ELEVEN
Lurenz
Steam billowed into the kitchen, caressing Lurenz’s bare shoulders like a lover. He toyed with the letter in his hand, chewing his lower lip.
Lur-
Off to market and dinner at the tavern with a friend from the next village. I will not be home before dark. I shall stay the night and return tomorrow.
Before lunch. Not early.
Needs must, brother.
Liebe,
Onna
“Well,” he said to no one, “that solves that.”
He should not have been surprised Onna left them alone for the evening. She was clever and knew Valentin would be leaving as soon as the calf was born. Valentin, who was gloriously naked in the large copper basin a door away, enjoying one last bath before he left in the morning.
Lurenz tossed the letter aside and stalked from the kitchen, kicking up steam as he made for the bathhouse, stripping as he did.
Valentin’s clothes lay in a pile beside the door, and Lurenz’s trousers soon followed.
Though they had the farmhouse to themselves, an unexpected and welcome gift, he closed the door behind him, wanting to savor this privacy for as long as he could.
He believed Valentin when he said he would return, and he believed him when he said Lurenz was the reason he returned season after season, but the knowing did not lessen the ache.
To miss a lover before they were gone was a special sort of pain. One Lurenz was determined to ease in the time they had left.
“May I join you?”
Water sloshed and Valentin’s hazy silhouette shifted in the steam. “Will we both fit?”
“I will make it so.” He moved to the top of the basin, pressing his knuckles into the tight muscle of Valentin’s shoulders and working the strain away.
He groaned, a deep rumble Lurenz felt in his bones. “Keep doing that and I will fall asleep.”
“Alright.” He lifted his hands away.
Valentin darted an arm from the water, grabbing Lurenz’s wrist. “I did not say stop.”
Lurenz smiled, and resumed kneading the tight muscles. Bending low, he lightly scraped his teeth along Valentin’s ear, earning another delicious groan. “Scoot forward, I can sit on the edge.”
Valentin did as bid and Lurenz eased into the basin. The rim was warm beneath his backside, and he regretted not placing a towel to make it more comfortable. Then again, he had no plans to remain sitting for long.
He widened his legs to fit Valentin’s shoulders, and Valentin eased back, gripping the basin to support some of his weight. Bit by bit, he relaxed, head dropping against Lurenz’s thigh as he massaged the strain away, and soon that beautiful hum filled the air.
“I shall miss this,” he said after a while.
“So shall I,” Valentin murmured. He turned his head to kiss Lurenz’s thigh, the tip of his horn gently trailing sensitive skin. “Allow me to dream for a moment that you are coming with me.”
“Val—”
“Allow me to dream,” he repeated. “My hut in the high range is small. The wind tears through the seams, and the blankets are thin, but with you I would be warm.” His lips were a brand against Lurenz’s thigh, stirring his cock to quick arousal.
“Most of the time, it is just myself and the herd. No charming sisters or townsfolk, no other Senn to distract me from whatever it is I put my mind to.”
“And what would you put your mind to?”
“Learning every inch of your body in the sunlight.” Valentin flicked his tongue against Lurenz’s knee.
“Memorizing the sweet sounds you make when I kiss you here.” He lifted Lurenz’s leg and pressed his lips to the base of his thigh, sucking lightly.
A tingle zipped up the limb, shooting straight to Lurenz’s already throbbing cock.
He let out a cry, half a whimper, half a gasp, and Valentin rumbled happily. “That is the one.”
“Gods.”
“Indeed.” And did it again, sucking and dragging his mouth up Lurenz’s leg. Hot breath caressed his cock and before Valentin could go any further, Lurenz grabbed his horns and jerked his head back.
Valentin’s eyes shot wide, the pupils pressing against a thin band of amber. Damp curls clung to his brow and tangled around his horns, and his lips, barely parted and desirably plump, beckoned Lurenz.
He bent, kissing Valentin as deeply as he could to fill his mouth and mind with the taste of his lover.
With each sweep of their tongues he committed the feel of the broad, flat muscle to memory.
He released one horn to cup his throat, leaning into the knowledge that Valentin enjoyed a little dominance at the hands of his lover.
