Page 53 of Honorable Convictions
Pierson glared. “You could’ve asked.”
“I could have, but I preferred to have you come to me when you were at the stage where a discussion became necessary.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? Because you don’t want to talk about us. Or even acknowledge that there is an us.”
His mate’s expression grew troubled, and he’d gone from eating his pasta to playing with it. “That’s not fair. I’ve opened my apartment to you, making sure you know that you’re free to come and go. Your clothes are hanging up or are folded up next to mine. I take your uniforms to the cleaners with mine. I feed you dinner and make sure you’ve got coffee as well as breakfast in the morning. I wouldn’t do those things if this was just sex for me. You’ve helped me with my job, and you’re not getting the recognition you deserve, but I’ll make sure that’s remedied at some point. I can’t at the moment without revealing that our relationship has changed from the heated rivalry everyone is used to seeing between us. I don’t know how to say things without being terrified of the consequences, but that doesn’t mean I’m not fully engaged.”
“You’re right, and I’m sorry. Thinking about the future is difficult for you, but I also know that we’ve been essentially cohabitating now for weeks.”
“I do care for you, Mitch. Our past has me worried that this is simply us coming together to remedy the drought of sex and the care of a partner.”
“Tell me what you want from me.”
“In what respect?” Pierson asked, raising his head so that their eyes met. In the green depths, there was bewilderment, but there was also the wealth of affection they’d built between them.
“Every respect.”
“I value your friendship. I appreciate your input into my job and hope I’m being helpful with your questions in relation to your enormous caseload. I know you’ve been working much harder than you have let on, and I wish I could do something to help you with that burden…especially since I miss casework myself. I love that you’re a giant snuggleslut and always touching me in some way. Although you didn’t kiss me when you got home today and it’s those things I’m growing to count on. I need things other than friction in the bedroom. I’d like to replace those shitty memories of our training with a blowjob I’ve given you instead of Trista. And I’d like you inside me. I want to know what it feels like to be that close to you.”
Moved nearly to tears, Mitchell studied the man who owned more of his heart than he probably understood. “Snuggleslut?”
Pierson’s laughter flowed through Mitchell, and he cherished the sound in the same way he hoped to treasure the man. “Yeah, you always hold me after sex. If we’re doing anything else, you find a way to get hugs or otherwise be affectionate.”
“Calling me names for my desire to be close to you seems rather harsh.”
“Except you like it.”
“I knew it was going to be a mistake to let you in and get to know me better.”
“That’s a terrible lie. You were waiting for me to give you the green light, and for some reason you thought arguing with me was going to further your case for how many decades?”
“We already know you’re the brains in this relationship.”
“And you’re the snuggleslut.”
With his dinner as finished as he could handle, Mitchell picked up his plate and ignored the smiling man who’d turned him into mush. While he was at the sink and rinsing them off, Pierson surprised him by embracing him from behind. “I’m trying to clean my dishes.”
“They aren’t going anywhere, and you didn’t greet me properly.”
“Maybe I’m not in the mood to snuggle you.”
A kiss was dropped first on his nape, then behind his ear. “Yes, you are.”
“Are you always like this if you fuck yourself with a toy?”
“I can’t wait to find out what I’m like when you fuck me,” Pierson whispered after barely a moment of hesitation.
“And if I don’t want to?”
“I saw the look on your face. You definitely want to,” Pierson adroitly observed, tightening his arms around Mitchell and not allowing him to continue his task.
“Maybe I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m in the mood right now.”
With the deftness of a man who’d thoroughly explored Mitchell’s body, Pierson’s hand drifted down and cupped the part of him that was definitely ready to penetrate his mate. “Kinda feels like you are.”
“Stop playing with it.”
