Page 65 of Close Quarter
"All the other vampires, you talk about them as things. Creatures. Not that one."
Shock smoothed the lines of anger from Silas's face. Silas's lips parted. Beneath Rhys's hand, Silas's heart fluttered like a bird's.
"You've never noticed, have you?" Rhys said.
Wild despair shone in that beautiful face. No mistaking Silas for human now. Everything about him was untamed. "No, I haven't."
Rhys tightened his grip on Silas's hand.
"Listen to me."
Silas raised his hand, trailed a too-warm finger down Rhys's face, the way Rhys touched alabaster or marble. His hand fell away. "I... Yes.
I'll listen."
Rhys swallowed the lump in his throat.
Too close,again. Any other man Rhys would have left, but Silas washis, as surely as he belonged to Silas. "Do you think this vampire, Anex...Anox--"
"Anaxandros."
"--Anaxandros, knows about quarter-fae?"
Underneath Rhys's fingers, the rhythm of Silas's heart slowed. "It's possible." He frowned.
"He--it--existed for several millennia before it caught me."
Rhys took his hand away from Silas's chest.
His grip on Rhys's other hand tightened. Silas's gaze never strayed from Rhys's face.
Those taunts had been for one purpose. "It tried to take you from me," Rhys said.
Silas got that faraway look, the one that meant he was turning over events in his mind. After a moment his gaze snapped back into focus. "It did try to drive us apart. He--" Silas stopped and spit an angry string of words out Rhys didn't understand. "It knows me better than any creature, save perhaps the Messengers."
"And me."
"You." Silas exhaled. His expression softened into shame. "Gods, Rhys--"
Rhys closed the distance between them and swallowed Silas's next words with a quick kiss. "I swear to God, if you apologize one more time, I'm going to hit you."
"I'm sorry," Silas muttered.
Rhys stepped back and slapped him across the face. Hard.
The sting in his palm was well worth Silas's dumbfounded expression. That quickly dissolved into choking laughter. Silas leaned against the overlook's railing, tears dotting the corners of his eyes.
"I did warn you," Rhys said, before laughter overtook him as well.
"Whatever did I do to deserve you, I wonder?" Silas said. Gone were all traces of his earlier despair.
Excellent.The muscles in Rhys's back unknotted. "Probably something really good. Or very wicked," Rhys said. "I'm guessing wicked."
Silas's deep chuckle thickened Rhys's cock.
"I was hoping you'd want to do something wicked when you dragged me away from coffee." Silas pushed off the railing. "Rather than argue with me."
"I didn't argue with you." Rhys stepped in.
