Page 15 of Best Served Cold

I drew myself up to my full height. “Bring it.”

3

ZANE

I stepped up to him, our chests almost brushing as our toes bumped. “Last chance,” I warned.

He drew himself up to his full height. “Bring it.”

I squared my shoulders.

“This is so weird,” he muttered, his eyes on my mouth.

I couldn’t stop the smirk that tilted my lips. “You have no idea,” I said softly, taking a moment to look at him. Really look at him.

Rath was…interesting looking. Everything about him was a study in contrasts. His big body was broad and wide, and he was jacked, but not cut. His eyes were a silvery gray but had tiny flecks of indigo in them, and his scruffy beard was a few shades lighter than the nearly black hair on his head, which was as fluffy and untamed as usual.

His features made it hard to pin down his age. From afar his plush lips, sharp jawline, straight nose, and that trimmed but still scruffy beard made him look like he was around thirty, but up close, his slightly chubby cheeks and pale, unlined skin gave him a baby face that didn’t match his giant body or the rest of his features.

Then there were his piercings. I was no stranger to tattoos and both Riv and I had full sleeves with plans to get more. But tats cost money, and quality tats cost even more, so it was a slow process.

A lot of the guys at the club were tatted up, as was most of the crew. No one I knew had any piercings beyond their ears or cartilage.

Rath had a lot of piercings, but because he didn’t wear them while he was working, it was weird to see the glints of metal shining from various parts of his face.

The black discs in his ears could be gauges, or just be flat earrings made to look like gauges. A barbell cut through his right eyebrow, and a silver ring circled his left nostril.

I’d seen flashes of the stud in his tongue while he spoke, but it was the tiny black barbells cutting through either side of his bottom lip that intrigued me. ‘Snake bites’ is what Google had informed me they were called. The top of the barbells rested on his lip, close to the corner of his mouth, while the bottom came through just under it.

I had no fucking clue why those piercings distracted me so much. On anyone else they would have looked stupid, but on him, they were…interesting.

Rath didn’t have any tats, as far as I knew. I’d seen him change every day for weeks, so unless they were hidden under the ratty boxers he always wore, he wasn’t into ink.

But he did wear jewelry when he wasn’t on the clock. The thick flat chain around his neck, almost choker style but not quite, and matching bracelet should have made him look like a try-hard, same with the studded belts he wore and the wallet chain he sometimes clipped to it. But they didn’t.

Nothing about him made sense. Yet somehow, it all worked together.

“You’re so tall,” he mumbled, breaking me free from my musings.

“I thought I was scrawny.” I arched one eyebrow at him.

He shot me a flat look. “You are, but I’ve never kissed anyone close to my height before. It’s weird to be able to look you in the eye.”

He wasn’t wrong. Being so close to him was weird, and we were the same height so we were literally looking into each other’s eyes.

“You can always concede,” I suggested.

“You guys gonna do it, or just keep whispering sweet nothings to each other?” Bubbles asked loudly. “Kiss him, kiss him,” he chanted.

Rath flinched.

“Shut it,” I said instinctively. “This happens when we’re ready, or not at all.”

Rath’s eyes widened in surprise, like he was shocked I hadn’t made fun of him for his reaction.

Yeah, that made two of us.

Bubbles shut the fuck up. Rath breathed out, his lips parting as his hot breath fanned over my face. He smelled like beer and woodsy deodorant with a hint of something spicy.

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