“Well, he . . ..” Bryan began.
“Jack!” I said, a tad over-enthusiasticallyas Jack came back to the table. I softened my gaze at him, letting him know I wasn’t serious about any of what I was about to say. “Your boyfriend decided to join us for brunch,” I said, pulling out a chair beside me and patting the back for Bryan to sit down.
“My . . .” Jack began, with a face that kept shifting to amusement at me, and a stone cold glare at Bryan.
My insides softened at once at Jack’s expression. If he still had feelings for Bryan, I had no doubt that his reactions would have been much different.
I waved my hand dismissively. “He told me he was your boyfriend, so he needs to have breakfast with us, don’t you think?” I asked Jack, not waiting for a reply. I turned to Bryan, who was gaping at Jack as Jack sat down in his chair across from me, the amusement at me winning out over his frustration at Bryan. I had seen corporate attorney Jack in action a handful of times, but this was the first time he was probably seeing this side of me. It didn’t come out often.
“Sorry we weren’t out and about earlier. It was a late night and well, later morning,” I explained. “But, I’m sure you must understand that if you are Jack’s boyfriend,” I said with a satisfied smile as I sipped my drink. Imayhave let my eyes drift over Jack with thoughts of exactly what we had been doing in that time-frame. Those thoughtsmayhave been completely readable on my face.
Bryan’s red cheeks and gaze shifted from me to Jack. His eyes went wide at the look on my face and the reaction of a heated gaze from Jack in return.
“Well, what I meant . . . was that . . . well,” Bryan stammered.
Jack finally got control of himself.
“Don’t introduce yourself as my boyfriend, jackass,” Jack said to Bryan, the flush of embarrassment finally giving way to the flush of anger. “This is Perrin, my actual boyfriend, and he’s not that big on sharing,” Jack said.
“Jack,” Bryan began. “I just assumed you wanted an out to get away from the guy . . .” Bryan actually gestured at me.
I snorted, but held my tongue. Jack looked at Bryan like he was crazy.
“What part, Bryan? The part where we were talking and having a meal, or the part where he kissed me senseless before I left him for two minutes?” Jack asked.
“I’m just . . .” Bryan began, but Jack held up a hand.
“Bryan, trust me to take care of my own issues, but Perrin? He’sdefinitelynot one of them.” Jack said, and then nudged me under the table.
Honestly, I was having a hard time not laughing, so I just winked back at Jack. Normally, I would never be that big of an ass to anyone, but this Bryan guy leading with how he was the boyfriend of the guy I considered both my best friend and my lover wasn’t exactly instilling him into my good graces. And that was without taking into account how I felt about Jack specifically. I was in love with Jack, and the Bryans of the world would just need to step back a few.
Bryan muttered another apology and when the server came with our food, he disappeared behind her. I noticed no one else in the sparsely populated restaurantseemed to notice what happened. I guessed maybe my play to be the conversational asshole actually worked to avoid a scene a second time.
“Perrin,” Jack began.
I held up my hand, and grabbed Jack’s with my other.
“Don’t,” I said. “Don’t apologize for him. And trust me, when it comes to the ex-with-baggage factor, I’m pretty sure I have you beat.”
Jack
After Bryan left, we didn’t say anything more. Perrin didn’t elaborate on his statement, and I didn’t offer anything extra, either. I was just glad Bryan hadn’t made a scene like he had with Quinn or with me at Maxine’s. Clearly, Perrin knew how to handle him.
Bryan was as close as I had come to anything like a relationship before Perrin, and the differences between the two were stark. Perrin lit me up in a way that Bryan never did. Perrin was there beside me in all aspects of my life, where Bryan had wanted me to be in charge all the time, responsible for him in a way that did not appeal to me with a lover.
Lover.Love.
I’m in love with Perrin.The thought clicks in, slotting happily in my brain.
By the time we picked up the item we came for and made it back to the cabin, it was as if the interaction with Bryan at midday had never happened.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true.
Perrin had been extra-attentive to me the rest of the afternoon, in that teasing, flirty way he had, and I was so turned on I had us both stripped bare within minutes of returning to the cabin. He hadn’t gone easy on me from there. Perrin had taken over, pushing me to the floor in front of the fire and placing me on my back. He had been taking me to the brink and back for the better part of an hour until I shook with need and beggedhim and pleaded and told him it wasn’t possible for me to hold back from coming any longer.
Usually, he gave me what I wanted in bed - asked for what it was, then served it up without fail. But when he was like that, taking without reservation and trusting me to stop anything I didn’t want, my heart hammered in my chest and I wanted to hand him every piece of me. I was a trembling, liquid ball of spent pleasure after that, and Perrin just held me close as if he hadn’t taken us both to the edge of the world and then flung us off of it.
It wasn’t jealousy that I felt from him. It was more like a possessiveness. Some sort of male-dominant bullshit that would have pissed me off if it hadn’t been such a damn turn-on. Or if it hadn’t made me come so hard I could still feel it.
