“You can trust that,” he assured me. “Whether we see each other after this or not, your secret is safe with me.”
“Is that a possibility?” I asked.
“What?”
“Us not seeing each other after this.”
Asante scoffed and shook his head. He reached over and gripped me by the back of my neck. My eyes went straight to his.
“As long as it’s up to me, that isn’t a possibility.”
“Good.”
I leaned into him automatically, my breath hitching the closer I got.
“What about your arranged marriage shit? Is that real?”
“Yeah. I didn’t lie about that. Our uh, our family pairs us up with other people who have old money and deal with society’s underbelly.”
Asante nodded at that. Then, he finished closing the space between us. Our lips met and it took everything in me not to groan when he kissed me in a way he hadn’t before. It was rough and hungry and he didn’t let me lead this time.
He led.
And I submitted.
Immediately.
I damn near shuttered when his hand trailed to the nape of my neck. He jerked my head back breaking our kiss and I damn near panted as I looked at him.
“I’m not tucking tail and I don’t want you to tuck tail either.”
“I’m not,” I assured him immediately. “If I was going to tuck tail I wouldn’t be telling you all of this shit right now, Asante.”
“Alright.”
He let me go and we stared at each other, both of our eyes searching for some semblance of deception. It would have been scary how good I knew he was at reading people but I couldn’tbe bothered to care when all I wanted was for him to find the reassurance he wanted behind my eyes.
“I don’t want to see anyone else,” I muttered. “I don’t want to try to get to know anybody else or none of that shit. I just want to focus on you.”
He opened his mouth then closed it. I know he wanted to ask if I just meant until my wedding but I couldn’t commit to anything past that honestly.
“I just want to focus on you too,” he said. “Even when shit is hard.”
“And complicated,” I added.
Asante nodded but didn’t say anything else.
He didn’t ask me to make any promises. He didn’t ask me to lie to him. He just leaned in and caught my mouth with his.
His kiss tasted like the liquor he’d had and fuck it was nice. Being here with him after I’d laid my truth out at his feet was nice. It was liberating in a way I’d never known it could be, to have someone know about all of my family shit and sexuality at the same time and accept every part of me anyway.
My hand reached for his dick and he groaned against my mouth when my hand touched his erection. I let my hand trace up and down his dick as it strained against his pants.
“Get your hand off me unless you’re trying to take shit there, Bishop,” he said quietly.
“I’m trying to take it there,” I said instantly.
Asante gripped my chin in one of his hands. He tilted it one way, leaned in and kissed my throat.
