Page 89 of Heart Taker

“Let me help you.”

“Nope, I got it,” he insisted and carried the bags into the kitchen, placing them on the island. “I’ve got a few more things to grab from the truck. You unload the food while I do that.”

“Wait,” I replied, and Silas stopped to stand in front of me. “You forgot something.”

I pulled him into my arms and took possession of his mouth, kissing him with all the frustration that had been riding me. I’d been aching to touch Silas, and now he was finally here. And given the passionate way he kissed me back, I wasn’t alone in my desperation. His lips and tongue teased mine and we made out like horny teenagers, Silas pushing me up against the counter, taking control of the kiss. Fuck, I more than liked that.

“Don’t move,” he whispered and gave me one last kiss. “I’ll be right back.”

I grabbed the edge of the granite counter to steady myself as I watched him walk away, his hockey swagger in full effect. Taking a deep breath, I reached down and adjusted my aching cock, which was begging to be released from these shorts.

After taking a long, shuddering breath, I reached for the bags with shaky hands and began to unpack the groceries. The steaks needed to be seasoned, so I left them on the counter, then I placed the salad kit and the key lime pie in the fridge, and the bag of fries in the freezer. I wasn’t hungry right now. Not for food. Cooking would happen later. Much later.

When I turned around, Silas was standing behind me, an uncertain look on his face. I wasn’t surprised to see him holding his backpack, since he was, after all, planning to spend the night.

No, what shocked me was the bouquet of sunflowers he held in his other hand. That was a first. I’d given plenty of flowers to my ex, but I’d never in my life received any. Not that I expected it. Not that I needed that. Still, Silas’s unexpected gesture made my heart clench in a way that I wasn’t prepared for. He didn’t a say a thing and I didn’t either. Our eyes locked, and I swallowedhard, trying, but failing, to calm my runaway heart, desperate to put all these heady feelings about him into words.

Silas placed the flowers on the counter and the bag on the floor, and stalked towards me, crowding me back against the counter. He cupped my face and leaned in, resting his forehead against mine, his hot breath teasing my lips.

“Too much?”

I shook my head.

“No,” I replied and slid my hands down to cup his ass, bringing him in closer. “Not at all. But you are one surprise after another, Silas Moss. There goes my playbook. I have no idea what to do next.”

“Let’s start with a kiss.” He smiled against my lips. “Everything else we’ll figure out together.”

Silas

What possessed me to buy flowers for Damien? Who fucking knew. I’d never done that for a man before. To be fair, I never needed to. I was closeted for so long, and I had no desire to date. Also, it wasn’t in me to make that kind of romantic gesture. I didn’t need or want… romance. I had a hard time summoning the word, never mind saying it.

But then I found myself in the checkout line of the grocery store, and the bright sunflowers caught my attention. I reached for them before I even had a chance to question it. And driving to Damien’s, the flowers on the seat beside me, I realized that I was behaving so out of character that I had to blink twice when I looked at myself in the rearview mirror.

Talk about a total mindfuck.

Damien wasn’t the only one skating into the unknown; I didn’t have a playbook when it came to him either. I was running purely on instinct. There was something about the manthat kicked all my primal impulses into overdrive. I knew that I would do anything to get in his bed, and I’d be damned if he was going to look anywhere else but at me. It turned out, I was ruthless in this, too. I wanted to mark him all over because he was mine. And, even more shocking, I wanted him to claim me in return.

Which is why, not a second after I put down those flowers, I had my hands on him.

And my lips.

“Baby.” Damien moaned when I backed him up against the island and ravaged his mouth.

We made out like we hadn’t kissed in months, never mind days. There was a desperation to our coming together that I still couldn’t wrap my head around. It reminded me of those nail-biting games when the clock ticked down, and there was only one goal that separated us from a win. You could taste victory, so heady, so close, and when it finally happened, it was the most incredible high.

When we lost, though, I didn’t like the bitterness that lingered.

I thought winning and losing was always about hockey, but suddenly it was about Damien.

I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t want to fuck this up.

“Hey,” Damien whispered and cupped my face, staring at me. I had a feeling that he knew exactly what I was thinking. Probably because I was gripping him so tight I’d leave bruises. “You all right?”

“More than all right. You?”

“Never better.” He smiled.

I couldn’t resist this man or his gorgeous grin.

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