Page 39 of Pretty ’n Peak

“I always thought that blindness was just… darkness. Like closing your eyes.”

“A lot of people think that. Among types of blindness, though, that’s pretty rare.”

“You didn’t seem to have any problems in the lounge last night. I guess that’s why I was surprised.”

“Yeah. Public spaces with really large furniture arranged in neat rows are my favorite. Out here, any rock or bump on the path could throw me, and I might not be able to tell the difference between the path and, say, the cliff.”

They walked quietly for a moment, except for Mateo’s simple warning when they turned down the switchback. The sun was warm on his skin, the perfect counterpoint to the crisp, cool air.

Finally, Mateo sighed. “I wish you could see all this. It’s just… God, it’s beautiful out here.”

Austin smiled. He couldn’t see it, but he could listen to Mateo’s delight all day. “Describe it to me.”

“OK, um… The river is sparkling down there. Truly sparkling, like fairies dancing across the top of it. And we’re walking along this winding path, so you can see all the layers—the inside of the earth and how it was made. Stone, dirt, tree roots, all piled up and so alive. It’s like you can watch nature happening.”

Austin’s smile grew. Mateo was a poet. Or a fanciful naturalist. He was charming.

“There’s a little pile of rocks up ahead, right at the next corner, that looks like an old man’s face. He’s scowling, I think. Maybe he doesn’t like us. Oh, turn here. Um, to the left. And then all along the path they’ve planted these azalea bushes. They’re bursting with color, almost like a cloud of pink, but each flower is perfect by itself. Could you see one if you got really close?”

“I probably could,” Austin agreed. He was more interested in listening to Mateo speak, though. His words hummed with life.

Mateo stopped abruptly, forcing Austin to bump into him. That might have annoyed him, but he was too captivated by Mateo’s enthusiasm. “Let’s stop and try it.”

“Alright.”

“Here,” Mateo guided him a few more steps. “You can sit on this rock, um… three steps forward. And then the azalea bush is to the right. Er, you could probably see that.”

“I did know where it was, but I didn’t know that I could sit on the rock. You’re doing pretty well with this.”

“Cool. I, um, wanted to get it right.”

Good boy, Austin thought, but he knew better than to say that. It was just that Mateo’s eager nervousness kept pushing all his buttons. All of his instincts were firing, telling him to step in as Mateo’s Dom and offer his approval.

Instead, he dropped down to the stony seat and leaned toward the plant. From maybe three inches away, he could make out the star-shaped outlines of the individual flowers, though they were still blurry. A darker center was probably the stamen and pistil. “It smells sweet,” he commented. Carefully, he ran one hand over the blooms, feeling their delicate softness.

“That’s how close you have to be?” Mateo asked.

“For something this detailed.”

“No wonder you didn’t know I had a beard. Um… would you like to see me up close? I mean… Maybe that’s weird.”

Austin found that he really, really would. He rarely got close enough to people to truly know what they looked like. He’d already regretted not taking the chance with Mateo last night, but he’d been more intent on holding him. “I’d like that. Thank you.”

Austin wasn’t sure what he expected to happen next, but it wasn’t for Mateo to drop to his knees on the path, face tilted up to him.

Ah, darling boy. Did he have any idea what he was doing? The pose brought to mind Mateo’s easy submission, his desire to please. Thoughts of dirty blowjobs on the path surged in. He could grip Mateo’s hair and flirt with discovery.

But getting to see him like this was just as much a gift.

Austin put a hand on his shoulder, then leaned in close. Their breath tangled together, and Mateo’s rich, sweet cologne wrapped around him.

He took his time savoring, exploring one section of Mateo’s face at a time.

Dark hair framed a high forehead. It was cut short, but was it messy or neat? Austin raised his hand to check. Messily styled, he discovered, with a hint of product in it. He bet it looked stunning.

And then two arched, dark brows over wide black eyes, scrunched like he smiled often. A straight, solid nose, and the roundest cheeks dusted with that beard at the bottom. A wispy line of a new mustache was drawn just above his full, dusky lips that parted over straight, white teeth.

Austin traced down Mateo’s cheek, enhancing his vision with the rough scratch of scruff and stroking the satiny curve of his cheekbone.