Butterfly Hunter 01 (25 page)

“
What does
Nicholas mean?”

“
Virile,” the
man claimed.

Dave stared at him for a
long moment, before bursting into laughter. “It does
not!”

“
It does,
actually.”

“
Prove
it!”

“
I’d love to.”
And Nicholas rose up from the mattress like a whale breaching the
surface of the ocean, and then he turned, and took Dave
under.

They reached
Dave
’s house around seven–thirty one
evening. Dave smiled as he walked in the front door: he liked being
home. And his smile broadened as he welcomed Nicholas
in.

“
There’s a
side door off the garage,” he explained inconsequentially, “but I
thought you’d better see it properly. At least the first
time.”

“
It’s
lovely,” Nicholas said as he trailed along behind Dave, gazing
about him as Dave turned on the lights in the hallway, then the
living room. Dave himself looked about at the colours with fresh
eyes – the dark green, and rich cream, and occasional scraps of
rusty red – before leading Nicholas through into the family room
and kitchen. “Now,
this
is nice,” Nicholas added appreciatively, as he
took in the room that ran along two–thirds of the width of the
house.

“
Wait until
you see it in the morning,” Dave said. “There’s a veranda out the
back there, and then the yard. This is the best room …” He grinned,
and then pointed in the direction of the other third of the back of
the house. “Well, this and the master bedroom, anyway.”

Nicholas’s smile curled
wickedly. “I trust you’ll give me the full tour later.” And he
didn’t mean the house.

“
I’ll just
check the fridge –” Though why he even said that, Dave had no idea.
He knew he could rely on Denise, and there was no point in
pretending to Nicholas that she wasn’t an intrinsic part of his
life. “We’ve got the essentials here, Denise said she’d make sure
of that. Thought I’d make an omelette for dinner, if that’s all
right.”

“
That’s
great.”

Dave started fetching out
the eggs and butter, mushrooms and capsicum, bacon and cheese.
“D’you wanna get cleaned up, or anything?”

“
Later,”
Nicholas said. “Is the shower big enough for both of
us?”

Dave went pink. “Maybe
…”

“
Then the
shower can wait for afterwards. I’ll make a pot of tea, if I may.
You do the sustenance, I’ll do the antioxidants.”

“
Going to need
them, are we?”

“
Oh yes,” said
Nicholas. And once the tea was stewing, he sat there at the
breakfast bar, watching Dave with a wickedly content
smile.

They weren’t expected at
Denise’s until twelve–thirty, so after coffee and muesli, and a
wander around the lushly planted backyard, the two of them seemed
to gravitate quite naturally again to bed.

“
Making the
most of it?” Dave asked as he backed towards the bed, with
Nicholas’s hands sliding up under his t–shirt.

“
Seize the
Dave,” Nicholas whimsically agreed.

Dave laughed – but then
Nicholas turned serious, reaching around Dave to tug at the doona,
and then fling it off the bed and onto the floor with a strong
twist of his wrist. Dave was pushed back to fall against the
mattress, the cotton sheet cool against his skin. Nicholas eyed the
wooden slats of the bed for a moment, before turning back to Dave.
“What can I tie you down with?”

Dave let out a gasp, and
he instinctively wriggled away on his elbows and rear – until
Nicholas caught him again with one long pale hand wrapped around
Dave’s ankle.

“
What can I
use?” Nicholas demanded.

“
Dad’s
dressing gown belt,” Dave blurted.

“
Good,” said
Nicholas. And he headed for the wardrobe that Dave indicated with a
nod. “Good,” he said again, once he’d found it.

Nicholas walked back
towards the bed, his gaze pinning Dave down. And Dave’s cock kicked
into full–blooded life.

It was nothing like he’d
expected.

Dave found himself naked
and face down on the bed, the wrong way round with his head towards
the foot, and his arms free. His ankles, however, were bound
together and then the tie was secured to the bed head. Nicholas was
sitting there against the pillows, just looking at him lying there.
Nothing else seemed to be happening at all.

“
Uh …” Dave
started uncertainly.

“
Hush,” said
Nicholas. One of his cool hands wrapped again around Dave’s ankle,
and caressed him through the binding. “Let me see you,” he
continued.

Dave shifted to look at
him over his shoulder. “What?”

“
Shush …
Put your head back down. Then arch the small of your back the way
you like to. Show me that
delicious
arch in your
back.”

“
Oh …” he
groaned. He was sure he’d never talked about that. Nicholas must
have really been paying attention. After a moment Dave shifted back
a little so he could do as Nicholas requested – which of course
meant that his rear was poking up in the air. He assumed that was
the intention.

“
Further,”
said Nicholas. “I want you to really feel it.”

He did so, forcing the curve
until it was just the right side of painful.

“
Good.” That
hand patted at his calf in reward. “Now show yourself to me. No,
keep your knees together, but turn your thighs and your rear out. I
want to see everything you’ve got.”

Dave mumbled something that was
half a protest, but he did his best to obey, though it felt to be
an infinitesimal move. Nicholas, however, again expressed his
appreciation.

“
Now,” said
Nicholas. “Don’t move. Not even a twitch.”

“
But
–”

“
What did I
tell you?”

“
Don’t move,”
he said with a sigh. He didn’t know how he’d go with that, though.
Even when he let Nicholas do all the driving, Dave still liked to
participate, and he still liked to be working his hips when he
came.

“
Good.”

“
I’ll try
–”

“
You won’t
move. You will, however, give thought to coming like this. Without
me touching your cock.” Nicholas continued on, overriding anything
Dave was about to say: “I’m going to be rimming you and fingering
you, and sucking on your balls, and fucking you – and you’re going
to come.”

