Page 15 of Confused AF
When I felt him start to pull away, I abandoned my packing and turned to face him. “We should probably—”
The words died in my throat when my mouth collided with his. Apparently, he hadn’t moved away, and our respective positions had brought our lips into perfect alignment. An accident, and nothing a blushing apology couldn’t fix.
I didn’t pull away, though.
And neither did Vaden.
six
~ Vaden ~
Ihadn’tmeanttokisshim.
Oh, I’d wanted to. I had imagined it dozens of times since we’d met. Just not like this. Not by accident, and certainly not in a room filled with hundreds of strangers.
The moment Otto’s mouth had touched mine, though, there had been no turning back. The thought of pretending it didn’t mean anything hadn’t even crossed my mind. If anything, it had only reinforced what I had already known deep down, what that buried, primal part of myself had been trying to tell me all along.
Otto Stillwater wasmine.
When he sighed and leaned into me, his lips parting in invitation, it required every ounce of my self-control not to take the kiss deeper. It would be so easy to get swept up in the moment, but I didn’t want to embarrass him, and I worried about what would happen afterward.
With so many people filming and snapping pictures, it wasn’t hard to imagine our private moment ending up splashed across the internet by dinnertime.
His eyes widened when I pulled away, the light in those golden irises flaring briefly before fading completely. Then he looked away, his cheeks pink with the embarrassment I had been trying so hard to prevent.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, trying to sidestep, to put distance between us.
I caught him by the wrist and pulled him back to me.
“Not here,” I said, unable to keep the growl from my voice. Looking over his shoulder, I searched for somewhere—anywhere—we could be alone, if only for a moment. “Come with me.”
Without waiting for a response, I started walking, practically dragging Otto behind me as we weaved through the crowd. As we approached the front of the cavernous room, I took a sharp turn, following a wide corridor to the conference rooms tucked into the back of the building.
Most of them were currently occupied with the day’s panels, filled with attendees and industry experts. A door stood open at the end of the hallway, the light from the room spilling out in a wide triangle across the carpet. It looked to have been recently vacated, meaning it likely wouldn’t be used again until the custodial team came to clean it.
Pulling Otto into the room, I slammed the door closed and slapped my hand against the wall switch, extinguishing the fluorescent lights and cloaking us in shadows. Then I captured his face between my hands and slanted our mouths together with a quiet groan, desperate to finally taste him.
His answering gasp echoed throughout the room, the sound unusually loud in the empty space. He arched against me, his body swaying into mine as he parted his lips. Curling my tail around his waist to steady him, I held him against my chest andwalked him backward until his shoulders pressed against the wall.
“Mine,” I growled, my voice muffled against his mouth. It was a promise as much as a claim of ownership, a vow wrapped into a single word. “You are mine, Otto. Do you understand?”
He lifted his gaze to meet mine in the dim light, his lips curving into a gentle smile. “Yes.”
“Say it.”
The words rang between us, more of a command than a request, but I needed to know he felt what I did. I needed him to acknowledge that this thing between us, this connection, went deeper than mere attraction.
I couldn’t do temporary, not with him, and one night would never be enough. Hell, that had stopped being an option from the moment he’d taken my hand on the plane.
“I’m yours,” he said, his voice strong and steady. “Your mate.” He arched into me again to brush our lips together. “And you are mine, Vaden.”
My head spun, and my heart crashed against my ribs as I attacked his mouth again, plunging my tongue between his lips to explore the hidden depths within. Fuck, he tasted like candy—sweet, decadent—and I couldn’t get enough.
Something wild and primitive flared inside me, burning away my control as ancient instincts rushed to the surface. Growling, I anchored him against the wall with my hips as I forced his head back to take the kiss deeper.
My canines elongated, the tips scraping over his bottom lip, and a purr of satisfaction rumbled in my chest when he responded with a quiet moan.
Blood roared in my ears, and my lungs burned, but breathing didn’t seem important right then. Not when it felt like I might come apart piece by piece if I stopped kissing him.
