Squire (Male x Male) (Wattys Shortlist 2021 & 2022)

Chapter 18 - The Vow

Warning: This chapter contains scenes of a sexual nature. Reader discretion is advised.

The seven days that followed were more difficult than I anticipated. Every single one of them felt like a week.

Friday afternoon saw me working alone in the stables, unsure of exactly what time Richard would be home. With only Nutmeg for me to deal with today, there was less mucking out than usual, and the day was dragging.

I heard a noise from the direction of the doorway and looked up.

Richard was leaning against the doorway to the stables, looking every inch like a perfect carving of a god. I felt instantly drawn to him like a magnet, wanting nothing more than to run into his arms after our extended time apart. My heart felt it too; it hammered at my chest, trying to escape, to reach him. But my head knew the risks and I stayed where I was.

"Richard," I breathed.

I was a statue as the prince approached me and circled me closely like a panther. He stopped when he was at the right-hand side of my body, facing behind me. With his mouth no more than eight inches from my ear, he whispered to me softly.

"Had I no fear of interruption, I would recline you into that hay and steal some pleasure from your lips."

My breath caught. Shivers crawled up and down my back, tingling as if created by spiders. There was nothing I wanted more in that moment than for him to do exactly that.

"You cannot steal what I would give you freely," I replied equally softly, my unmoving eyes trained straight ahead, not daring to even glance at him.

"Then I would be delighted to accept such a gift," Richard continued. He started to walk again, behind my back and out of my view, but creating no additional distance between us. I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck. "Maybe I could collect it tonight?"

Before I could answer, I felt his hand softly cup part of my rear and squeeze gently. Dizzied by the action, my heart pummelled my chest and I was unable to respond. He had left the stables before I managed to recover from the gesture.

Friday evening eventually came, and at seven o'clock exactly I knocked excitedly on Richard's door.

He opened the door so quickly I almost jumped, and I dutifully entered his room. The second we were both inside, Richard's lips were on mine. He had not even closed the door properly and pressed against my body to finish shutting it. Not that I minded, his body felt magnificent pressed up against me. As he deftly flicked the lock into place, my fingers ran through his hair to the back of his head, and I melted into his kisses. He reached for my waist and used it to pull me closer. I could feel how hard he was through the clothing and inadvertently squeaked as a result.

I felt Richard's tongue slip into my mouth, and I slid my tongue over his, welcoming the sensation I had missed so much. I reached for the buttons at the front of his shirt and started blindly trying to undo them so that I could release him from his attire. He followed suit and started pulling at my buttons in the same manner.

We stumbled clumsily towards the bed, undressing each other on the way while refusing to separate our mouths any more than necessary. By the time we reached our goal, a trail of clothes marked the path we had taken, and there was nothing left from our bodies to remove. We fell ungracefully onto the bed, nothing but a mound of heated kisses and tangled limbs, tumbling over each other on the soft silk sheets.

"I love you, Sebastian," Richard breathed as he rolled me onto my back and kissed my neck, exactly the way I liked it.

"And I love you, Richard," I concurred. "Words cannot express how much I missed you this past week." I moved my hips against his as his mouth continued to kiss and suck underneath my ear.