Page 33 of Declan
Kyler was quiet a moment as he mulled it over. I studied his profile, admiring the slope of his nose and his lips.
Lips I wanted to taste.
“Are you dating anyone?” he asked, moving his gray eyes to me.
The flame crept closer to the paper man. The more time I spent with Kyler, the closer the flame spread. Such a wild notion for me to wonder what it’d feel like to be set on fire. To burn bright with my desire for this beautiful, irresistibly tempting man.
“No.”
“Are you okay with me being gay?” he asked as his cheeks darkened.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” I might’ve been shoved in the back of the closet with all the unseasonal clothes, but that didn’t mean I stayed silent on certain issues. I’d been very vocal over the past two years about LGBT rights, using my platform to be an ally.
Yeah, that made me somewhat of a hypocrite, as well. I campaigned for their right to love; however, I refused to fight for myself.
“Just checking,” Kyler said with a smile. “My memory isn’t the best from the night atRaw, but I’m pretty sure I hit on you. Sorry.”
It took a hell of a lot of willpower not to say that I’d loved when he flirted with me. That I’d love for him to do so again.
“There you go with thesorrycrap again.”
I stood from the grass and stretched my arms above my head, groaning when my joints popped.
Kyler snickered as he got up, too. “You know, I never realized how much I said it until today.”
“Say it again, and I might have to strangle you.”
Gideon was leaning against the car and studying the area. He’d stayed far enough back to give us our privacy—not that I cared if he’d heard our conversation—but close enough to intervene if anything went wrong.
“What’s his story?” Kyler asked, nodding toward Gideon.
“There’s not much to say,” I answered. Not that I knew a lot, anyway. “He’s ex-military and kind of a hard ass. He’s a fucking great bodyguard, though. If not a little uptight at times.”
When we got back in the car, I checked my phone, not surprised by the shitload of notifications waiting for me. I’d intentionally left the damn thing in the backseat so I wouldn’t be bothered while talking to Kyler. Texts from people in my life that I didn’t care much for, emails, and a few missed calls. Nothing new.
The timedidsurprise me. Almost four o’clock that afternoon. We’d been there for several hours. It didn’t seem like it. I’d been having too much fun to notice time passing us by.
“Guess I better get you back home?” I said after he got into the car and slid in beside me.
Kyler’s face fell. “I don’t have any plans if you wanted to do something else. It’s fine if you don’t, though. Today has been awesome. Probably the best day ever, and I’ll never forget it.”
Not once that day had he asked me for an autograph or a selfie. Although shy at times, he’d still treated me like a normal person. Especially after we’d started eating and breaking the ice with small talk. Kyler had completely transformed into the guy I knew him to be from his social media: outgoing, fun, and intelligent.
I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him. But I also wasn’t in the mood to drive around Addersfield, either.
For hours, I’d battled against myself. I’d listened as Kyler talked about his life, and I’d fought the longings that’d surfaced. The ones that made me want to push him back on the grass and claim those sweet lips. Longings that had my cock aching in my jeans and my pulse racing.
I knew he felt it, too.
Try as he might to hide it, I saw the way his gray eyes darkened as he looked me over from top to bottom.
My intentions that day had been to take him out and get to know him a little. Just to satisfy my interest to some extent. To rub at the itch instead of outright scratching it.
Fuck, I wanted to scratch that itch. I wanted more.
“You can take us back to the hotel, Gideon,” I said, not taking my eyes off Kyler.
Yes, I was a paper man playing with fire. And soon, the flames would catch.
Kyler smiled and his chest rose as he inhaled, as if taking a calming breath. His gaze flickered from my eyes and to my mouth. The temperature in the car seemed to rise. Something sparked between us.
The flame was drawing closer.
If I was meant to burn…let me burn.
