Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

O n the morning of the party, Tristan awoke in Leo's very beige bedroom, stretched, and stared up at the ceiling. Then he turned his head and squinted at the window. Bright sunlight was slanting through the blinds. It promised to be a lovely morning outside, for people who liked that sort of thing. Tristan was really only a fan of mornings when he could sleep through them. Leo, though, got up early and did morning things like eating a healthy breakfast and sometimes even jogging, which Tristan personally thought was taking things too far, but each to their own. The past few days had been kind of fun, finding out those little quirky details about each other. He enjoyed this relationship business. It was like the discovery proceedings of a lawsuit, where everyone had to be open and honest and show off all their secrets. Like the fact that Leo folded his socks instead of balling them up, because "that way you don't stretch them out and they last longer, Tris!"

He wondered idly if he should wear socks or go full Miami Vice for the fundraiser tonight. He still hadn't settled on the perfect thing to wear, despite Ambrose and Harry's advice, although he was contemplating a gold mesh crop top under a tuxedo jacket. The problem was slipping under the doorman's radar. He knew from experience that unless he had the right connections, gaining entrance to some of the yacht clubs in the city was more difficult than getting tickets to the NRL Grand Final.

He snuggled against the soft cotton sheets for a minute before sighing and levering himself upright. Leo didn't know he didn't have anything to wear yet, so Tristan was going to have to find something this morning, even though he'd much rather find Leo and drag him back to bed. If he did that, Tristan knew it would be afternoon before they emerged again, because Leo was insatiable. While normally that wouldn't be a problem, today Tristan had a responsibility to make himself the worst possible boyfriend, as a way of showing he was the best possible boyfriend—or something.

It was too early for this.

It was—he reached for his phone and squinted at the screen—ten a.m.

God . That was practically still dawn. Although it did mean that Leo had probably been back from his run for hours and was currently doing something else adorably domestic, like the laundry.

No, Tristan remembered. He was out getting a haircut in preparation for tonight. Tristan knew this, because he'd made the appointment for him with Valli, his own hair guy, horrified when Leo had mentioned dropping into a Supercuts.

He still had so much to teach Leo. After all, since he was saving so much money by prolonging the life of his socks by folding them, he could afford to drop more than thirty bucks on a decent hair stylist. His curls could look so good , if only he'd put them in talented hands.

There was a parallel there somewhere with Leo's arse and it being at its best in Tristan's hands, but Tris was too under-caffeinated to fully make it.

He got up and staggered into the kitchen to fix that.

Leo, because he was the best boyfriend in the world, owned a decent coffee machine. Okay, maybe he owned it because he liked good coffee, but the fact remained that it was just one more thing Tristan lo— liked about him.

Tristan might have been a boyfriend novice, but even he knew it was too early to start thinking any L-word apart from like . Even if the warm, tingling feeling in his chest told him he was deluding himself. The whole process, from meeting Leo, to fooling around with Leo, to being exclusive with Leo, had happened so quickly and smoothly that why couldn't it be love? Tristan wasn't going to say it, of course, not even to himself, but why couldn't it be?

Although, if it could be, and it was, why not say it?

His coffee woke him up, but it didn't do much to unmuddle his thoughts. He liked Leo—both he and the argumentative voice in his head agreed on that—but anything bigger than that, he'd table for the future.

"I'm shutting it down," he told the voice in his head as he sipped his second coffee. "I'm not going to blurt it out yet. It's not happening."

He almost immediately fucked that up though, when Leo came home with fresh coffee scrolls. His boyfriend was perfect .

"Are you okay?" Leo asked him curiously.

"I am marvellous," Tristan assured him, biting into his coffee scroll. "And you are adorable with that haircut. Valli is a god."

It wasn't quite what he wanted to say, but Leo smiled and blushed, so Tristan figured that for now, it was good enough.

He reached out and ran his fingers through Leo's curls. "Look at this. They're so shiny and bouncy. You look like a shampoo commercial."

"Not quite long enough to do the over-the-shoulder hair flick like you can."

"Because I'm worth it," Tristan said, and gave him a demo. He rubbed his thumb down Leo's neck. "Oh, you've got some little bits stuck on you. I hate that."

