Page 43 of The Science of Attraction

He slumped against the porch rail. “I never told her I was bi, so that came as somewhat of a surprise, but other than that, she was pretty amazing. And when I was done, she asked me why I was with her and not you.”

I struggled to keep my expression neutral. “And your answer?”

He searched my face and said simply, “I’m here, aren’t I?”

He absolutely was, and I figured I had about two seconds to decide what to do about that before one of us opted for the more sensible solution and hightailed it out of there.

I grabbed his hand and yanked him through the open door before locking it for the first time since I’d arrived. I did the same with the front door and closed all the shutters and blinds. When we were safe from curious eyes, I returned to where he was waiting nervously by the breakfast bar.

He eyed my cropped T-shirt and favourite meditation leggings that had about as much substance as a spider’s web and about as many holes and drew a noticeably shaky breath. “Did I, um, interrupt something?” His attention lingered south of my belly where my thickening cock was no doubt making an inconvenient debut. And if he stared at it much longer, he was going to get a front-row seat to a whole lot more.

I ran my thumb under his lower lip and his gaze jerked up. “You’re drooling.”

He flushed bright red.

I nodded to the yoga mat still on the floor in the lounge. “You interrupted my fruitless attempt to clear my brain of a certain irritating but eminently sexy shepherd who’s been screwing with my zen.”

A small smile tugged at his lips. “And how’s that working out for you?”

Cheeky fucker. I stepped forward and crowded him against the breakfast bar. Then I straddled one of his legs so he could feel exactly how the meditationwasn’tworking out for me in the slightest. “You tell me.”

“Oh.” He sucked in a breath and swallowed hard. “Not too good, then.” All that bravado gone in a single slightly panicked glance.

I was reminded that this was all new for him. Brand fucking new. The fact he’d shown up at all was pretty damn brave, considering what had happened to his brother.

And yet here he was.

I retreated a small step back, putting some space between my dick and his leg, and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Tell me what you want?” I ran my nose up the side of his face as far as I could reach, and he shivered. “Is it okay if I touch you like this?”

“Oh god, yes. Fuck, yes,” he rasped, giving the tiniest of whimpers like he was starving for anything I had to offer. The sound was like catnip to my cock, which promptly leaped a dozen chapters to the ripping our clothes off part of the story when I knew we’d be damn lucky to get out of the prologue that night. And why that slow approach was so damn exciting, I had no idea.

Then again, this was Jules, and somehow, that said it all.

I kissed back up his throat to his ear, drawing the soft lobe into my mouth to suck on it gently.

“Oh... f-fuck,” he whisper-groaned and I smiled to myself. He was a talker. Another tick on that list I was pretending I didn’t have. This was going to be fun.

I nuzzled his neck and asked again, “You need to tell me what you want, baby.”

“Baby?” He whispered the word.

I paused mid-nuzzle, cursing my stupidity. “Sorry.”

“No, I like it.” His hands found the back of my head, his fingers threading through my hair. “It’s just strange, I guess.”

I glanced up at him. “Hearing it from a guy?”

He chuckled. “Yeah. Not in a bad way. Just… different.”

“Well, there are gonna be a lot of firsts.” I kissed down the front of his throat and worried the small dip between his clavicle bones. “Are you ready for them?”

He groaned and pulled me closer until my dick reconnected with his thigh and whispered, “I can’t wait.”

I chuckled against his lips. “Just remember you said that, and you haven’t answered my question yet.”

He huffed amusedly and cradled my face, forcing me to look him in the eye. “About what I want? Jesus, Liam, I don’t even know what the options are. I have zero idea what I’m doing. Zero confidence I can do anything without looking like a total idiot. Oh, and have I mentioned how fucking terrifying this all is?”

“We can stop right now.” I kissed the end of his nose. “No harm, no foul.”

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