Adam was human.
And Harry very much wasn’t.
Harry might hate it, but Seyn’s concerns were valid. His relationship with Adam had an expiration date. He wouldn’t be able to stay on Earth indefinitely. Sooner or later, he and Seyn would be found and deported.
His family would never let him stay with Adam even if the Ministry weren’t in the picture. His parents would never approve or accept his relationship with Adam. They would likely be horrified.
Adam was human, a member of a pre-TNIT civilization.
While Harry thought humans were interesting and really fascinating, he was well aware of the fact that people back home didn’t share his opinion. At best, pre-TNIT civilizations were looked down on. At worst, they were despised. Having an intimate relationship with a member of a pre-TNIT civilization was unheard of. In the eyes of society, such a relationship would be considered no better than modern humans would regard a relationship with a Neanderthal. As far as Harry knew, even before entering the Union of Planets and becoming subject to the Ministry’s laws, his planet had very few relations with pre-TNIT civilizations. Calluvians took pride in being one of the oldest civilizations in the galaxy and tended to look down on younger civilizations like Earth. Harry had always thought that such an attitude was in extremely poor taste, but he was aware that most people back home thought differently. His parents said he was naive. His sister said he was too idealistic. Ksar said he was too soft.
They would never understand or approve.
Swallowing, Harry moved closer to Adam, just a little.
Adam frowned in his sleep, his brows knitting together before his eyelids fluttered open.
“Haz?” he muttered, reaching for Harry. “C’mere.”
Harry rolled over until his face was against Adam’s bare shoulder. He was so relieved Adam didn’t seem to be angry with him anymore.
“What time is it?” Adam said, a hoarse layer of sleep still in his voice.
“Twenty minutes past one o’clock,” Harry replied, closing his eyes. He dragged his nose over the curve of Adam’s biceps, inhaling deeply. “I love your scent so much. I missed it. Nothing smells as good as you.”
Adam snorted. “I’m sure there’s something that smells better.”
Not to me.
Harry shook his head. There was something about Adam that made him feel so…primitive. When he was with Adam, he didn’t feel like a prince of an ancient civilization. He felt like a slave to his body and its impulses. He felt like shoving his face into Adam’s armpit and breathing in his masculine scent and sweat. Mine. My man. He felt like begging Adam to mark him up everywhere. He felt like Adam’s, in every possible way.
A crooked smile twisted Harry’s lips. “I want to smell of you so much I think I’d happily let you piss on me.” He was joking. Mostly.
Adam gave a strained laugh. “You can’t just say stuff like that.”
“Why not?” Harry said, kissing Adam’s shoulder softly.
“Because I’m just a red-blooded man,” Adam bit out. “And you’re engaged to someone but say you want to smell of me. Do you realize how it looks, Harry?”
“Pretty bad?” Harry said, rubbing his warm cheek against Adam’s shoulder. He did understand that from Adam’s point of view, Harry was engaged to someone, had a romantic relationship with someone, so it was wrong of him to want Adam. But it wasn’t like that. Harry wished he could explain it to Adam, but he didn’t know how. Adam wasn’t Samantha. He couldn’t tell Adam that it was an arranged marriage without Adam asking more uncomfortable questions—questions he couldn’t answer honestly.
“You probably think I’m a terrible person,” Harry said. He would think he was a terrible person if he were in Adam’s place and had the same limited information Adam did.
Adam heaved a sigh. “I just can’t reconcile things I know about you with things I see.”
“What do you see?”
Adam propped himself on an elbow, facing Harry.
They were so very close.
Harry wet his lips, his heart thudding hard against his rib cage. He put his hand on Adam’s chest. Adam’s heart was beating fast, too, his skin warm under Harry’s palm. Human body temperature was a little higher than that of Calluvians, and Adam always felt wonderfully warm. He felt even warmer now.
“I see…” Adam trailed off, his knuckles stroking Harry’s cheek, then down his neck.
Harry shivered, goosebumps running over his skin. He leaned into Adam’s touch, sucking a breath in when Adam’s hand moved down his chest. He moistened his lips and stared at Adam’s mouth hungrily, a now-familiar need stirring in his body. He wanted. He wanted to attack Adam’s mouth with his: kiss it, bite it, and lick into it. He wanted to yank Adam on top of him, spread his legs and beg Adam to make him feel good with his cock, like last time.