Page 56 of Just the Pool Boy at Vampire Mansion

“Wow. And there it is. The truth.”

“No, Theo.” I reached for him but dropped my hand before touching him. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Other things, Owen.” His laugh came out hollow.

“Wait, no, c’mon, I . . .” Over his shoulder, in the rooftop bar, my gaze caught the pickup truck driver weaving through the crowd. A foot taller than almost everyone here, Sweet was hard to miss. My heart dropped. Not here, not now. Sweet was clearly searching for something. Or someone. Me.

I swallowed hard.

Theo was still ranting about my slip-up.

Sweet hadn’t seen me, but with the way he scanned the crowd, he would any second now.

My heart pounded harder, climbing up my throat. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run to.

“Kiss me,” I told Theo.

He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening. “What?”

“Right now. Quickly.”

“Uh—”

I grabbed his shirt, pulled him close, and slapped a kiss on his lips. I hadn’t really thought it through, just that I knew two guys kissing was more likely to turn off a straight guy, and there hadn’t been anywhere else to hide.

That was what I told myself, but my body wasn’t buying what my mind was selling.

Theo grunted, startled. His soft mouth quickly opened, and before I could think about panicking, his tongue thrust in, and so help me, I was kissing him back. His arm came up around my back, pulling me tight against his chest, and between one second and the next, we were into it. More than into it. Theo kissed like he was starved, like he’d been holding himself back for days, not hours, like he’d been thinking about this a lot.

I hadn’t meant to start something, but now I didn’t want it to stop.

Damn, yes. Finally!

His leg shifted and the inside of his thigh brushed the outside of mine, slotting us close. I dropped my left hand to his hip while my right went to the back of his neck, fingers combing into his hair. His mouth savaged mine, taking then giving. We rocked, push and pull, teeth and tongues. I had no idea where the mindless lust had come from, but I was riding its wave and having the time of my life.

Theo’s mouth left mine and found its way to my jaw. I tilted my head, might have moaned a little, and I felt the smile on his lips as his kisses trailed downward.

His chest against mine, the heat of his thigh burning through my pants, into my skin. Holy heck, all the need and desire I hadn’t been able to satisfy in years came roaring back.

I pulled him closer, harder. I hadn’t had a man, or anyone, touch me intimately since before prison. My love life was a thirsty desert. I’d almost forgotten I was a living, breathing person who needed and wanted. But now, all that suppressed need came alive, in public, on a rooftop, surrounded by people and my ex’s henchman. I didn’t care about any of that. My whole life, my world, funneled into this one painfully urgent moment.

His hot mouth touched my neck, his lips teased, then his tongue, and I clutched at his hip, digging my fingers in, needing him closer somehow.

Theo groaned, then abruptly his mouth was on mine again, one hand at my back, the other dropping to my ass, grinding me close. Damn, my body had woken up, coming alive, getting hard and hungry.

“Fuckin’ hot!” someone laughed, passing us by.

It broke the spell. Theo pulled back and smiled onto my lips. I tried to chase a closing kiss, but he bowed his head and gently stepped away. His absence let a coldness rush in, spilling a shiver through me. I faced the rail and tried to divert my thoughts away from the uncomfortable physical situation going on in my pants, which was about to become even more uncomfortable if I didn’t cool down soon.

Theo brushed a thumb across his lips, savoring the taste, and glanced behind him, searching for whatever had spooked me. “Owen, what was that about?”

Shoot, I’d been hoping he hadn’t noticed. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?” He laughed dryly, and quickly dropped a hand to adjust his pants. “That definitely wasn’t nothing.”

“Can we uh . . . Can we go someplace else?”

Theo studied me for a few beats too long. He was smart. He knew I’d used him to hide something, or hide myself.