Page 90 of Cold as Ice

“Yeah, I . . .that’s on me,” Mal admitted. “I was fucked up. I can’t say I’m not still fucked up, in some way, but . . .if I’d known you wereserious. If I had been able to get out of my own way, back then . . .”

Elliott’s jaw dropped. And that felt even worse. “You’re not fucking with me?”

“Ell, I’d kissedoneguy since high school, and it was only to prove I wasn’t a bad kisser and that’s why Aubrey rejected me. It had been . . .”A really fucking long time.“A while, for me. I was avirgin. Out of habit, sure. And fear. And well . . .a whole host of other reasons. But I choseyou.I wantedyou. So much I threw away all that history, decided it didn’t matter.”

Elliott didn’t say anything for so long Malcolm was terrified that he’d said too much. Or maybe he hadn’t saidenough.

“You mean that.”

“Youknewthat,” Mal retorted.

“Well, yeah, but . . .I thought maybe I just wore you down, or something . . .”

“Or something,” Mal said dryly.

“Or something,” Elliott agreed. He smiled again, and Mal let out the breath he’d been holding. He hadn’t fucked this up. Not irreparably, anyway.

Sometimes it felt like it was always Elliott reaching over their divide. Mal decided that couldn’t stand. So he reached out, tugging Elliott back closer to him, kissing him.

Elliott groaned in the back of his throat, cupping Mal’s face with his hands.

One minute Elliott was leaning over him, and the next, he had his arms full of him as Elliott straddled him on the bench. His eyes were glowing, pinning Mal to the spot. Even if there was a chance in hell of him wanting to move, he couldn’t have. “Youlikeme,” Elliott murmured.

“You just now figured that out?” Mal asked, unable to help the smile that was blooming across his face.

“Well,yeah.” Elliott was laughing now, fingers curled into Mal’s shoulders like they belonged there. “We’re both kind of idiots. I just . . .you seemed like you never wanted to want me.”

“I didn’t. I thought I was just a passing thing. That you’d have me and then move on to one of your many, many admirers.”

“You wanna know a secret?” Elliott leaned in. Lips brushing against his neck. Then his ear. Mal shivered and nodded. “None of them mattered. I was just passing the time.”

He didn’t sayuntil you, but maybe he didn’t need to.

Elliott kissed him again, and it grew hot and frantic fast. Mal could completely discard—okay,almostcompletely discard—the fear that this would be the last time. Could just enjoy the feel of Elliott, hard against his thigh.

Enjoy the way he tensed and relaxed as Mal slid a hand down his abs and gripped his cock. Gave him an experimental stroke.

“Yes,yes.” Elliott gasped.

“You want this?” Mal murmured against his mouth. “Right here? When anyone could walk by and see you?”

Elliott groaned. And okay, helikedthat. Mal, who before this moment had considered himself a private person, even liked it. Helovedit, in fact.

This was just another way of marking Elliott ashis.

“I bet,” he continued, “you even picked out this costume, hoping that someone would corner you and slide their hand down your pants. Make you come in them, with everyone watching.”

Elliott tensed, and then he was coming into Mal’s grip. Then his mouth was lush and insistent against Mal’s, and that, with the pressure of Elliott against his cock, was all it took to send him over the edge, too.

“God,” Elliott said, as he tried to catch his breath, “if I’d known you were this dirty hot, I’d have seduced you ages ago.”

“I think you tried,” Mal teased.

“I was shit at it,” Elliott admitted with a chuckle. His head dropped down to Mal’s shoulder. “Maybe I should have failed a class before this.”

“That’s not funny,” Mal said sternly. Or as sternly as he could, with the pleasurable lassitude of an orgasm still lingering.

“You like it.”

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