Page 65 of Taming of the Rake

Benedict squeezed his eyes shut and drew in a slow breath, quickly losing the battle with his rational mind. This was madness. Every word Alex had just said was true. He had no right coming here and upending Benedict’s life. And yet …

“Say it,” Benedict demanded, yanking Alex closer until they were nearly nose to nose. “Tell me why you’ve come.”

Alex took hold of the hand gripping his coat, though he didn’t pry it loose. He simply held it there, against his chest as he lowered his head toward Benedict’s.

“I came for you.”

The murmured words fell against his lips a second before Alex’s mouth followed, pressing against Ben’s, tentative and searching. With a savage growl, Benedict slammed his hands against his chest, sending him sprawling back against the desk.

Chest heaving and heart pounding, he glared at Alex while swiping the back of his hand across his mouth. Still, the taste of him lingered—sugary and sweet, laced with peppermint. Even that hadn’t changed. Apparently, Alex still suffered from an incurable sweet tooth. Benedict could taste the evidence of that, but there was more, too. There was history and a collection of secrets held between them. There was pleasure and pain and wild abandon. There was a sudden clash of past and present that left him reeling.

There was the very real possibility that Benedict was going insane, because instead of taking Alex by the collar and tossing him out on his ear, he did the unthinkable.

Forgetting for just one moment that this man had nearly been the death of him, Benedict advanced. He took hold of the edge of the desk, caging Alex between his arms and using his body to pin the other man in place. Then, he searched out the source of that cloying sweetness with a pained groan. He kissed Alex with all the force of his anger and his grief, releasing three years’ worth of starvation and need. Going pliant against him, Alex raised both hands to Benedict’s jaw, and with a tilt of his head and sweep of his tongue, kissed him back.