2023 Top Ten Gay Romance

The Wedding by T.J. Blackley-5

Roger moaned and clutched at him, kissing him harder. Encouraged, and still high on the joy of finally having this man as his spouse, Edward licked again at the seam of his lips, encouraging them open.

Roger groaned again as Edward’s tongue touched his own, and the sound went straight to Edward’s groin, weakening his knees as it traveled down his body from their lips. Roger cupped his hand around the back of Edward’s head, scratching lightly at his scalp, and when the kiss ended, murmured, “I want you.”

Edward let out a harsh breath, fighting down the urge to say damn the ball and never leave this room. But he would never hear the end of it from Vincent, if he gave in. “A few more hours,” he murmured back regretfully, stroking his fingertips against Roger’s cheek.

Roger kissed him again, and stepped closer, pressing his body fully against Edward’s. This had the consequence of making both aware of the slight growth in Edward’s trousers that was the result of their kisses.

Edward froze, but Roger, to his surprise, looked almost delighted. “May I?” he murmured. Edward didn’t have the slightest idea what he might be asking permission for, but he was not in a position or of an inclination to deny Roger anything, and so he nodded.

His surprise mounted when Roger stole a hand between their bodies, leaning away slightly to make room. The backs of his fingers brushed lightly over Edward’s bulge, and then he turned his hand and cupped it fully, with the barest hint of a squeeze in his grip.

“Oh,” Edward exhaled in a punched breath. For a moment he was not sure if he was more aroused or more surprised.

Roger, when he could focus again, was smiling at him. “You look as though you’ve just had a realization,” he said, sounding amused. His hand was still cupping Edward’s erection.

Edward had had a realization. He had dreamed of kissing Roger for years, and when Roger had asked for his hand, he had vaguely thought there would likely be a consummation of their marriage, but…“I think, until this moment, I did not realize that you had, and have had…” He trailed off.

Roger raised an eyebrow. “Had what?”

“Lusts,” Edward admitted.

Roger’s smile shifted into a grin and he brought his free hand to touch Edward’s face. “Did you think me an innocent?” he murmured. His kiss to Edward’s mouth was anything but; he trapped Edward’s lower lip between his teeth and drew it out. “Pure as the driven snow?”

“More fool me,” Edward said hoarsely, as Roger’s fingers flexed around his rapidly-increasing c**k.

Roger, blessedly, removed his hand to throw both arms around Edward’s neck for yet another kiss. “Oh, my love,” he breathed. “The nights I’ve spent with my hand around myself, imagining it was yours.” A groan ripped its way out of Edward’s throat and he seized Roger’s mouth again, his tongue no longer tentative and gentle in its pursuit of Roger’s. Roger kissed back, inexperienced still but hungry. When they parted again Roger went on, “I’d have put my fingers inside myself too, if I’d figured out how to make it pleasurable instead of painful. Oh, Edward, I dreamed of you so often.”

“I’ll teach you,” Edward promised. His voice was still raspy with lust. “I’ll teach you everything that feels good, my darling.”

Roger bit his lip. “My father asked, last night, if I’d managed to glean anything about what happens on a wedding night between two men, or if I wanted him to tell me,” he said. His eyes were dark and glowing, bright and full of love and lust. “I told him I had some idea, but as for the rest, I wanted you to be the one to teach me.”

“I’ll teach you,” Edward said again, gentler. He ran his fingers through Roger’s hair, doing his best not to muss it. “I’ll teach you everything, I promise.”

Roger bumped his forehead against Edward’s. The mood had changed from dangerous heat to sweetness, and Edward took a moment to drink it in.

“Turn around,” Roger finally said, a soft smile on his face. “I will not be able to keep my hands off you if we watch each other change.”

Edward nodded. “We’ll save something for tonight.” Roger favored him with a loving look before stepping away to tug at his collar and turn his back to Edward.

They managed only to be a few minutes behind Vincent and Uncle Joseph at the front door. Vincent threw Edward a look that said that he had many suspicions about the causes of their delay; Edward just raised an eyebrow at him until he grinned.

Dancing with Roger, on the afternoon of their wedding, was a transcendent experience. They had danced before, but only ever as friends, neither of them taking it seriously—or, in retrospect, they pretending not to take it seriously, so as not to betray their feelings to the other. But today, Edward could sweep Roger into his arms whenever he liked, and both knew exactly what it meant, as did the crowd of their friends, acquaintances, and loved ones. Each step, each twirl and spin and promenade, was a sign of their love for each other, and even when they danced with others, their eyes were never far from each other.

