Page 38 of Bull's Boy

“Yeah,” he whispered back, his breath stuttering a little. The air between them felt charged in an exciting way he wasn’t quite ready for. “I mean, I didn’t come up with it,” Malcolm added with a light laugh. “But I definitely appreciate the concept. I’ve had to use it myself sometimes.”

Bull raised his eyebrows and waited silently for Malcolm to continue, completely fine with letting the electric moment pass.

Except Malcolm hadn’t meant to change the subject to hisfamily.

“My family’s not like yours,” he admitted, then scrunched his nose. “Though you probably could have guessed that after meeting my brother.”

“When did I meet your brother?”

Malcolm tilted his head, confused, then burst out laughing. “Oh, shit, right. I never actually introduced you guys or told you about what happened that day you picked me up in Ridgewood.”

Bull’s eyes narrowed. “That asshole who was manhandling you was your brother?”

“Yeah, he and my parents don’t exactly approve of the decisions I’ve made in my life.”

“Like, what kind of decisions?” Bull asked, frown still firmly etched in his brow.

“Like when I dropped out of college after a year because I didn’t want to go into a bunch of debt when I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.”

“They didn’t approve of you being fiscally responsible?” If anything, Bull looked even more furious on his behalf.

He snorted. “That’s not the way they view it. They took it to mean I’d rather party all the time—or whatever it is they think I do—than work hard and get a degree like my saint of a brother.”

“You do work hard,” Bull said, a thread of danger in his voice that sent a shiver down Malcolm’s spine.

“Don’t I know it,” he said, a little breathless, then cleared his throat and tried to focus on their conversation and not how warm Bull was beneath him. “But not in their eyes. I love working at Bo’s: it introduced me to Dahlia, to you, and it’s a job that I’m actually good at.”

“You’re amazing at it.”

It was Malcolm’s turn to flush with embarrassment. It was such a gimme compliment and yet filled him with rioting butterflies.“They don’t see it as a long-term career. So every time I talk to them, which thankfully isn’t often, they ask when I’m going to get a grown-up job.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Bull growled.

“I wish. That day in Ridgewood, my brother was informing me that he had gotten engaged and that he’d like to do a destination wedding, but his fiancée—not him—was worried I wouldn’t be able to afford it. He basically accused me of ruining his wedding by being poor.”

“What a piece of shit,” Bull said, his fingers tightening on Malcolm’s hips and body tensing beneath him.

“I wish I could say that wasn’t normal behavior for him or that my parents didn’t treat him like the golden boy and me like the disappointing spare, but that’s just the way it’s always been,” Malcolm said and shrugged. “So, yeah, I know what it’s like to have to do things when you’re scared you’ll mess up.”

He tried to bring the conversation back to Bull and his worries about taking over Bo’s. He didn’t really feel like talking about his fucked-up family anymore. They were the definition of a mood killer, and thinking about the last conversation he’d had with his brother made his stomach sour. He didn’t have the money to attend a wedding in Mexico or wherever, and hereallydidn’t have the wherewithal to deal with the fallout his absence was going to cause.

“I can’t wait to meet your brother again,” Bull said, surprising him. “I’d like him to try that shit again in front of me.”

Malcolm knew he should probably be offended at the idea he needed Bull to stand up for him, but instead, warmth pooled in his belly, his blood beginning to heat. There was zero doubt inhis mind Bull would vehemently defend him to his own family, if put in the situation.

And that was sexy as hell for some reason.

He squirmed, rubbing against Bull’s lap. After being fed and made to relax while Bull carried in all his boxes and bags and then put together the cat tower, he wasmorethan ready for some more action before he headed home to get changed for work. Would Bull want to go again too? He was older than him by over a decade. Maybe he’d?—

Grunting, Bull slid one of his hands around to palm Malcolm’s ass and said in a low voice, “You’d better hold still, baby boy.”

He sucked in a shuddery breath. Okay, yeah, definitely still interested. “Or what?”

Instead of answering, Bull pulled him down for a deep, unhurried kiss.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Bull was clearing a table the next day when Malcolm arrived for his shift, he and Dahlia walking in together, smiling and laughing. He watched them, unable to look away with his heart in his throat, waiting for the moment when Malcolm spotted him.

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