Fine Line

did you do that?” Jay looked at the glass that had turned opaque all of a sudden.
    “This place used to belong to a millionaire who had nothing better to do with his money than install this gadget. It’s actually a special sort of glass and so expensive it was never produced commercially. If one breaks I’ll actually have to buy curtains.”
    Jay smiled at him, eyes wide because of the near darkness of the room. “Any more surprises?”
    “No,” Mack answered truthfully, feeling nervous all of a sudden now the distractions were taken away and Jay was looking straight at him. “Do you want to see the bedroom?”
    “If you want,” Jay teased. “I hope we’ll end up there by the end of the evening, but the night is young, so to speak.”
    “Okay,” Mack agreed, feeling slightly disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm. He watched Jay come closer, though, and felt his heart quicken as the young man entered his personal space, aligning their bodies so he could kiss him softly.

    The Fine Line by Zahra Owens

28
    “I want to seduce you, make you go weak at the knees,” Jay whispered.
    The heat of Jay’s body so close to his and his desire to get more intimate with him made Mack light-headed. “You’ve already succeeded there, I can barely stay standing, but I want us to be equals, I want to seduce you too.”
    Jay moved beside him, wrapping his arms around Mack’s chest and placing his hands flat so he could pull himself closer to the older man.
    “We are equals, you and I.” He kissed him on the neck. “I’ve been hard since you put your hand on my knee at the restaurant, but I want us to take it slow. I want you to enjoy this and see how good it can be.” Mack tensed up. “Could you stop being the therapist for a moment?” He extricated himself from Jay’s grasp and made his way over to the kitchen, where he started making coffee.
    “I’m sorry,” Jay apologised after following Mack. “I just wanted to show you that despite the fact that I was terribly turned on, I still wanted it to be for you. I want us to make love eventually, when we’re both comfortable with each other. What I don’t want is us rushing into it head-over-heels and then finding it isn’t what we thought it would be.”
    “I don’t want it to be just for me, I want us together, you AND
    me...”
    “I wanted it to be perfect for your first time.” Mack sighed. “It’s never going to be perfect, Jay, I know that. They always say practice makes perfect and I look forward to a lot of practice.
    Now, do you want some coffee?”
    “I think I need some alcohol.”
    “I’m that daunting that you have to get drunk?” Mack turned around to get a glass out of a cupboard, not wanting to see Jay’s reaction to that last statement. It was meant to sound like a joke, but it didn’t quite turn out that way.

    The Fine Line by Zahra Owens

29
    Mack felt Jay’s hand on his shoulder again. “No, I don’t need to get drunk to seduce you. I’ve been waiting six months for this chance. I want to remember every single moment of it. I guess I’m just not very good at this seduction thing, so I turn to what I know best and become your therapist again.”
    Mack didn’t turn around. He just closed the cupboard again without taking the glass out. “All I want is for us to be open and honest with each other. I appreciate that you want to do what’s right for me, but I just want us to be together and take the time to explore. I want to be able to experience all the things I’ve missed and I want to experience them with you and I know some things won’t be perfect, but that doesn’t matter! Life isn’t perfect. I just feel like I’ve waited for a lover who will give me a chance to fail and then tell me ‘it doesn’t matter’ and ‘better luck next time’ without making a big deal out of it.” He felt a little silly talking to his cupboard door, but then he felt Jay’s hands reaching over his chest, the young man’s warm body snug against his back, and he closed his eyes.
    “I’m just afraid that what you feel is gratitude, not love,” Jay whispered.
    Mack placed his hands over Jay’s. “I’ll admit it crossed my mind.
    You told me before that you thought I was confusing need with love, but I don’t think so. I didn’t choose to fall in love with you, Jay, but the honest truth is that I did and even if you pull away now, I’ll still be in love with you.”
    “I’m not pulling away. Although if I wanted to I