They strolled in silence down a path until they reached a shadowy spot beyond a gazebo. To Gideon's surprise, Gareth dropped his own cheroot to the ground before snatching Gideon's as well. Instinctively, Gideon crushed the burning embers beneath his boot. "What are you doing, Gareth?"

"This." Gareth pulled him deeper into the shadows and crowded him against the back of the gazebo. Gideon retreated until he could go no further, and ended up with Gareth's slight frame plastered across his front. In this position, he could feel Gareth's arousal and interest even as his own body leaped to awareness.

Gareth's murmur of approval came just before he pulled Gideon down and their lips met in a kiss. Gideon shivered a little, but not from cold. Gareth's hands were sliding around his neck, teasing the ends of his short cut hair, holding him in place. To his shame, he didn't pull away. He didn't want to. He'd missed Gareth, the nimble caress of his slim fingers, the sweet heat of his kisses in the last year.

Instead of pushing the other man away, or knocking him on his presumptuous ass as any other man would have done, Gideon pulled him closer, molded Gareth's slender form to his bulkier frame. Holding Gareth felt so right and comfortable he just savored that for a moment, and then slid his tongue along the seam of Gareth's mouth, taking the kiss to a new level. Gareth parted his lips immediately, ceding control to Gideon now that he'd gotten what he wanted.

Gideon sank his tongue into the wet heat, rediscovering places he'd experienced last as an inexperienced youth. He teased the tender inside of Gareth's lip, glided over the pearly white teeth and found Gareth's tongue. Gareth wriggled aginst him, and Gideon groaned softly into his mouth. He remembered more than kisses, and his body ached to relive those memories as well. He clutched Gareth to himself, curving his hands around taut buttocks sheathed in buff satin. Gareth gasped into his mouth, their cocks rubbed together, and Gideon's whole body tightened with need.

They couldn't indulge in the wild activities they'd engaged in as young men; this kiss was all that they could have, and Gideon determined to make the kiss something that Gareth would remember. Their tongues dueled in passionate caresses. He lost himself fin the taste and texture of Gareth's mouth, as memory mingled with sensation.

Gareth's whimper brought him back to his senses, andnone too soon. As the rush of noise in his ears faded he heard voices in thedistance and knew they weren't alone in the garden any longer.