Page 67 of Break the Rule
“You stare any harder I might combust,” Eden deadpans. If it weren't for the way he is digging his nails into his wrist, he might think Eden was calm.
“I can’t believe you’re here.” Charlie takes long strides towards Eden until he’s stepping in front of him to block the sun, angling his face down towards Eden’s. “You’re just as beautiful as I remember.”
Eden huffs. “Shut up, Charlie.”
“I’ll do whatever you want if you promise not to run again.”
Eden goes quiet, picking at a scab on his elbow and shrugging. “I don’t like promises. They don’t mean anything.”
“What does mean something?” Charlie asks, inching as close as he dares into Eden’s personal space. Any closer and he’d be holding him the way he wants to, but he’s not sure if that’sallowed, and he’s scared as shit to fuck this up. He doesn’t even know whatthisis, has no idea what he wants or Eden wants, but he knows he wantssomething. If the dozens of paintings in his room aren’t enough, Andrew knowing would be. Andrew’s always been able to know what Charlie needed, even when he didn’t, and this is something he, well—maybe not needs but wants.
He wants Eden. In the kind of way he’s not used to wanting anyone, or anything—feverishly, achingly, desperately. “I don’t know what I’m doing here, full disclosure.”
“Well you’re a lot older than me, I feel like you should.”
“Don’t fucking remind me,” Charlie frowns. “You’re so young.”
“I’m notthatyoung,” Eden frowns, seeming to get some of his spunk back at the comment. “I’m old enough.”
“Yeah,” Charlie whispers. “You sure are.”
Tracking the play of emotions on Eden’s face is a crash course in confusion. His expressions are shuttered, hard to read, and it occurs to Charlie that he doesn’t have a damn clue what Eden is thinking or feeling. It never mattered before, not in a callous way, but in the way that you don’t have to try too hard for something you don’t plan on keeping. Whenever he’s fucked someone, ensuring they came and had a smile on their face was enough.
“Maybe we should talk,” Charlie says, surprising even himself.
“You want to talk to me, Charlie?” Eden closes the last few inches of space between them, one of his smaller, delicate hands sliding over Charlie’s throat and up to the side of his neck. “That what you wanna do with me?”
“That’s not a fair question,” Charlie huffs out, already half-hard. “There’s a lot of things I wanna do with you.”
“Tell me.”
“Shouldn’t we?—”
“Do whatever we want,” Eden finishes, nipping at Charlie’s jaw. “You wanted one more time with me. Isn’t that what you said?”
One more time won’t be enough. Charlie can feel it. Unfortunately, that thought doesn’t get vocalized because Eden’s mouth ends up just below his ear, sucking and kissing his way across Charlie’s throat.
“Inside,” Charlie grunts, “or we’re gonna give my neighbors quite a show.”
“Why, are you gonna come in your pants from a little neck action?” Eden laughs, the teasing lilt to his voice damn near addictive.
“I was kind of hoping to have your mouth somewhere else.”
“Where?” Eden asks, fisting his hands in the front of Charlie’s shirt and tugging him down until they’re eye level. “Where do you want my mouth?”
“You really want me to say it?”
Eden’s lips curl up in a half-smile that makes him look younger somehow, softening the sharpest edges of the walls he has up. “Maybe I just wanna remind you who’s in control.”
“You,” Charlie whispers. “You’re still in control, Eden.”
His Adam’s apple bobs, the hands in Charlie’s shirt loosening imperceptibly. Eden is like a live wire, and Charlie has no idea what line he might accidentally trip.
“I want anything you’ll give me.”
“That’s right,” Eden says, backing Charlie up, his feet taking the steps backwards one at a time until his spine hits the front door. “You’d do anything I asked because you’re my slut.”
If Charlie weren’t a secure man, he might be having a crisis about having someone a decade younger and half a foot smaller bossing him around, luckily for Charlie all he feels is growing arousal. Eden can boss him around any time he wants.
