Bad Boy Ink (Get Ink'd #5) - Ali Lyda Page 0,60

let up, moving up and down my shaft until I was worried my knees would give out. “We’re kissing. Then we’re going to go to my bedroom and you’re going to fuck me until I can’t walk.”

My body lit up like a fuse, his words priming my dick to detonate in an embarrassingly quick fashion. The thought of being buried inside of him, of riding Aiden hard and long, was potent indeed. “Okay, I just… should we, I don’t know, talk?”

Aiden gave a frustrated shake of his head. Instant regret filled me when his hand dropped away.

“I had a big speech planned with feelings and things like that, but I lost my nerve.” He gave a shaky laugh. “You do that to me, Thor.”

If only he knew how he made me feel. Wobbly and unsure, a colt just learning to stand. “You have to know what you do to me, too, right? Because I’m fucking dizzy around you. You turn me on my head and I kind of love it.”

Pink danced across Aiden’s sharp cheekbones and the tips of his ears.

“So we are going to talk feelings, then. That’s...I suppose that’s smart. It’s just,” he blew out and exasperated breath, “I like you. Probably too much, all things considering. I was able to convince myself we were just fooling around and that after the project, it would stop. That my wanting you would stop. But it’s worse now than before, Bryce. And it scares the shit out of me.”

Every single thing he said made complete sense—because it was how I felt, too. “I think about you all the time, Aiden. And not just about how hot you are, or how much I love touching you. Most of the time I’m thinking about talking to you, and how you make me laugh, and how intimidatingly smart you are.”

His face was pale, but there was hope in his hazel eyes, and I wished I could promise more, promise anything, to keep it there. I pressed on. “If it makes you feel better, that scares the shit out of me, too.”

Aiden stood and stared at me, pinning me with a gaze so harsh, it felt as if it were scouring me, smoothing away the layers of me until the raw nerve was exposed. I shifted uncomfortably. “What?”

Aiden’s lips twitched like they wanted to smile, but his shoulders were pulled tight. “I just...Look, it’ll come as no surprise that I keep people at arm’s length. After my parents had no issue kicking me out, it felt like a safe policy to not get attached to anyone.”

This jerked on my heart strings, hard. I stepped closer, hands up to reassure him, my own past hurts aching. “I’ve been through the same thing.”

“I know,” he said, voice cracking. “You…you get me. Which is why I know you could break my heart, Bryce. You could fucking shatter me with ease. And I’m not sure if it’s worth the risk.”

I swallowed hard, the lump in my throat large and aching. The people-pleaser in me wanted to promise him I’d never leave. That I’d never break his heart. But I wasn’t sure that was true, and I didn’t want to lie to Aiden. Instead, I stepped even closer and took his face in my hands. My thumb stroked his lower lip, teasing at its plumpness.

“I can’t promise I’ll never break your heart. But it feels like something real is happening between us. We’re way beyond lust, Aiden, and I’d like to try to build something good, something wonderful with you. I want to see where we can go. And I’ll do everything in my power to be what you need. I want to take the risk, but I’ll understand if you don’t.”

Leaning in, I brushed a kiss over his mouth, light and swift. His sharp inhalation tasted like honey to me, like need. My hands moved to his trembling shoulders, steadying him. Aiden was a string pulled taut on a guitar—the right move would create music. The wrong one and he’d snap.

“Okay,” he breathed after a moment, his hands tentatively settling to my hips. “I want to do the same.”

There were unexpected flurries in my chest at that. I knew what I’d wanted from him, but I hadn’t realized that maybe...just maybe I’d needed it, too.

It wasn’t a promise of forever, but it felt like a promise to do our best right now. And that felt really fucking good.

“So…” Aiden said, suddenly looking adorably shy, endearing considering how he’d