Page 99 of Taste of Blood

“I would never. Besides,” he turns serious, “I’d kill anyone who looks twice at you.”

“For a businessman, you’ve sure got a violent streak.”

“I learned from the best.”

I look around; my clothes are in the washer, so I’m not going anywhere for a while. “Now what?”

He stands up and walks over to the window, turning his back to me. “That’s up to you.”

He’s leaving it up to me? I can feel his lust from across the room, but for once he’s not pushing it. And that leaves me wondering what I want from him. I just assumed if I came here, we would end up fucking. Isn’t that what always happens?

I drain my glass and stand up, walking over to join him at the window.

“It’s been a shitty week,” I say after a few minutes.

His profile reflects the rain-smeared lights of the city outside. “I’m sorry if I had anything to do with it.”

Damn it.

“It’s not you. It’s this damn Python business. Why can’t things just go back to the way they were?”

“You mean before we ran into each other?”

Partly, yes, but I don’t want to say that. For some reason I don’t want to hurt him, and that pisses me off even more. When I don’t speak for several minutes, he sighs and leans his head against the glass.

“I don’t know what else to do, Cord. I feel…I feel like I’m drowning here.”

So do I, I want to say, and I don’t know why. Is it being with him? Not being with him? Being close and not touching him?

I’m right on the edge, and I don’t know if I want to jump or run away. “Why did you have to complicate things?”

“I didn’t mean to. I’m just trying to live.”

He turns to me, his eyes shining with unshed tears, and something inside me breaks. I’m causing this. Me and my stubbornness. I’m tearing him up as bad as he is me. Shouldn’t that be a sign that we’re no good for each other?

Or is it that I should stop fighting the inevitable?

Because Asher and me…we’re the closest thing to inevitable I’ve ever known.

So why am I holding back? Is it the fear of getting hurt again, or is it something else? The fact that I can’t answer that keeps me balanced on a knife’s edge.

“I have some of your old clothes in there if you want to leave.”

I step closer to him and reach out, my fingers almost brushing his. Close enough to feel the heat from his flesh. I know what will happen if we touch. I don’t know if I can do it.

He takes the option away from me, making the first move. He closes the distance, his fingers dancing across mine as an electrical current passes between us.

“I get the feeling you just want me for my body,” I say to break the mood.

“Not just your body, though it is a nice perk.”

His eyes find mine and I feel like I’m falling. I lean in, our lips so close I can taste his breath. His hand slides up to my waist, pulling open the belt of the robe.

We stare at each other for a minute, then he takes that last step, his lips meeting mine. I have all I can do not to throw himagainst the glass and rub my cock against his. The kiss deepens, our tongues searching, finding, tasting, tangling. I want to swallow him whole, to merge with him.

To lose the space where I end and he begins.

He pushes the robe off my shoulders and presses his body against mine as his hand closes around my cock. Smearing precum over my head and stroking me.