Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
But the kiss was over too soon, and Kai was pulling away. Unreadable emotions flashed across his face, but Dev didn’t catch them all. Only confusion.
“I shouldn’t—” Kai started, but Dev stopped him.
“No, my fault. Sorry. I was…surprised. You’re the first…since Adam.”
The confusion returned, digging lines in his brow. “But I thought you were seeing someone. The date you rescheduled…”
“Bryan? Oh. No. We’ve only been out for coffee. I haven’t…”
Kai released his hold on Dev’s shirt and took a step back, putting more space between them. Dev nearly whined at the rush of cold air that suddenly slipped over him and he instantly wished Kai would move close again, give him another chance to try that kiss. He would do better the next time.
To his shock, Kai cupped the side of his face. His thumb lightly brushed along the edge of Dev’s bottom lip in a sweet caress. “I should not have been the one to follow directly behind your husband. I’m sorry.”
Dropping his hand back to his side, Kai turned away and walked into the room, leaving Dev leaning heavily against the wall. The heat of his touch lingered on his skin, but it was the sadness in Kai’s eyes that left him gutted.
“You should take a shower and get ready for bed. We’ll leave early tomorrow,” Kai instructed. His voice was low but calm, sounding as if nothing happened.
Dev nodded jerkily and pushed away from the wall. He grabbed the things he’d set out earlier and escaped into the bathroom. He pressed his trembling hand to the closed door and drew a shaky breath. His entire body felt as if it were shaking.
He’d kissed Kai.
Well, fine. Kai had kissed him while he’d stood there like a fucking idiot. The thing he’d dreamed of in secret for over a year now had finally happened, and he’d froze.
But Kai’s words locked up his brain. He shouldn’t have been the one to follow Adam? Did he think he wasn’t worthy of kissing Devlin? That didn’t make any sense, except…
He was a trained killer.
What would his husband think of him kissing an assassin? Was he throwing too much caution to the wind? Was he putting his life needlessly in danger? Which, in turn, put Jake’s life and future in danger.
For that, Adam would never forgive him.
But if he were honest with himself, just thinking about his life and what he wanted…
He still wanted Kai. He wanted to taste his lips again. He needed another shot to kiss him.
More importantly, he needed to kiss that man until the sadness left his eyes completely and he understood that he deserved everything that he wanted in life. Kiss him until there was only hunger and raw need. Kai needed to know that he wasn’t alone even if there was nothing Dev could do to keep him safe.
And what did it say about him that he wanted an assassin? Would Adam be able to understand that? Would his dead husband forgive him?
Chapter 9
The kiss never happened.
At least, that was what Kai attempted to tell himself over and over again with little success. But his brain and libido weren’t listening to him. A blind man would not have missed the open hunger and longing in Devlin’s face. He had been practically begging for Kai to lean in and claim his beautiful mouth for himself.
And he’d tasted just as sweet as Kai had always thought he would. The catch of surprise in his breathing and then the tiny whimper—Kai had wanted to press in closer, delve deeper into his mouth until he could taste his soul. He’d wanted to claim all of Devlin for himself.
But Dev’s lack of response had pulled Kai from the kiss.
The words that followed were worse.
He shouldn’t have been kissing this man. He definitely shouldn’t have been the first to kiss Devlin following the death of his husband. That…that was wrong.
Devlin Relic was sweet, kind, and innocent. He needed someone whose soul wasn’t thoroughly tarnished and sullied by a lifetime of death and violence.
Evil monster that he was, there was a part of him that had been pleased to hear that he was the first to kiss Devlin since he’d become a widower. That the man who’d gotten his date postponed hadn’t even stolen a kiss from those lips. But Kai had.
Kai had swooped in and taken that whimper into his body, claimed it as his own. No matter how wrong it was, he still wanted more. He wanted to kiss Devlin again. He wanted Devlin to kiss him back, to beg him and cling to him.
Those thoughts were shoved to the darkest parts of his brain, and he did everything he could to forget about them. Someone was killing people and harassing Devlin. That needed to be his one and only focus in the world. Nothing else mattered.