Yes, maybe being so eager myself was uncool, but right then, I didn’t care. I didn’t think Landon was the type of person to judge someone on that kind of thing.
Landon smiled. “Okay. Still, come up now?”
How the hell was I going to say no to that?
I followed him up to his apartment. The elevator made a strange groaning sound on the way up, but it was a nicer building than the one I lived in.
But when he let me inside, there was something wrong with this place. It felt—it felt off, like the walls themselves were grief-stricken.
The furniture was bland, but nicely kept up. None of it was particularly offensive. Even the pile of boxes in the corner that showed he hadn’t gotten all the way through with unpacking wasn’t enormous or unexpected.
There was nothing overtly wrong, except thesmell.
There was the scent of this place—which, yes, smelled like Landon and a warm, vanilla-bourbon sweetness, but also had the acrid salt scent of tears in the air and a heavy, sticky sadness—and then there was the scent I’d gotten used to, the one that was all him. That same sweet musk and printer toner and the coffee we’d had earlier. All night, he’d smelledhappy.
Happy with me.
And now, I could see beyond that. Smell beyond it. Whatever.
“So... coffee?” Landon said. “Or something else. I have, uh, water? Probably orange juice.”
I didn’t know how to answer that right away. I didn’twantanything. Not while my brain was screeching that something was wrong and I needed to pin him down and sit on his chest until I figured it out. A panther’s instincts begged me to pursue him relentlessly, pounce and demand answers and openness that, on two legs, people didn’t get to dig for. It only came with trust and time.
But the truth was, I didn’t want anything more than I wanted him.
That sharp sadness scent that lingered in the air here was all too familiar, and I wanted to throw open the windows, turn on the fans, and drive it away. Or really, I just wanted him tobehappy. It wasn’t like his place smelled bad. A little too clean, maybe, and the cardboard boxes piled up in the corner carried an alien presence that kept this from feeling entirely like Landon’s home, but nothing bad.
I didn’t give a damn how it smelled, so long as he was happy. So far, all evidence pointed to the fact that I made him feel that way.
At least, he’d felt that way when we were together.
And damn it all, I’d do whatever it took to make him happy.
I crossed the living room to where he stood, lingering between the carpet and the edge of the kitchen tiles. My palm slid across his cheek, and he turned into the touch.
“What are you doing?” he whispered, biting his lip and looking up at me through his golden-brown lashes.
“I was going to kiss you,” I breathed into the space between our mouths and traced my thumb against the shell of his ear. “Iwantto kiss you.”
“Oh.”
At first, I thought that tiny little syllable was going to be his only response, but next thing I knew, his hands were in my hair, fingers curled and pulling at it so the most delicious tingle shot down my spine. He dragged me down, and then his lips were under mine, soft and yielding.
I nipped his bottom lip, and the sound of Landon’s whimper went straight to my cock. The way he opened for me was a clear invitation, and I plunged my tongue into his mouth, determined to learn the exact shape of him.
With my fingers pressed into the small of his back, I walked him toward the kitchen island until his pert ass pressed against the side of the cabinet. Once I had him pinned there, I could feel every inch of him against me, his cock trapped against my thigh, rigid and straining.
I shifted my knee between his, and his breath caught. He looked up at me, pupils blown so wide that his eyes looked black with just a sliver of amber at the edges.
“Feels like I could fly, in the sight of your eye.”
Landon’s brow furrowed, even as he squirmed against my thigh. “Are you... composing lyrics?”
I snorted. “Badly.” With my hands on his hips, I pulled him close. “Forgive me. You’re distracting.”
I lowered my lips to his neck, and he tilted his head to the side to offer his skin up to me. All it took was the graze of a kiss, and I felt it—a vibrating purr in his chest.
I grinned into the crook between his neck and shoulder, and swore to myself right then and there thatthiswas the Landon I’d do anything to keep—the one happy enough to purr for me.
