Simply Pleasure by Kate Pearce

and rubbed a thumb over the dull metal. Peter had the matching half. He’d been wearing it at Madame’s.
    Val reached up, lifted the leather string off over his head, and laid it on his dressing table. With an inarticulate sound he put his hands over his eyes and sank to the floor. He felt as if his heart would snap in two as easily as the coin. But had it been easy? He remembered Peter sawing away at the damn thing for days while Val scolded him for wasting a valuable coin on a stupid necklace.
    He struggled to breathe, his hands pressed tightly to his face, and for the first time in years prayed to a God he no longer believed in. Not for himself, but for Peter, that whatever happened to him would be as good and enduring and as true as the metal in the coin.

    Peter studied Val’s sleeping form and deliberated what to do. His friend looked exhausted. He’d spent days with Peter at the pleasure house dealing with the consequences of his addictions and hadn’t complained once. Perhaps it would be better to leave him to sleep.
    But he needed to talk to him. Since walking out of the shipping offices, he’d done a lot of thinking, some of it in the company of Captain Ford, and the rest by himself as he walked along the docks staring into the filthy, clouded water. It had occurred to him that making decisions for himself was harder than he’d anticipated, which was probably why he’d allowed others to do it for him in the past.
    Leaning closer, he traced the curve of Val’s eyebrow and found himself staring right into his lover’s beautiful sleep-dazed eyes. Holding his gaze, Peter slowly stripped out of his clothes and climbed up onto the bed. Moonlight spilled over the satin quilts and Val’s naked torso as he lay still and stared at Peter.
    â€œWhy are you here?” Val whispered.
    Peter knelt beside him. “Because I needed to see you.”
    â€œWhat about Captain Ford?”
    â€œJason understood why I couldn’t stay with him.”
    â€œBut I thought—”
    He brushed a kiss over Val’s mouth. “Sshh.”
    For once, Val shut up. Peter smiled and kissed him properly. With a stifled groan Val opened his mouth and allowed his tongue to tangle with Peter’s until their lips were fused together in a hot erotic trap of mutual need.
    Peter threaded his hand through Val’s long dark hair, his fingers grazing the raised scar of a brand on the back of Val’s neck that had once been Aliabad’s initials. Val’s hands roamed his body, touching and teasing until Peter rolled on top of him, his hard wet cock rubbing against Val’s as they moved together with the ease of longtime lovers. Reaching down, Peter wrapped his hand around both their shafts and worked them until Val’s hips were rolling against his in an invitation Peter found hard to resist.
    He let his wet fingers drift lower, shaping Val’s balls, sliding over the smooth skin of his taint, and rimming the tight bud of his arsehole.
    â€œPlease,” Val whispered.
    Peter kissed him hard and reached across to the bedside table to find a vial of oil. Trying not to break contact with Val’s mouth, he oiled his fingers and slid two of them deep inside his lover, pushing them back and forth in time to the rhythm of his kisses and his hips.
    Val groaned and Peter slicked oil over his shaft and pushed Val’s thighs wide. He waited patiently until Val looked right at him and then eased the head of his cock inside. Val’s eyes widened, but he didn’t look away as Peter rocked his hips, pressing deeper and deeper until he was fully sheathed in Val’s arse.
    He planted his hands on either side of Val’s head and stared down at his lover, his cock throbbing along with his heartbeat, his breathing taut.
    â€œDo you want me?”
    Val shivered and reached up to touch Peter’s face. “God, yes.”
    Peter undulated his hips. “Like this? Face