Eroda Sunshine

Kiss Me . . .

That night, Harry couldn't pry his eyes away from Louis as he moved about the hut, the moonlight and the silvery reflections of the waves highlighting his firm, superb body. Louis' slow, graceful movements had Harry completely enchanted.

Louis had removed his t-shirt, as it was warm tonight, and Harry felt like a lion, salivating over some delicious looking prey. He was a little ashamed of himself, but not enough to stop looking.

How could the man be rough, rugged, and yet strangely classy? He was a contradiction unlike anyone Harry had known. As he drifted across Harry's vision, Harry began to subconsciously chew on his lower lip.

The collections of small noises Louis made as he moved about caused a certain serenity to cloak Harry. He felt safe and protected with Louis. But the serenity wasn't sufficient to calm him enough. Something he could only guess was fondness kept him from dragging his eyes away, and something he guessed was desire made his eyes travel over Louis' form over and over. His mind though – it wasn't just his body. Harry was just as hungry for his mind, and knowing it inside and out.

He felt conflicted. He more than fancied Louis. Feeling safe and desperate at the same time preoccupied and confused him. Yes, desperate. Desperate for Louis.

Oh my God, I can hardly stand it. How am I gonna survive this? Keep my hands off him?

There was a quiet magnetism between them, and Harry wasn't at all sure Louis could feel it like he did. Hell, it was magnetism mixed in equal parts of longing, yearning. This obsession had to stop . . .

Through the open door, burnished light crept in from their fire, that crackling, contained flame turning Louis' skin into forge-lit bronze, making him appear even more robust and powerful, almost invincible in Harry's eyes. But he knew he was far from objective when it came to Louis.

The fire warmed the inside of the hut to the point of making Louis' chest glisten. Lust tugged at Harry again. At last, he could face it, admit to himself what it was. Lust had been there all along.

The fire was comforting, homey, and Harry would never touch on the idea of putting it out because Louis might put his shirt back on. Heaven forbid.

Unguarded as Louis was, he was caught unaware when he felt Harry's gaze on him. He turned oblivious eyes to the slightly younger man, their gazes connecting and holding. At once, Louis saw Harry biting his lower lip. By now he was very familiar with that gesture, and he shivered. Harry was the first to break the spell, and avert his eyes. Louis' gaze had practically scorched him all the way through.

Louis was at one with the fire, his skin flaming hot. At least Harry imagined so.

Louis was fire.

Harry had been so vulnerable in the moment, and he hadn't meant for Louis to see how exposed his feelings had been - how exposed he still was. He felt naked and unshielded, as if Louis could see his unsteadiness, his every weakness.

"What're you lookin' at?" Louis asked in that rough, gravelly voice of his. It was totally different from the way he would have responded only weeks ago. Less a demand, and more of a semi-gentle question. Did he even realize it? Harry doubted it.

"Admirin' you," Harry just threw it out there, accenting it by smirking slightly so Louis wouldn't know for sure if he was being sincere, or just kidding. He wasn't very good at it, but if you lived with Louis, you learned how to protect yourself however you could. You had to play at Louis' level. If Louis had been allowed to take his statement seriously, Harry feared he would scoff and respond as if it were a joke. So, in an effort to safeguard his heart, Harry had beaten him to it.