"Yeah, I'm gonna jump in the shower," Leo said. "Which will ruin whatever Valli did, probably."

"How do you have these gorgeous curls, and nobody ever taught you how to treat them right?" Tristan pecked him on the lips. "Come on, babe. I've got enough product to start my own salon. I'll wash your hair for you."

Leo froze, a half-smile on his face. "What, really? You'd do that?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Tristan said. "And afterwards I'll style it for you so everyone else can see how gorgeous you are."

"Why do I feel like I've been sucked into an episode of Queer Eye ?" Leo said, his smile relaxing into something more natural.

Tristan laughed. "No, babe. You're already hot. I just like the idea of getting you all wet and soapy." It was more than that, though. He wanted to take care of Leo, to run his fingers down the nape of his neck, to caress him as he worked his fingers through the strands of his hair, to make him feel treasured and special and adored.

If they happened to fuck as well, that was just a bonus.

Tristan reached out and brushed at the loose hairs on Leo's collar. "Come on. Let's go and get you wet, and then I'll make you pretty."

Leo grinned, took Tristan's hand, and led him towards the bathroom, stopping on the way to discard his clothes in the laundry basket. Leo wasn't the sort of person to drop his clothes just anywhere, even if he was getting naked in the shower with someone. It was just another cute quirk of his. Tristan hadn't even made it as far as wearing clothes, so he only had to slip out of his kimono and hang it on the back of the bathroom door. He started the water running and contemplated his haircare collection as he waited for the water to warm up. He was distracted by Leo slipping his arms around him from behind and leaning his head on Tristan's shoulder. It was startling how quickly he'd come to recognise the curves and planes of Leo's body where he was pressed against him and to crave it. Who knew that one person could be so intoxicating?

He turned in Leo's grip and stole a quick kiss before tugging him under the hot water. Thankfully Leo had one of those shower heads that was the size of a small planet so neither of them had to stand shivering outside the spray, and even better, the height was adjustable, so Tristan didn't have to duck to get under the water. He placed his hands on Leo's hips and turned him so they were facing, and took a moment just to soak up the gorgeous picture Leo made with his head tilted back into the spray, his eyes closed and lips slightly parted. Tristan reached out and dragged his fingertips through Leo's curls, making sure his hair was properly wet. He picked up his shampoo and drizzled some onto his hand. Leo let out a moan that was almost pornographic as Tristan massaged his scalp and teased the shampoo into a lather, careful to avoid tangling the strands. "Fuck, that feels good. You're almost as good as Valli."

"Only almost?" Tristan asked, running his thumbs down the nape of Leo's neck.

"Well, he's a professional."

Tristan tilted Leo's head so it was under the water again and rinsed the shampoo out before applying his special salon-brand conditioner, even though Leo's curls were already silky to the touch. Normally Tristan wouldn't share it, because it was hellishly expensive, but it was different with Leo.

Everything, it seemed, was different with Leo.

While he waited for the conditioning treatment to be done, Tristan rubbed sandalwood-scented body wash over Leo, using it as a shameless excuse to touch his sexy-as-fuck boyfriend's firm muscles and gorgeous skin, his dick hardening as he did so.

"Eyes closed," he instructed, then tipped Leo's head back and rinsed the conditioner away. Once the water ran clear, Leo opened his eyes and stared up at Tristan with a mischievous smile on his face, the water droplets caught in his eyelashes sparkling like tiny diamonds.

Tristan surged forward and pulled Leo close, kissing him hard. Leo kissed him back, slid his hands down Tristan's back and squeezed his arse. Tristan moaned into the kiss, and Leo pulled back, eyes bright. "Can I blow you?"

"Fuck, yes." Tristan groaned.

Leo's smile widened and he dropped to his knees right there. Tristan briefly debated suggesting that they move this to the bedroom, but then there was a hot mouth engulfing his cock and every coherent thought flew out of his head as Leo slipped one hand between his legs and started playing with his balls. Tristan's cock throbbed urgently, and he couldn't stop the filthy groan that left him, just like he couldn't resist reaching out and threading his fingers through those wet curls and tugging gently.

