Page 76 of Breathe
“He was?” Azrael blinked, he hadn’t known that.
“Mhmm, and he doesn’t like it when we mix work hours with personal affairs.”
“Ohhhh.” Azrael’s eyes rounded, and he was pretty sure his mouth did too.
Real’s eyes looked way bluer in this light, and they glittered, and then his mouth was caught in a slow, hot, and possessive kiss.
He melted into Real’s arms.
Catcalls rang out over the lake, but Real didn’t give a shit.
Kissing Azrael was all he could think about since the moment the young assassin had walked into the mess hall looking so fucking sexy in tight black pants and a skin molding ultra-thin vest shirt.
They sank beneath the cold water, and Real took Azrael’s hand in his and swam. When they surfaced, the younger man sucked in huge gulps of air. Swimming was good to build endurance, but he didn’t want Azrael exhausted. He saw the goosebumps rising on the younger man’s skin and decided then and there that they wouldn’t stay in the cold lake water much longer.
He drew Azrael to the shallow end of the lake and picked out a piece of leftover potato from the man’s long black hair.
Azrael laughed and flicked the piece of food when Real handed it to him.
That hadn’t been their first food fight, nor was this their first swim together. They spent most evenings here at the lake, alongwith whomever was free, hence the reason all of them wore swim trunks under their clothes.
The weather in Nevada was turning warmer as spring came rolling in. But Real still shivered partly from the cold water, but mostly from Azrael’s touch.
“Real…”
He tried not to curl his fingers into Azrael’s hair as the slender man said his name and stepped into him, but it was a lost cause. It didn’t take much to trigger the need to touch Azrael, but before he went there and there was no going back, he wanted to tell him something important.
When slender hands ran up and over his bare chest, Real sighed. He loved that Azrael loved to touch him, and he caught those restless hands firmly.
He was ridiculously pleased when Azrael lifted on his toes and kissed the skin of his neck.
“Real,” Azrael’s voice was more insistent, and he smiled at the blatant need in the way he said his name.
“Hmm?” He grunted, wanting nothing more than to find a bed of fallen leaves and have his way with Azrael’s sleek, tight body, but the young assassin had something on his mind.
Which reminded him that he also had something to say.
“I’m fucking freezing, let’s go back to the cabin,” Azrael said.
The sun was sinking beyond the trees, sending shadows stretching like fingers across the lake, leaving a growing darkness. With no moon tonight, the path back to the paddock would be pitch dark.
“Okay,” he said, linking their fingers.
He would wait until they were behind the closed door of their cabin to tell Azrael how he felt.
“Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch!” Crow said, drawing his attention to the rocky shore.
Several men were coming down the trail, and they weren’t dressed for swimming.
The one in the lead looked familiar, and Real smirked when he recognized Levi Huxley. Behind Huxley came the Aries commander, Roman King. Behind King walked Nash Gibson along with two other men Real didn’t know.
“Come on, there’s someone I want you to meet,” Real said, tightening his hand around Azrael’s.
Both Crow and Winter were out of the water and had already approached the new arrivals.
“How the hell are you?” Crow said and pulled Levi into a tight guy clench.
“Good, you?” Levi gave Crow a tight hug back.
