I groaned under my breath about three steps from my room door and spun around. Forrest turned as well and balled his hands up, like he might know how to use his fists, which was interesting. I didn’t think that sort of thing flew here at the Virtue.
Corbin, my all-round assistant and infrequent hitman, stood there leaning against the wall. The bastard had probably been pacing us for a while now, and he’d give me hell later for being so lazy about my surroundings just because I had a nice piece on my arm. He was short for an Irishman, only reached my shoulder, and had a pleasant but average face. He wore his hair combed to the side and never dressed up or down, made sure he kept to an unnoticeable middle ground. He was camouflaged by the mundane, as he liked to say, but he would drop a man before anyone ever noticed him. Apparently myself included, tonight.
“Yes?”
“A word?” Corbin flicked a glance at Forrest, and I shooed him through the door into my room.
“Work, ya know? I’ll be quick, trust me.”
He nodded and a darling flush hit his cheeks. I stared into his eyes, a lovely bluish-green that had me wanting to look a moment or two longer.
“Sir,” Corbin cut in, and I gave Forrest a last wee push with my hand on the small of his back, rubbing there for a second until he smiled at me, a fragile thing. Whatever had happened to him tonight, he wasn’t at all like his usual self. I closed the door after him reluctantly.
“Yes, Cor, what the hell is it?” I rounded on him, and he remained, as always, unimpressed by me.
“Ya looking to die tonight, sir, that’s it? You’ve taken a dislike to life?”
“They’re not together anymore.”
He looked at me like I’d gone round the bend. “Rourke had his tongue down that boy’s throat no more than forty minutes ago. Saw it with my own two eyes while I was walking the halls, marking the surveillance cameras they have here. Not many, but it’s worth knowing where they are. Rourke Tormey is not the man to have unhappy with ya, sir, if ya want my thoughts. There’s plenty of men to be had that won’t cause troubles.”
Rubbing my chin, I glanced back at the closed door. “He said they were done. Tides can turn quickly.”
“You’re not thinking properly, sir.” He wasn’t crass enough to look at my stirring cock, but his glance at the ceiling instead was just as revealing.
“I’m paying him,” I murmured. “Or at least I will. What can Rourke say? That’s his business, isn’t it? Selling arse. Well, I’m buying. Quite happily.Have ya seenthat arse?”
Corbin’s deadpan expression didn’t shift at all as I blew out a long huff in his direction.
“Trust me, Cor. I know ya don’t like men, but he has a nice everything there is to take notice of. And that blond hair. Ya ever seen a blond like that? Fuckin’ gorgeous. There can’t be two like him in the whole world.”
That got a small wisp of a smile from him. “My girl’s blonde.”
“There ya go. Least ya got part of the equation right.”
He sighed. “I’m not taking a bullet so ya can plant your dick where it don’t belong.”
“No one’s asking ya to,” I said with a wink and whacked him on the chest with the back of my hand. “Relax, yeah? Go find yourself a lady for the night.”
He muttered something I didn’t quite hear as I turned back to the room and went inside. The appointments were exquisite as usual for the Exotic Virtue—large comfortable bed, a gold-on-white theme that was cold but quite eye-catching—although nothing in the room had anything on the beauty sitting on the end of my bed. He’d taken his shoes off and they were tucked under the bed ruff. He had one knee on the bed, the other drawn up to his chest and was resting his chin on it, a very melancholy pose, if I had to say so myself. His position showed off how flexible he must be. The trousers he wore had the sort of cut that drew my eye directly to his crotch, and I wanted to nuzzle in there. He closed his eyes for a second like he was in pain, and then I got another one of those beautiful smiles directed toward me.
“Wh—what would you like?”
I dropped my damp towel from around my neck onto the floor and shoved down my swim briefs. Forrest flushed so rosy I thought he might burst aflame. The expression on his face, so fixated on me, on my cock, made me feel puffed up and important in a way I shouldn’t have been able to buy from anyone.
“You’re good, I have to say that. How’d ya know?”
He gnawed on his lower lip and then focused his attention on my face, making no move to come to me, so I walked to him, taking my time. He lowered his legs till both feet touched the floor and stared at me like I was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen in his life. He was good at stroking the old ego, that’s for sure, with the way he gasped when I sat beside him. His cool hand trembled when he rested it lightly on my thigh. My cock was heavy and stretching with a pleasant throb toward my belly button. I wanted between those pretty lips he was abusing. I reached out and tapped a finger to the corner of his mouth.
“I said, my lovely wee devil, how’d ya know?”
“Know what?” he rasped.
“That I like to give a chase and feel like a tiger?”
He glanced away from my face, down toward my cock, which was popping larger under his attention. I blew out a low breath that wasn’t as steady as it should be.
“Most men do, don’t they?” He glanced up, and there was something in his eyes that made me pause, some sort of hurt that seemed so totally unfamiliar. “They like to take what they want, take whatever relief they need from the people around them. Not only sex—everything. They take and leave you bleeding. There aren’t many men out there who aren’t that way.” His jaw hardened, and for a second or two he seemed a mite dangerous, so much so that tingles broke out along my skin. I wondered if I didn’t have it wrong—maybehewas the tiger. Forrest glanced at his toes again, then went back to tormenting that lip.
