“Work will be wrapped up tomorrow actually, but I’m not letting anyone down there until the checks are done.”
“Not even me? I’d be more than happy to do some quality checks,” Darren said sultrily. But despite the flirtatiousnature of his tone, there was something guarded in it.
Aiden summoned a small smile and held Darren’s gaze for a few heartbeats, cutting off eye contact just as those captivating pools of indigo threatened to derail him again. “Seven sharp, Mr. Howe. Don’t be late.”
Chapter 17
Darren arrived at Aiden’soffice with forty seconds to spare, earning himself a totally-not-sarcastic comment about his timeliness. It comprised something along the lines of an asteroid almost annihilating the station just because he’d been too slow to initiate the shielding protocols. He snorted and took his usual spot on the couch, noticing that only the wall lamp was on. It gave the room a dim ambience more appropriate for sleeping than working, but it provided sufficient illumination.
“So, what am I helping you with today?” Darren asked once he was comfortable.
Aiden stood up and handed him the tablet without a comment. Judging by the checklists that needed organizing and printing off, this was for tomorrow’s inspection of the renovated areas.
Still, Darren suspected there was more to him being here than just menial tasks, though he didn’t voice thatsuspicion and focused on his work, conscious of the fact that he’d pushed too far last time. Yet, he was somehow still the warden’s secretary.
Later, when he was done and about to put away the device after staring at the screen blankly for some time, Aiden said, “Mr. Howe, I take it you are done?”
Darren blinked, feeling the tug of a smirk. Aiden must’ve been observing him for a while if he was making such a comment. “Yeah, just so.”
Aiden inclined his head at the pile of paper sitting on the copier tray. “Fetch me the printouts, maybe?”
When Darren brought them over and placed them at the front of the desk, he half expected a pat on his head and a ‘good boy’. He got neither. The disappointment that hit him pulled an amused laugh out of him that had Aiden scrunching his nose as he looked up from the screen.
“What is so funny, Mr. Howe?”
Darren considered the pros and cons of replying honestly, ultimately deciding to roll with it since it felt like Aiden had given him an opening anyway. “Nothing. I just wondered whether I’d get a pat on the head and praise from you for a job well done,” he said, planting his hands on the desk’s edge and leaning forward.
Aiden threw him a stern look, narrowing his eyes behind his thick-framed glasses. “Mr. Howe, if I am understanding you correctly, you’d like me to…petyour head?”
“Amongst other things,” Darren dared to add. He wasn’t sure he should have, but he wanted to test the waters, to see where they stood since the accident in the storage area. His dick was already half-hard just from thinking about it.
“Do I venture to ask what those other things might entail?” Aiden challenged, leaning back in his chair with a sigh.
Darren bit on his bottom lip, pulse skyrocketing when Aiden’s gaze cut to his mouth without a fail. “I don’t know WardenKesley. I’d say it depends on whether or not you are ready to hear what those other things might be.”
Aiden made a face—his version of rolling his eyes—and reached out to take the printouts, but Darren clasped his wrist, doing so before he’d thought the impulsive action through.
“Mr. Howe?” Aiden said, his voice coming out a little huskier, like he’d breathed in and not gotten enough air.
Darren propped his thighs against the desk and leaned even further, bringing the back of Aiden’s hand to his lips. He let out a few exhales, the soft puffs of air crashing against the cool skin of the warden. When Aiden didn’t pull away but just kept glaring at him with a mixture of disapproval and anticipation, Darren jutted his tongue out and ghosted it over Aiden’s knuckles, allowing just for the barest of touches.
A thrill of desire ransacked his body when Aiden’s eyes fluttered closed for the briefest of moments. His heart raced, reveling in the way the warden was giving control away. Aiden’s body was surrendering, giving in.Shivering at the touch.He tried to mask his reaction, but Darren felt the restrained tremble he’d provoked anyway, taking that as enough of a cue that his tongue was welcome to further explore Aiden’s slim fingers.
He enveloped it around Aiden’s index finger, then slid it down along the inner side, taking the tip in his mouth. Aiden’s nostrils flared, and the sound went straight to Daren’s cock, making it throb. When he tiltedhis head and looked up, he sucked in a sharp breath at the way those golden hazel eyes were laser-focused on him, on every stroke of his tongue.
“Should I stop…Warden Kesley?” he said, his voice hoarse even to his own ears.
“You should,” Aiden breathed out, the dark spark in his gaze turning molten. “Probably.” His expression changed from neutral to strained.
With the dim ambience, his face was half in shadow and half in light in a way that made him look even more alluring. Ethereal, like some illusion sent here to tempt Darren. To trick him. To play with him. To rip him open and dig out all his secrets…
Or was he projecting? Looking for things that weren’t there when all Aiden wanted was to have some fun?
“Something tells me you don’t want me to stop,” Darren pointed out and then regretted it immediately when it seemed to break the spell.
Aiden pinched his eyebrows together, yanking his hand away as if bitten. The spark in his eyes vanished and his expression lost its allure, morphing back into that mask of neutrality which Darren wanted so badly to tear off. To break and rip off, so he could see the real man beneath it who couldn’t cling so well to his own imposed self-control.
Darren mourned the loss of physical contact between them as Aiden closed his eyes and worked to gather himself.Shit. He had been too direct, too tactless, pushing his luck again because he simply couldn’t resist the little openings Aiden Kesley was giving him. He was repeating the same mistake from the storage area, approaching this as if he was the one in charge. It wasn’t because he didn’t know not to do it, but because he simply couldn’t stop himself.
