Chapter 8

“Thank you.”

Wulf glanced across to where Billy was once again slumped in the armchair across from his own in the library.

The constable had departed a few minutes ago, with the warning he would be back to question Billy after he’d had time to speak to his superiors. Wulf had suggested he also investigate the incident further before he thought of returning here to make any further false accusations.

“For what?” Wulf now prompted.

“For standing by me, whether you believe me innocent or not. For refusing to allow the constable to take me from here and lock me up.” Billy added the last with a pained wince for what all knew were the terrible conditions within English prisons.

Wulf’s position in government meant he was trying to improve those conditions, but it was proving to be a slow business.

He scowled fiercely. “I told you that I would not allow anyone to take you away from here.”

“I know.” Billy sighed. “But this witness named me as the murderer, and wearing this jacket while I did it.” He looked down at the garish garment he still wore and which Wulf had so recently teased him about. “It sounds—what’s the word?—ah yes, it sounds damning.”

Wulf snorted. “It is only the statement of one person, and we have no idea how reliable their word is.” His eyes narrowed. “I will have their name by the end of the day, and then we will be able to question them ourselves,” he assured grimly.

He had already given Miller a note to be delivered to Stonyhurst after the constable left. In it he had asked the other man to call upon him. He did not trust asking his friend to look into the situation for him to pen and paper, preferring the two men discuss the situation in person.

He had asked Stonyhurst to come here because he was reluctant to leave the house himself until after he and Billy had at least talked about their earlier intimacy.

A Billy who now chose to stare morosely into the flames of the fire rather than look at Wulf.

Because he was upset at being accused of murder?

Or because Billy regretted the intimacies that had occurred between them earlier?

Wulf felt a heaviness in his chest at the thought of it being the latter. “Billy, I am not expecting you to make good on anything we said or did together earlier,” he assured gently.

Those green eyes quickly lifted to meet his. “Does that mean you’ve changed your mind about wanting me now that I’ve been accused of being a murderer?”

Wulf didn’t hesitate to shake his head. “I believed you when you told me you were not responsible. Nor will I ever change my mind about wanting you, no matter what you are accused of,” he admitted huskily. “My hesitation now is because I do not want you to ever feel obligated into performing any—any— What are you doing?” His eyes were wide as he watched Billy stand and cross the small distance between them before the young man knelt between Wulf’s parted legs and began to unfasten the buttons on his pantaloons.

Much as he had earlier.

“This is me not feeling obligated.” Billy gave him a mischievous glance from those wicked green eyes. “Nothing like a bit of murder to— How did the constable put it? Ah, yes. To heat the blood.” He freed Wulf’s engorged cock from his drawers before wrapping both hands about that throbbing length. “And your blood is so very hot, Your Grace,” he murmured appreciatively as his hands stroked slowly up and then down that silken flesh before he lowered his head and once again took the bulbous purple top fully into the furnace of his mouth.

Those impish green eyes continued to meet Wulf’s gaze through each of those seductive movements.

Pleasure exploded down the length of Wulf’s cock and into his balls before radiating out to the rest of his body. A pleasure which deepened as Billy began to suck that length to the back of his throat, his tongue an arousing rasp against his tender flesh.

“I am not going to last, love,” Wulf warned seconds later.

Despite the gravity of the constable’s news, Wulf knew he had been balanced on the edge of this release since he and Billy were interrupted earlier. The fact the constable had wanted to take Billy with him only intensified Wulf’s need for this affirmation that Billy was his and no one would ever take him away.

Even the thought of losing this cheeky ray of sunshine in his life sent a cold shiver down Wulf’s spine.

He reached out to thread his fingers through Billy’s silky hair even as he thrust deeply into the moist heat of the younger man’s mouth.

Wulf needed to feel the solid presence of his red-haired sprite beneath his fingertips. To know that Billy was here. With him.

Which, for a man who had never needed anyone permanently in his life, was as wondrous a dilemma as it was terrifying.

One which Wulf was grateful not to be able to linger over when Billy chose that moment to hum his own pleasure as he took Wulf’s cock fully to the back of his throat.

That vibration, and the heat in Billy’s gaze holding his, was enough to tip Wulf over the edge of his pleasure and send the hot pulses of release down his length and into Billy’s mouth. Billy’s slender throat moved as he continued to suck and swallow every drop.

