Ours.
Find.
Pipe down. He’s not ours. He is his own and even that kiss was going too far. Let. It. Go.
My bear settled down, but barely. And I was able to finish up the dishes and started to head upstairs for the night. I needed to apologize to Candrin, but going to his room after we kissed toapologize for said kiss didn’t have good optics. I’d wait until the morning and take care of it then.
Or so I thought. As I walked out of the kitchen, I discovered Candrin sitting in a chair, watching the door, waiting for me. He got up immediately and came right over.
“I need to know what that was about… you doing the dishes,” He demanded.
“I was making them clean so we could use them again tomorrow?” I wasn’t sure why it came out as a question, but it did.
“You know what I mean.” His hands formed two fists at his waist. “Why were you kissing me one minute and then washing dishes the next?”
“You kissed me and yeah I kissed you back, but I shouldn't have. It’s not right to take advantage of you like that. Not when I’m your landlord.” I sucked in a deep breath and instantly recognized my mistake, his scent flooding through me. “And I needed something to do that wasn’t kissing you and the only thing I could think of was dishes, so yeah I washed dishes. But they’re clean now.”
And I was officially babbling.
“Let me see if I am understanding this. You kissed me back because you liked kissing me.”
I nodded and his hands relaxed against his hips.
“And then because you liked kissing me, you stopped because I pay you rent?”
I nodded again.
“And of all the things you could do, you chose dishes?” At least this time his question held a tinge of humor.
“It was that or going upstairs into my room with a hard-on and trying not to do anything about it,” I confessed.
“Because you’re attracted to me?” He took a step closer.
“Of course I am. Look at you, you're gorgeous and strong and you keep me on my toes.” I took a step in his direction, matching his previous movement.
“You never once made me feel like I owed you anything for living here other than rent.” He took one more step. We were now only a foot apart. “Not once. And really you’re a shite landlord. I still owe you money for this month, you give me food, and didn’t even ask for references, a security deposit, or proof ofemployment. Heck, you didn’t even ask for a copy of my bank statements, run a credit check, or a criminal background check on me. As far as landlords go, you are kind of sucking at it.”
“Please tell me landlords don’t do that to people.” That was asking a lot of people.
“I am not and the fact that you don’t know that proves my point.” He closed the distance between us. “Good thing I don’t care about your landlord prowess.”
“You don’t?”
“Not even a little bit. I only care about the way you make me feel. And do you know how you make me feel?” He settled his hand on my chest.
“Happy?”
“I was going with hard, but happy works too.”
9
CANDRIN
A night to remember
Now what? We’d kissed and admitted our feelings. I was an adult with years of dating experience so what came next was obvious. Sex. But I was pondering beyond that to tomorrow morning when we woke up. I had an inkling we were making a mistake but that was my head overthinking. My other, smaller head, had no qualms about Tanner putting his cock in my hole. Not that we’d agreed we were going to fall into bed straight away. We hadn’t agreed on anything.
Tanner’s fingers brushed over the stubble on my jaw. I put my hand over his and our eyes locked on one another. My chest heaved as I anticipated what wouldhappen next. But instead of waiting for it, I took charge.