Pressing up and under his jaw, Lurenz tugged his head further back, rewarded by a strangled whimper and renewed fervor to Valentin’s kiss.
He worked his arms under Lurenz’s thighs, thick fingers bruising his skin as he held tight. Lurenz pressed lower, traveling the length of Valentin’s thick throat, down the curve of his chest, reaching as far as he could while refusing to let his lover pull away.
His hips rocked, sliding his cock along Valentin’s stubble and steam-slicked throat, arousal coiling hot and livid in his belly.
“Lurenz,” Valentin gasped against his mouth. “I must feel more of you.”
“All of me.” He released his horns and straightened, nudging Valentin’s shoulders. “On your knees.”
Valentin rushed forward so Lurenz could kneel. He gripped the rim, gasping as Lurenz fit their thighs together and curved an arm around his front. He grasped Valentin’s cock, stroking the thick member to the tip and sweeping his thumb over the head.
Valentin grunted, the hum in his chest sharpening in pitch as Lurenz stroked him again.
Gods, the only thing he loved more than dragging sweet sounds from his throat was hearing Valentin bellow in unbridled bliss.
A sound he longed to hear now.
Lurenz swept a bottle of oil from beside the basin and doused his hands, gliding his palm over Valentin’s cock. He let out a deep, delicious groan and kicked his leg, hoof clanging against the copper basin, likely denting the wall.
Lurenz did not care. Every bit of his focus was on the beautiful Senn bent before him. He danced fingers over his belly and circled his nipples until Valentin trembled. Water beaded from the tips of wet curls as he dropped his head and pressed against Lurenz.
“Please,” he begged, “stop your teasing.”
“Never.” He kissed the promise into Valentin’s shoulder, curving his palm around the globe of his cheek. “Never.” And pressed his thumb into the tight ring. Valentin whimpered, kicking the basin a second time. “Alright?”
“Gods, yes” Valentin exhaled, horns pressing against the wall. “You have done this before?”
“Mm-hmm.” Lurenz worked him gently, loosening the muscle and keenly aware of his lover. “Never with a Senn, but—”
“Not much different.”
“And you?”
Valentin glared over his shoulder, humor and heat simmering in his eyes. Lurenz chuckled, and pressed deeper, rewarded by Valentin’s jaw slackening as he worked his thumb in circles.
“I will take that as a yes.”
“Death of me,” Valentin grumbled, but he pressed against Lurenz, drawing his finger deeper. “More, sweetheart.”
“Gladly.”
He withdrew his thumb, exchanging it for two fingers, a third when he could, and when Valentin’s pants quickened, and his own cock throbbed with need, Lurenz doused himself with oil and pressed into his lover.
“Gods.” Valentin shuddered as he entered him. Copper popped and dented under his grip, water frothing and splashing from their movements. The stones hissed. Steam thickened the air, making it hard to draw a breath, not that Lurenz could.
From the crushing grip of Valentin’s body, to the need overriding his senses, Lurenz was a man lost. He grabbed one of Valentin’s horns, jerking his head back. His fingernails dug into his hips, thighs slamming against muscled thighs.
That odd hum, normally so soothing and sweet, took on a harsh edge, vibrating into Lurenz wherever their skin met. It spurned him on, increasing the force of his thrusts.
Lurenz roped his arm around Valentin’s front, taking his dripping wet cock in hand, stroking in time to his thrusts. Valentin bucked and that lovely hum deepened, growing more resonant, vibrating into Lurenz’s balls.
“Gods, Valentin,” he moaned, turning his wrist and gripping the head of Valentin’s cock.
Valentin hiccuped, tensed, and the hum tore from his throat as a long, desperate low. The final warning before he spent in Lurenz’s hand. Spurt after spurt of thick, creamy release spattered the basin wall, dripping down the copper to mix with bathwater.
The sight of it, frothing like a cloud on the water, tipped Lurenz over the edge.
“Gods!” He gripped Valentin’s waist. Pressed a hand over his heart. Stars burst in his eyes, his mind going blank as ecstasy overwrote his world. “Gods, I love—”
The last of his words were lost to a moan. He spilled into Valentin, gracelessly fucking his spend into his Senn until his legs gave out and he draped boneless over his back.