Page 203 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

There.

Kade may not remember the man he was, but he recognises power. He feels it in the sudden tension of Lachlan’s body above him, in the breath held hot between their mouths, in the hand that closes around his hip before remembering the bruises and loosening again.

That carefulness is unbearable. ‘Don’t be gentle.’

‘You almost died.’

‘And I didn’t.’

‘You haven’t healed enough for this.’

Kade slides his hand into Lachlan’s hair and draws him down until their mouths graze. ‘You don’t know what I’m asking.’ He arches into the narrow space Lachlan has left between them. Pain catches beneath his ribs, sharp but brief, swallowed immediately by the heat of Lachlan’s body and the low noise his movement draws from him.

‘Careful,’ Lachlan murmurs. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’

‘You won’t.’

‘I might.’

‘Let me decide.’

Lachlan has one hand braced beside Kade’s head, holding his weight away from his chest. Kade wraps his arms around Lachlan’s body and pulls him slowly down on top until they’re flush and the mild ache dissolves like sugar in water.

‘Does it hurt?’ Lachlan asks, looking down at their bodies. ‘Are you—?’

‘I’d tell you if it did, Bodyguard.’

Kade’s legs open slowly, locking loosely around Lachlan’s thighs. His senses are filled with his scent.

Beneath soap and skin, Lachlan Tanner smells like how it feels to be the first one awake, sitting in the sunrise and knowing today will be a good one.

Honeycomb and summer storm.

‘Promise?’

‘I promise.’

Lachlan’s mouth moves to Kade’s jaw, then lower, finding the quickened pulse beneath his skin and worshipping it, suckling the skin.

‘Have you…?’

‘I’m gonna make you say it,’ Kade moans as his hips roll against the man above him and a frisson of pleasurable friction through clothes sends riots of bliss into his bloodstream. ‘Come on, Bodyguard.’

‘Have you done this before?’

‘Done what?’

‘Kade.’

‘Jules. Julian.’

‘Have you had sex with a guy, you little brat?’ Lachlan murmurs with affectionate irritation, bending to softly bite his jaw. ‘I’m assuming you have, I just—’

‘No.’

‘No?’

‘You were my first kiss.’