But before he can say anything, Yassim’s face is so close to his that the tips of their noses touch, and Jacob almost laughs from nervousness, but Yassim’s lips are already on his and instead he gasps and forgets everything Yassim said, forgets the garden, forgets his own story, what’s true and what he created.

There’s nothing but this, he thinks. Nothing else matters.

*

It’s not until Yassim pulls back that Jacob opens his eyes and sees how the light in the garden has changed, how everything around him is suddenly sharper. The night will soon be over, the dawn is creeping over the uncut grass, through the wild tangle of the treetops, and climbing up the pink walls of the abandoned palace. Jacob shivers and tries to smile while Yassim caresses his chest, inside his unbuttoned shirt.

‘You’re freezing,’ he says, pulling back his hands, fiddling with the buttons of Jacob’s shirt. ‘I don’t want you to get a cold.’

Jacob leans against him, puts his hand around his shoulder and his head tenderly against his neck just below his jaw. He kisses his skin lightly, nibbles and sucks.

‘So keep me warm,’ he whispers.

He lets his hand slide over Yassim’s T-shirt again, over his hard, flat stomach, down over his hip, towards his groin and cock. He feels Yassim’s breathing quicken and pulls him closer. Feels Yassim press against his hand, put his hand on top of Jacob’s then pull it away, just as he did several times already. But his desire is so fierce now, the chemistry so powerful that he instead pushes Jacob’s hand towards him and rubs himself against it.

‘Let me,’ Jacob whispers. ‘Let me feel you.’

He’s surprised by a kind of happiness. That he got him here, even though Yassim for some reason stopped him whenever he tried to do anything more than kiss or caress him. The power he feels now that Yassim can’t hold back is intoxicating, and Jacob moans deeply into his ear. And for a moment, he thinks Yassim might give in, but it’s as if Yassim steels himself and gains strength as he pushes Jacob’s hand away.

‘Not now,’ he whispers. ‘Not here.’

Frustration and disappointment sting inside Jacob. Well, why not? he wants to scream. We’re alone here, in a garden. You want this too!

But before he can, Yassim quiets him with a kiss.

‘Soon,’ he says. ‘But not now, not tonight.’

He kisses him again and finishes buttoning Jacob’s shirt, then pulls his lips away, scoots back, and stands up.

‘I’m sorry,’ Yassim says. ‘I didn’t mean to get you excited in this way. I didn’t think I’d…’ He falls silent and glances around at the outlines that are getting sharper around them.

‘You’d what?’ Jacob says, frustrated.