“Non. It’s fine. It’s just a room.”
Just a forest full of memories, each a pine needle to the heart.
Julien opened a small drawer in her desk. “This is where we found her diary. The one that saidJour J.” He stared at the offensive item with a sour look on his face. “Anyway,” he said, slamming the drawer shut, then turning to look Cinn straight in the eye. “Take off your clothes and lie on the bed.”
Bloody hell.He couldn’t be in this dead girl’s room and hear those words. Not with Julien looking at him like that. Tamping down his body’s inappropriate reaction, he tugged off his hoodie and shirt, pulling his beanie back onto his head when it slipped off.
As soon as his bare skin felt the cool draft of air that drifted through the room, his body viscerallyfeltJulien’s eyes magnetise to it, shuddering in response. Remaining on the far side of the room, he eyed Julien warily, who wiggled the ink bottle in response.
“Come on. I don’t bite,” he said, all predatory dimpled smile.
Fuck yes, you do.
When he reached the bed, he kept his feet planted on the floor, and lay on his back, tensing every muscle as he awaited the feel of cool ink on his skin.
“Relax,” said Julien softly. As if it would be that easy, especially with Julien usingthatvoice. The one with the exact cadence as that night in Paris.
Without warning, fingers started gently kneading into the firm muscles of his abdomen.
Cinn groaned. “Thisisn’tgoing to help me relax.”
Ignoring him, Julien widened the circumference of his endeavours, extending his slow circles towards his ribs, then dipped lower and lower, scraping tantalisingly close to the waistband of his jeans.
“If you carry on doing that…”
“Then what?”
When Cinn didn’t answer, Julien pressed a kiss to the top edge of his V-line. Cinn’s hands, that had remained still by his side, finally gave in, and reached to wrap themselves in the tangles of Julien’s hair.
A silent battle still warred inside him. Julien’s touch, Julien’s lips, Julien’sattention,was a spellbinding caress of his body, his soul. Cinn was Eve who’d had a taste of the apple, and now couldn’t resist another bite. And everyone knew how that story turned out.
“Julien…” The rational part of Cinn’s brain screamed to stop him, to push his head away, halt the path of feather-light kisses that were circling his hip bone. That fragment of resistance soon short-circuited however, silenced by Julien scraping his teeth along his sensitive skin, the waves of euphoric shivers erasing each and every thought from his mind.
“You just promised me you didn’t bite,” Cinn half gasped.
Julien looked up, grey eyes dual tempests. “Oui. But those sorts of promises are made to be broken.”
Holy fuck.
With panther-like grace and power, Julien climbed upward, until his head hovered above his, consuming his vision. Cinn’s head spun in dizzying waves as his heart beat impossibly fast.
Julien placed a teasing kiss upon his jaw, before he had time to stop him.
That wasn’t right; he didn’twantto stop Julien.
But heneededto stop Julien.
“We should—”
He was silenced by his mouth, soft yet firm, insistent yet tender.
He pushed him back, just an inch. Looked him in the eye to say, “Julien. Listen. We can’t just keep kissing like this.”
A tiny kiss on the corner of his mouth.
“Why not?”
“I told you in Paris.”
