How to Hack a Hacker - A.J. Sherwood Page 0,35

Aiden up.

Now a little sad that he was sending the man to bed mad, Brannigan caught him by the waist before he could disappear into his room. Kyou was ready for a fight, but he only closed in long enough to kiss the man chastely on the forehead. Easing back, he gave him a warm smile. “Buonanotte, caro.”

Flustered, Kyou couldn’t seem to look at him. “Yeah. Uh, good night.” He escaped into his temporary bedroom and shut the door with less anger and more confusion.

Aiden had been dead on the money, earlier, when he’d observed that Kyou wasn’t good at interpersonal skills. And if Kyou’d ever had a lover, Brannigan would shave his head. The man was far too shy for that.

It seemed as if he had his work cut out for him.

10

Kyou

Buonanotte, caro. Kyou knew what those words meant. He’d heard Ari say them often to Carter. He knew exactly what they meant. Why the hell was Brannigan saying them to him?

“Fucking Italian men,” he cursed as he ripped the covers further back and flung himself into the bed face down. Against the mattress, he kept swearing. “Shit, shit, shit. Don’t they understand most of us have personal bubbles? That you can’t just stand that close and get all handsy? And now I’m all hot and bothered, thanks very much for that, and there’s no way to deal with it in a house this crowded and Ivan’s fucking bat ears, and…god, I’m going to kill him.”

Brannigan Genovese was damn attractive. Kyou wasn’t blind, he could see that. It wasn’t that he was immune to the man. And yeah, he’d flirted with Brannigan for a while now because he couldn’t seem to resist flirting a little. He liked Brannigan, the flirting just kind of happened of its own accord. And what was the harm? Nothing would come out of it.

Clearly, Brannigan had an entirely different opinion about that.

Hell, Kyou’s entire family seemed to have a different opinion about it. Kyou hadn’t thought it a good idea to even meet Brannigan, much less attempt dating. And he knew Brannigan very well—the man didn’t do casual sex. He liked to be in a relationship. His use of caro spoke volumes. He wanted to date, and dating meant the whole lock, stock, and barrel, because Brannigan Genovese didn’t do anything by halves.

This wouldn’t work. Kyou felt frustration rise, burning in him, twisting and tugging painfully. He slammed a fist against the mattress. This wouldn’t work—he was terrible at dating, truly lousy at it. He got sucked into work and forgot to do the romantic things. The two times he’d attempted dating had been unmitigated disasters, ending with both men frustrated with him. For good reason. Kyou hadn’t invested the time or energy into their dates. He’d been distracted the entire time. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been interested in them, either, it was just that protecting Brannigan and the others had taken up most of his time and attention. He hadn’t any mental energy to spare.

His anger fell to a simmer and he lay there, feeling vaguely sick. If Brannigan ever broke things off like the others had—with such finality, with such cold expressions—well. Kyou wasn’t sure how he’d handle the aftermath, but it wouldn’t be good. No, better to avoid that road. How he’d convince Brannigan of that, he didn’t know.

With all of these emotions tangling up in him, it left Kyou too wired to even think of sleeping. He gave up with a huff—it wasn’t like he’d wanted to go to bed to begin with—and on silent feet he snuck back out of the bedroom. Both bedroom doors across the hall were also closed, lights off, so odds were people were already asleep. Satisfied, he snuck down the stairs. He’d just get some more work done. Set up a few things. Maybe he’d settle enough to get a few more hours of sleep that way. No way he wanted to spend the rest of the night stewing.

Halfway to his makeshift work station, two arms caught him around the waist and pulled him to an abrupt stop. Kyou had a split second of panic before a voice he knew well growled in his ear.

“You are not going back to work.”

Shit. Brannigan had not, apparently, been asleep. “You were waiting for me to sneak out, weren’t you.”

“I had a feeling you would.”

Resigned, Kyou let his eyes fall closed for a moment. Alright, how to approach this? “Let go, Bran.”

“I really don’t want to.”