“You fucking rebel you.”
Ever ducked his head, a faint smile teasing the corners of his lips. “I suspect it’s not much to see, is all.”
Liar. But Bo let him lead the way inside, so he could see firsthand just how big a liar Ever was.
Nothing to see, his ass. Everythingscreamed‘curl up on me,’ all aged wood and deep colors. Plush furniture. Thick carpets. A bowl of citrus on the kitchen table, that wanton. A pair of empty rooms, waiting to figure out what they might be used for. The upstairs was mostly the bedroom Talia’d claimed if the sounds inside were any indication, and a bathroom. And near the back, on the first floor, a room for Bo and Ever.
A wide, four-poster bed, carved with ivy. Thick burgundy curtains held back by brass leaves. An unlit fireplace. One wall wasentirelya window, showing off the bare desert and the distant smudged darkness of their forest.
Coziest goddamn house Bo’d ever set foot in.
“Acceptable?” Ever dropped his hand away, leaning on the doorframe to watch Bo wander inside. “It’s yours to change. I’m sure Talia is doing exactly that as we speak.”
“It’s great. This is fucking wild.” A window seat formed, the wooden frame the same color and design as the bed, cushions a shade lighter than their sheets. Bo always had been a sucker for a window nook. “I like your preference for a ‘closer space.’ ”
“As do I. I’ve not seen it as it is now, before.”
“You like it, then?” Bo traced his finger over one of the carvings on a bedpost. Ever didn’t answer, but Bo could feel him through the bond: affectionate and calm. Hegrinned, callused fingertip idly curving over a carved leaf. “Somehow, I’m not shocked this is a part of the decor, kelpie.”
“I take no responsibility for Faerie’s infatuation with you.” Ever stepped closer to rest his hands on Bo’s waist. “Though I certainly sympathize with the fixation.”
“There’s two crowns between us,” Bo reminded him, leaning back against the touch. “I’m not Faerie’s only crush.”
“Perhaps.” Ever’s thumbs traced over Bo’s waistband. A line of heat. “May I kiss you?”
It’d been a fuckingweeksince they’d gotten close like this. Family left Ever wired and Bo busy as fuck. He’d had to go get the rental car, leaving Ever and Talia with Jan and Bo getting interrogated by Robin. Videos, sleep, more sleep. Repeat.
No Ever asking to kiss Bo. No press of Ever’s hardening cock into his hip.
“Yeah, pretty kelpie. You can kiss me.” Bo ran his fingers over Ever’s wrists until he heard the catch of his breath. “I want you to.”
Warm lips brushed over his neck, the barest ghost of teeth and tongue. Electric. Not nearly enough, and it still set his nerves to dancing.
“You spoil me, sweet.” Playful words, andsweetnever something that Bo thought would get him sighing, tilting his head to give Ever more room. Or maybe it was the way Ever’s thumb found its way under Bo’s t-shirt, the skin-on-skin more than good. Bond bright. Love drunk. “Keep indulging me, and you’ll find me quite insatiable.”
Bo grinned, reaching back to tangle his fingers in Ever’s hair. Ever tightened his grip in response and slid his thumbs a little higher.
“Oh, no. I’ve encouraged a dastardly kelpie with my wanton human enjoyment. Such watery lusts. Help. Ravenous fiend.”
And Ever? He fuckinglaughed. The sound did just as much for Bo’s cock as the continued touch of lips to his neck.
“Utterly dastardly, yes. Licentious. Salacious.” A kiss to punctuate each word, too gentle for the way his breath shook. “Poor, sweet Bo. Best rebuke me now, lest I threaten your virtue.”
Bo shivered with each kiss, grabbing the bedpost with his free hand. Warm wood under his hand as the lights dimmed. And Ever keptpettinghim.
“Greedy kelpie, putting my virtue at risk. Obscene and shameless.” His words were unsteady with want and laughter. “I might be too weak to protest you holding me prone for ravishing.”
Hesitation through the bond, but not atBo. Curiosity, then the winter crisp bite of joy and realization, followed quickly bywant. Want and play and pleasure.
“Best stop me then while your modesty remains unthreatened.” Ever’s voice had gone breathless, soft as his tug at Bo’s shirt. “May I?”
A quick, bright press of blunted teeth. Bo’s fingers tightened in Ever’s hair.
Ever fuckingdaringhit as hard as anything else, his smiling request all the more so after he kept his hands on Bo, comfortable, at ease, grazing him with teeth without apology.
Playingat something he’d had used against him while he tugged at Bo’s clothes, and all of it a fucking thrill.
“My shirt? Vile seducer. I don’t think youcanbe a vile seducer if you don’t take my shirt off. Ahhhh, help.”
