Page 26 of Feral Heart
Cesar’s movements stilled as he gathered first aid supplies from a cabinet. “You’ve imagined it before?” His voice had dropped an octave, sending shivers racing through Jamie.
“Maybe…” He bit his lip. “Every Sunday for the past two months, actually.”
A slow smile spread across Cesar’s face as he knelt in front of Jamie, setting a bowl of warm water and medical supplies on the floor beside him. “Tell me more about these imaginings while I work.”
Jamie swallowed hard, his heart racing. Cesar was close enough that Jamie could count his eyelashes, could smell the woodsy scent that clung to his skin.
“Um, well...”
“This is going to sting,” Cesar warned.
“I can handle it,” Jamie insisted then hissed when the cool solution touched his wound. “Ouch!”
“Sorry, colibrí.” Cesar’s touch remained gentle as he cleaned away the dried blood and dirt. “You were saying?” He dipped the cloth in the water then went back to cleaning his knee. “About your Sunday imaginings?”
“Oh. Right.” Jamie took a deep breath. “Well, sometimes I’d imagine bumping into you outside the store. You’d recognize me and ask me out for coffee. Other times I’d work up the courage to slip my number in with your receipt.”
Cesar smiled as he wrung out the cloth. “And the undressing part?”
“That usually came after the third date,” Jamie admitted, watching as Cesar began to clean around his wound. “In my imagination, I’m much smoother than I am in real life.”
The warm cloth pressed against his skin, gentle but firm. Jamie hissed then relaxed as Cesar’s careful ministrations soothed the pain away.
“You’re plenty smooth, colibrí.” Cesar’s eyes flicked up to meet his. “You had me from the first smile.”
“Really?” Jamie couldn’t hide his surprise. “But I never said anything to you. Just ‘have a nice day’ and stuff.”
“It was enough.” Cesar’s thumb brushed just above the wound, sending a different kind of shiver through Jamie. “Your eyes light up when you smile. Real smiles, not those fake ones you give to difficult customers.”
Jamie’s heart stuttered. “You noticed that?”
“I noticed everything about you.” He dabbed antiseptic on the cut, his touch featherlight. “The way you bounce when you’re excited. How you count backward in Spanish when you’re nervous.” His eyes lifted again, pinning Jamie with their intensity. “The way you look at me when you think I don’t see.”
“Oh.” His mouth went dry. Cesar had been watching him just as carefully as he’d been watching his crush. The realization made his head spin.
Cesar applied butterfly bandages to close the wound. “All clean.”
“Thank you,” Jamie whispered.
Their eyes locked, the air between them suddenly charged. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from those tropical-blue eyes, now rimmed with a hint of amber.
Under his stud muffin’s stare, Jamie became acutely aware that he was sitting in his boxers, legs spread, with the object of his fantasies kneeling between them. Jamie was hyperaware of those strong hands so close to where he was rapidly hardening. He should feel embarrassed sitting here in his underwear, his attraction obvious, but instead he felt... seen. Wanted.
“De nada, guapo.” Cesar’s thumbs made small circles on Jamie’s thighs, each movement inching slightly higher. “You’ve had quite a night.”
Jamie nodded, finding it increasingly difficult to focus on words with Cesar’s hands where they were. “It’s been eventful.”
“And yet here you are.” Wonder filled his voice. “Most people would have run screaming.”
“I did run screaming,” Jamie pointed out with a small laugh. “Right into a piece of metal.”
Cesar’s smile turned rueful. “True. But you stayed.”
“Of course I stayed.” He reached out, hesitantly touching Cesar’s cheek. The slight scruff of his beard tickled Jamie’s palm. “Wolf or not, you’re still my jellybean.”
Something flashed in Cesar’s eyes—hunger, need, affection all rolled into one heated glance. Jamie felt it like a physical touch, making his breath catch.
“There’s something I promised myself I’d do,” he said softly. “When you were human again.”
