Page 36 of Gray
Gray smelled like warm vanilla with a musky undertone that acted as fuel to the fire in my veins. He stared up at me with big brown eyes I could get lost in if I wasn’t careful.
My blood heated, and a deep hunger gnawed inside of me. The kind of hunger that made me want to throw him down on the bed and drive into him, nipping at the soft skin of his neck and feeling the vibrations of his moans against my lips.
But I couldn’t kiss him.
I shouldn’t.
“It’s late,” I said, taking a step back from him before I could act on my desires. I didn’t expect his reaction.
Gray’s eyes filled with tears. “Y-Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I’ll get your bedding.”
He was out of the room and closing the door before I could say a word.
What would I have said anyway?
Ever since the moment I met Gray, strange feelings had swirled in my chest. He didn’t feel like a stranger to me. He felt like the sun on my skin after a week of dark skies and rain. Like that first drink of cold water after being in the stifling heat all day, dressed head to toe in combat gear.
I had stayed in Echo Bay solely for the chance to see him again. Hoping. Because what he felt like to me was something I couldn’t fully put into words, not in a way that made a lick of sense.
The door opened, and Gray came in with sheets and a thick quilt in his arms. With his gaze lowered, he stripped the bed. I helped him make the bed, both of us quiet.
He looked drained. He moved like it too, his actions a bit sluggish. Was it because of his sleeping disorder? Or was it because of me?
“Let me know if this quilt’s not warm enough and I’ll bring you an extra blanket.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything. His bubbly personality had dimmed. I hated it. When he turned to leave the room, something flared in my chest.
“Wait.” I grabbed his arm before I could stop myself. He became more alert as his eyes flashed to mine. “I’m sorry. For earlier.”
So articulate. Way to go, Hawk.
“Why didn’t you kiss me?”
Wow. He just came right out and asked it. Then again, in the short time I’d known Gray, I had already gathered he had little to no filter when he talked. Unlike me, who sometimes didn’t say enough, who thought too much.
“I don’t know.”
“Liar.” He examined my face, a crinkle forming between his eyes. “Are you straight? It’s okay if you are. I won’t judge. We can be best bros instead of, you know—” He motioned back and forth between us. “—kinky bedfellows.”
“Kinky bedfellows?”
Gray nodded. “Have you heard of wing slits? Well, I got ’em. And I love to have them touched… and licked.”
Wing slits? My body hardened as a fantasy took flight: Gray riding my cock and releasing his wings, the muscles in his lean torso stretching beautifully as he arched his back, dark feathers fanning out on both sides of him. An angel of mass destruction—that destruction being my fucking self-restraint.
“I’m not straight,” I said. Would’ve been easier if I was. Maybe then I’d be able to fight my attraction to him.
“But you still don’t wanna kiss me?” His face fell. “Am I not cute enough for you? Or is it ’cause you like muscled guys? I can’t really change that. I’ve never been able to gain weight or build beefy muscles like Galen or Raiden.”
“That’s not the reason.”
“Then what is?” He blinked at me, waiting for a response.
“I’m not a good guy to get involved with,” I blurted out. I was too emotionally closed off. Too rough around the edges. I would fuck him hard and leave.
I couldn’t give him more than that.