Wulf slumped back in his chair when he was completely spent, looking down at Billy through half-closed lids when the younger man lay his head against Wulf’s thigh after his mouth had relinquished the half-hard cock.

He could now see how red and puffy Billy’s lips were. His cheeks flushed. His eyes a dark and stormy green. His hair in disarray from where Wulf’s fingers had gripped him so tightly as his pleasure grew and he thrust his cock so deeply into the younger man’s mouth, it had been visible in Billy’s throat.

He reached out to touch that slender throat. “Did I hurt you?”

“Nah.” The huskiness of Billy’s voice gave lie to that claim.

Wulf tidied his cock away and refastened his pantaloons before sitting forward in the chair so he could lift Billy’s chin and better see the expression on those impish features. “I do not seem to be able to control the depth of the desire you incite in me.”

Pleasure flashed into those bright green eyes. “That’s a good thing, ain’t it?”

“It is…unsettling,” he acknowledged. “When I have never been a man to feel strong emotions or physical passions.”

“But you’ve had other lovers. A kept one, as recently as five months ago, so I ’eard,” Billy challenged.

Wulf winced. “I wish you had never been told about that. It was a mistake. Something I knew without a doubt the moment I set eyes on you for the first time.”

“Really?” Billy perked up.

“You need not look so pleased with yourself,” Wulf admonished.

Billy moved so that he was now sitting on his bottom, his arms about his knees as he stared at the flames of the fire. “Was it all right, then?”

“Was what all right?”

“Did I suck your cock the way you like it?”

Wulf’s brows rose. “How can you doubt it when I came so quickly?”

“That’s good.” Billy nodded.

Wulf studied the younger man as he continued to stare at the flames rather than at him, the delicate blush remaining in Billy’s cheeks.

Could it be…?

Was it possible that Billy had not performed such an intimate act on another man before now…?

Billy had grown up in the slums of the city, a place where every sin known to man festered and thrived.

A place where children tended to mature early if they wished to survive into adulthood.

Where that survival often meant those children had to barter or sell the only thing they owned. Themselves.

Admittedly, Billy had said he had been apprenticed to a lawyer’s clerk before working at the Apollo. But he had been fifteen years of age by the time that occurred.

Wulf had assumed, and he realized now that perhaps he should not have done, that Billy was unfamiliar with the giving and receiving of physical pleasure.

* * *

“’ere, what the ’ell…?” Billy grumbled and squirmed his discomfort after Wulf had reached down and lifted him until he sat on Wulf’s thighs. “I’m nineteen, not nine!” He scowled, but made no attempt to actually move out of the circle of the other man’s arms.

He couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged or cuddled him, apart from Wulf.

It was surprisingly…nice.

Wulf chuckled. “I am well aware of how old you are.” He sobered, his gaze intent on Billy’s face. “Do you find our age gap a hindrance?”

“To what?”

“To us. My additional years mean I have, as you so rightly pointed out, had other lovers before you. How many lovers did you have previous to me?”

Billy scowled. “That question don’t sound as if you enjoyed my cock-sucking as much as you said you did.” He had done his best and judged his actions based on what made Wulf groan in pleasure and tense his hands in his hair, but there was no doubting that he had a lack of experience in such things.

A lack of experience Wulf now seemed to be aware of.

“My darling Billy,” the older man murmured affectionately, “if I had enjoyed your lovemaking any more, the top of my head might have blown off at the same time my release exploded down your throat.”

Billy pulled back to look at the man who had very quickly become the center of his world. Warmth shone in Wulf’s normally cold, dark eyes, a slight flush visible along the sharpness of his cheekbones. As if Wulf felt uncomfortable for having made such an admission.

But he had done so for Billy, so that he had no reason to doubt the effect he had upon him.

Billy turned fully so he could cup either side of Wulf’s face, looking deep into those heated brown eyes as he leaned forward and claimed Wulf’s lips with his own.

It was a slow and languid kiss, one that conveyed warmth of emotion rather than a renewal of passion.

They continued to stare into each other’s eyes long after the kiss had ended, a silent toing and a froing of emotions they had so far not spoken out loud.

Billy because, for possibly the first time in his life, he felt shy at how overwhelmed he was by having realized he was in love with Wulf.

Could Wulf’s silence be for the same reason?

Before he could ask that question, there came a soft knock on the library door. Totally destroying the moment of Billy’s hopeful expectations.