“What position?” Zane asked, ignoring the command. “Tell me. What position am I in, Pav?”
The nickname was like a cold balm in the middle of a burning desert and he almost moaned at the sound of it. It’d been so long since he’d last heard the other man call him that. By a name Zane could no longer even recall having said before.
“I could tell you,” he dared, letting his eyes trail pointedly down Zane’s front, “or I can offer to put you in an even better one.”
“What if I say I want to leave?”
“You’re allowed to say anything you like.”
“…But you have no intentions of letting me go.” Zane tipped his head. “Could you stop me? I’m the one holding the knife, and you’re the one with a hole in your side.”
“Think you’ve got the upper hand, gorgeous?” He shook his head and placed a palm over the spot where his shirt covered the bandage. “Hate to break it to you, but a tiny cut like this isn’t nearly enough to prevent me from doing as I please with you.”
He could practically see the wheels turning in the doctor’s head.
“We’ve never sparred before,” Zane said.
“Do you need to?”
He considered it. “No. You’re physically stronger than I am, and it doesn’t help me any that a part of myself is curious.” Zane dropped the knife. “The position is me on my back, isn’t that it? That’s what you want?”
“Yes.” Just picturing it, his delectable doctor naked in his home…submitting to him after all this time…It didn’t even matter they hadn’t been referring to physical positions, all other thoughts fled his mind and that desperation returned tenfold.
And Zane could tell. Pavel saw the shift come over him and realized too late he’d walked into a trap.
“Okay,” Zane said, his tone only serving to make Pavel more suspicious.
“Okay?”
“I’ll let you have me,” he replied, “on my back. I’ll even take all my clothes off and spread my legs for you.” Zane retreated a step toward the living area.
“What’s the catch, Doctor?” Because there was one, he could sense it, and Good Light, Pavel was already prepared to agree to whatever it was, so long as he got exactly what he was being promised.
“You claim this isn’t about revenge. What’s it about then?”
“I already told you,” he said. “I want you.”
“In what capacity? Wait.” Zane held up a hand. “Don’t answer that. Let’s just take it slow.”
“I want you to be mine forever.”
He paused. “That isn’t very slow.”
“It’s what you need to hear.” Pavel stalked Zane all the way to the living room, stopping the second the doctor paused by the end of the couch.
“Why’d you put a tracking device on me?” It was impossible to tell by his tone alone if he was upset or not about that.
“In case you tried to run,” he admitted. “Peace of mind. If I don’t know where you are at all times, I panic a little.”
“That’s…controlling,” Zane decided, but Pavel shook his head.
“I would never prevent you from going anywhere. You can move about as you please, nothing there has changed.”
“Except now you can locate me at the push of a button.”
“It was never difficult to find you before,” he said. “I can always find you, Zane.”
“And when you get tired of me?”
