Zack folded his arms over his chest. He dipped his head down for a heartbeat, which wasn’t long because his pulse was thundering. Once Roger had tuned in to it, he was distracted until Zack raised his head and spoke. “Is this where we loop back around to you calling me your boyfriend?”
“If you can first admit that your research into my love life is incomplete data since we’ve never talked about it before,” Roger replied.
“It’s notthatincomplete,” Zack said sharply. When Roger started to glare, he added, “The emotional ins and outs, yeah, okay. I don’t have the personal side of it. But you, yourself, have told me that you usually have multiple pets. You’ve told me that you usually have a special connection to them. And I know you well enough to figure out that you were dating a vampire or two while you kept pets and that, for you, keeping is basically dating. And I’ve seen enough pictures to know they’re way hotter than me.”
Roger rolled so that he was face-to-face with Zack and put a hand on the counter on either side of him. From this position, Zack couldn’t hide while Roger spoke to him. “You are a terrible judge of hotness if you find nothing beautiful about yourself.”
“Have you seen Dmitri? Takashi? Carver?” Zack bit his bottom lip, and he did try to avoid Roger’s gaze, but they were too close together. After a slight rocking motion, he sighed heavily and dropped his shoulders. “Come on. Even Quinn was fucking hot.”
“Stars have half the shine of your gray eyes, and the wind only pretends to have a measure of your boldness,” Roger whispered. “A hundred poets could spend a hundred years, and yet they would not capture the subtle grace in the way you tilt your head before you laugh. They would fail to note how apencil spins between your deft fingers like a ballerina’s pirouette because they would be caught off guard with the way you grin when you’ve discovered a clue. They would be too drawn to how you wield your dagger as if it is a flawless extension of your arm to notice the line of your back leads perfectly to the round shape of your ass. And likely none of them would spot the flustered smile that dances across your lips in a moment whenever you’re far too turned on to speak because it vanishes as you strangle that desire out of fear.”
Zack hadn’t looked away, and Roger had held his gaze through the entire makeshift poem. He sunk against the counter as Roger spoke. His breathing picked up slowly, and his heart continued in its steady, quickened race. Along with sandalwood and mortal iron, he began to smell of his want, a bubbling lust that was seeping upward.
Roger waited for Zack to put the lid on that want. He usually did, and all Roger could do was admire the control that took. They had been together more than a few times, but nothing had been like that first time, when Roger stroked Zack to completion and only watched him in his pleasure. As much as they could make each other come, that time had meant more than any of the others so far.
Because Zack had held back all those other times. He had fun—Roger had seen that—but there hadn’t been the need in him like he’d needed to be touched the first time.
“I guess you have noticed me,” Zack murmured.
Roger grinned at him. “Maybe a little.”
Zack scoffed and managed a small laugh. He straightened, and Roger mimicked his motion, going to his full height, which was nearly half a foot taller. Zack leaned his head back to keep his gaze locked with Roger’s. “How come you haven’t slept with Carver?”
“Because,” Roger said lightly, “we have an undefined thing going, and I would never dream of hurting you.”
“So if I said you couldn’t, that’d be it. You just wouldn’t be with anyone else? Not even Takashi?”
“I wouldn’t.” Roger nudged in closer, sliding one leg between Zack’s. “If we agree otherwise, you could find other partners, too.”
“And you would be okay with that?” Zack grinned impishly. “You’d be all right if someone else noticed how my eyes shine brighter than starlight?”
Roger took Zack’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. “I’d hope he would be someone we share or that at the least I know them well. You deserve to be loved, Zack. I want you to have as many kinds of love and as many people that you can handle. I want you to have so much love in your life that you never feel alone in the dark again. Because you are worthallof it.”
Luminous wonder filled Zack’s steely eyes, but Roger tenderly held him in place and made him wait for the kiss he gently touched to his lips. Only then did he slide his hand along Zack’s jaw and toward the back of his head to cup him. Zack’s touch was warm, his mouth a pleasure to explore, and Roger wrapped his arms around him as their kiss deepened.
CHAPTER 12
No one had ever told Zack that he was handsome in that many words. A few people had flirted with him; the dating app he’d tried had been an inconsistent stream of “ur hot” before he deleted it out of annoyance. Previous girlfriends and boyfriends had thought he was cute, but none had expressed the kind of longing that Roger had. They had never been a partner like Roger was trying to be.
Zack threw his arms around Roger’s shoulders and melded up against him. Roger’s arm around him tightened, and that was amazing. Feeling the strength in his arms sparked a buzz in his groin, a building want that threatened to overwhelm him unless he gave in. Responsibilities and schedules and a thousand minutia pressed toward his consciousness, but for once, he could find a way to push them out rather than to build his walls out of them and keep himself from feelingthis. Roger kissed him like the world had stopped spinning for them, as if there was nothing but time.
Roger lifted Zack up to sit on the counter, and the towel became a binding. Zack flung it open so he could spread his legs and wrap them around Roger to bring him closer. With a moan, Roger kissed his neck and slid his hands down. He caressedZack’s inner thighs and eagerly pressed his legs wider, thumbs seeking deeper, brushing along sensitive skin that made Zack groan and his cock thicken. A hint of fang ended one of Roger’s kisses.
Zack slid his hand along Roger’s cheek and then placed his thumb under his jaw to push him back a fraction. He didn’t have to worry about cutting off Roger’s air like he would a mortal—Roger didn’t need it. Heat was in Roger’s eyes, and they had turned a shade of deep red.
“Bite me,” Zack whispered.
Roger moaned and started for Zack’s neck.
But Zack used his grip to keep him from that. “Not there. Down there. If you want.”
“Are you sure?” Roger murmured as he glided his hand along Zack’s inner thigh.
Zack nodded.
Slowly, Roger sank to his knees and kissed the base of Zack’s cock before kissing his thigh. The buzzing of lust inside Zack started to build, and his hunter’s tattoo on his hip warmed.
“Don’t use your magic,” Zack said, breath catching in his throat. Seeing Roger on his knees was rare, and having this vantage point was a blessing. He leaned back for a better view, and his hand knocked the straight razor into the sink. “I want to feel it.”
