Page 120 of Should Our Stars Collide

“So? She touched me first!”

“I don’t make the rules.”

“And the little shit does?”

Ash just shrugs, still wearing that stupid smile. Kieran turns his back to him and sulks.

“Go away,” he orders when Ash hugs him from behind.

Ash nuzzles his neck, the beard tickling the sensitive skin there. “You didn’t use your safeword.”

Kieran goes still, face heating up again at the memory. He can’t believe he bent over and offered his ass just because Ash told him to. He fucking cried, for god’s sake. Worst of all, he remembers getting hard for a hot second before the pain pushed everything else aside.

There’s only one explanation for why he’d allow all that.

“I trusted you.” By the looks of it, the trust is growing deeper each day. It’s fucking terrifying.

Ash’s forehead drops to his shoulder, and he lets out a loud groan. “Fuck.”

Kieran doesn’t have to ask what’s wrong. He can feel it poking his lower back.

He turns around to glare at him. “Seriously?! That’s what turnsyour crank?”

“You turn my crank.”

The worst part? Kieran can’t even accuse him of exaggerating. Ashhaspopped a boner over the most random things andwordsKieran’s said and done.

It should be alarming and, admittedly, at least a little gross. It definitely shouldn’t make Kieran feel all squirmy and fluttery.

There’s still one issue, though, that won’t stop niggling at the back of his mind.

Ash taps Kieran’s mouth with his thumb, then drags it down and pinches his lower lip gently.

“What got you so pouty?”

His eyes aren’t changing color, which means he’s not trying to get inside Kieran’s head. The annoying part is Kieran would actually prefer not to have to say it out loud.

“You haven’t kissed me.” It’s not like Kieran’s been waiting for a kiss, but the absence of itisa little worrying, okay? Ash is all too eager to engage in any kind of pervy shit, but the regular vanilla things don’t seem to interest him. “You talk a big game about how I get you all hot and bothered, and you don’t hold back from turning my ass into a tomato, but laying one on me is clearly a huge problem for y—hmpf!”

One blink, one push, and he’s on his back, Ash’s weight pinning him down. He attacks Kieran’s mouth—attacks because this isnota kiss, it’s a full-on hostile takeover, as if Kieran’s not a person but a prize to claim.

‘Be careful what you wish for’rings smugly in his ears as he experiences what it’s like being devoured alive. Both his mind and body go still, trapped between shock and need. Then his hands move, finding Ash’s shoulders, ready to push, to resist.

Instead, they clutch. Because each drag of Ash’s lips against his, every stroke of his tongue, feels like it’s dismantling the defenses Kieran’s worked so hard to put back up.

Ash’s hand clamps along his jaw, tilting his head just so, keeping him open and helpless, the exact way he wants him. His otherhand fists in the sheets by Kieran’s ribs, caging him in. His lips are unforgiving and greedy, like he’s been holding himself back and just decided he’s done pretending.

Kieran makes a noise, unguarded and desperate, and Ash answers with a groan that vibrates into his mouth. The kiss deepens, but not just in hunger—there’s a tenderness underneath, something steadying that burns hotter than the fire. It’s not just being taken, but also being held.

It’s beingwanted,utterly and without reservations.

From the need and fire, a wonderful, scary realization rises like smoke.This man has the power to completely ruin me.

Another, an even scarier one, follows:and I would let him.

When Ash finally eases back, their mouths still brush. His lips are trembling, forehead dipping to rest against Kieran’s.

“Just so we’re clear…” he starts, voice like gravel. “I can stop myself any time when it comes to whopping your lovely backside. But these?” He pulls back just enough to stroke his thumb over Kieran’s sensitive lips. “I can hardly ever pull away from these once I start.”