Page 40 of A Little More Forgiveness

“I asked if you were jealous of him—” I turned sideways to lean against the countertop, so I remained looking into his face. “—Or me?”

His mouth worked but no words came out. This was big. Monumentally big. Him and Leo had gotten on so well, I’d felt left out on more than one occasion. I hadn’t enjoyed being on my own while they’d been together, exercising the horses or working in the stables. The scenario, far too reminiscent of the times Karl and David wouldn’t be at our apartment when I got home late from work, only to find they’d gone out to dinner and …didn’t want to bother me as they knew I’d be busy.

I should have seen my breakup coming a long time before I had, but I’d shrugged my doubts off, deliberately ignoring the signs staring me in the face. A lot of the time I had been busy and probably wouldn’t have been able to go, but they could have at least asked me, giving me a chance to alter my plans, rather than dismissing me as if I didn’t matter.

But whichever one of us Mitch said now would throw a huge wrench in the works. We’d almost kissed last night, and I’d been so eager to have his mouth on mine, but he hadn’t followed through, the inner battle he constantly waged with himself winning out for a second time, much to my frustration.

Mitch closed his eyes. “Him,” he admitted, turning to me, the haunted expression on his face piercing right into my heart. “I was jealous of him.”

It took a huge effort to not react to his confession as I grappled with what his answer meant. “Why?”

Mitch scrubbed his hand over his face. “Why do you think? After last night, when we…when we almost…”

“Kissed?”

He nodded. “I thought we, well, that we…but the way you were acting with Leo this morning made me feel like what almost happened didn’t matter, and you’d already moved on…” He lowered his hands to re-rinse his already clean mug, more, I suspected, for something to occupy him now he’d admitted his worries than anything else.

I needed to be extra careful with my response to his confession. I sometimes forgot not everyone was as much of a player as me. Flirting was second nature and as easy as breathing. I loved the excitement of the chase and tried to stack the odds in my favor every chance I got; in this case, trying it on with both Mitch and Leo. Which would be fine in New York, where everybody played by the same rules, but I should probably try to rein in my impulses while in the country, before I stomped on too many feelings, especially as the three of us were stuck in this pressure cooker of a cabin with no feasible way out.

I needed to diffuse the situation, before things got out of hand, and maybe push Mitch and Leo closer while edging myself farther away. And the best way to deflect their attention away from me…sarcasm.

I stepped away from Mitch and gave a dismissive shrug. “Well, you know me, any port in a storm.”

For a second Mitch looked aggrieved, but then he must have figured out my plan, as his eyes narrowed, and he set his jaw. “Don’t,” he snapped. “Don’t try and play this off as some kind of game.”

I chuckled and cast a disparaging glance at our surroundings. “I don’t see much else to do around here, do you? So I may as well create my own bit of fun while I can.”

“Gabe,” he warned me. “You weren’t only in it for the fun.”

“Says who?”

Mitch maneuvered around until he stood in front of me, hands on either side of the countertop, trapping me in place. My pulse sped up, and I automatically licked my lips in anticipation of what I hoped was a mauling kiss. He closed the distance between us, enough for me to feel the heat emanating from his body, but not close enough to make contact, and goddamn it, I so wanted him to touch me. The instinct to grind my rapidly hardening dick against his crotch became overwhelming, but I daren’t move a muscle, as the moment I did, I’d show my hand, and he’d know—he’d fucking know I wanted him more than I let on.

He leaned his head in closer and at my small, sharp inhalation, a smug expression spread across his face. “Says me.”

“I—I don’t…” My words dried up when his intense gaze dropped to my lips for a beat, two, before lifting to spear me to the spot.

Time stood still as we stared into each other’s eyes. “Says me,” he repeated firmer, rougher.

I broke first, swallowing loudly in the silence, before looking down, acknowledging defeat, because yeah, it wasn't a game, and for reasons I still hadn’t deciphered, I did, in fact, want him far more than I felt comfortable with.

But the same as yesterday, he abruptly stepped away, allowing me to finally gulp in some air. His gaze suddenly flicked toward the living area, a frown creasing his brow. “Leo’s been in the bedroom a long time.”

“Huh?” My brain had fogged over, and my body ached so damn bad from being close to him again, I failed to grasp the rapid change in conversation. “Maybe he wants some time out,” I rasped, my throat dry.

Mitch pondered my answer. “Something doesn’t feel right.” He stalked away and disappeared around the corner, leaving me irritatingly bereft. After getting my shaky legs to cooperate, I hurried after him as he headed toward the bedroom.

“Leo?” Mitch shouted and knocked on the closed bedroom door. Nothing. He opened it and, finding the room empty, checked the attached bathroom.

“Not in there either,” he confirmed, as a look of horror bloomed in his eyes at the same time the blood drained from his face. “Shit, you don’t think he heard me, do you?”

I regarded him helplessly, unable to offer up an answer.

“Shit. Fuck.” I followed him into the living area as he moved to the window. “I can’t see him,” he said, before turning toward me. “We need to find him. I need to find him.”

Grabbing our outerwear, we rapidly pulled them on, then went outside, taking the dogs with us, in the hope they’d pick up Leo’s scent. They were bloodhounds, after all. Maybe we were being irrational, but if Leo had heard Mitch’s confession, going off in anger was a distinct possibility. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and the snow lay thick on the ground. The heavy flakes fell all around us, cutting our field of vision to no more than thirty or so feet in any direction.

“I’ll check the stables,” Mitch threw over his shoulder as he ran toward them, the dogs at his heels. Twisting around I walked to the end of the porch and peered around the side of the cabin, thinking Leo might have wanted some time alone but didn’t want to go too far, but I found no sign of him.

---