One more step and Aaron ever so gently backed Michael against the wall. The cool surface made him flinch a little, but Aaron was like a furnace along the front of him. “I missed you.” Another inhale. “I know things barely got started between us, and I thought the feeling might fade while you were gone…”
Michael thrilled at his words. “But it hasn’t?”
“No.” The barest shake of his head.
Soft hair rubbed against Michael’s cheek, and he sighed, letting his head rest against the wall.
“I think the sight of Blake with his claws hooked in your side pretty much solidified things for me. Our connection—” He stopped abruptly when Michael tensed.
“Connection? As in bond?” Michael couldn’t help but baulk at the idea. He liked Aaron a lot, but bonding was a whole other level.
Aaron drew back to look him in the eye. At least he was still smiling, even if it was a small one. “I thought we’d been over this. With the rare exception, I can’t bond with a human. Not a full one like I could have with another shifter.”
“But you said connection?”
“Yeah, I did. Maybe I should have chosen a better word. My wolf and I both want you, Michael. And for me, the feelings can become almost as strong as with a bond, but I won’t be able to feel your emotions, and you won’t feel mine. I will, however, be overly possessive.” He shrugged. “You know how we can get.”
Michael let all that sink in. In the back of his mind, he’d known what he was getting into with a shifter. He’d imagined hearing it laid out plainly like that would put him off, but it didn’t. “I don’t want to become a shifter.” He loved his life as it was, and he’d never be able to do his job if he wasn’t human.
Aaron’s smile faltered a little but remained in place. “I know. And I’ve told you, I would never bite you.”
Michael couldn’t resist replying with, “Unless I asked you nicely?”
The small huff of laughter was exactly what he was hoping for.
Aaron’s eyes darkened. “Yes.” His gaze dipped to Michael’s neck, lingering there for a good few seconds, and Michael let himself imagine what it would be like to let Aaron sink his fangs in…
Hot.
But the consequences of doing that weren’t something he was ready to think about. Probably never would be.
“Hey.” Aaron’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at him. “Let’s not talk about that now. It doesn’t have to be an issue.”
“Yeah, okay.” Michael forced his focus back to the present—specifically Aaron’s body pressed against him. “I missed you, too, by the way.”
Aaron beamed at him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” And he had. He’d had many hours in that hospital bed to think about a whole host of things, but Aaron had filled most of them. “I have so many questions for you.”
Laughing, Aaron cupped Michael’s jaw, touch gentle. “Same.” Closing the distance between them, Aaron finally kissed him.
Not the soft, quick peck Michael had expected, but a slow, lingering exploration that made his toes curl and his heart race. He gripped the back of Aaron’s shirt, pulling him as close as possible. The hard length of Aaron’s erection pressed into his hip, both a promise and a tease.
All the questions Michael wanted to ask suddenly fled his mind, leaving only one thing front and centre. “Come upstairs,” he whispered after drawing back to catch his breath.
Aaron nodded.
They climbed the stairs in silence.
Anticipation buzzed through Michael’s veins like fire, ignited everything inside him until he thought he might explode with it. His thoughts were inevitably drawn to what Aaron had said earlier. Was it possible that the strength of Michael’s feelings was affected because Aaron was a shifter? Because he’d never felt this much…everything… for anyone else.
He didn’t even pause at the door to his bedroom. Taking Aaron’s hand, he led them inside and over to the bed. Gesturing to his pyjamas, he smirked. “You’re far too overdressed.”
Aaron’s answering smirk verged on dirty. “I thought you had questions.”
“They can wait.” Taking matters into his own hands, Michael shoved his pyjamas all the way down and stepped out of them. “Your turn.”
Instead of undressing, Aaron ran his fingers along the length of Michael’s cock. His touch was electric, and Michael groaned as he wrapped his hand fully around him. “I’ve thought about doing this every night since the boxing match.”
