The sensation of James’ hand in his own is something of a surprise – it is not often that his lieutenant takes such daring initiatives, and though he hums his approval and gives a gentle squeeze, he finds himself at war. On one hand he wants to reward this in a grand fashion – on the other, he wants James to see this as normal – as perfectly acceptable to the point it was not worthy of note beyond the comfort that it brought between them.
In the end, he decided they could work their way to that – for now, James was so new to everything, that he deserved to have his initiatives rewarded. Miranda would doubtless have something to say about spoiling when he told her about it later, but for now his focus was all on James as he shifted his grip and brought their joined hands up, so that he might press a kiss to the back of the man’s hand to show his appreciation. Â
Ocean Archive 