“Yeah, God, I get that hard. It happens all the time. All the time. A lot of the time, I don’t even feel like I’m doing it. It feels like something that’s happening to me, more than it feels like something I’m doing.”
He nods in agreement; I can tell he really understands. “Intrusive thoughts, that’s what it’s called. I googled it.”
I smile at the thought of this beautiful boy googling something like that. “Fuck, it’s the worst. I don’t even have to close my eyes to see you. I just do. Even when I’m thinking of something else. I see your face. It just pops into my mind, all mad and indignant, like it was that first day when you were cuffed to the bed and I pulled your hood off. Or I see your eyes flashing when you threatened to annihilate me and prosecute me to the full extent of the law.” I laugh weakly at the thought. “D’you have any idea how sweet I found that, Demon?”
His cheeks pinken, and he gives me a confession of his own. “I'd see you clenching your jaw, sitting on the sofa all burly and tough, watching TV and trying not to strangle me ‘cause I was being so annoying. Damnit, Joey, why’d you have to look so hot when you try not to strangle people?”
“Why’d you have to be so pretty and perfect that the only thing I’ve been able to think of since the second I first saw you was how good it would feel to mess you up, to put my hands all over you and climb inside your body. I haven’t been able to think of anything else.” I run my hands up and down his chest and watch in wonder as his skin breaks out into goosebumps. I lean down and press kisses along his side so softly his prickly flesh tickles my lips. “Still can’t… can’t think of anything else.”
“You know what this means, right?” I run my tongue from his navel to his sternum and look up at him dumbly. My mind is so fixed on messing and dirtying and fucking him up, I’ve started to have a hard time following his train of thought. I sink my mouth onto one nipple pulling into my mouth and teasing it with my tongue. “You’re stuck with me,” he hisses, cocking his head at me in a way that would scare most people. “There’ll never be anyone else for me. And for the avoidance of doubt, Asshole, that means there’ll never be anyone else for you, either.”
“I think I can suffer through that.”
Chapter 35
Demon
One Year Later
“How’dyousleep,Demon?”he asks, rolling over and kissing my temple lightly.
He gives me a soft, sleepy smile. His dark hair and tanned skin look so good nestled against the crisp whiteness of my linen, I almost forget my standard response.
“Like hell. You snored like a tractor. Seriously, I think it’s getting worse. You?”
“Could have been better. Froze my ass off ‘cause some little shit kept stealing the blankets.”
I’m about to start arguing but he’s already up, leaving me to contemplate the spectacular view of his ass as he heads to the door.
When he gets back, he’s carrying a tray with coffee and croissants on it. He sets it down on the bedside table on his side of the bed.
“European?” I wail. “Ah, I was hoping for something hot.”
He eyes me sternly. His jaw is clenched slightly, and his lips are set. His eyes are soft though. They’re always soft now.
“Now look here,” he warns, pointing a finger at me. “You know damn well we’ve packed the kitchen up already. Even if I wanted to, there’s no way I could cook today.”
“I dunno know, I’m pretty sure if youreallywanted to, you could have come up with something better than this.”
He rolls me onto my back, taking a wrist in both of his hands and placing them firmly on either side of my head. He presses his hips against mine, sending a jolt through me as our naked cocks touch.
“Just so you know, Demon.” He kisses my jaw, then my neck. “When the movers came yesterday, I told them to leave the wooden spoon out. The big one. The one you know well.”
I start squirming beneath him immediately. I hate that he knows me so well. I hate that he does this to me. I hate that he knows all my buttons, and I hate that he knows just how to push them. I hate all that, but most of all, I hate how much I love it.
“No time for that,” I say, pushing him off me. “I have to go into the office this morning and you need to get to the new house to oversee the unpacking.”
He gets off me with a reluctant groan and we drink our coffee and eat our croissants. Truthfully, they’re not all that bad. He gets them specially for me. He drives all the way to Brooklyn to pick them up from a little patisserie that only uses butter they make on site.
Once we’re dressed and ready to head out, I kiss him and say, “I’ll see you at the new place at two. Make sure you’re there ‘cause Clara has sworn that they’ll have the whole place unpacked and decorated by then.” He nods and kisses me again. “And Joey, don’t go up to the loft. It’s a surprise. I don’t want you to see it without me.”
He rolls his eyes and sighs loudly. “Iknowit’s a sex room, Damon.”
I allow a flicker of disappointment to wash over my face.
*
Work is dull, I have one meeting that requires me to be switched on, but the rest of the time I sit at my desk and allow my mind to drift to everything that’s happened in the past year.
