Smirking, I stalked him. “That wasn’t the surprise I was talking about earlier. Who said you could go through my closet, huh?” I leaped around the side of the couch, and he waved the gun in front of himself to ward me away.
“I was looking for clothes. Oh!” I took heavy fire as I covered the last few steps to reach him. The basketball shorts he’d borrowed had a drawstring, which was likely the only reason they’d worked for him, and the shiny, soft black fabric hung well past his knees. I couldn’t stop myself from going all gooey on the inside at how edible he was in my clothes. “The Nerf gun wasn’t my surprise?”
“Nope. It was for you, though.” I closed the rest of the distance between us and kissed his cheek.
Angel yelped as I snatched the gun from his hand, and he scrambled away from me, almost braining himself on the wall in the process. How long had he been waiting? I chased him around the living room while he laughed like a maniac, and then we hit the kitchen and his socks slid on the floor. I rushed and caught him around the middle.
“Gotcha.”
“No!” he howled as I planted kisses on his cheek, but there was a wide smile on his face, such a shocking difference from earlier today. His skin had a healthier glow and the smudges under his eyes were gone. Hopefully the changes in him meant he’d napped. The papers I’d been holding cascaded to the floor around us, and he shrieked as I dug my fingers in lightly at his belly and tickled.
“Stop!” He sounded serious enough that I stilled my fingers. He yelped when I moved my hand to pat his stomach instead. “Sorry. I thought you were gonna do it.” He turned to brush his lips against mine, and I cuddled him closer.
“You skipped a line.” I pointed down at the scattered work ringing our feet.
“What? No! I don’t believe you.” His pout said it all. No, he hadn’t been looking to get a larger punishment from me. I’d potentially offended him.
Shit, I hadn’t meant to get his ego involved. I crouched down and gathered the papers, and he twisted his lip ring this way and that as I went to a knee so that we were more or less on the same level. It took me a moment to find the right page and point out the error. His pout went from annoyed to flat out disappointed, and he ran a hand along his rosy cheek. “I didn’t mean to, I swear, Casey bear.” He directed wide brown eyes at me and there was no way I could ignore the silent plea to be forgiven.
“Should I let this slide?”
He held his breath. “Please, please.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Angel shook his head. “No, if I’m in trouble I have to know now. Um… take a break. But I don’t want to take a break.” He scowled and rested his hand on my shoulder digging his fingers in against my muscles. “No breaks.”
“It seems like you always want to be pretending when we’re home. Is that right?” I dragged in a deep, excited breath.
He shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Well, I like that, too,” I whispered. He slid in until he was pressed against my chest, and I had no choice except to hug him. “But then you have to listen to me all the time. Last night would have resulted in a very large punishment if we’d been pretending. I like it, though, because if you’re always my little brother it helps me… I don’t know. Keep a lid on myself. Would you want that?”
He held his breath and then nodded. “I think so.”
We stared at each other for a long time, and finally he stepped in and gave me a real hug. He wriggled like he had ants in his pants while he hugged as far around my shoulders as he could reach. I rested my cheek against his shoulder, and it was nice to have him holding me for a change.
I smooched his cheek. “You still need to be able to tell me to take a break. Let’s have a safeword. How about… you say grown-up.”
“I don’t like it.” His arms trembled once and he held me tighter.
“We have to have a safeword. Both of us can use the same one.”
He gave me a sharp nod. “If it’s for both of us. I’ll remember grown-up, but like I said, no break.”
With a hum, I straightened. “Convince me to forget this tiny slip up, then, little brother.”
Angel’s brows wrinkled and his bottom lip stuck out far enough that I had to laugh and give it a tiny tug.
I pointed at my mouth.
He blushed cherry red from his neck up to his forehead and leaned in to give me a soft kiss that sparked tingles all over my body. Carefully he caressed his lips back and forth against mine until I found myself dragging him closer. I slipped my hand under the loose T-shirt he wore—one of his that had somehow found a home in my dresser—and caressed the soft skin at the small of his back. He leaned away and kissed my cheek. I turned my face toward him, and he snickered and pressed more kisses along my jaw.
“You made dinner?”
“Yeah. As a thank-you. You’re always taking care of me.” He fiddled with the knot on my tie and then began to loosen it until he was able to slip it off me. He fidgeted with the loop and slid it over his wrist, and my mouth went dry. Fuck, he’d be delicious tied up. I didn’t stop him from drawing the fabric through his fingers nervously. The green silk would end up worse for wear, but it was a small price to pay. “I… uh, assume you’re taking care of Dad’s house?”
“Yeah, me and Merit.”
