The fear.
The elation.
I opened the door, every nerve stretched to breaking point. What if Saint had already left?
What if Alexei had?
But I found Alexei on the bed, stretched out on his belly as he flicked through the small stack of vinyl records I kept by the turntable my dad had left behind. I’d changed everything else about this room, but not that.
“He is in the shower,” he said without looking up. “I cannot clean a wound that will get wet again as soon as he leaves.”
“That sounds like you think he’s gonna stay a while.” I set the first aid kit on the bed. I wanted to treat Alexei’s wound myself but knew I’d puke if I looked too hard at it.
He’s okay. It’s a scratch.
Nope. Still puking. “You two getting along okay? I forgot to introduce you.”
A smirk crossed Alexei’s face. “He does not need an introduction when you talk about him all the time.”
“I don’t do that.”
“Not always with words.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
Alexei held out a vinyl record and inclined his head towards the turntable. “That we know each other already, no? You don’t have to supervise us.”
I glanced at the record. “Judas Priest?”
“I liked the title.”
Screaming For Vengeance.I blew out a breath. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”
Alexei snorted and rolled onto his back. “Sarcasm is very strange when you do it.”
I didn’t want to know what he meant by that. I put the record on and set the volume low and heady. Then I shut the curtains and joined him on the bed with the bottle of aged rum I kept in my drawer for people I liked.
No glasses.
Alexei eyed the bottle and then me as I took a healthy swig. “Curative?”
“Maybe.” I set the bottle aside before I tipped too much down my throat. As much as I wanted to take the edge off the night, I still needed what was left of my wits. “Want some?”
“I can think of better medicine.”
The gleam in his eye was unmistakable and I wondered if he’d forgotten Saint was in the bathroom.Course he hasn’t.I was willing to bet that Alexei wasn’t a man who forgot much at all.
But was he a man who liked an audience? So much of our time together had been ours alone that I had no idea.
However he fell on it, though, I had to kiss him. Touch him. Feel his body pressed against mine before I lost my head.
I gripped the nape of his neck and hauled him closer, taking his mouth in a rough kiss that seared my senses enough that I could fucking breathe again. His low noise of satisfaction went straight to my cock, and it dawned on me that I had zero problem fucking him with Saint in the bathroom.
Or with Saint on the bed beside us.
Fuck, I want them both.
It wasn’t the first time it had hit me, but with Saint so close, it punched differently now. I kissed Alexei harder, my brain swimming, heart pounding, and as the bathroom door opened, I couldn’t stop.
