Page 66 of Dream a Little Dream

Kenny set his glass down on the kitchen counter, then stalked around the breakfast bar. Aaron’s heart pounded in synch with the crashing drum solo as Kenny skated closer, a wildness sparking in his eyes. Aaron lured him in, never wanting that dark, hypnotic gaze anywhere else but onhim.Alwayson him. He yearned for Kenny to set him alight again. And he lit the match when he closed the distance.

But he stopped just as abruptly, movements tight, and leaned past Aaron as if his only purpose was to silence the music. Their eyes met, and the air between them thickened. Aaron moved in rhythm, swaying his hips a whisker away, the unspoken challenge written in every conscious motion. Kenny inhaled sharply, his chest rising as if pulling himself together, gaze flickering with the tension of losing his grip on the rulebook. He clenched his jaw, but the struggle written in his eyes had the lines blurring, and his logic unravelling, and Aaron waited on tenterhooks. Kenny then looked away, but the reflection in the dark glass of his luxury floor-to-ceiling windows betrayed him, pulling him back to Aaron like a magnet.

Aaron knew it was coming, felt the air shift, and braced himself.

Kenny grabbed Aaron’s hips, firm and commanding, as if trying to hold him still, to push him back. But his grip tightened, almost possessive, and Aaron’s breath hitched, sharp and audible, but he didn’t flinch. Didn’t step away. He held perfectly still, heart pounding. Waiting. Testing. Daring Kenny to cross the line they both knew was already gone.

“Go on,” Aaron whispered over the tension.

Kenny’s chest rose. Then, without words, he dragged his fierce hands up into Aaron’s T-shirt, fingertips grazing his skin. Aaron held his breath as Kenny kept his touch slow, featherlight, tracing the contours of Aaron’s body, every inch, as if memorising him to sketch later, every mark, every dip of muscle, every line of sinew. And Aaron tensed, then relaxed under his expert hands, yielding to his touch as he knew he would. Who was in control now? Aaron knew it wasn’t him. But Kenny probably thought the same. And, in a silent surrender, Aaron lifted his arms, dropping his playful façade to hand himself over to Kenny. He wasn’t hiding anymore.

He wasn’t Aaron Jones. The given name. The fake persona.

He washim.

And he wanted Kenny toknow.

Beneath Aaron’s top, Kenny swept his thumb over his chest, then paused, a startled look of surprise. Not anunpleasantone. A fascinated and tempted one, and he flicked the bar of metal pierced through Aaron’s nipple, lips parting. Aaron wanted to bite those pink cushions between rough, dark stubble and have Kenny tweak his barbell while he did it. But Kenny didn’t give him the chance as he curled his fingers into the fabric of Aaron’s T-shirt, yanking it up and over his head in one swift motion. He threw the T-shirt to the floor in a heap, then stepped back.

Aaron panted, hair dipping into his eyes, exposed.Revealed.

And he stared right back at Kenny, his full three-piece suit of shirt, tie, waistcoat and trousers holding him together. The pullof desire tightened around Aaron’s throat the longer he stood there, topless, in front of this man who’d twice ripped his world apart. Because it wasn’t just lust in Kenny’s eyes. It was more primal than that. As if he couldn’t fight the pull. And Kenny had stripped away Aaron’s defences, too. Turned him into something he didn’t recognise. The person he avoided being. And the longer he stood there, completely vulnerable and at his disposal, it wasn’t just his body laid bare—it waseverything.

The jukebox clicked off the song, leaving only the sounds of their shared breaths.

“You gonna just stare at me?” Aaron breathed out the same words he’d used in the back room that had started all this.

“For the moment.”

Kenny was trying to fight. Desperate not to give in. His breaths came ragged, and his muscles tensed, so Aaron stepped closer, and his resolvecracked. Aaron smirked. And he tilted his head, leaning in, hovering his lips by Kenny’s neck, the coarse stubble rasping his delicate lips and driving him wild. He remembered that beard destroying him before, and he wanted it again. The pleasure. The pain. And his breaths came hot and heavy, grazing Kenny’s neck. In a flash, Kenny shot up his hand, gripping the back of Aaron’s neck, digging his fingers in, trembling with restraint to keep him there. But Aaron had him. He knew it. Kenny knew it. And Aaron flicked out his tongue, licking a slow line up to Kenny’s ear.

“Told you, you want me,” he whispered, voice dripping with seduction. “So take me.”

Kenny tightened his grip on Aaron’s neck, then he tucked his feet between Aaron’s and shoved him against the jukebox. Aaron gasped. Sprawled over the glass, he panted as Kenny draped his entire clothed body over him. Aaron dropped his head back, laying himself out, giving himself to Kenny by gliding his hands through Kenny’s hair, waiting for the kiss to consume him.

The unmistakable sound of vibrating snapped Kenny from his reach.

Kenny stepped back. Away. Wiped his mouth with trembling fingers.

Aaron unstuck himself from the glass casing as Kenny fished out his phone. Answered it.

“Heather?” Kenny stumbled all the way to the other side of the kitchen as he took the call.

Aaron crouched, retrieved his T-shirt, put it back on and when he glanced back to Kenny, he had his back to him, talking toher.

Aaron regained his senses and the control by leaving.

Chapter fifteen

History Repeating

Kenny was heading for ruin.

But before he got there, he had to behere.

Ryston Police Headquarters. Buzzing with that low, fretful murmur, distinctive of a Friday morning incident room where a time dependent case hung on the shoulders of all who were in here. It had been five days since the incident. Five days since he’d almost done something totally, utterly reckless. Since he’d lost control. Losthimself. And he couldn’t be more thankful for Jack having begged him to look over the case files of Rahul Mishra’s death and provide a report to update the team on his theories. It had been a reason to lock himself away from Aaron Jones.

Because it didn’t matter who Aaron Jones was. What he might or might not have done. What he was or wasn’t involved in. Purposely. Inadvertently. None of that mattered. Kenny had already dived in too deep. The danger, the puzzle, the complexity only attracted him more. Aaron was an irresistible force Kenny couldn’t shake. And Kenny’s restraint would crumble beneath the weight of his obsession. Because this one he couldn’t escape. Couldn’t close the book on. Couldn’t shove him to the back of hiscupboard. Or hide him in a drawer and tell everyone he’d quit. Stopped looking.

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