Page 25 of Murder & Mayhem (Bloody Desires #9)

His smile was a little sad and didn’t reach his eyes, which confused me.

I thought that was what he wanted. Eventually, the waitress came back with our drinks.

We ordered, me a Western omelet with a side of bacon and Jamie the small stacks of pancakes.

I wanted to demand he order more, the boy needed to eat, but that really wasn’t my fucking place.

It was getting harder and harder to remember that, especially when I caught Jamie shooting me shy glances over his plate through the entire meal .

We kept things light, not mentioning any of the shit we were dealing with.

Jamie asked about my real job in marketing, and I explained it to him.

He didn’t seem to have much of an interest in all the bullshit and dealing with clients, but when I mentioned the graphic design department, his face lit up.

Also, much to my surprise, Jamie flirted with me the whole time. At least, I thought that was what he was doing. Sometimes, he’d start acting coy and bantering, and then would suddenly freeze up. I went with the flow, unsure where any of this was going.

“All done, sweetheart?” I asked gently when Jamie stopped eating after only a quarter of his pancakes were finished. He was pushing it around on his plate but hadn’t taken a bite in a few minutes.

His head shot up like he was taken off guard, and then he glanced down sheepishly. “Y-yeah. I’m sorry I’m wasting so much. I’m not as hungry as I thought.” And we were back to standoffish Jamie.

I took his hand again. “Hey, look at me, Jamie.” I kept my tone gentle but laced with the quiet authority he seemed to respond to.

He only hesitated a second before looking up.

“You don’t have to apologize to me about not being hungry.

I understand how stressful this situation is, and you’re probably anxious to find your brother. ”

He shrugged and looked down again. I sighed but didn’t let go of his hand.

“How about this? Do you like bacon?” I nodded toward the side that I had only eaten half of.

Another shrug, then, “Yeah, I do.”

I smiled, even though he wasn’t looking at me, and squeezed his hand. “Can you eat two of the strips for me? Please? ”

That got him looking up at me curiously. “Why?”

“Because I’ll feel better knowing you have some protein in you,” I told him honestly, “Hero complex, remember? I like to take care of people.”

“That’s so fucking weird.” He wrinkled his nose, but his fingers flexed in my hand, holding it tighter.

“Humor me, please. You’ve barely eaten since we’ve been together.”

Jamie laughed, but there was no humor there. “Seriously? I ate more for dinner last night than I usually eat in an entire week.”

Yeah, I didn’t like that. I pushed the plate of bacon toward him. “More reason to eat it now.” I raised an eyebrow, hoping my expression brokered no argument.

His lips quirked. “Okay, Daddy.”

All the blood rushed from my brain and into another organ way lower.

One that had no business coming online now.

Okay, Daddy . He’d said it sarcastically and with no knowledge of what he’d been doing, but it didn’t matter.

Hearing those words out of Jamie’s pretty mouth triggered all kinds of things in me.

And then when he picked up a piece of the bacon and took a big, overdramatic bite out of it like the brat I knew he was underneath all the fear, yeah, I was a goner.

I tried to hide it, to get it together. Hell, I prided myself on masking my feelings. But something snapped inside me as he loudly chewed the meat and shoved the other half into his mouth with the palm of his hand.

Jamie froze midbite as he noticed the change in me. “What?” he asked around a mouthful.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I meant to say nothing, maybe encourage him to eat the other piece. The exact opposite came out of my mouth instead. “I really want to kiss that bratty mouth of yours. ”

Jamie nearly choked on said bacon, and I thought I was gonna have to do the fucking Heimlich for a terrifying second or two, but somehow he managed to swallow it.

I pushed the chocolate milk closer to him.

He drank about half of it in one gulp, and I had to worry about him choking all over again, but he was fine.

As soon as he put the glass aside, cheeks red and eyes a little bloodshot and wet, I began to apologize.

“I’m sorry. That was ina?—”

“Did you mean it?” he interrupted me.

“Mean what? That I wanted to kiss you?”

Jamie swallowed rapidly. His face was as red as the ketchup bottle on the table, but he managed to keep eye contact. There was none of the fear I usually saw in his eyes. Even most of that dull sadness that he seemed to wear like a blanket had evaporated.

