Page 13 of Lovesick Gods

“Youoweme,” Danny said, fighting to keep the loathing from his voice.

Cho shrugged, keeping his face neutral. “Wasn’t taking down the big bad alone more satisfying?”

Bristling on the inside, Danny focused on the task at hand. “And where have you been getting your satisfaction lately?”

Frowning, Cho searched Danny’s face for an angle. Danny didn’t try to hide exactly which angles he was interested in. Biting his lip, he glanced down Cho’s body without an ounce of subtlety—he wanted his offer to be crystal clear.

They were next in line.

“Make my morning better, Ice Man. Buy me coffee. Then next time I’ll oweyouone. And maybe, some night soon, if you play your cards right…” He trailed, leaned in close again, and whispered softly beside Cho’s ear, “I’ll let you bend me in half like you want.”

Cho visibly shuddered when Danny didn’t pull away.

Jackpot.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?” the cashier asked.

Leaving Cho tongue-tied and gaping, Danny grinned as he turned to face her. This game was satisfying already. “Two largeLiquid Lightningsto go, please. Shot of chocolate and whipped cream for his. And can you make sure Esther makes them? She’s the best.”

Danny set his ruined coffee on the counter, which the cashier took with a questioning look, but once she spotted the state of Cho’s jacket, she understood and threw it away.

Cho paid with a professional smile but didn’t say a word.

Once they moved out of line to wait for their order, he caught Danny’s eye. “Chocolate and whipped cream?”

“I hear you have a sweet tooth. Trust me. You’ll like it.”

“Will I now?”

Danny made a point of licking his lips—slowly. “You got a phone?”

Cho’s shock dissolved in favor of an accusatory scowl hidden behind a tight smirk. “Real funny, kid. Almost had me going for a second. You think I’m that gullible?”

Rolling his eyes, Danny shouldn’t be surprised Cho suspected a trap, but his plans had nothing to do with tracking Cho’s location or calling the OCPD.

He took out his own phone and pressed it to Cho’s chest, forcing him to clutch it or risk it falling to the floor. “Here’s mine. Take my number. Call sometime if you want. Or don’t. Whichever. But if you do, Iguaranteeyou won’t regret it.” Leaving his phone in Cho’s hands, Danny grazed the skin of his fingers as he pulled back and held the man’s gaze the entire time to prove he wasn’t joking.

He wasn’t, after all. He needed an outlet, and Cho would be so fun to lose himself in for a while—and then betray once Danny was done with him, just as he’d been betrayed six months ago.

“Winter!” the barista called, which was the name Cho had given with their order.

Leaving Cho standing there, Danny took his time picking up their drinks. He thanked the girl properly, with a slight look of sympathy in his eyes to say that it wasn’t her fault he was back for a third time, then returned to his nemesis.

Cho’s expression was still guarded, wary, but the smile was real, proving his interest and how anxious he was to see where this might lead.

When Danny gave him his coffee, Cho handed back Danny’s phone. They parted ways at the exit, Cho left, Danny right heading toward the precinct. But when Danny checked his phone later, there was a new number saved in his contacts.

Labelled simply ‘Mal’.

Chapter4

Mal scrolled through the contacts on his phone for the fourth time since that morning, which was borderline obsessive, he knew. Maybe switching from glasses to contacts after the coffee shop had skewed his vision. He still couldn’t believe his eyes when he once again came upon the entry labelled ‘Sparky’ and the phone number he knew to be legit because he’d taken it from Danny’s own cell phone.

He could have left it at that, not given Danny his number in return, but their chances of moving from flirtation to genuine carnal activity was significantly higher if both of them had the option to call.

“And maybe, some night soon, if you play your cards right…I’ll let you bend me in half like you want.”

Mal shifted in his seat at his worktable, his slacks growing tellingly tight at the memory of Danny’s whispered voice, promising things Mal had fantasized about often since their first encounter, but he’d never imagined he’d get to play those fantasies out for real.

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