“You meant that, too.”
“You’ve been watching me for over a year,” he reminded. “You should have picked up on the fact I rarely waste my words. I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
“Except for when you’re denying you want me,” he countered.
Rabbit dropped his arm and tried to straighten from the counter, pursing his lips when Baikal refused to move out of the way.
“I let you run already,” the Brumal Prince said. “You’re done for the day.”
“Void.”
“Hmm?”
Rabbit exhaled in mock annoyance. “Just…” he circled his finger in the air, “take your clothes off already.”
That at least got him to finally step back, but as he started to take his shirt off he asked, “You remember what I said downstairs?”
“Yes,” Rabbit replied tersely, trying, and failing, to avoid looking as all of that toned body was exposed to view. Because of his beiska playing, he’d been photographed and displayed on magazine covers practically all his life, but it should have been Baikal on them instead.
His muscles rippled as he removed the shirt and started on his pants, the long length of his fit torso catching Rabbit’s attention the way his mint-flavored candy bars used to.
“You’re drooling,” Baikal teased, but Rabbit checked, swiping the back of his hand over his mouth.
“Bastard.”
“Keep calling me names,” he dared, stepping out of his pants and boxers all at once so that he was left completely naked before Rabbit. “I’m going to enjoy taking it out on your ass later. I gave you a break last night to let you fully heal from our first time, but you won’t be getting so lucky tonight.”
He hummed. “Pretty sure I will be.”
Baikal blinked at him. “Did you just make a sex joke?”
“Why? Are you the only one allowed to do that?”
He reached for him and started turning him every which way.
“What are you doing?” Rabbit shook him off.
“Checking to make sure you haven’t been replaced with a robot.”
He laughed, the sound bright and vibrant, filling the bathroom with a lingering echo that trickled away as Baikal stared awestruck.
“Do that again,” he ordered.
“Do what?” Realizing he meant for him to laugh, Rabbit shook his head. “You have to say something funny first, and that’s a rarity for you.”
“Another insult? Really?”
“I’m on a roll tonight,” Rabbit stated.
“You’re about to be on your back with your knees up by your ears.”
All of the out-of-character playfulness he’d been feeling dried up in a flash at that, his chest constricting as his mind formed an image of what that would look and feel like. Rabbit shivered, the anticipation rising to impossible levels within him. He didn’t even care that he was suddenly hard, or that Baikal obviously noticed.
“Strip,” the order was given in a clipped tone, leaving no room for argument.
Which was good, because Rabbit had lost all ability to form speech. Before he could fully process what he was doing, was giving into the command, starting with the thin black belt around his waist. His eyes remained locked on Baikal the entire time, his clothes uncaringly torn from his body and tossed onto the sink counter.
At least his buttons had survived intact this time. A small win in the grand scheme of things, considering it was glaringly apparent now that Rabbit had lost in all other categories.
