my hair and watched me with an adoring smile. I gazed into his eyes until I couldn’t keep mine open, and drifted off to sleep—deep, satisfied, and blissfully dreamless.
14
Ryland
A fuzzy butt pressed into my lower back, and in my sleepy haze I reached around and scooped up Domino. He immediately started purring in my hands, and I peeled open my eyes to find he and I were alone in the morning light peeking in through the edges of the blinds. The bed was empty, and the kitten rumble was the only sound I could hear.
I set him down on my chest and sighed as the night came back to me with a heavy wallop of worry in my gut. It had been so incredibly hot, better than all of my Brax fantasies combined, but maybe I’d made a mistake. Brax wasn’t ready for something new, he’d barely gotten out of things with Ian… It wasn't in his best interests to start something with me so soon. I just couldn’t help myself. There was something about him. His sweetness made me need a taste. I usually had more self-control. I usually did what was right.
Domino stomped across the pillows behind my head and then started pawing at my shoulder with razor-sharp baby claws, pulling me back into the present. I winced as he broke the skin with eight tiny pinpricks.
“C’mon, monster.” I picked him up and hauled myself up, checking my shoulder in Brax’s bedroom mirror. No serious blood loss. I’d live.
In the living room, I reached for the pants I’d left folded on the coffee table and Domino leaped out of my arms. He shot straight over to the kitchen at the far end of the room, where I found a bright-colored kimono swaying by the stove. Brax had his back to me and his headphones on, dancing and shimmying as he cooked. Even from behind, he was breathtakingly beautiful. He had his hair up in a bun and the back of his neck was exposed, long and frustratingly kissable.
I pulled my pants on as though in a trance and walked over to him. My heart thundered and my hands were awkwardly empty until I reached him and touched his shoulder. A smile popped onto his face as soon as he looked at me, and he went to yank his headphones off but I moved fast, pulled him against me, and kissed him before he had a chance. He melted into my arms and kissed me back with the sweetness I was fast becoming addicted to.
Worry bit at me and I pulled back but couldn't take my eyes off him.
He slowly lowered his headphones, and I squeezed him tight around the waist where his kimono nipped in. Silk over soft muscle. Gorgeous.
“Good morning,” he said breathlessly.
I pushed a strand of hair behind his ear and then rubbed his lobe between forefinger and thumb. “It certainly is.”
“Scrambled eggs?” His words were almost scrambled, a cute stutter that told me he was still a little nervous around me.
I let him go and nodded. “Coffee?”
“Oh, I usually get a chai frappe delivered in the morning.”
I laughed and he smirked at me, the nervousness suddenly vanished.
“But my delivery man takes the weekends off, so there’s an espresso machine right over there.” He winked and motioned with his spatula toward the other end of the counter.
I rubbed his shoulder on the way past and felt him swoon under my touch. God, it felt good to have such power over him. My cock stirred. I held my breath and focused on making coffee and shaking out kibbles for Domino.
There was no dining table so Brax and I ate at the kitchen counter, sitting side by side with our knees touching. The eggs were good, the toast was perfectly browned, and the coffee was as strong as I liked it. He took his with extra creamer and two sugars.
I was enjoying the domesticity, the delicious food, and the comfortable apartment, when Brax set his coffee down and picked at his fingernails.
“So I just need to ask something because I’m just going in circles in my head and if I don’t ask outright, I just might go crazy.” He screwed his lips to the side.
I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “Go ahead.”
“Okay. So…” He fiddled with his cutlery instead of his hands. “Do you regret what happened? Last night? With me?”
“No, not at all. I loved what happened.” It was an easy question. “But we do need