Page 16 of Best Served Cold

“Last chance,” I said, my voice a low rumble only he could hear.

The corners of his mouth lifted. “Bring it,” he rumbled back.

Drawing in a quick breath, I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his.

The cool metal of his lip piercings almost made me pull back, but I quickly grew used to the strange sensation.

His lips were soft and firm, and he held his breath, the same as I did. I’d closed my eyes, not ready to look at him while we were doing this, but I was so laser focused on him that I could feel every little disturbance in the air around us and could picture his posture in my mind’s eye.

After a few seconds of just kind of smushing our mouths together, Rath tilted his head and slanted his lips over mine. I did the same, deepening the angle.

He pursed slightly, so instead of just lip contact it grew into an actual kiss.

Focusing on his mouth, I mimicked his movements. The firmness of his kiss contrasted against the softness of his lips. The tiny metal studs tickled the corners of my mouth, and the scrape of his beard against my skin made me shiver with awareness.

Something wet and supple stroked my bottom lip.

Rath’s tongue.

He tilted his head a bit more, lips parting, pushing more firmly against me.

I did the same, but rather than tease him with my tongue the way he had, I dragged it over the length of his lip, starting at one of his snake bites and ending at the other.

He let out a barely audible, shuddering breath, his chest shaking against mine.

Knowing he was struggling to keep focus fueled the growing need inside me to win this stupid bet. I wanted more of those breaths and shivers. Wanted to know that I was the reason he was losing control.

Angling my face into a more comfortable position, I dipped my tongue into his mouth and gently stroked it against his, sliding it against the metal stud of his tongue piercing.

His gasp was quiet and a bit ambiguous. I couldn’t tell if it was a surprised sound, or an aroused one.

Time to fix that.

My palms itched to touch him, which was fucking weird considering this was a stupid bet and I was trying to make a point. Ignoring the urge, I fisted my hands and curled my tongue around the metal stud. I leaned into him, pressing our bodies together. The heat from his skin seeped into me, and the hard ridge of his cock pushed against my soft one.

He jumped back, his eyes wide. His cheeks were stained with pink, as was his neck under his beard.

The group was silent. My pulse thumped in my ears. Then voices broke out as everyone started talking at once.

Rath was staring at me in something like shock and fear. Did he think I was going to tell everyone about what I’d felt?

I dropped my eyes to his crotch. His pants were most likely relaxed fit, but with his giant ass and tree-trunk thighs, they were snug.

The bulge under his belt buckle confirmed what I thought I’d felt.

Lifting my gaze to his face, the panic in his eyes gave me pause.

This didn’t read like a gay freakout. The fear went far too deep, was too visceral. Unless he was secretly a homophobic twatwaffle, this reaction wasn’t about me, but something far more traumatic.

“Did that hurt?” I asked, giving him an out for his reaction as the guys exchanged cash.

He cleared his throat. “Little bit.” The flash of gratitude in his eyes didn’t escape me.

“Not used to tongue studs,” I said by way of an explanation and braced myself as my brother closed his hand over my shoulder and gave me a shake.

“You good?” Riv asked.

I nodded, still looking at Rath.

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