Page 38 of Sapphire Sunset

He’d been clear as day during their three-hour Grindr chat.Would he have to say it again?

I. Don’t. Kiss.

Would it matter? His man of the moment, whose peroxided hairmade him look like a Q-tip dipped in tanning lotion, kept going for Logan’s lipslike a puppy, nipping and growling whenever he missed.

And, of course, as he’d feared, each failed kiss hit Loganwith a burst of unwanted memory.

Memories of inviting shadows laced with ocean mist, of ahead-spinning embrace inside a sea cave with a man who’d redefined Logan’sideas of strength and beauty. So what if these memories were half a decade old?They pulsed beneath Logan’s desire like a second heartbeat.

Why couldn’t the guy—who was aHaPyBtTmaccording to his screenname—be content with the rest of Logan’s body? Chanceswere, they’d only end up spending about twenty minutes together anyway.

“Kiss me,”HaPyBtTmgrowled.

Shit. He intensified his thrusts instead,tightening his grip on the undersides of the guy’s lean, muscled thighs.

“Kiss me.” This time it was a yip, like a lap dog.

Snippy,that’s a pretty good nickname.Hisscreenname didn’t seem that accurate. There was plenty of bottoming going on,but not a lot of happy.

Snippy’sbrown eyes had filled witha predatory intensity. No sign of the submission he’d been promising Logan allafternoon.

When he asked a third time, Logan’s eyes started to wander,looking for a way out. He caught a glimpse of his thrusting ass in thehalf-open mirrored closet door, then some framed pictures on the—Oh, Jesus.Is that a boyfriend?

“I said fucking kiss me, bitch!”A squeal thistime, punctuated by a punch against the center of Logan’s chest. A half-inchshy of the sore spot where he’d taken some shrapnel from an IED.

Logan hated it when bottoms punched him. Some did it forfun, to goad him on. Some did it when he went in too fast, which was maybejustified, but why not just ask him to slow down? Logan seized the guy’s wristbefore he could land a second blow. And that’s when SnippyMcFistylet out a defeated groan that told Logan the game was over.

Thank God.

Slowly, he pulled himself from inside the guy’s clutching heat,careful to grip the top edge of the condom so it didn’t slide off. There wasnothing in it that might spill, but old habits die hard.

His first red flag should have been the guy asking to gobareback, even though Logan had already told him twice he was a condoms onlyguy. Didn’t matter if Snippy was on one-a-dayPrEP.So was Logan. There were other things to worry about besides HIV, he’d told him.The truth was, he was saving the intimacy of skin on skin, and all the trustthat required, for someone more special than a Grindr hookup. But Snippy wasn’tentitled to that information. There was a lot Snippy wasn’t entitled to as faras Logan was concerned. Including a kiss.

If Snippy wanted boyfriend information, he should doboyfriend things.

And based on his nightstand, he already had one.

They were both on their backs now, staring up at the cottagecheese ceiling. None of that gasping or panting that indicated a good, sweatysession filled the room. Instead, their breaths were low and even, the silenceawkward.

It was an awful feeling when the reality of an anonymoushookup closed in around you. A lot of things could do it. Mostly environmentalfactors you hadn’t anticipated—glacier-sized piles of dirty laundry you had tostep over to get to the bed, suffocating litter box smells, surprise drugparaphernalia. Strange scratching sounds from down the hall that suggestedeither a roommate or a prisoner. Maybe the last guy who’d made the mistakeLogan had.

ButSnippy’sinsistence hadstirred something else. Unwelcome memories of a guy whose big blue eyes hadstopped Logan in his tracks the moment he’d first gazed into them. A guy he’dbriefly slow danced with to the sounds of crashing surf, a more intoxicatingand fulfilling experience than any sweaty, naked tumble Logan had enjoyed in astranger’s bedroom since.

“What happened?” his host asked, sounding wounded and nothinglike a guy who’d just punched Logan for holding to the boundaries he’destablished before he’d come over.

“Look, I don’t mean to be a jerk, but I was super clear. Nodrugs, no fisting, no water sports. I don’t bottom, and I don’t kiss.”

Snippy let out a whiny grunt and pulled a pillow across hischest defensively. “I know. I thought I’d be the one, though.”

The one what?Logan thought.

“Hey.” Snippy rolled over to face him. “Why don’t you hangout until my boyfriend gets here? He likes it rough and dirty. I’ll watch whileI make dinner.”

“Actually, I think I’m going to jet. I got some errands torun. Nice to meet you, though.”

Logan swung his legs to the floor, slid the condom off, anddropped it in the nearest wastebasket.

“Well, shit,” the guy said. “There goes twenty bucks.”

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