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Everything was soft and easy, and no one tried to bite or tear or snarl at anyone else.
“I don’t like being alone,” he declared, his voice ringing in the silent apartment.
Alexei had the momentary, completely bizarre thought that he wanted to steal him. To put the stranger in his pocket and take him back to his apartment, stash him there for the foreseeable future. Just…keep him.
It was just that…after a lifetime of numbness, of feeling cold and distant and apathetic to everything around him, there was now this little bright spot of color. And it didn’t make sense, and it probably—definitely—made Alexei a creep, but there it was. A blossoming obsession.
Alexei had to admit it. He wasn’t going to leave the guy alone. A good man would. But Alexei had never been a good man, had he?
He never brushed off Jay’s questions with a laugh or an eye roll like some people did. It was why he was Jay’s new favorite regular.
“I always like my regulars. And this one especially. I like the way he smiles at me. Well, he doesn’t smile at me exactly, but sometimes a corner of his mouth sort of lifts up just a little bit and it’s almost like a smile? And I think if he did smile, it would look pretty nice. Also, he smells really good. Like vanilla and sugar. He swears he hasn’t been making cupcakes, but for someone who hasn’t been making cupcakes, he smells a lot like one.”
“Jay, sweetie,” Danny interrupted gently. “Tell Soren what you just told me.” “I didn’t make the bagel bites,” Jay told Soren, raising his plate in demonstration. “I just heated them up from a box.” “What? No, that’s—” Danny shook his head. “No, sweetheart. Tell him about the café.”
But it would also be a lie. And Jay did not like lies.
Alexei shifted closer on the couch. “I know what I’m offering.” Jay cocked his head, too tempted for words. Still. “But what are you offering?” “Feed from me. I like the idea of giving you something you need, kotyonok. Let me be of use to you. