Matthew should have been tired when he walked through the door of the townhouse that night, but he wasn\'t. He was running on a flighty, nervous energy that was roiling within him and that had his limbs zinging, his heart permanently skipping beats. His blue eyes were glinting with the promise of what he knew was to come, the hours of cleaning, shopping and cooking (made all the more enjoyable by the sneaky little comments they would each deliver one another or the sly little brushes against already-sensitive bodies that seemed to arouse shivers all day long) well behind them now.
They\'d served dinner at the manor, managed to maintain quite a civilised - even enthusiastic - conversation with Lam and Kysis (Matthew had been very pleased when she hugged him and whispered to him that she hoped he was happy with Rico but to be careful, but had blushed furiously all the same and excused himself as quickly as he could from the very pleasant greetings that had happened in the dining room\'s doorway up \'til then) and gone into the kitchen to eat themselves. There was no point wasting time when they got home with food that they could just as easily consume with the guards at the manor and then walk home on empty stomachs.
In the darkened streets on the way home, Matthew had been game enough to follow his instincts and slide his hand into Rico\'s, finding the experience thrilling because he\'d initiated it. He felt somewhat like a peacock strutting about then, with his feathers on display, proud to have someone so fine that he could hang onto and call... well, not necessarily his but... his lover. He supposed. His thoughts confused him, but they cleared up when the townhouse was in sight.
They walked into the kitchen and set about starting and stoking the fire so that the bath water could boil, working together to get buckets on the stove. They were an efficient team. Of course, once everything was set up, they were left with nothing to do but wait for the water to heat and stare at each other. Matthew smiled, feeling sensual and bold, and reached out to pull Rico against him as he leaned against the bench beside the stove. He\'d thought the move through ten times before he did it, anticipating something different going wrong every time, so was surprised when it went smoothly and the brunette was wrapped in his arms, pressed up against him.
"I\'ve been wanting to do this all day," he said with a very underconfident sigh making the words warble, but it was really just the relief of finally acting on an impulse he\'d been craving. It may have taken him all day to build up to the act but he did it; he leaned down and kissed Rico. It wasn\'t nearly as gentle as he\'d expected it to be, either, for he was, by now, virtually starving for some contact with the man.