Ryland licked his bottom lip and bit it against his next smile, but it stretched out anyway. A snowbank just shy of his chest.<br/><br/>"Most impressive," Ryland intoned gravely. And then, far more lightly, "I have jumped from a roof into a snowbank taller than you." He shivered, a feigned gesture but also in memory. "How very cold it was."<br/><br/><i>Perhaps you should be more attentive?</i><br/><br/>"I assure you," Ryland said, resisting a cry of triumph as Kethaias shed each piece of clothing and staring at him, greedily, instead, "I am paying very close attention."<br/><br/>He'd seen the shape of Kethaias from the pull of his clothes, felt it under his hands when they were dancing, kissing in the carriage, during the scuffle on the couch. Now the sleek muscle was bared to him, every scar. Ryland ached, his hands quiet on the flat at either side of him, and waited.<br/><br/>Kethaias took up his hand and put it to his cheek, then slid it down--as though reading Ryland's mind--to his chest. Ryland knew exactly how pleased and eager he probably looked, and he threw up a short prayer that Kethaias wasn't going to back out of this. Or at least not as spectacularly as he had before.<br/><br/>"Very cold," Ryland said. His voice had gone a little husky, solemn. "You had better come let me warm you."<br/><br/>He didn't wait for the invitation this time, because wasn't this one? It was blatant, it had to be. He turned his body into Kethaias, which brought him face to face with him and just shy of tucking under his chin. He could feel the heat of the brazier on his calves and sent a quick spell down to cool it before one of them burned himself on it. Then he bent his head and pressed a kiss to Kethaias' collarbone. His hand strayed lower, smoothing over Kethaias' waist to the strong cord of his back. Ryland kissed his way a little further down, turned, closed his mouth over a bare nipple, and pressed his tongue to it before he gave a long, gentle suck.<br/><br/>He'd been flushed to full hardness since Kethaias had taken his wrist to put his hand on him, wanting. He'd been teased for so long, and yet he couldn't quite regret the build-up.<br/><br/>When he trailed kisses back up to catch Kethaias' gaze with his own, he laid his cheek on his shoulder. "Warmer?" he said. It was both an inquiry and an offer. "Need I be more attentive, or more entertaining?"