Page 26 of Our Radiant Embers

ADAM

I could have laughed it off. Rejected Liam just to prove that I could—that I was still Adam Harrington, and I didn’t get on my knees for anyone. Not if you were the last man on earth.

The thought flickered and died.

Instead, I followed his light tug on my wrist. He was a hint taller than me, leaning back against the desk, and I pressed into the gap between his thighs. Our bodies slotted together, and this was still new for me—the solid hardness of another man’s chest against mine. Our eyes held.

Breathe. I did. The room felt endless around us, bookshelves dissolving into an abstract backdrop as we hung suspended in this uncertain moment of simmering tension. Anyone could walk in on us—my father or Gale, our butler Mr Davies who’d known me for twenty years yet still called me sir. Should I lock the door? But no one would dare to enter without knocking. And I didn’t want to move away from Liam.

If I did, I might chicken out, and God, I wanted this.

“Today, if you please?” Liam’s voice carried a mild taunt. “Unless you’ve lost your nerve?”

I wanted him to choke on his words. To shut up for once. To look at me like I was the only guy in the world.

“You’re not that intimidating,” I shot back, canting my hips forward. The friction left me briefly dizzy, stomach muscles tight with anticipation, our breaths mingling in the electric space between us. He squeezed my wrist, and I retaliated by digging my fingers into his biceps.

A near-brush of our open mouths, but no kissing. Eyes open.

Windows. I glanced over Liam’s shoulder, my desk set at an angle that put visitors at a disadvantage, blinking against daylight, while I could make out every detail of someone’s expression. It was a rarely visited stretch of the gardens too, only Gale and I passing by on runs. Once I got to my knees, all anyone would see was Liam’s back.

Liam’s voice drew my attention back to him. “Are you waiting for an engraved invitation?”

“Eager much?” I countered.

He gave an easy shrug. “We don’t have all day.”

No one spoke to me like that. No one other than Cassandra, that was. ‘You love having a sparring partner,’ she’d told me a couple of days ago, the two of us winding down after a squash session.

‘I thought that was your job,’ I’d said, and she’d had the nerve to laugh at me.

‘Sure, hon. But you’re not attracted to me.’

I was attracted to Liam, true. Didn’t mean I liked him, or that I appreciated being treated like a ‘meh’ kind of option. He wasn’t the type to beg, no. But I wanted to see how far I could push him.

He straightened slightly when I wedged a hand between our bodies, making it easier for me to unbutton his jeans and curl my fingers around the base of his cock. Half-hard already.

I tossed him a smirk. “Aww, and I’ve barely even touched you.”

“Well, you are hot.” One corner of his mouth hitched up, blue eyes sharp. “Shame about the personality.”

“Sure you’re not projecting?”

“How about putting that mouth to better use?”

Strange to think that I was growing familiar with the wry lilt of his voice. About to respond, I stopped at the flick of his fingers. The carpet slid over from the sofa corner, whispering across the floor before it bunched up against my heels.

It was a simple trick that any but the weakest of air mages could have performed—with magic, size mattered, and moving a carpet required very little power compared to moving a car or an entire house. My mind snagged on something else, though. Because…air magic? His notorious Aqua Reclaimer suggested he controlled water, yet water and air were mutually exclusive. Weren’t they? Interesting.

I sent him a saccharine smile. “How considerate, darling. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“I’m a fantastic date, Harrington.” His answering smile was just as sweet and fake. “Too bad you’ll never find out.”

“Sounds more like a blessing,” I told him, and wasn’t it funny how we’d barely spoken the first time this had happened? To stall any further quips, I dropped to my knees. Liam’s gaze lost focus for a moment, tongue flicking out to wet his lips as I unzipped his jeans and shoved them down his thighs along with his boxers.

He exhaled sharply when I wrapped my hand around him, his cock filling further under my touch. Not so unaffected, are you?

“Enjoying the view?” I asked softly.

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