Leo responded with a moan, wrapping his other hand around the rest of Tristan's shaft and stroking him, the steady rhythm a delicious counterpoint to the wet heat of his mouth, and fuck , Tristan wasn't going to last .

"Babe," he gasped out, the hands in Leo's hair clutching tighter.

Leo pulled back long enough to press a series of kisses to the crease of Tristan's thigh that shouldn't have been nearly as arousing as they were, then swallowed Tristan down again, his tongue laving against the shaft. Tristan could feel his orgasm gathering like a thundercloud, heavy and ready to burst.

"Leo," he panted, "Babe, I'm gonna?—"

Then he did.

Leo didn't pull back like he'd expected, instead working him gently through it, swallowing everything down and only pulling off when Tristan started to squirm with sensitivity.

Tristan swayed on his feet for a minute before he managed to pull himself together enough to reach out a hand and help Leo to his feet and pull him in for a hug. " Fuck ," he breathed in Leo's ear. "That was—" He couldn't even find words for how mind-blowing it had been.

"Yeah," Leo said, "it was." He sounded distinctly smug—which was probably justified, considering he'd just sucked Tristan's brains out through his dick. It had been incredible, just like everything about Leo, and Tristan was overwhelmed with the need to be close to him.

"Fuck me?" he asked quietly.

Leo's eyes went wide. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Tristan reached over and turned the water off, then pulled Leo in for a messy, cum-flavoured kiss before dragging him, damp and grinning, out of the shower and into the bedroom. He had things to do and places to be, but right now, Leo was more important.

Somehow, Leo was always more important these days.

The afternoon brought an emergency visit to Pleasure Party, because Tristan wanted to check out their leather gear. Maybe a harness under his tuxedo jacket or something that he could reveal once he was inside? Ugh. He hated not being able to get this stupid outfit right. He'd even contemplated Harry's hideous peacock suit, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. He still wanted to look attractive . Besides, Harry and Jack had some stupid emotional attachment to the thing, and he wasn't sure they'd let him borrow it.

"Why aren't you more shocking?" he mumbled at the leather harness he was holding.

"What are you bitching about?" a familiar voice purred in his ear. He turned to find Miss O'Jenny standing behind him. She was wearing a gold lamé pantsuit and army boots. Her arms were folded over her ample silicone chest as she observed him with a furrow in her brow—not that he'd ever point out that her brow possessed a furrow, since he didn't want to end up impaled on the pointy end of one of her stilettos. "Aren't you meant to be in the first flush of passion with little Leo? But here you are, as cranky as a case of the clap. What gives?"

"I am in the flush of passion," Tristan said after he'd leaned up and given her the obligatory peck on the cheek. "It's just that I can't find anything to wear tonight. I'm supposed to be Bad Boyfriending for Leo at a fancy dinner, and I need something that's shocking but also scrapes by the dress code. It's impossible."

Jenny's immaculate eyebrows shot up. "You're Bad Boyfriending for your actual boyfriend?"

"Yeah. Long story short, his parents are stuffed shirts with political aspirations, and they've insisted Leo come to this dinner to get them the gay vote or something, only he's done with their bullshit, so he wants me to go as his terrible date. I'm planning to pull out all the stops."

" All the stops?"

"Yeah—but first I have to get in the door."

Miss O'Jenny got a speculative look on her face. "Where's the dinner?"

"I think Leo said it was the Point Seymour Yacht Club?"

The smile that Jenny gave him was positively wicked. "I know their dress code. Formal, but cocktail wear is acceptable." She reached out and removed the harness from Tristan's grip. "I have just the thing. And frankly, I'm insulted you didn't come to me first. Don't try to be your own fairy godmother, Cinderella."

Hope blossomed in Tristan's chest. If anyone could find him something to wear, it was Jenny. And whatever it was, one thing was guaranteed. It would be an absolute show-stopper.

"You are an angel and a goddess," he proclaimed, "and I trust you utterly."

Miss O'Jenny tossed her hair back over her shoulders. "Of course I am, and of course you do. Now come with me and let me work my magic."