Cherish

With a yawn Karl padded barefoot for the door of his hotel room. Peering out the peephole he blinked in surprise, and opened the door. “David?”

“Can I crash here for a day or two?” The Aussie asked, and a note of desperation was in hiice.ice. “I’ll understand if you say no, but I just didn’t know where else to turn, or…”

Karl caught the man by the shoulders to halt him. “Slow down, mate. I’m not awake enough to hear you rant while you pace. I’ll get confused, dizzy, and faint, and then you’ll have the unpleasant task of performing mouth-to-mouth to revive me.”

Flushing David grinned. “You don’t perform mouth-to-mouth on people who faint. Most of them are usually still breathing so it’s unnecessary.”

“Well, that takes all the fun out of it then, doesn’t it?” the darker man grinned back. “If you can order up coffee I’ll put clothes on, and we can talk.”

David just now noticed that his friend had a sheet wrapped around his waist to cover his nakedness. “Christ, did I interrupt something?”

“What? Oh, bloody hell no. I just prefer to sleep nude when I can.” Karl found his pants, and began to draw them on underneath the sheet. At the last moment he let the sheet fall, and David got a woful ful eyeful of bare ass before the pants covered it.

Suddenly feeling heated again David turned quickly for the phone, and dialed room service. What was he supposed to order again? Oh yes, coffee. “This is room 1120. We’d like a pot of coffee…”

“Oh, and some fruit and bagels,” Karl hurriedly told him.

“And some fruit and bagels please.” David hung up, and faced the other man. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

The Kiwi neared and with a gentle hand tilted the redhead’s face up to look at him. “I told you I was here if you wanted to talk. I haven’t changed my mind. It’s about Viggo, isn’t it? It was pretty obvious he wasn’t too happy about me being around you.”

Blue eyes widened. “It was?”

A soft smile crinkled Karl’s eyes. “It was. Viggo is worried that I’ll make a move on you.” His fingers shifted slightly, and stroked the length of the shorter man’s jaw. “A valid worry.”

David’s breath halted when those full lips touched his so softly he wondered if they had at all. His heart stopped, leapt, and then raced all in the space of one beat. “Valid?” Why couldn’t he utter an intelligent sentence around Karl?

“Has he ever told you how soft your lips are, or how good you smell?” Karl nuzzled the other man’s cheek, kissed it, and then backed away. “Now, have a seat while I go to the bathroom, and then we’ll talk.”

Nodding numbly David found a seat on the sofa, and fell on it. His knees were quaking, and breathing had suddenly become a task taking effort. What now? What did he want to happen now? Had he led Karl on? Did he want to lead Karl on? What would he do if Karl came out and during their talk he told David he wanted to fuck him?

Knocking at the door made David jump. Rolling his eyes he silently reprimanded himself and went to answer. It was breakfast. David tipped the man ten dollars, and poured a fortifying cup of coffee.

“Good, coffee’s here.” Karl poured a cup and from the bowl of cut pieces of fruit chose a slice of kiwi. “Ironic,” he smirked, and plopped it into his mouth. He noticed his companion was silent and distracted with his own thoughts. Taking up a small strawberry he dipped it in powdered sugar and went to David. “Come on, eat. You look ready to fall over.”

David automatically parted his lips to take the fruit, and let the other man feed it to him. His eyes dilated, and his nostrils flared when one of Karl’s finger lag lagged behind to stroke his bottom lip as he chewed the strawberry. Once again his heart sped up like he’d been running a thirty k. marathon.

Karl’s eyes were on those wonderful lips, and he leaned closer. “You have sugar on your lips,” he whispered just before he flicked his tongue out and swept it slowly over the curve of that bottom lip. “Mmm, delicious, though you don’t need help to taste sweet.”

Choking on a groan David clasped the short-sheared head in both of his trembling hands. “Karl…”

“Easy, mate. Don’t rush things. I don’t wto fto fuck you, David. I want to make love to you.” He caught the hands holding him in his own hands, and eased them away. To soften the blow of pulling back he kissed each palm, and closed the hands over the kisses. “These kisses are for you alone. When you need them, and I’m not with you, they’ll be there waiting.”

No one had ever said anything so romantic to him before. “Did you mean what you said? About wanting to make love to me?”

“I told you, I don’t say things I don’t mean. But I won’t make love to you, David, while you’re with Viggo. I refuse to be the ‘other man’. You can stay here a few days, set your mind straight, but you’ll have to face him eventually. I’ll go with you if you want me to back you up if you need me to. But I’m telling you now that I won’t touch you unless you can be mine and mine only. If you chose Viggo then fine.”

After a second David noddee woe would have some serious thinking to do.