Page 34 of Double Shot

The magic of his forehead kisses was absolutely unmatched thus far, and I felt myself relax with victory when it came to this little argument about my involvement firmly in my grasp.

I drew in a slow breath, breathing him in and smiled, a careful tremulous thing as he traced some of my long hair behind my ear. The ice rattled in Kyle’s glass as he slugged the remainder of what was in it back. I straightened in Roan’s lap and turned my attention to Kyle, the set of his shoulders, stiff as he stared into his empty glass with something akin to disappointment.

I saw the echo of the long-ago boy I used to love in the man who stood before me now, and I felt myself soften, my heart leaping and grasping at the nostalgia offered up by memory.

“What’s wrong, Kyle?” I asked softly.

Roan’s hands slid along my silk-clad body, urging me up off of his lap, to go to my other lover. I stood and went to Lach, letting my arms drift around his waist.

“After intense situations, like combat, or a long mission, everyone has a comedown. Civilians aren’t trained to handle it or expect it. That’s why you see people having these great meltdowns, tears, shakes, the works. They don’t know how to handle that much adrenaline and emotional stress,” Roan said. I could feel Kyle tense under my arms.

“Kyle and I are no different, and this is his comedown, love,” Roan said and Lach gave him a dirty look, as though he didn’t appreciate being outed so directly.

I looked up into the impassive face of Kyle and smiled softly, unafraid, unperturbed. I had learned to love this cold side of Kyle Lachlan over the last several months and in a moment of clarity looking up into those glittering obsidian eyes, I knew, there were softer parts to the cold and calculating predator in my arms and those bits were close to the surface tonight.

“What about it?” I asked him softly. His hand rose and his thumb lightly caressed my cheek as his eyes slid over mine. He didn’t say anything, but I saw the question in his gaze.

“Ask,” I murmured. “Whatever it is you need… I’m here.”

Conan grunted, and we both looked to him. “I believe some privacy is in order,” he said and he fixed Kyle with a look and a sharp nod. Kyle returned that nod, once up and once down and we watched as Roan limped for the bedroom, a hand pressed to his bad leg. I frowned but Kyle cleared his throat and recaptured my attention.

“Come, sit down with me,” he murmured, and I nodded.

He led us to the armchair Roan had just vacated and sank down into it, tugging me gently into his lap. He was tense, a muscle in his jaw ticking.

“Kyle, just tell me what—”

“I’m trying,” he admitted. “This… this isn’t easy for me. Everything in my life has changed, getting you back after so long, and us getting Conan back from the dead. It used to be simple, tactical. Now it’s a puzzle, and I can’t see the picture or the pieces.”

I twined my arms around his neck and buried my fingers in the back of his hair, massaging the back of his head in that spot where the base of his skull met the top of his neck, the place where stress and tension like to twist into a knot. I searched his face long and hard, willing him to tell me his secrets.

“What can I do?” I asked softly after we went long minutes without saying anything at all.

“I can tell you,” he said. “But I’m not sure that you really want to know.”

“I really want to know.” I nodded.

“I want you to kiss me,” he said and then held up a hand to stop me as I moved to comply. “But not how you normally do it,” he said.

“How then?” I asked softly.

“Do you remember how you were on the train, coming back to Indigo City?”

I nodded slowly, slightly afraid of that Sadie. I didn’t like being her. I didn’t know if I liked what I’d become earlier tonight, either… but I couldn’t say I regretted it.

“And that’s what you want?” I asked.

“My comedown is pretty simple. I want to fuck a beautiful woman. Not sex, not make love, but fuck. Roan calls itasserting dominanceorlife affirmation, or some other therapy nonsense. I like it rough, and dirty, the dirtier the better. Some of the things I’ve done with escorts I don’t know that you could handle it, or that I could do it to you. I think you might think less of me—”

“Mister Lachlan, you talk too much,” I said, brushing my hands through his hair. I covered his mouth with my own, in a kiss as savage as I could make it. I groaned into his mouth. This, this I could do, I could manage. To be whatever he needed in this moment was definitely something I could handle. That and I don’t think he realized, what he was asking wasn’t precisely a hardship.

Imissed him. I craved his body against mine, the feel of him inside me, and while I relished the times that Kyle could and would be gentle with me, there was something to be said about the wayLachlantouched me, too. I would take whichever side of the man I could get. Rough? Gentle? It was all the same to me, honestly, as long as hetouched me.

“Sadie,” he breathed my name as I slid around in his lap, shoving off of him to better situate myself to straddle him.

“You talk too much, Mister Lachlan. You’re here to fuck, aren’t you?” I asked and placed his face between my hands so I could put my mouth over his again.

His hands went to my hips and then down to squeeze my ass, an appreciative noise slipping from his mouth into mine as our tongues clashed. He tasted like something akin to pine needles and turpentine and I tried to ignore it which was easy to do when he started walking the light silk of my nightgown up with his fingers. I slipped out of the straps for him, to bare my breasts should he want them and felt wanton and brazen, well aware we were parked right in front of the windows at my back.

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