Riven swallowed thickly. “Funny. I was thinking the same about you.”
Thane’s hand came up—close, so close. Hovering beside Riven’s cheek, like he might trace his jaw, or grip it and tilt his mouth up. Riven didn’t move. Every part of him wanted to leanin. To feel that rough palm on his skin. To know what Thane’s hand would feel like wrapped around his throat.
“You should get cleaned up,” Thane said. “Unless you want me to do it for you.”
The mental image slammed into Riven like a freight train—Thane shoving him into the locker room showers, stripping him bare, pinning him against the tile, licking sweat from his chest, his throat, his cock.
Riven’s dick twitched hard, so hard it rubbed painfully against his zipper. He clenched his fists to keep from reaching down and adjusting himself.
“You planning to wash my face,” he rasped, “or get me wet some other way?”
Thane smirked, sharp and slow. “You don’t beg. I respect that.”
Gods, he was going to lose it. His skin was on fire, cock throbbing with every word out of that smug bastard’s mouth.
And neither of them moved.
The silence between them felt like a match waiting to be struck.
Then Thane stepped back, and the loss of heat made Riven’s body scream. His cock was still hard—painfully hard—still leaking, still twitching for more.
“Your debrief is in twenty minutes,” Thane said, suddenly cold, all business again. “Get yourself together.”
Riven gave a sharp salute, mocking. “Sir.”
Thane turned for the elevator—but he paused. Looked back. Eyes gleaming like a challenge.
“Oh, and Riven?”
Riven didn’t trust himself to speak.
“I wasn’t guessing. I know you grew up near the Seam.”
It hit him like a gut punch.
“You—what?”
“You think I take anyone into the field without knowing everything?” Thane’s voice was smooth, but threaded with something dark. “I make it my business to know what I’m working with.”
“You dug into my past?”
Thane’s mouth curved. “I was curious.”
Riven’s cock throbbed again at that word,curious.Like he didn’t just mean intel. Like he wanted Riven naked, open, trembling—like he wanted to fuck the secrets out of him.
“If you wanted dirt,” Riven said hoarsely, “I’d’ve handed you a shovel.”
“Next time,” Thane murmured. “But I already know enough.”
The elevator doors slid shut behind him with a hiss.
Riven stood there long after the silence returned, breathing hard, cock still aching. He hated Thane.
Hated the way he looked at him like he owned him. Like he knew exactly how to break him down. How to make him want.
Hated how close he was to dropping to his fucking knees.
He adjusted himself with a hiss and turned toward the locker rooms.
