Page 204 of Innocent

It really would have. It’s not something I would have agreed with before, but now…yeah.

Absolutely.

He’s not done. “Losing youguttedme. I knew I could force Elliot to accept you, and to marry me, but it would have destroyed everything if I did. He had to come to it on his own. I didn’t want to force you to stay with me. After all the years of begging Elliot to be with me, I didn’t have the emotional energy to force a second person to stay. I didn’t realize that youneededme to force you. And, yes, I’m sorry I failed you there, too.”

His eyes look a little too bright, and he blinks. “You left, and yeah, I nearly blew everything up to follow you. I almost did. I felt angry and resentful at Elliot. A couple of weeks after you left, there was a thing, and we had a miscommunication, and I got pissed, and he begged me to come to him. Which, you know damn well he never did. So, I tried, Jor. Ireallytried.

“But over the months, I was so lonely. I hurt every damn day. Some days, I could barely force myself out of bed, I hurt so bad missing you. Plus, Iworriedabout you. Not just your safety, but I worried if you were okay, if you could pay your bills, if you were happy. If you’d met anyone.

“Some days, theonlything that got me out of bed was looking at the app and seeing you walked to work. And it got to where I looked at Elliot and I gotangry, because I wanted to blame him for all of my pain. When the truth was, Elliot was just being Elliot. I put hopes on him and us and all of this that were unfair to him.

“So, you’re right. I failed you, and I failed him, and I’m sorry, baby. I fucked up. Yeah, I stalked you. Yeah, I tracked you. But when I walked into the SitRoom and saw you standing there, I nearly climbed over the damntableto put my hands on you, I wassofucking relieved to see you there.”

He blinks back tears. “Baby, I wasterrifiedyou weredead. And, yeah, I’m fucking pissed at Kev for knowing and not saying anything. Except he didn’t know I was worried about you, so I guess that’s fair. I can’t imagine if he knew I wasthatscared that he wouldn’t have at least given me a hint he knew you were safe.

“So no, I’mnotmad at you, baby. Apparently, I can speak seven languages, and still manage to be a fucking dumbass in all of them. If you give me another chance, I promise I’ll do better. I promise I’ll fight like hell alongside you to get Elliot elected. Whatever it takes, I’ll do it.

“Yeah, I showed my ass the other day by following you to the restaurant and by coming over after you were home. Yes, I watched you two make love that night. I stood there, crying, because I went from feeling terrified you weredeadto watching the two men I love more than my own life being happy and healthy and loving each other. If I’d dropped dead in that moment, even not being able to touch the two of you again, I would have died happy. Because all I want is for the two of you to be happy.”

Wow. I’m…stunned.

Before I can react, he grabs me, slanting his lips over mine in a crushing kiss that steals my breath and nearly every brain cell in my head.

My cock’s instantly hard and throbbing, aching to feel Leo’s hand around it, or his mouth.

To feel Leo’s cock buried deep inside my ass.

Don’t get me wrong. Elliot’s no slouch, but you never forget your first, right?

My heart and soul—and body—still belong to Leo every bit as much as they did almost seven months ago, when I left DC.

That hasn’t changed, even though my relationships with Leo and Elliot have.

His hands slide down to my ass, cupping and squeezing, and I jump up and wrap my legs around his waist.

That makes him growl and turn, sitting on the sofa with me as his mouth devours mine.

Those sweet, sexy lips, the urgency in his kisses, the haggard rasp of his breathing—all of it.

I need it, andHim.

I needmySir.

“My only issue now,boy,” Sir rumbles against my lips, “is that I can’t think straight around you, and I can’t think about anythingbutyou. Especially when I know the two of you are together and I can’t be with you. Worst mistake of my life was letting you walk away, and then not dragging you back. I hated not being with you. I’ve never been so scared in my life as I was during those three weeks not knowing where you were, or if you were all right.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m with Elliot now, isn’t it?” I snark. “You’ll always know where I am. Hunky Secret Service dudes to keep us safe.”

Lightning fast, there’s a fist in my hair, wrenching my head back and making me cry out as he stares into my eyes.

I see the dark, hungry glow in his gaze.

Damn, I’ve really missed that.

He speaks through gritted teeth. “Just because you’re doing this for himdoesn’tmean you get to bemouthywithme,boy. There’s yet another punishment spanking I’ll add to the list.”

But part of me wants to do exactly that. To push him harder.

To see where the line is and how far he’ll let me go before Sir reels me back in.