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Uriel startled. How long had Bruiser been standing there?

Before he could think of something to say, Bruiser filled the silence. “Do you need to be touched?”

A hot shiver ran down his spine. Uriel wet his lips and took a step back, his heart thumping.

“It makes sense,” Bruiser said quietly. “If you’ve been pretending to be an alpha all this time, for... however long, then you haven’t had the kind of touch you need.”

“I d-don’t need,” Uriel mumbled, hurrying to the kitchen to escape that piercing stare.

Except Bruiser followed him into the kitchen, pressing him up against the counter.

Uriel stared at the wall unseeingly, too aware of the enticing warmth against his back.

“Show me,” Bruiser said. He gripped the counter on either side of Uriel’s arms, and slowly pressed the front of his body against Uriel’s back. Uriel shuddered. Bruiser’s lips skimmed his hair. “Show me how you would throw me across the kitchen.”

10

FIRST TOUCH

Uriel couldn’t push Bruiser away. He wanted to close his eyes and flatten himself against that warmth. “I don’t look like...” His voice cracked. “You don’t want...”

“Is that why? This whole time you’ve been fighting me, it’s because you don’t think I could meet your needs?”

“You wouldn’t want—”

“Close your eyes.” Bruiser pressed his large hand over Uriel’s eyes, throwing him into darkness. “Just feel.”

With his other hand, he grasped Uriel’s arm and squeezed, warm calloused fingers skimming down Uriel’s skin. He caressed Uriel’s forearm, dry hand sliding over Uriel’s fingers and squeezing them. Then he stroked Uriel’s wrist and meandered back up his arm, thumbing the sensitive skin on the inside of Uriel’s elbow.

Bruiser squeezed Uriel’s shoulder and trailed his fingertips up Uriel’s neck, lingering on the pulse point at his throat. He touched Uriel’s jaw with a butterfly-light pressure, over his cheek and under his lower lip, leaving a trail of tingles in his wake.

Uriel’s breath rushed out. He’d never been touched like this, not even as Aerie. And now every single one of his nerves was attuned to Bruiser’s electric touch, the way he caressed Uriel’s vulnerable throat, the way he flattened his hand on Uriel’s chest, rubbing him through his shirt.

“Exactly like this,” Bruiser murmured, smoothing one hand around Uriel’s nipple, then the other nipple. He squeezed them through Uriel’s shirt so milk dripped out, wetting the fabric.

Bruiser stroked Uriel’s sides next, then skimmed his hand back around to Uriel’s belly, narrowly avoiding his crotch. He swept his hand down Uriel’s thigh, then down his other thigh and back up, one finger ghosting the side of Uriel’s balls through his pants. Uriel gasped.

“You can be a good omega, can’t you?” Bruiser murmured in his ear. “Lean forward a little. Show me your ass.”

Uriel shuddered, his pulse hammering. “I’m not a good—”

“Yes, you are. And yes, you can be.” Bruiser ran his large hand down Uriel’s spine, to the hem of his shirt. Then he slipped his hand under Uriel’s shirt and made the same trip up his back, except this time he was touching bare skin.

Uriel clutched the counter, his entire body quivering. He hadn’t had this in so long. Maybe never, not like this.

“Beautiful,” Bruiser murmured.

“I’m not,” Uriel said shakily.

“Shh. Stop thinking.” Bruiser rubbed his back again, several times, until Uriel slowly relaxed. Then he worked his fingers down the back of Uriel’s pants, skimming them over his briefs. “Feels like you’ve grown even wetter.”

He rubbed the soaked fabric and tucked it between Uriel’s cheeks, pressing deeply enough that his fingers bumped against Uriel’s hole. Uriel trembled, his breath rushing out.

“This is where you want me to touch you,” Bruiser whispered, rubbing his entrance through the soaked fabric. “This is why you kept quiet and let me rut against you, isn’t it? You wanted my cock here.”

Uriel whimpered.

“Did you imagine my bare cock between your cheeks?” Bruiser murmured, grinding his finger against Uriel’s hole. “Pressing against you here, working you open?” He tapped Uriel’s hole and pushed down on it, so it opened under the drenched fabric and accepted Bruiser’s fingertip. Bruiser hissed. “You’re so hot inside. Growing wetter and wetter. If I reach around, I’d find you rock-hard, wouldn’t I? About to shoot everywhere.”