Page 29 of Murder & Mayhem (Bloody Desires #9)

DOMINIC

J amie’s lips were soft and sweet against mine. If his plan was to short-circuit my brain so I stopped stressing, it had worked. I was on autopilot after that. Fingers threading into Jamie’s hair, I pushed him against the doorframe and crowded him.

His pupils dilated as he watched me with hungry eyes. I brushed my lips against his, licking across his bottom one. They parted, welcoming me in.

Before I lost control, I pulled away and looked Jamie right in the eyes.

“Remember what we talked about earlier, about safewords?”

“Yes . . .” His tone was breathy, kind of needy.

“Green, yellow, or red. Red stops everything. I will also listen to stop or no. Understood?”

“Y-yes.” The Daddy was unspoken, but I was glad he didn’t say it. We’d agreed to discuss that more after Bailey was found. This wasn’t the time. I only wanted us to relax and get out of our heads.

“Are you okay with continuing?”

Jamie frowned. “You mean kissing?”

“To start, yeah.”

He nodded like a bobblehead, looking so fucking sweet. “Yes. Green. So, so green.”

“Good boy.” I leaned in, kissing him hard and dominantly.

Jamie was so fucking compatible with me.

The way he automatically opened up and submitted to my kiss, perfection, but he wasn’t a doormat either.

He participated, made it clear he wasn’t only tolerating my touch, but that he wanted it as much as I did.

I already knew I’d never meet someone who kissed as well Jamie did.

Even his little moments of hesitation or awkwardness that came from nerves or inexperience were fucking perfect.

I was growing hard in my pants, and I needed to move this fully into the bedroom with the door closed and locked.

Gid would be gone for a while, but I wasn’t taking any fucking chances.

With my hands cupping Jamie’s face, I brought us both into the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us. One more kiss to hold me over, and then I made quick work of locking the door. Jamie hadn’t moved, and I immediately picked up where we’d left off.

He somehow ended up pushed against the dresser, his hands behind him, gripping the edge for purchase. I had his head tilted up as I completely and totally claimed him.

“Dominic,” Jamie whined, sounding needy as hell.

I pushed my thigh in between his spread ones.

If he was hard, I couldn’t tell yet, but it didn’t matter.

Not now. I did want to have a conversation with him about it eventually.

Was it medical or mental? But I didn’t need his dick as a barometer to tell me how much he wanted it.

His hands were everywhere, feeling every inch of me through my clothes. But I wanted more. More of everything.

I nipped at his lip. “Call me Nicky, beautiful.”

Jamie gasped, his tongue brushing over the place I’d just bitten.

“Really?”

“Really. You got your hooks in me, sweetheart, and I really want to hear that on your lips.”

Jamie blinked, then looked up at me through his thick lashes. “Nicky.”

It was so soft and so sweet and sounded so differently than the way I’d ever heard it from my brothers, thank fuck.

“Fuck, the things you do to me, beautiful.”

He smiled, a little mischief in his eyes. I loved watching him bounce from sweet and little, reserved and hesitant, to playful. I loved all the sides of Jameson Sullivan.

“Yeah?” he asked. “Give me some examples.”

I gave his hair a light tug, which caused an obscene moan that seemed louder than the moment warranted. I grabbed his wrist with my free hand and placed it right on my still-clothed junk.

“Feel that? That’s all for you. And it’s not just sexual. I’ve never been as drawn to anyone as I am you.”

“Can I?” Jamie asked, his voice hitching a little with nervousness.

“Yeah.” I didn’t even know what he wanted to do, but I didn’t care. He could do whatever he wanted.

His hand slid past the waistband of my pants. Of course I still wasn’t wearing underwear, so he immediately had his hand over my filling balls and then the shaft.

“I can’t get over how big you feel. Even in your pants.”

“You can explore as much as you want to, baby boy.”

Jamie swallowed, thinking .

“Can I take your pants off?”

“Absolutely.”

He went for the button, but I stopped him. He looked hurt, so I kissed him quickly to let him know I wanted him in all ways. But that was the problem.

“Before we get too far, I need to know if there’s anything you don’t want to do today. It’s okay if you think you want to do something and change your mind, but is there anything you’re sure is off the table?”

Jamie’s fingers twitched on the button of my jeans. “Um, sex? Is that okay?”

I used the grip I still had in his hair to tilt his head up and look in his eyes. “I need you to be more specific. Do you mean penetration?”

“Yeah. That.”

Jamie’s cheeks were red and he was fidgeting all over the place. The conversation was making him uncomfortable, but that was even more reason to have it.

