Page 40 of Pretty ’n Peak

“You’re handsome,” he remarked, not meaning it to come out with such surprise. It was only that Mateo had made himself sound rather unattractive. Austin couldn’t make much of a comparison, but he was pretty sure that wasn’t true.

“I’m plain. And chubby.”

Austin pressed a thumb to his lips. “You’re cute. Big and beefy is definitely hot. You’ve just got a lot to cuddle.”

God, now he was being the poetic one. Well, not poetic like Mateo was, but he couldn’t seem to rein in his tongue around the boy. It was just… he wanted Mateo to know that he was attractive, exactly as he was.

“Even as a sub?” Mateo asked, his lips caressing the pad of Austin’s thumb with each word.

“Especially as a sub.”

“Huh.”

The moment hung between them. Austin knew that he could lean in and kiss the boy right now. Capture his mouth and feel that scruff against his own clean-shaven chin. Thrust his tongue between those sweet lips and have Mateo whimpering at his feet.

What would it hurt? he asked himself. A weekend fling? Attraction that he hadn’t felt in ages?

Only… only… Somehow it would be so much worse if he disappointed Mateo.

His own disappointment, he knew, would be crushing.

But if he couldn’t keep being the Dom Mateo needed…

Austin pressed a kiss to the boy’s forehead, one hand cradling his neck. He held him in the pose far longer than he should, soaking in an extra moment of his sun-warmed skin.

“Thank you,” he exhaled. For showing him the flowers. For kneeling down so perfectly and offering… himself.

Or at least it felt like that.

Maybe in a different time. Or if Austin were still a different person.

“You’re welcome,” Mateo echoed. He only rose to his feet when Austin reluctantly pulled back.

“Shall we continue?” Austin asked. “I assume the others have gotten far ahead.”

“Not that far. I can see them through the trees.”

Austin took Mateo’s arm again, trying to ease back from a moment that had struck him harder than he expected. “Would you describe the scenery again? You have a way with words.”

“I don’t know about that, but I like sharing it with you. Um… There are these trees, all along the trail. They’re just growing out of the side of the mountain, perfectly straight and reaching up to the sky like giants. Most of them have dark, rough bark, but a few of them have white bark that peels like paper. I always think of trees as mostly existing above the ground, but some of them have roots trailing down just as far the other way—like dresses for the giants, maybe. I wish I had my paints.”

“Your paints? Is that something you do?”

Mateo laughed. “I mean, it’s a hobby.”

“But you love it.”

He could feel Mateo shrug, the movement transmitted through his arm. “I enjoy it. It’s not anything special. But, uh, I’m going to be in a show.”

“Mateo! Really?” Austin gripped his arm tighter, wanting to pull him into a hug. “That’s fantastic!” As with everything with Mateo, Austin felt like it was his own chest bursting with pride.

“I mean, it’s just at the local library. Celebrating local Latinx artists or something like that. My sister made me apply.”

“Can people buy your paintings?”

“Uh, yeah, if they want to. I think there’s a bidding thing on the opening night, but then they stay up in the library for a month. I’m not sure anyone will want them.”

Sweet boy. It was possible they were truly terrible… but Austin didn’t think so. Mateo didn’t have a good sense of his own worth. “You might be surprised,” he said lightly. “Would you quit your job to paint, if you could?”