“
But
–”

“
Hush …”
Nicholas was shifting, and apparently stalking down the bed until
he could straddle Dave’s legs on all fours without touching him –
until he bit gently at the curve of Dave’s butt.

Dave’s breath hitched. And
thus began an endless time of torment.

At the last, Nicholas took mercy
on him, and reached below to take him in hand, to end it with three
masterful strokes. Which triggered an orgasm almost too intense to
be pleasurable.

“
I’m sorry,”
Dave was mumbling afterwards, as Nicholas unfastened him. The man
didn’t make Dave move, but brought a pillow down with him and
tucked it under Dave’s head, tugged the doona up over them both,
and then wrapped himself around Dave as if he’d never ever be pried
off. “I’m sorry.”

“
What
for?” Nicholas asked, sounding immensely satisfied.
“
God,
that was good.”

“
I’m sorry I
couldn’t come like you wanted.”

“
Oh, my
darling man! You didn’t have to. It was just an idea. I’m sorry you
felt you had to.”

“
I wanted to.
I wanted to cos you wanted it.”

“
I know, you
gorgeous thing. Hush now. Let’s have a nap, and then we’ll get
cleaned up again. All right?”

“
All right,”
said Dave. And he sank away into warm velvety darkness.

Of course they were late
for lunch, and of course Denise knew exactly why. She greeted Dave
with a smirk and an unexpected kiss on the cheek. “Hello, Davey.”
She took a moment to look him over, before handing him Zoe. “You’re
looking well. Not to mention well–shagged.”

“
Jeez,
Denise!” he grumbled, feeling his face flame up again. He sought
refuge in a much safer topic. “How’s little Zo?” he asked, cradling
the sleepy warm figure in both arms. “She’s, like, twice as big as
when I last saw her.”

“
Yeah, she’s
doin’ great. You must be Nicholas,” Denise added, reaching past
Dave to shake Nicholas’s hand.

“
I’m pleased
to meet you, Denise.”

“
Oh yeah,
sorry,” Dave said. But they were taking care of the introductions
without him, which was just as well.

But then when Dave started
drifting towards the family room, he found that the others weren’t
quite done yet. Denise and Nicholas were actually standing there in
the hallway, sizing each other up.

“
You know,”
said Denise, “I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or
anything, but I only invited you around to make sure you’re good
enough for him.”

Nicholas scoffed a laugh
in a manner befitting an honorary Australian. “That’s all right. I
only accepted to make sure you know he’s not yours
anymore.”

“
Guys –” Dave
said, heading back there. Zoe was stirring in his arms, as if
picking up on the tensions.

But eventually Denise
simply said, “I know that.”

“
Do
you?”

“
Well, I do
now,” Denise replied with a laugh. She offered to shake hands
again. “You’ll do, Nicholas.”

“
Thank you,
Denise.”

Dave sighed. “Right. Thank
God that’s over.”

Luckily Vittorio seemed
nothing more than amused by these two squaring off over Dave – and
Dave had long ago realised that Vittorio wasn’t the jealous type.
As Denise and Vittorio headed for the kitchen, Dave and Nicholas
followed after to settle at the table in the family room. Vittorio
brought them a bottle of Cascade each. And Dave had time to
belatedly feel flattered. No one else in all these years had ever
thought Dave worth challenging Denise for. But still. They weren’t
in high school anymore. Dave hoped that was that.

Denise brought a warmed–up
bottle of milk over for him to feed Zoe with, and got him properly
started. The baby gazed up at him solemnly as she settled into it.
Meanwhile, Denise and Vittorio were finishing off their
preparations for lunch, and asking Nicholas about his trip;
Nicholas was telling them about the butterflies as if he were a
relatively sane person. Everything was going suspiciously
well.

When Zoe got to the end of
the bottle, Dave put it down, and then considered her for a long
moment. She wriggled a bit uncomfortably, and he knew he was meant
to do something else with her at this point, not have her lying
back in his arms. “Is this the bit when I chuck her over my
shoulder, or something?”

Denise had her hands full
of crockery, and quickly spun about to put it back down – though
Vittorio was inadvertently in the way. “Hang on,” she said. Zoe
scowled forebodingly.

“
Not
over
your shoulder,” Nicholas was advising. “A bit
more civilised than that.” He was standing by Dave now, laying a
hand towel over Dave’s shoulder – and then, with his hands cradling
Dave’s, showing him exactly how to hold Zoe upright against his
chest, with her head lightly supported. “There you go. Now pat her
back gently.”

Denise was just watching
them, obviously approving. “Kids of your own?” she asked
Nicholas.

“
Oh no,” he
answered with a smile. “More nieces and nephews than I can count.
It’s only my eldest brother living at home now, with his wife and
children, but we see a great deal of the others.” He sat down again
as he rambled on. “If there’s a good kids’ movie on, I get to
borrow whoever will come with me to see it at the cinema. Or
they’ll stay over on a Saturday night, and I get to babysit while
their parents go out – which really means I just get to hang out
with them. That sort of thing.”

Denise smiled. “You’ll do
very nicely indeed, Nicholas Goring.”

A remark seconded by a
resounding burp from Zoe, and backed up with a great deal of
laughter.

The two of them walked
slowly back to Dave’s place, Nicholas looking as adorable as ever
in his Akubra.

“
I’m glad I
got you that hat,” said Dave.

“
I am, too,”
Nicholas answered with simple sincerity.

They wandered on, watching
each other a bit skittishly. Dave began to fear another
hand–holding incident was imminent – and was relieved when his
phone chimed to announce the distraction of a text message. Though
he groaned when he read it.
You’re in love with your earling.
Denise, of course.

Dave made sure the display
was hidden from Nicholas.
I am
not. Go away!