“Okay, do you mean with our cocks or fingers too? No wrong answer here.”

“Both, I guess. I don’t like it. It doesn’t feel good.”

I tried not to jump to conclusions. Being a side was a thing. Some people just didn’t like anal, no trauma necessary, but still, I had to know.

“Have you ever tried on your own? Like, your fingers or toys? With lube?”

Jamie looked down but luckily didn’t move away. He was also still touching me.

“Yeah. A couple times. I’m probably damaged or something.

But it always hurts. Always. And I’ve watched porn, and there are these bottoms and they always fucking love it, but it’s bullshit because it only hurts.

And not the good kind that makes my brain shut up.

The bad kind. The kind I have nightmares about. ”

My body reacted before my brain. I wrapped my hands around the backs of Jamie’s thighs and picked him up. He reacted as automatically as I had, arms wrapping around my neck and legs squeezing my waist.

For a moment, we stood just like that. I held him tight, my face buried in his neck. He shook quietly, but I didn’t think he was fully crying. It was obvious Jamie wasn’t ready to go any further now. It was time to shift gears.

“Bed or bath, sweetheart?” I asked when my arms started to get tired.

He pulled back to look at me, confused. “Huh?”

“Cuddle in the bed or take a bath?”

He chewed on his lip. “Um, bed? I don’t like baths. Maybe I’ll take a shower later?”

“That’s fine.” I took us both to the bed and laid him in the middle.

I lightly pressed my hand on his stomach. “Can I take your clothes off? Not to do anything, but to be more comfortable?”

That got his attention, but I was surprised when he nodded. “Yes, please. But you too?”

I grinned. “I’ll undress too, as long as that’s what you still want.”

“I still want it. I like feeling your skin.” Jamie snorted, his face crinkling up adorably. “That sounded way creepier than I meant.” I ran my hands up and down his sides, under his hoodie, enjoying his shiver.

“Serial killer, remember? I’ve heard way creepier.”

“Why doesn’t that bother me? Shouldn’t that bother me?”

“You’ve been face-to-face with real monsters all your life. I think it makes it easier for you to see which ones are truly evil and which ones use that monster inside them to rid the world of that evil.”

He thought about that for a second, then I guessed he decided he was ready to get back to the mostly naked cuddling. He tugged at his hoodie and fixed me with a pointed glare.

My fingers curled around the bottom of it. “Can I take this off?” I asked again.

“Yes.” He rolled his eyes, but the hitch in his voice made me glad I’d asked.

“Brat,” I teased fondly before I pulled it over his head, leaving him in the oversized T-shirt underneath.

I made a mental note to get him new clothes.

I liked seeing him in mine, but he deserved his own things, and I had no idea when he’d be able to get back to his apartment.

Besides, based on what I’d seen him wearing, I had a feeling he didn’t have much.

“What about this?” I asked about the shirt.

“Yes. I need to feel you, Nicky.”

I took the shirt off. When it came to his jeans, I remembered he wasn’t wearing any underwear. “I can get you shorts.” But Jamie shook his head.

“Later maybe? When we go back out there. But as long as it’s okay that we just cuddle, I don’t want any clothes between us. I’m sorry. I know I’m sending mixed signals, and I wanna see your dick again, but?—”

I laid a finger over his lips, shutting him up. The glare he was giving me, I was glad he didn’t bite the thing off.

“No apologizing. There were no mixed signals. You made me no fucking promises, and even if you did, you have the right to change your mind. Always. Every damn time. It doesn’t matter if your partner is hard, or you’re naked, or you’re mid fucking blow job. It all stops on a dime.”

Jamie shifted away from me, burrowing himself in my comforter. “I really want to believe you.” He sounded miserable. That he was doubting me, that he was terrified I wouldn’t live up to my talk.

“I know, sweetheart. That’s okay if you don’t yet. I’ll keep proving it to you.”

My heart broke not only for him, but he reminded me so much of my brothers and me when we’d first run from our foster parents.

So, it also ached for the kids we’d been.

The struggles we’d gone through to get here, that Jamie was still going through.

Then, that pain turned to anger because how many kids had to be hurt before the world changed and the people who deserved to be protected were.

The desire was still there. I had gone partially soft now, but I still wanted Jamie.

Not to fuck him, not like the boys I had at the club.

I wanted to hold him, to take away his pain, to keep him safe in my arms and show him that the world didn’t always have to be cruel.

I wanted to show him love and security and everything he’d never had.