“I mean it,” I say, cupping his face in my hands. “You have no idea how much.”

Alex leans into my touch again, rubbing himself against me suggestively and smirking. “I think I’m starting to get the picture.”

I lift my eyebrow in question.

“I want you, Rowan,” he says quietly, grinding his hips against mine. “Please.”

He is too beautiful to resist. “Bed.Now.”

Seeing Alexander Kimura naked is a pleasure that should be afforded to anyone who enjoys looking at beautiful men, but luckily for me, it’s not because he’s all mine. He gazes up at me, eyes heavy with lust, and my dick twitches in my jeans, begging to be let out.

I want to take my time with him, want to see his body writhe as I fuck him. He slides off the bed and sinks to his knees, looking up at me with those caramel-coloured eyes, and I think I’m dizzy from the sight of him. If only beauty could be bottled.

“I want to taste you,” he murmurs, reaching to undo my button.

“Please, go ahead,” I tell him.

He slides the zip down, his hand painfully slow as he reaches to grab my cock. It springs out, already hard just from seeing him naked. “We have a lot of catching up to do,” he says, eyes still trained on me. He makes a show of licking his palm and begins to stroke me gently.

“Oh, fuck yes we do,” I murmur, my head falling back as he finally wraps those beautiful lips around the head of my cock and sinks down to the hilt. A strained groan leaves my mouth, my hand travelling to settle in his hair as he slowly pulls back.

“Jesus, Alex,” I murmur.

And somehow Haze, Kane, The Keepers all slip away and all I can see is him. He moves slow and deliberate, wrapping his hand around the base and pushing back and forth, way too skilled, it almost pisses me off.

I feel too impatient; I need to be inside him—to ruin him and make sure anyone before me never crosses his mind again. I pull him up and push him onto the bed. He looks up at me through lust-heavy eyes.

“You don’t want my mouth?” he pouts.

“I want something else more.” I lean over him, caging him with my arms.

He smiles and my lips crash against his, my hands exploring every inch of him that they can reach. It’s nothing like the night we spent in the townhouse together. There is an added layer to this, a vulnerability and honesty I haven’t felt with anyone before, not even with him two years ago.

I kiss him, hard and desperate, my hands getting reacquainted with a bit of skin and following with my mouth and tongue. When I slide inside him, a cry escapes both our mouths, desperate and carnal. I move slowly, taking my time to feel and to hear, to experience every little thing I can about him. Every little thing I have missed.

He feels like heaven.

He might just be heaven.

“I’m never letting you go again,” I breathe, our sweaty forehead touching as I move inside him. “I think it’s important you know that now. You aren’t going anywhere unless it’s by my side.”

“I wouldn’t let you,” he whispers, his back arching, meeting my thrust with his raised hips. He meets my eyes and there is something so honest in them, like I could ask him anything and he would tell me, and the words spill out of my mouth easily.

“I love you, Alex. I should have said it back then. I love you so much, it’s terrifying.”

A quiet gasp escapes his mouth, his eyes glassy. “I love you too. Completely.” He pulls me down to his lips by my neck and kisses me desperately, pretty sounds escaping his mouth as I fuck him a little harder.

“You feel amazing,” I tell him and for a while, all there is around us is the sound of our breathing, the world melting away as I lose myself within him.

It’s past midnight and Alex is slotted in my arms like he belongs there. I’m teetering on the edge of sleep, and I feel a little drunk, but I don’t want to sleep yet. I want to stay in this moment, watching him, just in case he disappears.

He shifts in my arms to look at me, his expression serious. Shadows dance on his face from the lamp on the side table. “I still want to help,” he says. “With Haze.”

I almost groan. I’m floating on post-orgasm bliss and Haze is the last thing I want to talk about right now. “Can’t we just go back to cuddling?” I moan.

He shakes his head. “I’m serious. Haze is dangerous and if we can stop it, then why shouldn’t we? We might have different motivations for this, but bodies are piling up and this could get bad fast.”

Except maybe the person who is behind this.