Page 65 of Passion and Payback

He pushed upright, and even in the dim light, I could see him glaring at me. “Don’t do that. From the moment you got back, you’ve been by my side, helping, supporting, and showing me there’s still the possibility of good things in my life despite what happened. Not to mention, I haven’t felt safe in two years. Not until you came through the café doors and smiled at me. That was the first time I remembered what safety felt like, and that’s because ofyou.”

I couldn’t help but reach up and stroke his cheek as he stared down at me with the same intensity he’d shown me multiple times today. Even if I didn’t want to believe him, he gave me no choice but to accept his words. I didn’t know how I managed to gain the trust of someone like him and hold onto it for so long, but I was going to do everything in my power to ensure I never lost it.

I couldn’t help but pull him toward me slowly and carefully. He came willingly, letting his body drape across mine as I kissed him. His warmth spread over me as I reached out to steady him by his hip, keeping one hand on the back of his head. A new warmth curled in my gut, tugging me toward him as I held on, our lips parting and tongues sliding gently over one another.

“Hunter,” I breathed, feeling him growing hard against my hip. Not that I was doing much better, pressing steadily against his thigh. But the last thing I wanted was to pressure him intomore sex than we’d done, considering how sensitive and out of sorts he had to be feeling after the day we’d had. “I know you’re a big boy and all, but?—”

“Actually,” he said, reaching down and making me stiffen in surprise when his hand wrapped around my shaft. “You’rethe big boy around these parts.”

“Fuck,” I breathed, my body tingling.

“Not tonight,” he said in a low voice that sent a flash of heat rushing from my toes to my head. “Especially when I haven’t had anything bigger than my dildo in the past year.”

“Dildo?” I wondered.

“Yes, Kai, sex toys exist.”

“Shut up,” I said with a laugh, rolling him over before realizing it was a little forceful. Yet all he did was flop onto his back and stare up at me with a smirk, demonstrating that sense of safety he apparently had with me without saying a word. “I just know you were a little off about me messing with…that area.”

“With my ass.”

“With your ass.”

His smirk softened, and he reached up to cradle my face. “Iwantto want you to fuck me. And one day, it’ll happen, I know that. But having another person penetrate me, even with their finger, is...that’s too much right now.”

“I understand,” I said, kissing his neck softly. “I wasn’t trying to convince you of anything.”

“I know. I’m just explaining so you understand.”

“We go at your pace. I was just curious.”

“Just curious, huh?”

“Why don’t you sound like you believe me?”

His hand slid down my side, pushing under the waistband of my pants, and wrapped around me eagerly. “Because, unless I’mmistaken, it sounded like you were more than just curious. More like...interested.”

I had to take a moment to respond, considering he chose to punctuate his sentence by giving my cock a gentle stroke along with running his thumb over the head. “Y-you could say that.”

“I wonder if I’ll be able to pull that off,” he said, sounding genuinely intrigued. “Wanna find out?”

As much as I wanted to be cautious, what came out of my mouth instead was, “Fuck yes, I do.”

He chuckled at my enthusiasm and pointed toward the drawer beside his bed. Considering I was the one pinning him to the bed with my weight, I took it upon myself to roll over and open it to see what he was gesturing at. What I found was a drawer dedicated to sex, with more than one dildo, cock rings, handcuffs with leather wrapped around the cuffs, rope of some sort, lube, and a whole number of other things I wasn’t able to take inventory of.

“Uh,” I began. “Which...one?”

“You pick. Any of them will work.”

That was the best and worst thing he could have said because my brain was running wild with the possibilities. After a moment’s deliberation, I grabbed two. One looked pretty average in size, but the other was the biggest of the bunch. I noted that he hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he didn’t have a toy as big as me, but it was close enough to entice me. I may not be able to feel him myself, but I could enjoy the sight of something big entering him while he enjoyed himself, and that was about as close to the real thing as I was going to get for now.

“Ha,” he said when he saw my choice. “Both predictable and absolutely gentlemanly.”

“What?” I asked, feeling a little defensive.

“The biggest one I have so you can see what it might be like to see me opened up by your dick,” he said, plucking thebig one from my hand and holding it up. Then he grabbed the second, smaller one. “And one that you probably thought was small enough for me to take easily but would warm me up for the bigger one. I expected the bigger one, but the smaller one is a very polite inclusion.”

“That’s me, the picture of perfect manners,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “Now, are you done making fun of me?”

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