“I’ve heard sex cures those symptoms.”
Maris looked up from his game. “Excuse me?”
Ture shrugged playfully. “It’s what the women who work for me say. Not that I know. I’ve never slept with a woman. Have you?” He knew from what Maris had told him a few weeks back that, unlike him, Mari had at least made an attempt. But he didn’t know if Maris had ever gone through with it.
A nice shade of red crawled up from his neck to cover his face. “I was engaged to a woman once.”
That disclosure floored him. Funny how that had never once come up. “Really?”
Maris nodded as he returned to his game. “I love her still, but not like that. She’s more of a little sister. Which is why I couldn’t go through with the wedding and how I knew beyond a doubt that I was gay. She wanted children and I didn’t want to force her, and them, to live a lie with me. And to answer your earlier question, I had more than my fair share of women. Believe me, I tried everything I could to be straight. I really did. The last thing I ever wanted was to tell my family of blue-blooded ruthless military heroes and assassins that their son wasn’t like everyone else. I knew none of them would take it well, and they did not disappoint my fears.”
“It must have been hard for you.”
Maris sighed. “I don’t think it’s easy on anyone. No one wants to be different, especially not when they’re young.”
That was true. Like Maris, he’d done his best to deny it, too. But in the end, it’d been a futile battle. No matter what he did, he kept coming back to the undeniable fact that his body just didn’t react to a woman the way it did to a man.
Neither did his heart.
“So how did you break it to Darling?”
Maris laughed. “I didn’t. He caught me drooling.”
Cringing, Ture couldn’t imagine how frightening that had to be. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, he couldn’t have cared less. That’s what I love about him. He told me that it made no never mind to him that I was gay, but that if I ever grabbed his junk, I’d be missing mine.”
Ture arched a brow.
“It was funnier when Darling said it. Usually I’m funnier, too. But I’m back to that nervousness you evoke.”
Ture left his desk and moved to stand in front of Maris. “I find it hysterical that I make you nervous when you’re the one who’s been trained to kill.”
He turned the game off and rose to his feet. The heat in his gaze seared Ture. “I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t even be contemplating this.”
“I told you, Mari. I’m a grown-up. I don’t play those childish games with people’s emotions. I respect what you share with Darling and I always will. All I want is a chance to prove to you that not everyone is an asshole. That I can share you and treat you the way you deserve to be treated.”
He cupped Ture’s cheek in his hand. “Don’t break my heart, Ture. It’s been shattered enough.”
Ture pulled him into his arms so that he could show him just how much he wanted to be a part of his world. Closing his eyes, he breathed Maris in. “Come home with me, Mari. Let me hold you like I’ve been dying to since the moment I saw you skidding into my cell with both blasters blazing.”
He laughed at that. “All right. Take me home and I’m yours.”
Without another word, Ture locked up the restaurant and led him to his transport.
Maris was even more nervous than he’d been as he watched the shadows and light play against Ture’s perfect features. While his body was still healing from the damage the League had done to him, Ture had very few external injuries left. Maris hoped none of his own healing injuries interfered with his plans tonight. All he wanted was to make love to Ture until they were both unable to walk.
“What do you do in the rain?” Ture asked out of the blue.
“Excuse me?”
“Weird random thought about when you were in the pool. You said that torrential downpours could expose you. What do you do on rainy days?”
“Try to stay in. If we have to go out, we wear a lot of rain gear and make sure the rain doesn’t touch our skin.”
“Have you ever been accidentally exposed?”
“Not as an adult. The last time it happened, an asshole at school had thrown me outside the locked doors of our gym in a record storm while I was changing clothes. Darling came out to find me and helped me to hide it until I went back to normal.”
“I can see why you love him.”
“Yeah... He’s seen me through a lot of hell.”
Ture turned a corner. “I’m amazed, given your uniqueness, that your parents sent you to a school with humans. Is that normal?”
“Not at all. Most Phrixians never even meet a human. The few who do usually only meet them in battle. I was the unfortunate exception.”