Page 91 of Soren

Gabe sighed. “Once again, I’m adoctor, not a frat boy.”

Soren seemed unconcerned with the distinction. “Just point me to the bathroom. We both need a shower.”

“We bathed in the lake.”

Soren gave him a horrified look. “Good lord, frat boy. That doesn’t count asbathing.”

Just when Gabe had finally gotten used to “Highness.”

“I refuse to let ‘frat boy’ be my new nickname,” Gabe insisted, not proud of the petulance in his voice.

“Like you have a choice.” Soren wiggled out of his hold, tugging on his arm. “Shower now.”

They did, giving each other lazy hand jobs under the hot spray, Gabe reveling in the sensation of giving pleasure to his partner andfeelingthat pleasure through the bond, his mate’s satisfaction enhancing his own. No wonder their sex in the woods had been so explosive. It was a whole new level of intimacy.

Soren snarked at him for his scratchy, mismatched towels, but there was little bite to it—Gabe’s vampire was too blissed out postorgasm. Soren was always softest after sex.

They lay on Gabe’s stiff, unyielding sofa afterward, Soren on Gabe’s chest, Gabe running his fingers along every reachable inch of Soren’s soft skin, just to feel it.

“You never wanted anything homier?” Soren asked drowsily.

“I didn’t see the point. It was just me.” Gabe tilted his chin down to look at Soren. “What kind of places did you like to stay in, over the years?”

Soren pursed his lips. “Lavish hotel rooms mostly. I didn’t stay in any one place long enough to want a proper house. Never had roommates either, until here.”

Gabe smirked down at him. “I think you like it. Otherwise, you would have found your own place by now.”

“Finding my own place would have meant acknowledging I didn’t intend to leave,” Soren said seriously.

Gabe was so glad Soren had stayed. He told him so for good measure.

“What do you want now?” Gabe asked. “A mansion?” He could see Soren in some massive old Victorian, waltzing down the stairs in a silk robe and fur overcoat.

Soren looked at him like he was insane. “That would be tacky, in a town like this.” He ducked his head into Gabe’s chest then, a habit he had when he was about to say something he would consider “mushy.” “We could find someplace close to Danny’s,” he muttered. “That might be nice.”

Gabe decided wisely not to tease him about it. “Yeah,” he said simply. “That might be.”

His own apartment was on the other side of town from his brother’s. When he’d moved back to Hyde Park, it hadn’t seemed like a priority to be physically close to his brother’s place. Now he recognized it as just another one of his subconscious avoidance tactics.

Soren hummed in thought. “A little nicer than Danny’s though.”

“Hey,” Gabe protested. “That’s my childhood home.”

Soren giggled. “And your childhood home is little. And quaint.”

“You’relittle and quaint” was Gabe’s super mature response. Take that, vampire.

“I’m little. I’m notquaint,” Soren said indignantly. “I’m gorgeous and chic and way too good for this town.”

Gabe couldn’t argue with that. He pressed a kiss to Soren’s head. “You are.”

Soren settled down at his easy agreement, burrowing even closer into Gabe’s body. Gabe almost wanted to tease him about being so snuggly, but he didn’t want to give Soren any reason to stop.

Eventually Soren broke the silence. “I never thought I’d let myself belong to anyone again.” He said the words softly, almost as if to himself.

Gabe frowned, his fingers pausing their dance along Soren’s skin. “You don’tbelongto me.”

Soren shrugged one delicate shoulder. “You know what I mean.”

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