I knew the answer to that one, too.
He nodded, and something inside me relaxed. Okay then. He wasn’t fighting me on this, I just hadn’t done a good enough job with the boyfriend thing, what with being kinda new to it and all, because somehow, I’d left him with the impression that those fuckheads who’d done such a number raising him still got to call the shots.
Correct answer to that one?Hellno. They’d lost that right and never should have had it in the first place. And naive and sheltered or not, Sean was a goddamn adult who’d earned his freedom when he’d scored all those hefty scholarships and whatnot.
And more importantly? He wasmine.
“Okay then, like I said, they don’t get a say,” I said, almost calmly this time. They didn’t get one and they didn’t fuckingdeserveone, but to focus on the important things: “You’re staying with me, Sean.”
“But—” he started to say.
“No buts,” I interrupted, putting a finger over his mouth to shush him... then I got distracted by how fucking pretty it was and dipped down for a taste.
Honestly? Not distracted. I justneededone after that little bombshell of a misunderstanding.
Sean melted into me just like he always did, and my heart rate finally slowed the fuck down. We were good. The rest of the details could come later.
“I’ve… I’ve been avoiding their calls ever since, um, ever since you told me to hang up on Mother,” he said when I finally managed to stop kissing him a few minutes later. “But I’ve… I’ve listened to their messages, Tyson, and—”
“Sean,” I interrupted, releasing the grip I still had on his chin and sliding my hand down to rest around his throat instead.
He went still.
I loved the feel of his thrumming pulse under my palm. Besides, even after kissing him senseless, I could tell that he’d still been veering toward a freak-out, but any form of restraint always calmed him down. Reminded him of how it was between us.
See? Not so shabby at the boyfriending after all, huh?
“We’re gonna sort all that shit out,” I told him, because making that happen was the only answer that was gonna work for me. “But not tonight, okay? You know I’m not going to let you go, right? So there’s nothing else for you to worry about. I’ve got this.”
He stared up at me for-fucking-ever before finally relaxing again. “Okay,” he said, giving me a tiny little smile that did stupid things to my heart.
I grinned. “Yeah?”
He nodded. “I mean, if you’re really sure that you want—”
“I do,” I cut in, because whatever he’d been about to say, it was true. I wanted fuckingeverythingwith him. “Now what are we here for tonight?”
He blinked, glancing behind me as if he’d just remembered where we were. “Um, Brian’s birthday?”
I mean, technically. But—
“To have a good time, sweetness,” I corrected him.
“Oh, okay,” he said, nodding earnestly. Then he glanced toward the door Brian had disappeared through a few minutes ago, swallowing hard as he started to get a little deer-in-the-headlights again. “I’ll… I’ll do my best, Tyson.”
Yeah, no. That wasn’t going to work for me, not when he looked like he was worried that his “best” might not be good enough. As far as I was concerned, there was no way Sean was ever gonna do anything thatwasn’tgood enough, not when making me happy was basically his holy grail. And since mine was the only opinion that mattered when it came to him—at least, as far as I was concerned—I wasn’t gonna put up with any of this doubting-himself bullshit. Not on my watch. We were gonna get right back on the make-him-too-horny-to-be-nervous train, thank you very much. Starting now.
Although side note: I was pretty fucking sure I knew exactly who was to blame for Sean not realizing how goddamn perfect he was, and I for damn sure wasn’t going to let her take him away from me, not next year and not ever. In fact, if I ever met her in person… just sayin’, obviously I wouldn’t make it physical, but I really couldn’t be blamed for anything that might come out of my mouth, you know?
Although all bets were off if she ever tried to lay hands on him again.
I ground my teeth together, then shoved that ugly thought away with a vengeance because I had a sexy boy—myboyfriend, dammit—staring up at me with that eager, please-tell-me-I’ve-said-the-right-thing look, and no fucking way was I going to let him down the way his parentals or anyone else had.
Sean was mine, and even though I’d never wanted a “mine” before since I’d always been a quantity-over-quality kind of guy before realizing I could actually have both in one cock-pleasing, twinkalicious package, now that Idid, I was goddamn well gonnaprotectwhat was mine from anyone who even considered not treating him the way he deserved... no matter what right they mistakenly thought they had to him.
Looking at you, Mama Bitch.
I spread my palm open over Sean’s slim chest, pushing him back against the wall and holding him there. “I don’t want you to worry about doing your best, baby, I just want you to do whatever I tell you to, got it?”