The dancing lasted well into the evening, but it could not last forever, and, knowing what was to come when they made it to their wedding bed, Edward could not bring himself to want it to last forever. He and Roger saw everyone off, ending with Vincent and Eiji, and then finally, finally, Edward handed Roger into their carriage and took him home, for them to finally be alone, without deadline.

Roger’s hand crept into his during the ride. Edward pressed his thumb to the pulse in Roger’s wrist, feeling it jump at his touch and then settle, still elevated from their dancing and his anticipation, but steady and strong.

It had been hours since they had eaten anything more substantial than a canapé, and the servants had laid out a cold spread for them. Edward made himself eat at a reasonable pace, but he could see his own impatience mirrored in Roger’s eyes as he did the same.

Finally, Edward could take it no more, and as soon as they had eaten enough that they likely would not faint, at least, he and Roger pulled each other out of their seats and up the stairs to their bedroom.

Roger shut the door behind them, pressed his forehead to it briefly, and turned to Edward, saying, “At last.” Edward opened his arms to him, and Roger stepped into them and caught his mouth in a kiss that tasted of wine and chicken and joy.

“Are you tired?” Edward murmured, when Roger’s lips finally fell from his. “We can go to sleep.”

Roger shook his head, his arms tightening around Edward’s. “No,” he said firmly. “I’ve waited for you long enough. Unless you are tired?” he added, looking concerned.

Edward laughed and shook his head. “Not remotely,” he said.

Their kiss this time was deeper, and more intense; once again Edward introduced his tongue into Roger’s mouth, and tasted Roger’s whimper as he swept it along the roof of Roger’s mouth.

They ended the kiss with both of their eyes closed, and Edward whispered, “May I see you?”

He felt Roger’s nod against him, and opened his eyes to see Roger blinking at him heavily. “Only if I may see you as well,” his husband murmured, and Edward felt his whole body go hot.

They stepped away from each other, each of their hands going to their own clothing. Edward had bared himself before many a lover in his time, and had thought himself immune to embarrassment, but as he undid the final buttons of his shirt and shrugged it from his shoulders, he felt himself heat under Roger’s open, devouring gaze.

He lost his nerves almost immediately, however, for Roger followed suit by dropping his own shirt to the ground, and Edward saw his first glance of the chest he had so often dreamed about. Roger was well-formed, not overly muscled but neither overly thin, his skin a healthy pink with a fine forest of hair on his chest, the same walnut brown as the hair on his head. There was another trail of it leading down his stomach into his trousers, which he was rapidly undoing under Edward’s gaze. Edward hastened to follow, fumbling with his flies in his excitement.

Edward kept his eyes on his own legs until he was completely bare, and only then let himself look up at Roger. Roger’s legs were of the same build as his chest and arms, but oh, his c**k—it was sizable, and already half-hard, a darker pink than his chest, and Edward wanted nothing more than to take it into his mouth and suck him dry.

He dragged his gaze up to Roger’s face to see Roger staring at him in much the same manner, mouth agape. Edward stepped forward and Roger startled, his eyes flying up to Edward’s face as he stepped forward to meet him. They met in a crash, Edward’s hands cupping Roger’s face to drag him into a kiss that left all their previous ones in the dust. Roger’s hands found his bare shoulders, and after a few long moments of kissing, one of them slipped low, sliding along the curve of his lower back until it rested on the swell of his ass.

Edward broke the kiss at that point; if he hadn’t, he would have had Roger there on the floor, and his husband deserved better than that for his first time. For their first time.

He took Roger by the hand and drew him to the bed, drawing his knees up to sit atop them as Roger arranged himself on the duvet. “You mentioned you had some idea of what happens now,” Edward said, trying desperately to keep his voice steady and reasonable. “What would you like to happen between us tonight?”

Roger looked at him so adoringly that Edward could tell he knew his struggle. “Tell me my options,” Roger said softly, taking Edward’s hand in his own. “I want to make an informed decision.”

Edward swallowed, his mind instantly presenting him with a visual catalog of all the things they could do together. “You could take me,” he began, “or I could take you.” Roger’s cheeks grew darker, and Edward forced himself to go on rather than throw himself at the man. “We could use our mouths, or our hands, or our thighs,” he said. “Or combine them; we need not do the same exact things to each other, after all. I could be on top, or you, or we could be on our sides, chest-to-back or facing each other. There are,” he swallowed again, “options open to us. Almost a whole world.”

Roger’s cheeks had never recovered their paler shade, remaining a dark pink. “All of those sound…enticing,” he said, and Edward was gratified to hear that his voice was as hoarse as Edward’s throat felt. He looked down, biting his lip, and then, with an effort of will that made Edward’s heart throb with love and admiration, forced his gaze up to meet Edward’s. “When I dreamed of this night,” he said, “it was of you taking me. I want that, if it is not too basic an idea.”