Page 6 of King of Liars

“What can I get for you today?” I asked as I would have with any other patron but trying so much harder to keep my cool.

“Oh, don’t be like that.” He pressed his hands against the counter and leaned toward me. “We can still be friends, can’t we?”

“We were never friends.”

“No, but we could chat, right? Even if you choose not to take me up on my offer, which is still on the table, what’s the harm of a little chat? Maybe you can swing by the Forest tonight and have some drinks with me and the knights.”

“Oh, is Your Majesty inviting me out for a royal occasion?”

He laughed. “Come on. It’s a dynamic we all choose to use to have a little fun with. What’s the problem?”

I glanced around the shop.

He hadn’t said anything that could have let any of the patrons know the sort of world he was talking about, but since I knew what he meant, I feared that people would somehow pick up on the real conversation we were having, that they could read it on my face as easily as he could surely read that I’d been dreaming about him ever since our last convo.

“No, I’m busy tonight.”

“Studying?”

“Not really any of your business what I’m busy with. What if it’s a date?”

“It’s not. But I’m fine playing this game, Boss. Break your date. Come spend time with me.”

“You meanus. It sounds like there’s never time with just you. Only you and your role-playing buddies.”

“I come with baggage, but then again, so does everyone else. Mine just happens to take the form of some very sexy tops.”

The door opened as one of my regulars entered. “Okay, I think I’ll be shutting down this conversation so I can get back to work.” Even though I said it, and it was best to keep Sy at a distance, I was almost pissed at the customer for interrupting our discussion.

Walking away from that crazy-ass meeting with his sex drones was supposed to be the end of it, but somehow, even as I was walking away, I knew his offer to think on it would keep gestating inside my imagination, evolving and expanding into so much more. Practically driving me to madness.

I wanted more time with Sy.

And in a way, even simply having him all to myself at the cash register made me feel…special.

Is that how he wanted it to feel? Was that all part of some master plan of his?

“In that case,” Sy said, “I’ll have a caramel latte with a bit of extra cream. I do love cream.” He licked his lips, and I could tell by the expression on his face, he was trying to get under my skin.

It isn’t working.

That was a fucking lie. Of course it was. Everything he did fucking worked.

It was like everything he said and did hijacked my brain, stole my reason from me, and replaced it with lust for what he had promised.

After I took my regular’s order, I made Sy’s drink and called his name. As Sy took it from me, his finger brushed against mine, obviously not by mistake.

The heat, the way it soared through me, made my face fill with a similar heat, reminding me of how it felt when I came every time I imagined fucking him.

Oh, his touch was a fucking drug—no, a poison—pulsing right through my veins.

But Sy wouldn’t have felt the same without leaving me hungry, which he did as he pulled his finger from my grasp before heading out. He glanced through the glass door back at me, offering me one more glimpse of those beautiful brown eyes before slipping away.

I’d been so sure I’d made the right choice by walking away.

I knew it was the right thing to do, but once again, he’d forced his way right past my defenses and left me feeling like a weak man. Like a man about to cave to desire. He’d known what he was doing, no doubt about that.

And once I got off work, I found my desire only intensified as I kept looking at that finger he’d touched, thinking about how it felt…how it would feel to have my body pressed against his.

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