Page 29 of Bull's Boy

“What if?”

“What if I liked it. A lot.”

Her face scrunched up in thought. “Like you enjoyed doing something nice for him, or youenjoyeddoing it.”

It was his turn to make a face as he thought about that. “Maybe both? And…”

“What?” Her eyes widened again, like she was preparing herself for another bombshell.

“I liked how he, um, talked to me. During.”

Her lips parted. “Bull’s a dirty talker? I should have guessed! It’s always the quiet ones, isn’t it?”

His face was on fire, but he forced himself to power on. “What do I do?”

“What do you want to do? How did you leave things afterward? If you agreed it was just a onetime thing, I don’t know that you need to worry he’ll make it weird. Bull’s not the type.”

“Um.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You guys did talk about it, right?”

“Not so much.” He covered his face again as she sighed at him.

“Poor little confused straight boy,” she tsked.

He peeked through his fingers. “I don’t think I’m straight, Lia.”

Saying it out loud like that eased some of the pressure in his chest. He wasn’t sure how he hadn’t known his whole twenty-two years that he liked men too, but he could ponder that later. In that moment, it was freeing just to admit it to another person, the thing that had been circling his brain for hours.

He wasn’t straight.

Her face gentled into a half smile. “Me either. Which leaves one question.”

“Only one?”

“One, most important, question.”

“What’s that?” But he was pretty sure he knew what she was going to say. Guilt over how he’d done a disappearing act on Bull had been eating at him. He may not have had theexactsame thing happen to him before, but he’d been ghosted, ignored, lied to, and made to feel less than more times than he cared to remember.

Bull deserved better than that. They both did. And not just because of work.

Instead of asking if he was going to go and talk to Bull, she was the one to land a bombshell. “Do you have feelings for Bull?”

His belly swooped, heart picking up its pace. Feelings? No, of course not. He barely knew Bull. How could he have feelings for the man?

He opened his mouth to tell her that, to brush off all the warm and fuzzies he’d gotten when Bull had rescued him. And then invited him out to cheer him up. And then watched over him all night.

Called him gorgeous.

Told him how perfect he was.

Possessively touched and marked him.

“Oh, shit.”

He cleared his throat and wiped his palms on his thighs twice. He could totally do this. It was just a conversation. And an apology for running away. And maybe a suggestion they could do some other stuff?

If he was brave enough to suggest that. He wasn’t sure he was ready foreverything, but he really had enjoyed sucking Bull off. The way he’d taken control, guiding Malcolm’s head and telling him how well he was doing…