Leon’s look was pure aristocratic disdain. “Not for much longer.”
The porch boards creaked under their weight, and Leon didn’t hesitate before opening the door and leaning in. “Out,” he said, with the tone most people used on telemarketers. “Karl needs his bed back.”
There was an indignant hiss from inside, then the flash of a long, annoyed tail as a sleek shape disappeared through the open back window.
Karl raised his eyebrows. “And you saywolvesare weird?”
“Why use a door when there’s a perfectly good window?” Leon countered.
Somehow, Karl didn’t have an answer for that. As so often with Leon, he turned everythingupside down yet made it sound reasonable.
The bunkhouse smelled like new wood as Karl walked in, with the trace of his scent still present under sweeter feline ones. And Leon’s scent, deep in his lungs, in his heart. He didn’t want to be without it ever again.
He turned to see Leon lounging against the doorjamb, making even a casual posture look somehow graceful and elegant.
“You planning on standing there looking pretty, or are you coming in?”
That got him movement. Leon crossed the threshold, something predatory in his stride that sent a delicious shiver down Karl’s spine.
For once, there was no background noise in Karl’s head. No threat assessment or mission parameters. No worry about his pack. Just Leon, and the feel of his own pulse pounding beneath his skin.
Chapter Thirty-seven
LEON
Karl was watching him with that steady wolf’s gaze, but Leon knew the balance had shifted, could hear it in the way Karl’s breathing roughened when he stepped closer.
He wanted him—had wanted him for too long. And now that they had privacy andtime,Leon had no intention of holding back.
He closed the last few inches of distance, slow but deliberate, until the heat of Karl’s body pressed against his own. He reached up, hooked his fingers into the hem of Karl’s sweater, and tugged it up and off.Finally, nothing between his hands and all that solid muscle and warm skin.
The rise and fall of Karl’s chest was fast and uneven, and he knew that Karl was allowing this, holding himself still, giving Leon the power.
Leon had slept with a lot of guys, and he wasalwaysin charge, even when the other guy didn’t realize it. This was the first time he’d been with someone and it felt as if they were equals. Hecouldn’t tell whether it was because Karl matched him in every way, or because Leon didn’t feel the need to keep in control, to keep his defenses up in the same way. Both of those things were true and he supposed, when it came down to it, it didn’t really matter why.
Still, it did something to him, the knowledge that Karl could turn this on its head quicker than thought, if he chose. Instead, he was waiting, seeing what Leon would do. Seeing what Leonwanted,and just for an instant, his heart ached even more than the urgency coiling at the base of his spine, the heat pooling low in his belly.
He moved in and captured Karl’s mouth, hot and demanding, tongue sliding deep. Karl opened to him without hesitation, groaning into the kiss, and Leon’s hands were already at his waist, knuckles grazing the skin of his stomach as he opened the warm leather of his belt, greedy for more skin. The rasp of the zipper between them was obscenely loud.
When Leon palmed the hard line of Karl’s cock through the cotton of his briefs, Karl whined into his mouth, a sound so raw it made Leon’s knees weak. And then Karl finally moved, one large hand wound in Leon’s hair as he kissed him like he was air that Karl needed in order to live.
Leon broke the kiss only long enough to tear his shirt off, breath ragged. He wanted to make this last, to draw out the anticipation the way he’d imagined a hundred times, but he couldn’t hold back. Not now.
Seemed Karl was of a like mind, because there was no teasing, drawn-out, sexy removing of one another’s clothes, but more a mad scramble to get out of their own, even if Leon did have to bite back a smirk at the way Karl’s breath drew in sharply as Leon wriggled to get out of his jeans. He’d always said tight jeans were an investment.
And then Karl moved, like a storm front or a hurricane or something else that rolled over Leon, irresistible, because Leon was somehow flat on the bed, Karl’s heavy, solid weight pressing him into the mattress. He welcomed it, God, did he welcome it, arching up against him, Karl’s cock hot and insistent against his own. When their eyes met, Karl’s were dark and fierce—and beneath it, a tenderness that shook Leon to the core.
“God,” Leon whispered, rolling his hips up against Karl again, “you feel so fucking good.”
Karl kissed him then, maddeningly slow, tongue flicking and retreating until Leon was panting and chasing after it. When they’d first met, he’d thought Karl was all blunt force, bossy wolf, but here he was teasing him to pieces, dismantling him kiss by kiss. Leon had never been so hard, never wanted anyone so badly.
Karl eventually allowed Leon to kiss him back, and Leon took his chance. He twisted up from underneath Karl, with some very sexy writhing, he might add, and put Karl on his back before he knew what was happening. Cats were sneakier than wolves. Karl would have to get used to it.
And then he took a moment, pushing up just tolook.God, he was beautiful. Broad and powerful, muscles shifting under scarred skin, eyes dark as Leon bent to worship Karl’s chest, sucking his nipples until Karl’s gasps turned to hoarse pleas, his fingers tight in Leon’s hair.
And while Leon would be happy to torture Karl all night at any other time, right now, it wasn’t what he wanted. He slid down Karl’s body, pressing little kisses and licks as he went, letting his hair trail in his wake, until he got to Karl’s cock and swallowed him deep, savoring the taste, the weight, the heat.
Karl’s curses and pleas tangled together, but he wasn’t going to let Karl finish like this—not this time. He pulled off with a wetsound, ignoring Karl’s broken protest. He wanted more,neededmore.
