Heat for sale

“You must be hungry to eat that up so fast.” Heath tugged Adrien to his feet. “Let’s go inside. Over di

Adrien let himself be led inside, his balls buzzing with recent release and his body singing joyfully. He didn’t know what the future would bring, but this time-out from life was beautiful, and being with Heath only made it better.

He didn’t want anything to disturb it.

Chapter Sixteen

IT WAS HARD to believe that just under four months ago, Adrien hadn’t even been in Ron Finch’s office yet. His life had been so normal then. He’d woken up every morning, showered, eaten breakfast in the dorm, and gone to his classes. He’d been consumed by the questions of Hontu design, fascinated by the details of his studies. He’d hung on the lectures of his professors like his father had hung on the words of the preacher. Like they spoke the word of God.

Now, rubbing his gradually expanding stomach, he had a hard time understanding what had seemed so important in all that academia, what had held his attention so tenaciously. This new life, his changing body, and his slow-growing relationship with Heath seemed much more compelling. The i

His current life was far from dynamic. It was, if anything, even more steady and easygoing than the way he’d lived before. There was no pressure to be anywhere or do anything other than what pleased him. The academic world seemed fuzzy and almost silly in the scheme of the beautiful, endless mystery of generating new life.

None of the science he’d studied could fully explain the animalistic urges inside him to bond with Heath, to fuck and suck, or explain his sense of the growing child’s nature, already so different from his own. Life was slow and sensual now, but there was something new every day—in his body, in his small world of the nest Heath had built for this purpose.

The blossoms of the roses, the caterpillars, the butterflies, and the bluebird feather found on the bench in the gazebo kept him company while he sat naked most afternoons feeling the cooling breeze against his hot skin.

His baby was moving inside of him now, shifting languidly from one side to another, and he loved the flutter and kicks. They made him feel simultaneously tiny and infinite, tied to the universe yet just a speck of it. He

sometimes got a glimpse of the world from so far away that it was as though he were in the stars, and what he saw was the same across species: life striving for life. It was simple and stu

He was calm more often than not despite having not left the nest to even explore the castle. Heath had been right: the semen he swallowed or had deposited up his ass kept him sated and happy. It was almost like a drug, he supposed. But he couldn’t be bothered to really mind it.

Everything about his life now was sweet, and he couldn’t help but want it to last.

“Adrien,” Simon said, stepping out of the nest with his butler’s outfit askew. Heath had suggested he stop wearing it while taking care of Adrien, since they kept the nest so hot for Adrien’s comfort, but the old man was set in his ways and refused to completely let it go. He did unbutton and untuck his shirt, sometimes, to waft in some cooler air against his skin, and he carried a fan, too.

“Yes, Simon?”

“Di

Adrien’s ears perked up at the mention of Heath’s younger days. He’d wanted to know so much more about his alpha’s life before him, but Heath was tight-lipped about much of it, saying it didn’t matter anymore. The future, the baby, and what they shared right now was the most important thing, he claimed. He often reminded Adrien, too, of his own words about wanting to keep the nest peaceful for the pregnancy, claiming the past was an u

For the most part, Adrien understood. He didn’t want to spend a lot of time talking about his lost father, the years of loneliness on the farm, or retraining his brain from the religious doctrine he’d been spoon-fed since infancy, either. But there was so much more to Heath’s life, being older.

Adrien had more years ahead of him than behind, and hopefully Heath did, too, but surely there was some interesting history there?

Simon had turned to go back inside, but Adrien stopped him. “Stay,

Simon. Sit in here with me. There’s a nice breeze through the forest today, and the shade beneath the gazebo roof is almost chilly.”

“Are you cold? I’ll fetch you the silk robe—”

“No,” Adrien called out, patting the bench.

He did enjoy the silk robe Heath had brought for him, though he’d long ago stopped feeling shy about his nudity in front of Simon. Not after Simon had walked in on all ma

Still, he did sometimes slide the soft robe on when he was chilled, but today he enjoyed the breeze across his skin, raising his nipples and ruffling his hair.

It made him feel alive.

“Just sit with me.”

Simon crossed over to him, bypassing some of Adrien’s favorite roses, red blowsy ones with a scent that made him moan, and took up a place in the shade across from Adrien. He fa

“Do you want to stay for di

“That is a kind offer,” Simon said, rubbing his jowl and smiling kindly.

“You’re a sweet man. I’m afraid I have other obligations in the evenings, however.”

He’d never wondered much before about Simon’s afterhours, where he went, or what he did, but suddenly he was curious about them. Did he eat alone at night or with the other servants of the big castle, always invisible since the first day? Or did he even live in the big place? Maybe he had a house on the estate somewhere or in the city. Perhaps a lover or a spouse. No children, though. As a beta, he couldn’t have any.

“Do you have someone waiting for you?”

“You could say that,” Simon said elusively. “Heath won’t be very late.

You could watch a movie, maybe. I noticed that you’ve barely touched the entertainment console in your room.”

Adrien shrugged. He liked to live in his dreamy, quiet contentedness

during the day, and at night Heath took far too much attention, what with his hard cock and strong arms and rapid-fire fucking. He felt his face flush at the memory and crossed his legs to hide his cock’s reaction. “I might. Or I could read some more.” He returned to his original reason to call Simon over.

“Or…I was wondering…does Heath have any old photo albums? From his youth or teen years, that is? Not recent digital pictures. Older than that.” He smiled. “I’ve been curious lately what the baby might look like.” It seemed a good enough excuse to want to see and didn’t sound as pathetic as admitting that Heath barely told him anything about his history.

“He does, yes,” Simon said. “Would you like me to get them for you?”

“Do you think Heath would mind?” That was a risky question, he knew, the one that might get this opportunity to explore even a little of Heath’s past revoked, but he wouldn’t have felt right not asking it.

“He might,” Simon said with a thoughtful expression. “But he hasn’t forbidden it. In fact, I’ve been instructed to give you anything you ask for.”

“Oh.” He sat in silence, Simon’s eyes on him intensely. Finally, he said,

“Will he be angry if I look at them?”

“Have you ever seen Heath angry?”

Adrien thought back to when he’d first met Heath, being ordered to show his hole, kneeling in the dirt to suck his cock, and then being fucked in the entry of the heat cabin as he felt the first real swells of the heat. He’d been hard, rough, perfunctory, but never angry. Never cruel or outright mean.

“No,” he said softly.

“It’s a rare event, but it does happen. I can’t tell you how he’d feel about you looking at the photos or what his reaction will be, but I can say that if you ask for them, I’ll bring them to you before I leave for the night.” Simon fa

“I’d like to look at the photos, please.” What harm could it do? He couldn’t imagine there would be anything in a family photo album that would be embarrassing or shameful. And if there was, then Adrien would just have to find the box of his things from his dorm where he’d shoved the photo albums he’d salvaged from his father’s house after his death. There were a good number of silly photos of him as a kid in there. Tit for tat.

“I’ll have the albums to you by nightfall. I’ll send Jonas with them.”

“Jonas?” Adrien said, uncrossing his legs and enjoying the wind fluttering

through his hair.

“He’s a young servant here. An alpha, actually. Heath is going to train him up to work in the business, but for now he keeps the files in Heath’s office.”

“Oh, Heath has an office…” Adrien trailed off. “I assumed his office was in the city.”

“He works from home most of the time.”

All day long while Adrien lolled about in the nest and the garden, Heath was on the same property? Somehow, he felt snubbed that he didn’t know this information before now. “Oh. What does he do in his office here?”