Ari’sfull lips were pursed in a thinking pout, and he was so fucking cute I could barely stand it. I wasn’t sure when I’d started thinking about him in such sentimental terms, but I loved the shape of his mouth and the way his bold eyebrows dipped just a little. I wrapped my arm around his muscular shoulders and dragged him tight to my side in the booth we sat in, the smell of barbecue and sweet chocolate cake hanging in the air. Half of his dessert sat on the table in front of him, the molten chocolate center devoured even though the rest of the cake still remained. He’d eaten the middle first—the best part.
He licked chocolate from his thumb, his brown eyes sparkling with interest as he scanned my face for a reaction to his tawdry little show. I glanced across the table and counted four plates of ribs we’d devoured, and I was pretty sure we’d each eaten a basket of honey rolls, too.
“Do you like Smoke and Sizzle? Was this a good pick for a date?”
He settled against my side and leaned his head on my shoulder, and I rested my cheek on his silky hair. He glanced around, taking in the country-themed restaurant. The walls were bare wood and prints from old Westerns had been used to break up the space that wasn’t already showcasing cattle horns and looped rope. It was busy, and we were the only two people in the restaurant who didn’t seem to be shouting their conversations.
“Yeah.” He finally roused himself from his food stupor to snuggle in tighter against me. “I liked it. I wouldn’t want to come here every day or anything, but it was a nice change of pace.”
I dropped a kiss on his forehead; I loved that he didn’t bullshit. After a long week at work, he was exactly the person I loved spending time with to truly unwind. Until I had someone at my side who meshed with me so well, I hadn’t even known what I was missing.
This morning we’d woken up together, spent a couple of hours between the sheets with each other’s cocks in our mouths, and at some point during our suckfest he’d demanded my cock in his ass, and then I’d fucked him until he was yelling my name and clawing up my back with his blunt fingernails. After that, we’d lounged around the house together in utter bliss, discussing places we might hide our next body for fun, and now here we were. It was a slow day, but I’d enjoyed every single minute with him.
It was perfection.
I rubbed my hand along his shoulder, enjoying the warm, bare skin that met my fingertips. The black tank top he wore gave me access to his beautiful body, and I leaned down. “The fabric on your shirt is so thin I can see your nipples.” I reached over and tweaked one, and he shot me a look out of the corner of his eye. “I’m going to bite them as soon as we’re alone. Maybe I’ll make you come that way.”
“Why wait?” he murmured, and a teasing little smile slid across his lips—one of hisrealsmiles. I moaned softly and leaned in to kiss him, tasting butter, cinnamon, and chocolate. The tip of his tongue teased against mine and taunted me with all the things I could do if we weren’t in public. I was so ready to go home and get him naked again. He drew my hand up to his chest, and I rubbed my thumb over his left nipple until he whimpered against my mouth.
“Uh, here’s your check. You can pay up front,” someone said, probably the server who’d taken excellent care of us since we arrived. He was a shy little twig with a mop of brown hair, who would blow away in the wind, and I wasn’t surprised to see him hightailing it away from our table by the time I glanced up. Ari chuckled in amusement, and I snatched the bill.
“You like getting under strangers’ skin?” I whispered.
He shrugged, and I received another tiny smile from him. Fuck, I loved it when he was in a good mood. I didn’t mind when he was tense and ready to go out and kill, but this was fantastic, too. I was starting to appreciate every piece of this man, and I knew I was becoming obsessed, but I didn’t care.
“I want to take you home, strip you down, and put you on my cock for hours.” I kissed his ear.
He stared at me without blinking and his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Do you actually mean hours or were you exaggerating?” He widened his eyes in my direction and his eyebrows drifted higher on his forehead.
I pressed a kiss on his right eye, forcing him to close the lid with a huff, then laughed. “Maybe hours won’t happen, but I want to stay in you and fuck you for as long as we can stand to hold off. Your body is my favorite place to be.” I kissed behind his ear, and he let out a growly little moan. Ari leaned into my touch, and I dragged my lips down his neck.
“Master.”
I shuddered at his low tone, and when I moved so I could see his face, I thought he knew what he did to me these days, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to hide my pleasure from him, he deserved to know how much I appreciated him.
“What, my pretty killer?” I kissed his cheek.
“Can we pick a license out of the treasure box tonight?” He widened his eyes at me, and I thought maybe he was trying to seem cuter, but he didn’t need to do things like that. I wasn’t sure when he’d started practicing this habit or where he learned it, but I kissed his temple.
“I love that idea,” I said, then pecked another kiss on his lips. “And thank you for trying to do things that seem natural, you’re getting good. You don’t need to do them with me, though.”
“Fuck me first.” He grasped my T-shirt in his hand until the collar cut into my skin, and my cock plumped in my pants. If we kept it up, we’d be indecent.
“Perfect plan. Let’s go.” I slid out of the booth, and he reluctantly let go of my shirt to follow me. Ari didn’t hesitate to grasp my hand when I stretched it out toward him, and it didn’t take me long to go to the register at the front and pay. When I got to the door, I pushed it open, and Ari shook his head at me as I moved aside to keep the door from closing on him.
“What?”
“You’re coddling me like I’m some prissy little fuck boy.” He blew a kiss at me.
“Do you like it?”
He squeezed my hand and snorted. “More than I should.”
“Me too.”
He tugged my hand, and this time it was me following him along the front of the low wooden building made of weathered planks toward my truck, which was in the last parking spot near the end of the lot. We were almost to my vehicle when I heard the shouting, and Ari stilled. He cocked his head as if it helped him listen better.
“You fucking idiot! This is why I don’t hire people from the homeless shelter.”
