Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 330(@200wpm)___ 264(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Oh god.
Had he really allowed Zain to do it?
He had.
While Aiden would have liked to deny it, he couldn’t even pretend in his mind that Zain had forced him. Aiden had known that if he had said no and walked out, Zain would have let him. But he hadn’t.
What now?
How was he supposed to act now that he’d willingly—and enthusiastically—had full-on penetrative sex with the man who had bought him? Bought him for his little brother.
Zain pulled out of him, and Aiden hissed, aching in places he never had in his life.
Slowly, he turned onto his back and sat up.
Zain looked up from fixing his fly.
Their eyes met.
Later, Aiden would try to convince himself that it was a deliberate plan he’d come up with to manipulate Zain. But that would be a lie.
The truth was, his body moved before he could stop it. He got to his feet, he stepped forward, his arms wrapped around Zain’s neck, and…
And Aiden kissed him.
It was a gentle, chaste kiss, but it made Aiden shiver almost violently with the need to deepen it. He didn’t, keeping the contact of their lips barely there. Oh god.
Zain’s body was absolutely rigid against him. For a long moment, he didn’t move.
Then his hand came up and wrapped around Aiden’s throat. “What do you think you’re doing?” Zain said, his breath brushing against Aiden’s lips.
Aiden lifted his gaze to his eyes and smiled. “It was a kiss. I had fun. Let’s do it again sometime.”
Zain stared at him.
Aiden’s smile widened. God, there was nothing he enjoyed more than befuddling and frustrating this man. “What? No one ever kissed you after sex before?”
“You’re unbelievable.”
Grinning, Aiden patted him on the cheek. “What, did you seriously expect me to be freaking out over this? I did tell you that I wanted you, remember? I’m an honest guy.”
Zain bored his eyes into him. “I distinctly remember you telling me that you hated me.”
Aiden nodded. “I do,” he said amiably. “I do hate you. But it’s just sex. Sex means nothing. I can hate you and happily let you fuck me every day.”
Zain’s expression became tight. “I have no intention of fucking you again. This was—I did this to teach you a lesson. I’m not gay.”
And yet Zain still wasn’t pushing his very naked body away.
“Sure,” Aiden said agreeably, nuzzling the firm line of Zain’s jaw. Inhaling his scent greedily, Aiden murmured into Zain’s ear, “You sure taught me one. You taught me that I’m your thing. That you own me. That I’m yours to use.”
Zain’s spent dick twitched against his hip.
The hand around Aiden’s throat squeezed, the pressure almost painful, before Zain all but shoved Aiden away.
“Get out.”
Swallowing, Aiden opened his mouth but closed it when he saw Zain’s frosty expression.
“Fine,” Aiden said with a put-upon sigh. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess.” He darted forward and pecked him on the cheek, smiling sweetly when Zain fixed him with a cold glare. “Good night, babe!”
Grabbing his clothes from the floor, he headed out of the room, whistling cheerfully.
Once the door shut after him, Aiden chuckled before dissolving into helpless laughter, though truth be told, there was nothing remotely amusing about the situation.
He was half-infatuated with a closeted, cold-hearted man who refused to even admit that he wanted him.
“It’s just a silly little crush,” Aiden muttered under his breath, shaking his head.
Just a silly crush.
It was.
If it wasn’t, he was fucked.
Chapter Twelve
After some thought, Aiden decided that there wasn’t any point in moping about something he couldn’t change. So, he had a bit of a crush. So what?
Aiden wasn’t a stranger to crushes. His teenage years weren’t so long ago that he’d forgotten all the embarrassing, unsuitable crushes he’d had, starting from his mom’s best friend and ending with his brother’s very hot ex-wife. In hindsight, there was a clear pattern with his worst crushes: he always seemed to gravitate toward the forbidden. Luckily, his crushes had always been fleeting, and he had no reason to think that it would be any different this time.
His thing for Zain wasn’t the end of the world. He just had to wait until it inevitably passed, as all his inappropriate crushes had in the past. Nothing to worry about.
So Aiden was in a pretty good mood when he entered the dining room the next morning.
But his mood took a hit the moment he saw Zain.
He’d thought he was prepared to deal with his silly crush.
He wasn’t.
Even looking at Zain was disorienting, Aiden’s emotions contradictory and confusing.
Zain was seated at the head of the table, mouthwateringly handsome as usual. His black hair looked soft and gorgeous, a striking contrast to the white thobe that hugged his wide shoulders and fit arms. Zain was sipping his tea, his eyes fixed on the paperwork in front of him, his fingers absently stroking his chin.