Page 35 of Rifted Hearts
Jeanette gave Kaveh a chaste peck on the cheek and motioned to the dance floor. “I’m going to have some fun and dance, and I strongly recommend the two of you do the same.” As she walked away, she winked at the two of them, a smile spreading across her face. “Don’t worry, Dr. K. I’ve got a good feeling your Mr. Right will come around.”
Obviously she meant Kat and was trying to reassure him. Kaveh sagged against the bar, relief warring with despair. “I couldn’t have handled that any worse.”
“I think Jeanette took it pretty well.” Remi tugged at Kaveh’s arm. “Giving Kat some time to let this sink in is the right move. By the way, you’re still number one on my dance card, and I’m not going to let you forget it.”
Remi yanked him to the dance floor, ignoring what seemed to Kaveh to be all too blatant stares from men around them. Then he stopped, and the two of them faced each other.
The DJ decided to slow things down at that point, playing an older country song Kaveh knew well. Remi made a brief effort to complain about it then pressed himself against Kaveh.
It felt good to hold someone.
It felt good to hold Remi.
Kaveh knew some line dances, but he had never slow danced with anyone. The couples around them were swaying together or making out, and he didn’t feel self-conscious. Instead, he slipped his arm around Remi’s waist, enjoying the gentle friction their bodies made against one another. He could catch the scent of cactus fruit on Remi’s lips, and that made him want to kiss them.
He pulled away a fraction, looking down at Remi’s face. The pupils of his blue eyes were wide, and his breath had sped up.
“May I kiss you?” Kaveh asked and had to brace himself as Remi’s lips crashed into his own.
Kaveh kissed him back. The warm sweetness of his mouth was intoxicating, and arousal flared. He deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding in. It might have been the stress of the past few days or the inhibition of being in a crowd where many were doing the same thing, but he felt none of his usual reservations about expressing physical affection in public.
Remi pulled back for air, his lips swollen and his eyes dark with desire. “You’re amazing.” He hesitated then went on, the words coming out in a rush. “Come back to my cabin with me. Please. One night won’t matter, and you’re not married yet.”
The temptation, once the offer was there, was overwhelming. Not only for the physical pleasure but theopportunity to be close to Remi and see him unguarded, without the walls he built up to keep everyone out.
There was so much pressure on Kaveh now that he felt ready to explode. He had handled the situation with Kat poorly, and worse yet, it was now likely his young friend was his assigned spouse. The only action that would make his clan draw back the rift to its original position was Kaveh taking him to the safety of the keep. He felt sick at the thought of forcing Kat to do that. Maybe waiting until morning to talk to him again was best.
And until the bracelet changed shape, Kaveh was still a free man.
Remi mistook his silence for a negative response. “I’m sorry. I know you’re still angry about me lying to you, which you have every right to be.”
Kaveh stopped him from saying more with a kiss. “Going to your cabin is exactly what I need right now.”
16
It took about thirty minutes to get back to the ranch, but for Remi it seemed like an eternity. Kaveh had first made sure Jeannette was fine with taking a robotaxi back to her place and then had taken one more look around for Kat before the two of them got into the pickup and drove away.
Remi kept his hands off Kaveh during the drive with great difficulty. He focused on reassuring Kaveh that Kat was perfectly safe and would have cooled off by tomorrow, all while telling himself that Lyall would keep the vet assistant safe.
It was a measure of Kaveh’s distraction that he didn’t remember they had left Lyall behind until they were at the cabin door, and Remi had to stop him from heading back to the bar.
Thankfully, his watch buzzed with a text from Kat. As upset as the vet assistant was, he still wanted to make sure Remi knew his “terrier” was safe.
“See, I told you Lyall had to be with Kat.” Remi showed Kaveh the text then fumbled for the metal key to his room,desire and longing making him clumsy. “He left when Kat did, and Lyall’s awfully good at tracking people down.”
As a hellhound, that usually meant following the trail of someone he wanted to assassinate. But Lyall liked Kat, and Remi was sure everything would be fine as long as the dog was watching over him.
They stepped inside Remi’s room, which had both working electricity and the soft glow of shroom lights. Some odd effect of that terrifying drakone-controlled rift moving closer to the ranch, no doubt.
That was fine too. Romantic, even.
Remi had one more night in a world where he and Kaveh could be friends, lovers, even a couple.
Tomorrow, Kaveh would talk to Kat and give him the bracelet, which would turn into something cute and adorable, and they would kiss and make up. Tomorrow, Zale and the other Colony enforcers would try to use the Matchmaker’s choice against the drakones, and Kaveh would realize what a lying piece of shit Remi was. Tomorrow, Remi would leave and never see Kaveh again, or Lyall, and he would be back in Boston.
Alone.
That was fine too. It had to be. Because there wasn’t any other way this would end.
