Page 22 of Wicked

He reaches into my pocket and slides out my phone. “Take as many pictures as you want. I’m yours, Manny.”

I swallow hard. Candlewick is mine. But only for a limited time. If I’m already this taken with him, and we’ve only been together a few hours, how will it feel to lose him a year from now? Could I even survive that?

He stares back at me as he plays with the top button of his jeans. “Do you want… Or we could just kiss…”

“I want you,” I admit, grabbing for the button and undoing it myself one-handed.

He bites his lip and reaches for the zipper. I pull up the camera on my phone and snap a photo, then another and another as he eases the zipper down. I get a glimpse of black lace underneath his jeans.

Were those from the closet? Maybe they didn’t have male underwear and Candlewick needed to swap his out.

“I, um, have a thing for lingerie,” he says.

My mouth goes dry. Candlewick is wearing that lace on purpose?

I hold my breath as he hooks his thumbs underneath the waistband of his jeans and slowly lowers them, revealing a pair of black lacy panties. His erection pushes against the lace, which is possibly the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

Is it okay that I like how androgynous he looks right now? Candlewick and I are both men. Aren’t we supposed to be attracted to masculinity?

“Hmmm, I can’t decide if you’re really into the underwear or freaked out by them,” Candlewick says without the slightest hint of shyness.

“I’m not freaked out, I’m just… You’re beautiful,” I stammer.

He reaches out and brushes his finger along the sliver of my abdomen the shark shirt doesn’t cover. I take in a sharp breath. I had no idea that part of my body was so sensitive.

“You’re beautiful too.” He slips his finger underneath the fabric of my shirt and pulls me closer. “Can I take this off?”

I nod dumbly. Candlewick could ask for anything right now, and I’d probably give it to him. He slides both of his hands under my shirt, placing them flat on my abdomen. My breath is ragged as he drags his hands up my torso, pushing the shirt up. I lift my arms, and he tugs it over my head.

For a split second, I feel uncomfortably naked and worried about what he’ll think of my body, but Candlewick wraps his arms around my shoulders and presses his bare chest to mine. The sensation of his smooth, warm skin against my own makes me forget everything but how badly I want him. Our mouths crash together, my hands finally venturing down to touch the black lace of his underwear. I squeeze him there, and he moans.

His hands leave a trail of electricity in their wake as he grasps my shoulders, my back, and lower still. I break away from the kiss and step back. I’m not ready for him to take my pants off. I’m not ready for him to touch me there either.

No omega has ever touched me anywhere close. In the pits, I touched them.

Everything with Candlewick is so different.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“I’m sorry. I just need… I’ve never done anything like this.”

“Like what specifically?”

“Like… I don’t know. The only time I’ve had sex was in the breeding pits, and the omegas were in a medically induced heat, so—”

Candlewick’s face softens, and he looks at me the way Lester did: with pity. The effect is the same as getting doused in freezing water. The last thing in the world I want is for Candlewick to feel sorry for me.

He reaches for my hand, and I don’t yank it away, even though I want to. This isn’t his fault.

“I’m sorry, Manny. If you were a client, I would have asked about your sexual history and if you had ever been assaulted.”

I’m not sure how to unpack that. Should I be angry that he’s comparing me to a client or that he assumed I was assaulted?

“I haven’t been assaulted. That’s not how sex in the pits works. I chose to mount every omega I fucked in there. The only rape was what happened to them.”

Candlewick tenses at my use of the word fuck. Why? I thought he was comfortable with that word.

“Weren’t you given virility meds, then trapped with omegas in heat who were releasing an overwhelming amount of pheromones? I thought that’s what they did in the pits to ensure the alphas would cooperate.”

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