...After going to the makeshift metal sink, Adam turned on the tap and was rewarded with a steady stream of water. Last time he was here, he’d filled a glass and checked it for clarity and taste. He’d suffered no ill effects, so he was prepared to risk it a second time. “Want a glass of water?”

Domenic shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. “I’d rather have something warm, like a coffee or hot chocolate.”

Adam tossed him one of the blankets, and turned back to pick up the other for himself. “If I we had some logs and a lighter, I’d cross my fingers the chimney is in working condition and start a fire. But we don’t, so we’ll have to make do with these.”

“How about a little body heat instead?”

Domenic’s hands slipped around Adam’s waist from behind, pulling him against his hard body. Adam’s first reaction was simply to freeze. Instead, he closed his eyes and kept perfectly still, almost afraid to breathe. Domenic, however, did nothing more than just hold him and, after a moment or two, Adam started to relax.

How long they stood there like that, Adam didn’t know. He felt warm and secure, content to spend forever inside a magical moment that had never before existed beyond the bounds of his imagination. When he finally opened his eyes, the room was in virtual darkness. All he could hear was the soft tenor of Domenic’s breathing. All he could feel or think about was the heat of Domenic’s body. And all he could see beyond the cottage was a world full of whirling, white snowflakes.

He wanted so much to say or do something to let Domenic know this was what he wanted, that this was what he’d been waiting a lifetime to experience, but he remained where he was, silent and unmoving, reluctant to do anything for fear of breaking the spell. But then Domenic took the initiative, turning him around until they were face to face, and he felt the soft touch of the other man’s lips against his.

He could smell Domenic’s own special scent—a mixture of toothpaste, coffee, the fabric softener from his clothing, male sweat and sex. Scents that managed to combine and blot out the unused, musty aroma of the abandoned cottage and its decrepit furnishings; scents that transported him to another world while indelibly imprinting themselves in the furthermost corners of his mind. This was who he was. And this was the first step on a journey he’d been so afraid of taking until now.

The tip of Domenic’s tongue found its way between Adam’s slightly parted lips, and he welcomed the intrusion, opening his mouth to experience what he’d only read and dreamed about in the privacy of his room. Adam knew this first kiss was supposed to be something special, and it was all that and more. He’d been aware of Domenic from the first time they’d met, except what he’d felt back then wasn’t even lukewarm to what he was feeling now. From the instant Domenic touched him and his whisker-rough cheek brushed against the sensitive skin of his neck, those initial feelings had intensified tenfold, rushing through his body like a fast-acting drug. Now, as their tongues tangled and the evidence of Domenic’s arousal pressed hard against his own, Adam’s body was on fire with needs that turned his blood to flames and his thoughts to a raging inferno of questions only Domenic could answer.

Domenic opened Adam’s jacket, unbuttoned the waistband of his jeans, and slid down the zipper as far as it would go. Adam held his breath. Tugging both Adam’s jeans and underpants down to his knees, Domenic wrapped a hand around Adam’s cock and began to tease the tip with the pad of his thumb.

Then, before Adam could even guess what the other man had in mind, Domenic knelt on the filthy floor, slipped a condom over Adam’s dick and took him into his mouth. Adam had never experienced anything quite so exquisite in his whole life. Just the thought of Domenic’s soft, velvety mouth sucking him like this made him want to orgasm. To actually have it happen and luxuriate in the feeling firsthand was like a tiny slice of heaven. Determined to hold onto the moment for as long as possible, Adam closed his eyes, sucked in a deep breath and threaded his fingers through Domenic’s hair.