Body and Soul (Vanguard Towers #3) - Aiden Bates Page 0,18

pack was already wet when he first put it on, but now it was dripping water and dragging his mascara all the way down to his jaw. I smeared it away with my thumb, and my dick surged with excitement as I pressed firmly along his lightly stubbled jaw. His skin was so soft there.

Brax let out a soft moan-like hum and I bit down my arousal.

I took the ice-filled shirt from him without meeting his eye and hurried to the kitchen to get him a real pack. When I got back, he was slumped against the back of the couch and looked almost relaxed, if it weren’t for the way he bounced his knee. I sat beside him and resisted the urge to pull him against me. But I needn’t have—he immediately leaned against my shoulder and sighed softly.

“Brax. Tell me what happened.” I wrapped an arm around him. “And leave nothing out.”

He sighed again and held the ice pack to his eye. He told me what had happened, from Ian inviting him over to the sexual pressure, the assault, fighting back, running away.

I was proud of him for using what he could to get out of there. And turned on by how damn feisty and strong he was to beat them back.

And I was fucking furious at Ian. I knew it. What a piece of fucking shit—

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

Nope. I couldn’t.

I slapped my knees and stood up. “I’ll be back later, I’m going to kill Ian.”

Brax snatched my wrist and yanked me back down to the couch, surprisingly strong. “Ry!”

He threw the ice pack onto the coffee table, suddenly animated and seemingly just as furious as I was. “This is why I didn’t want to go home! My brothers would freak out, and I’m counting on you to keep a cool head.”

“Fuck.” I rubbed my face as burning ire in my gut turned my insides to lava. “You’re expecting too much, Brax. Don’t you know I’d do anything for you?”

He was silent, but he tightened his grip on my wrist. His nails dug into my skin and sent a thrill up my arm.

I slowly turned to look at him, my mouth covered and smudged with my fingers. He stared at me with wide, needy eyes. He knew. He knew I’d do anything for him. And he wanted me to.

I wanted to kiss him so fucking badly. His lips were red, swollen from the injury, and I wanted to tend to them with gentle pecks. I wanted to cover him in sweetness, softness, real care and drown out all the hard edges he’d smacked up against.

He edged closer to me, his mouth moving almost imperceptibly nearer mine.

Fuck. It was just a matter of lowering my hand, taking the back of his neck and drawing him into a kiss.

No. I couldn’t. I didn’t want to take advantage of him, and I didn’t want our first kiss to be like this, shaken up on my couch.

I dropped my hand, but I pulled away too. He got the message and leaned back. Nodded slightly.

It seemed inevitable now we would kiss. It was just a matter of when, and how to make it special. Fuck, I wanted to make it special for him.

And I didn’t want to leave him thinking he’d been rejected in the meantime.

He gasped and then laughed in delight as I hoisted him into my arms—easily, he was so slight—and he kicked his legs theatrically as I carried him down the hall to the spare room.

“Get some rest.” I set him down onto the bed and he slowly unwrapped his arms from around my neck, his eyes still dark and open. “There are spare pajamas in the drawers there. They’re my sister’s mostly, but you might find something.”

I stepped back slowly, unable to take my eyes off the sight of him. His shirt open at the top, pleading eyes, tight black jeans begging to be unwrapped…

But I managed. I turned and walked toward the door.

“Ry?”

I paused and looked over my shoulder. He was propped up on his elbows with a coy smirk. Ah. He knew what he was doing.

He raised a finger up from the blankets like a small wave. “Thanks.”

I steeled myself against the urge to dive over there and ravage him into the most intense pleasure of his life, and instead, gave him a simple nod. I closed the door behind me and walked down the hall to my bedroom, away