Page 48 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

“I know,” Kieran said smugly as he placed our clothes on a bench in the corner. “There are other outposts I could visit that would be more convenient to meet people, but none of them have hot springs like this.”

He moved to stand in front of me, and we stared at each other. Suddenly, I felt awkward.

Aside from that day in my office, we hadn’t been intimate. I’d dreamed about it every night and thought about it when I touched myself, but this wasKieran.

My childhood crush who was even more gorgeous now than he was when we were teenagers. I’d been impulsive in my office earlier. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to move on from Demetri, because both me and my pussy were very much in agreement about moving the fuck on, but my feelings for Kieran were complicated, and I wasn’t entirely sure I could handle a casual fling with him.

Yet at the same time, I wasn’t ready to walk out of one long-term relationship and directly into another, assuming Kieran would even be interested in pursuing a relationship with me.

Fuck. How did I let things get so complicated so quickly?

I’d been so caught up in our flirting and teasing that I’d let myself fall into this too fast. Just because Kieran found me attractive didn’t mean he felt anything beyond that. During our entire friendship, he’d always flirted back with me, and then I’d returned to House Harker and basically presented myself as a challenge.

I bit my bottom lip as I tried to contain my inner freakout. Kieran’s exploits in the House courts weren’t exactly a secret. Even at House Laurent, I’d heard whispers of his various bed partners.

Was I reading far too much into this when he really just thought of me as another notch on his bedpost?

Kieran started pulling off his shirt, and I stood there frozen in panic. I couldn’t just leave without him asking questions, but I wasn’t ready to answer them yet either.

Boundaries.

That’s what I needed to do. Just set some boundaries to make sure things didn’t go too far while I figured out my inner turmoil over this.

“Do you need help?” Kieran teased. “Or were you planning on getting in fully clothed?”

I gave him a breezy, confident smile to cover up the panic that had threatened to seize me moments before. Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone before I could figure out what it meant.

“Just enjoying the show,” I said in a husky voice as I very slowly perused him. His pants were untied and hanging low on his hips, allowing me a very enticing view.

He smirked as he finished pulling his clothes off until he stood there completely nude, and my mouth went dry.

Boundaries, I reminded myself firmly.

“Your turn.” He winked at me and strode over to the wall to tap a glyph. Water fell from a cleverly hidden outlet in the ceiling, and he quickly washed himself off before sliding into the hot springs. “The water for rinsing off comes from the same hot springs, so it’s warm. Try to get most of the grossness off you before getting in.”

He leaned against the side of the pool, putting his perfectly carved chest on full display, and gestured for me to get on with it.

I casually shrugged one shoulder as if a thousand dirty thoughts hadn’t just raced through my mind, and then I quickly disrobed. My plan had originally been to do it in a slow, teasing manner, but as soon as I started to unbutton myshirt, a whiff of the day’s travels drifted up to my nose, and suddenly I couldn’t wait to get the filth and grime off of me.

Kieran chuckled as I very unsexily tore my clothes off and chucked them onto the floor in disgust. But his laughter died off when I turned to face him and brushed my hair back over my shoulder so that I was on full display.

It was my turn to laugh as his eyes flashed gold. True to his word, the water was warm, and I scrubbed a day’s worth of travel off me before languidly walking over to the pool.

“I’m ready for you to beg now.” I lowered myself into the water, and a moan slipped from my lips.

Fuck.I closed my eyes.This is heaven.

“If you make that sound again, I just might,” Kieran whispered into my ear.

My eyes snapped open to find him right in front of me with both arms braced on the pool’s edge, caging me in.

“Hmm,” I hummed as I ran my finger across his chest and down his well-defined abs.

He leaned into my touch, and I kept traveling southward, down past his waist before moving my hand away from the erection that was currently pressed against my leg.

He let out a frustrated groan as I dipped under his arm and moved to the other side of the pool.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear any begging,” I told Kieran cheekily.

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