Page 69 of Bloody Temptations

“Yes! Of course!”

My finger traces the line of his ear and he shivers.

“Well, I think that’s a good start, don’t you? Because, while you’ve been having tea and cakes with the manager of Hearts Gate—something we’re definitely getting back to in a minute—Iwas getting my butt handed to me by Maddy and Nikki.”

“It was hardly tea and cakes. But anyway. What happened with Maddy and Nikki?” He asks timidly, turning and hiding his face into the couch, which leaves him conveniently nuzzling my hand. As much as I don’t like that he’s worried, I’m not surprised. As I learnt last night, Finn’s insecurities rundeep.

“Ugh,” I groan, bumping my knee up against his. “So it was brought to my attention that I failed to have the conversation with you about where we stood. In my defence, I’d thought about it alotin my head, so I kind of just assumed that you were on the same wavelength and all that.”

“I didn’t know that drinking someone’s blood gave you the ability to read someone’s mind. Did I miss that somewhere, or?” Finn scrunches his face, laughing. That he feels comfortable teasing me means we’re on the right track. Hopefully.

“Shut up! It was bad enough when Nikki told Maddy that I’d fucked up. He says sorry, by the way. And he’ll actually say it to your face, or I’ll break his sewing machine or something. But he actuallyissorry. I know he said some shit that probably made everything worse. He feels legitimately bad for potentially triggering what happened last night. He helped me figure out what to say to you and everything.”

Finn’s face pinches in exaggerated confusion.

“And ‘hope you’re feeling okay, can we talk’ was the best the pair of you could come up with? Wow.” I smack his leg playfully and he laughs. No snort yet, but I’ll get one before the dawn comes.

“But tell him to not freak out too much. He’s always been standoffish or whatever, but honestly, my meltdown was inevitable. I mean, those Assassin shots helped, but that was all me and my bullshit.”

“What happened?” The energy shifts between us, becoming more serious. The time for playful teasing is over. We’ve reached the crux of the issue.

“I… I have never been an exceptionally confident being,” Finn begins, and then swallows. This is hard for him, I know, so I keep my fingers cradling his neck in comfort. “And my turning was hard. Not just the turning, but everything afterwards. It kind of highlighted all the things I’m insecure about. Being a loner, struggling to make connections with beings. To make friends. It’s been fucking rough.

“That’s not an excuse, though. It’s just… just what I’m dealing with. I think, deep down, I knew how you felt about me. I just wasn’t able to accept it—accept something,someone, so fucking incredible couldbe interested in me, that I wasworthyof you. So I told myself that it was just temporary. A blip in the fabric of the universe. And then it’s like I was just waiting for it to be over, for the other shoe to drop. It became this lurking boogeyman, and I let myself get in my head about it. And I hurt you. And it’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. I’m sorry.”

I want to argue with him. I want to tell him that he’s perfect, and that the idea of him not being worthy of me was fucking ridiculous. But this is obviously bigger than just me, and I don’t want to write off his feelings because they make me feel uncomfortable. That’s not how we move forward from this.

“That’s a lot to be going through, Finn. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” He waves me off, looking away from me to trace the pattern of the cushion next to him.

“Nope.” I grab the cushion and toss it onto a nearby armchair, grabbing his hand with my free one and holding it tight to get his eyes back on me. “You’re not dismissing me that easily. You know what I mean. I’m sorry that you’re going through all that. And I want to help you. Be there for you. Show you just how fucking incredible you are. So you can have just as big an ego as I do.”

He laughs again, his head rolling back until he’s looking at me again, with a genuine smile on his face. The warmth in his eyes makes my heart squeeze and the knot in my stomach unties itself. Finally.

“I’m not sure the city could handle two egos that size. I mean, you already have Nikolo’s to contend with too. They’d probably have to call in the National Guard to deal with a monstrosity like that.”

“Yeah, probably.” I laugh with him this time.

He squeezes my hand, his knee pressing down on my thigh. In our laughter we’ve somehow gotten closer. It would be really easy to lean in and close the distance between us. To brush my lips against his softpout and lick off the traces of blood left from where he’s been gnawing on them.

He’s thinking about it too. His eyes drop to my lips too. His tongue darts out, and I catch a hint of fang. Fuck, I want him so damn badly. Ineedhim. My fingers slide around to cup the back of his neck, squeezing his taut muscles there.

“So, what—what does this all mean?” Finn stutters. His eyes haven’t left my lips as he drifts closer again.

The zipper of my jeans presses firmly against my rapidly filling cock. I’ve only got seconds before it’s too noticeable to hide.

“I think it means that we’re two beings who have feelings for each other.” Not that he’s said that he has feelings for me specifically. I’m kind of reading between the lines here, relying on that ego we mentioned a moment ago. “And who have some baggage and kind of sucked at communicating but ultimately want to do better. Together. How does that sound?”

“Kinda perfect.” Finn barely gets the words out before he’s on me again.

We’ve had hungry kisses, desperate kisses, frantic kisses. All kinds of kisses. But this one is different. His lips slide over mine. He doesn’t just kiss me, hesavoursme. It’s soft, a caress. I let him take the lead, moving back when he clambers onto my lap, his greedy hands grasping my shoulders. When his ass hits my lap, brushing against the hardness of my erection, he whines and deepens the kiss, licking at my lips until I open for him, letting his tongue sweep inside.

He manages to catch my fang, and even though it’s not deep enough to bleed, the sting is enough to flip the switch. His hands leave my shoulders to grab my hair in his tight fists. He begins to move, my hands finding his ass to squeeze and mould his cheeks through his jeans.

Without warning he wrenches himself off my mouth, hauling my head back with my hair. Mindlessly, I fight the stinging pain, chasing his lips.

“Wait! Wait! Kai!” He snaps when I struggle to focus straight away. When I frown up at him, my brain still foggy with lust, he beams down at me. “Does this mean that we’re together? Like, properly. A relationship, boyfriends, just us. All of that? I just need to know.”

---