“Fucking hell, Lucy,” I groaned, slipping my right hand under his thigh and yanking it up around my waist.
“Knox,” he gasped in response, grip tightening on my chest and hair, and his ankle hooking around the base of my spine.
His other leg came next, and I was hauling him into my arms before I was pressing him back against the wall, the friction sending a bolt of need that had me hardening in my pants and Lucy’s hips rolling against my stomach.
I opened my eyes and was greeted with the sight of the beautiful man in front of me, looking aroused and wanting. His eyes were lidded, his hair askew against the wall, and his head tilted, exposing a perfect column of pale skin on his throat.
Before I could blink, my mouth was on the pulse of his neck, and I was scraping my teeth against it as he whimpered.
The base of my neck sparked as his grip tightened on my hair and tugged it harder than Lucy likely intended.
“Sorry,” he breathed, breath ragged.
“I’m not,” I argued, slipping one hand under Lucy’s shirt to trace along the column of his spine.
He shivered, and I felt every inch of it against me.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
Three shots were fired off, and my vest deactivated, signaling my death.
I groaned and dropped my forehead against Lucy’s collarbone as he went still in my arms.
Duke laughed. “Seriously, you two? We are in the middle of a war.”
I turned my head to glare at him, but he didn’t look apologetic in the slightest.
He shrugged. “Well, not anymore. You lose, Knox. You owe me lunch of my choice, which I have decided is about half a dozen hot dogs from that cart two blocks over. Now put Lucy down. My virgin eyes can’t handle this.”
“I will pluck out your so-called virgin eyes, Duke,” I growled.
Lucy nudged my arm, and I reluctantly set him back on his feet.
Even under the black lights, I could tell his entire face was bright red from being caught in such a compromising position. His face was down-turned, which I wasn’t at all okay with. I never wanted him to feel guilty about anything we did, as sudden as these things seemed to happen.
“We’ll meet you out there,” Maisie said with a small smile as she tugged Duke out while he complained. She sent a look to Kaiden, who obediently started hauling Tucker out, too.
“Thanks.” I nodded. “We’ll be right behind you.”
I turned back to Lucy, who was fixing his hair from the mess I’d made of it.
It wouldn’t have been a big deal, except that I’d seen him do the same thing earlier when he was trying to pull himself together after something intense and stressful.
“Hey, it’s okay.” I tried to keep my tone steady, wanting to soothe him a bit so he would relax again.
Well, maybe not quite as relaxed as when I’d had him against the wall, but I would take what I could get, and it was dangerous how much I wanted him against that wall again.
“That was,” he shook his head, “I’m sorry.”
“Lucy.” I ducked so I could meet his eyes, where they were still looking at the floor.
Lucy caught my eye, and his blush returned. “What?”
I smiled. Maybe Maisie wasn’t so far off when saying he relaxed enough around me to be himself again. To not hide behind his politeness—at least not entirely. “Don’t be sorry. I’m not, so you shouldn’t be either.”
“Your friends just caught us making out like teenagers when I’m supposed to be making a good impression.”
Fuck, he was pouting. How did I end up wanting someone who could go from hot and wanting to soft and pouty in less than a minute?