“Y-yeah. The whole thing. You called me a brat, but it didn’t sound like a bad thing.”

Fuck. I quickly scanned the diner. No one seemed to be paying attention to us. I stood and pulled Jamie to his feet too. He went willingly, his pupils blown. I grasped his chin between my thumb and pointer, so that those pretty eyes were staring at mine and those pouty lips were just inches away.

“It’s not a bad thing, beautiful. I love brats, and seeing that side come out of you is doing something to me.”

His eyes flashed downward. He couldn’t see anything, but I still grinned, confirming his suspicions. “Yeah, like that.”

Jamie licked his lips. “Kiss me, Dominic.”

My hand slipped off his chin as I analyzed everything about Jamie. His lips quivered slightly, but he never looked away. His voice was steady, so were his hands. He wanted this.

“You’re not just saying this because you think you owe me?” I had to be sure.

Jamie shook his head once. “You told me I needed to come to you the first time and be the one to tell you what I wanted. Well, I am. Kiss me, Dominic. Show me how much you like this bratty side of me.”

Well, fuck me. “C’mon.” I took Jamie’s hand and dragged him away from the table. Thankfully, they had one of those single bathrooms. I gently pushed him inside and followed, locking the door behind us.

I turned around, and Jamie was there on his tiptoes, hands lightly resting on my face. He leaned forward but didn’t take that final step. I stayed stock still, waiting. The only sounds in the room were our heartbeats and the quiet oldies station that was filtering in through the closed door.

“Take what you want, beautiful,” I whispered, hoping he felt the sincerity in my words.

Jamie closed the distance, and his lips were pressed against mine.

I didn’t move, but neither did Jamie. He was frozen, locked in the innocent graze. I pulled away slightly and threaded my fingers through his hair. “Do you want me to take over?”

The relief was evident. “Please.”

“Say the word and everything stops,” I reminded him. I didn’t move, holding us both in place until Jamie whispered, “I know.” Then I pushed him against the wall and attacked his mouth.

Jamie gasped slightly and then yielded completely, his lips parting willingly, practically begging me to take.

And I did. I took and I took. My tongue pushed in between his lips, and Jamie sucked on it tentatively at first, but a little more aggressively once he realized I wasn’t going to push him away.

“Fuck, baby,” I whispered, both of us panting for breath.

I pushed against him, our bodies pressed together without a centimeter of space between us.

I was worried that being nearly pinned by a bigger man would send Jamie into a panic, but his fingers curled in the fabric of my shirt and he pulled me closer.

His leg slid in between mine, a huffy breath escaping him as he felt my erection pressing against my pants.

One of his hands slowly untangled from my back, and at first, I figured he was trying to make some space, but instead he placed his shaky palm on my lower abdomen. I looked down at it and then gave him an encouraging smile.

“C-can I touch it?” he asked, sounding innocent and breathy.

“Go ahead, sweetheart. You can touch wherever you want.” I took a slight step backward to give him some space to explore.

With deep concentration, Jamie’s hand moved until he was resting over my bulge, still on top of my slacks. He pushed a bit, getting enough pressure to really feel what was going on there.

“I saw you . . . it . . . when you were wearing those sweats. You weren’t wearing underwear.”

I grinned and leaned down, my lips brushing against his nose. “Guess what, beautiful? I’m not now either.”

“Fuck,” he whispered, reverent.

“Can I see?”

Um, hell yes. Please and thank you. But still, that voice in the back of mind that was convinced that this was happening only because Jamie didn’t know how to say no. So, I felt obligated to double-check.

“Always. But only if it’s what you really want.”

Jamie tore his eyes away from my cock and snapped them to my face.

I could see how much of a struggle that was for him, but he managed because this was important.

“I want. I really, really want. I’ve wanted to see your dick since the second I saw it in those pants.

I need to know if it’s really as big as it looks or if those gray pants are an illusion. ”

I nipped at his lip. “There’s my brat. And for your information, it’s even bigger.”

He raised an eyebrow doubtfully. “That, I’ll definitely need to see for myself.”