washing them in the sink.
It was also obvious he was trying to be quiet, but much like Selene, even with his CIs, Miles wasn’t entirely aware of the noises he made. And the fact that his were old and desperately needed replacing, he also wasn’t aware of noises around him.
Cosimo felt a bit like a bastard for spying. But he also wasn’t alone.
The other thing he’d caught was his husband watching from behind curtains and half-closed doors.
A few times, Miles got brave enough to lounge by the pool. He wore t-shirts and shorts and would take a big bottle of water and sit in a chair under one of the bigger umbrellas to work on his laptop.
The thing was also ancient and looked like it was on its last legs.
Cosimo was not a caregiver. By any means. But Miles inspired something in him he was unfamiliar with. He wanted to wrap him up and feed him until they couldn’t see the collarbones under his skin anymore and kiss him until that half-dead look in his eyes went away.
Cosimo knew part of it was grad school, of course. Medical school had been a different experience, but he remembered the look on Emmett’s face when he was finishing up his own doctorate.
He knew the bigger part of Miles’s spiral was coming to terms with the fact that after a long, probably neglected childhood, he’d gotten into bed with an abusive partner who had never really loved him.
Cosimo had his own story—his own past, his own awful ex.
He never talked about it, but he understood.
He just wished he knew how to cross the divide and help Miles figure it out.
“Is he out there again?”
Cosimo startled, then pushed away from the sink and his window view of Miles who was now walking laps around the pool. “Mm.”
Emmett sighed and walked over to him, pressing his front to Cosimo’s. The packer rubbed up against Cosimo’s side and he felt a tiny spark, though it was eclipsed by the way everything else was feeling. He was going to need Emmett again. And soon.
Staring at him, Emmett eventually reached up and rubbed his thumb across Cosimo’s brow. “I wonder if it’s this? Scaring him away?”
He frowned. “My wrinkles?” He felt a little insulted…and outraged. He’d earned those wrinkles, goddamn it.
Emmett’s face softened. “No, my love.” Ah.
Cosimo didn’t care for many pet names but that one…
oh that one. His toes curled in his house slippers as Emmett leaned in and kissed him.
“I love every line on your face. But you can be a little…terrifying. Or intimidating. You weren’t the warmest to him at the lunch. ”
Cosimo felt a little raw at those words. He eased back away from Emmett’s touch. “I was angry. Not at him, but?—”
“No, I know. So was I. But people who come from backgrounds like his tend to be a little sensitive. He’s been blaming himself a little. He probably thought you did too.”
Well…fuck. He’d had one very shitty past relationship, but that was as far as he could understand Miles. His own parents had loved him. His extended family loved him like he was their own child.
There had been no shortage of support as he grew up.
“I should talk to him.”
Emmett sighed and grabbed Cosimo again, wrapping his arms around him and going up on his toes to rest his chin on his shoulder.
He was clearly looking out the window, so Cosimo bent his knees a bit to give his husband a better view.
“I don’t want this to break him. I think he’s staying because he feels guilty and thinks we’ll be angry if he says he wants to leave. ”
Cosimo felt an odd sense of panic at the thought of him leaving. “I don’t want him to leave. Do you?”