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Dante shook his head. “You couldn’t have known,” he said gently.
I shook my head in disbelief. Just minutes ago I’d wounded him with my cruel words, and here he was trying to comfort me.
“How did I not see this?” I whispered, more to myself than to him. I softened my hold on his wrists and slid my hands up to his. It took just the slightest touch to get him to open them.
“What?” Dante asked, his voice heavy with some unnamed emotion.
I flattened my palms against his and then linked our fingers.
“You,” I murmured as my gaze fell to his slightly parted lips.
Dante stiffened beneath me. The reaction surprised me and I saw his eyes fill with uncertainty.
“Let me up, Magnus.” His voice held a level of desperation that caught me off guard.
“I need to tell you something else-” I began.
“No,” Dante responded. “Let me up.”
I didn’t. I couldn’t. Because even if he wasn’t as angry as he’d been, he’d still flee.
And I couldn’t let that happen.
Which meant I had to take the leap I’d been too afraid to take since he’d nearly kissed me in the car at the cemetery. I’d been too confused then to know what I wanted, but I knew now. Between talking to Hawke and having Dante put me first over and over again, I was ready to accept that what I felt for the young man who’d managed to burrow under my skin from the day we’d met was real and not some byproduct of the stress and grief I’d been trying to dodge for years.
“I was jealous, Dante,” I murmured as I pinned his gaze with mine. “I saw you with Mel the day of the wake and she was touching you-”
“I swear, Magnus, I wasn’t hitting on her. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
My pulse sped up as a feeling of warmth spread through me at his words. Maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling some kind of connection here.
But he was also missing my point.
“I wasn’t jealous of you,” I said as I settled more of my weight on him, bringing our groins in to direct contact. Dante gasped and I saw his eyes slide shut for a moment as he swallowed hard. I waited until they opened again before saying, “I was jealous of her.”
I could tell he still wasn’t getting what I was saying, so I let my eyes fall to his lips as I said, “Just like I was jealous of Shelly and her friend.” I punctuated my words with the slightest shift of my hips and I bit back a moan as our cocks brushed against each other. Dante’s eyes widened as he finally started to understand. “And the waiter at the wedding…” I lowered my mouth and brushed a kiss over Dante’s racing pulse. “And the nurse in the parking garage.”
I met Dante’s surprised gaze briefly before skimming my mouth over his jaw. He was panting as I let my mouth hover against his and I could feel his cock pressing urgently against mine.
“Magnus, please don’t do this to me,” he whispered just before I was about to get my first taste of him.
I immediately lifted enough to put some space between us, but not enough that he could get away from me. Was I hurting him somehow? I could have sworn he wanted me, but the fear in his eyes had me second guessing myself.
“Don’t do what?” I asked. “Am I hurting you?”
I was stunned to see Dante’s eyes shimmering with tears. “Don’t toy with me just to punish me.”
“Punish you?” I whispered in disbelief. “I’m not, Dante. I swear. I want this…you.”
Dante shook his head. “You don’t even like me.”
Pain bloomed in my chest at his words. He sounded so young and vulnerable. Had I really done this to him? I’d thought we’d gotten past our history of digging at each other.
I should have just let him go, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stomach the thought of him walking away and letting him believe I didn’t care about him – that I’d used his attraction to me against him.
“I like you, Dante,” I said gently as I settled my weight back on him. I stifled a moan of pleasure when his legs separated enough to make room for me. “Too much,” I admitted, as I bent my head to kiss him. But he turned his face at the last moment.
“I…I’m not really into kissing,” he murmured.
“That’s too bad,” I breathed against the skin of his cheek before kissing him there. The little bit of stubble should have felt wrong to me, but it didn’t. It felt amazing against my lips. His scent was driving me crazy and I actually dipped my nose down to his neck to draw in more of his natural fragrance before kissing his jaw again. “Because it feels like I’ve been dreaming of tasting you for a lifetime now.”
