Page 43 of Bent, Not Broken

“You were never a Scout.”

“Nope.” He chuckled. “So my word means absolutely nothing.”

I shook my head. What had I gotten myself into?

“Hey, Evan,” he whispered, the smirk on his face clueing me in that he knew damned well he was pushing his luck.

“What?”

“For a straight guy, you were pretty fast with those cuffs. Got him on the bed fast.” He smoothed out his expression, going for innocence, but he didn’t seem to have much experience with that because his mouth kept twitching toward a smile.

“Shut it.”

“I haven’t even gotten the cuffs yet.”

I kissed him, and he slipped his fingers into my belt, tugging me closer.

Lifting up to my full height, I forced him to break off the kiss, and he sighed.

“I’m serious. Not with him in the house.”

“I… what? Really?”

Maybe it was because he’d tried to do something that was actually nice earlier, in a way, because it sure couldn’t have been that his small pout was having an effect on me, but I said, “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow night.”

“Oh yeah?” He blinked fast and his mouth fell open for a second before he snapped it shut again. “How?”

On the spot now, I hesitated, and then blurted, “I’ll take you out. We’ll have a boys’ night and then have handcuff fun.”

“Out, out?” He bounced on the balls of his feet, and the way he seemed about ready to take off and fly through the ceiling sent a strange combo of regret and excitement zinging around in me. When was the last time I was really invested in hitting the bars downtown?

“We could have the drink we never shared that first night.”

“Dance too?” He wiggled his eyebrows.

“Don’t push it.”

“We could go to Sinful.” He walked his fingers up my shirt and then hooked them into my collar, trying to pull me back in for another kiss, but I resisted. “No one cares there. No one would pay any attention to us.”

“I… okay.”

“Come on.” He tugged at my shirt harder, and I put my hand over his. “You can be quiet. I can be quiet.”

“No. You can’t. You’ve never been quiet in your life. We’re going to go to sleep and you’re going to wait to get fucked.”

His bottom lip jutted, and he squirmed against me. “Fine. Promise?”

“I promise,” I whispered, not sure I was making any of the right choices where he was concerned, but hopeful.

Chapter 12

Madden

My suit felt itchy today. Maybe it was because I’d decided to go with a heather seersucker suit jacket that West kept squinting at and coughing. His jaw was hard, like he was holding in a laugh. Normally I would have cajoled the snickers out of him with a joke or two, let him make fun of me, but this suit was not only professional, but fucking stylish. Why did no one in New Gothenburg have any taste?

For the first time since taking the job with River, I wished I could just fuck right off out of here, and that was bothering me. I never wanted to become the bored rich, like my mother. On the other hand, there was no reason for me to act like Dad, either. I sighed loud enough that West gave me another look before he turned away again, shoulders shaking.

It wasn’t the suit that was itchy, the cotton weave was soft. But sitting in my chair, staring at the computer when I had plans later? That was sure as hell making me go out of my mind. I checked the clock on my screen, and it seemed almost like it was stuck in place.