Page 31 of Kissing Danger

Deacon stared down at the gun in his hand, trembling from head toe. It was as I feared. The reality of the situation had finally hit him, and it had hit him hard.

“Deke?” I said as I approached, though I had no idea what to say after that. I’d barely been a teenager the first time I’d killed someone, and after so many years I barely remembered what had been going through my head at the time. I had no idea what Deacon was thinking right now.

“Sir,” my security team spoke up. “We need to leave. Authorities are going to be here soon.”

Grabbing Deacon by the wrist, I dragged him out of the room and into the car waiting for us in the back alley. Although he still didn’t show any reaction, he also allowed himself to be easily led around.

Once inside the car, behind the safety of tinted windows, I pulled the gun out of Deacon’s hand and stored it away.

“Deke. It’s okay. It was self-defense. He definitely would have killed you. I... didn’t think you’d actually do it. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved.”

I’d only meant to give him a scare. Make him realize what he was asking for. I expected him to drop the gun the moment he felt its weight in his hands.

No, that was a lie. I’d challenged him because I was secretly hoping he’d pull the trigger. I wanted him to prove he had the strength to stand next to me.

And he had.

But was that success worth it?

His hands had stopped shaking, but he was still staring at them with a strange expression.

“I killed him. He poisoned Kiki, and I killed him.”

He looked up at me, and I could finally see the light dancing in his eyes. Before I could question it, he grabbed my lapel and pulled me in for a kiss. His mouth molded to mine, hungrily trying to devour me whole. The unexpected passion left me speechless, and I didn’t even kiss him back at first.

My lack of reaction only seemed to embolden Deacon. He climbed into my lap, heedless of the car’s movement, and gripped my head with both hands to deepen the kiss even more.

Nothing could have convinced me to resist such a temptation. I slid my hands under his shirt and around his waist, holding him tightly to me and enjoying the feel of smooth, unblemished skin.

We were both panting when we finally parted.

“Deke?” I started to ask, but he cut me off.

“Shut up.” He kissed me again, this time rutting against me so I could clearly feel his arousal even through the fabric of both our pants.

With him so eager in my arms, I was quickly matching his enthusiasm, but I held back and pushed him away just enough to speak freely.

“Deke. We need to talk. This isn’t... how I expected you to react.”

Every muscle in his body was tense. For a moment, it looked like he might try to fight me, but then he suddenly slumped forward and buried his face against the crook of my neck.

“I know it’s not normal, but I just...”

He started trembling in my arms again, but I couldn’t tell if it was arousal or fear. Maybe it was both.

“I was just so angry after what happened to Kiki. And then, on the way here, I just felt so agitated. When I... When I pulled that trigger, it was thrilling. I made the bad guy go away with just the twitch of my finger. Thrilling, but also terrifying. And a relief. That guy hurt Kiki. Now, he isn’t a threat anymore.”

Pulling away from his hiding place against my neck, he met my gaze, and I could see all the different emotions swimming in his eyes.

His voice took on a breathy tone, similar to the way he sounded when he was squirming in pleasure under my hands.

“And then there was you. God! The way you just took everyone out. They weren’t even a threat to you. I don’t know. It was just...”

He ran his mouth over the line of my jaw until he was whispering directly into my ear.

“It was really hot.”

The tickle of his breath against the shell of my ear sparked desire in my veins. Maybe this was just an unhealthy reaction to the trauma of the last few days, but I didn’t care. If that turned out to be the case, I would deal with it later.

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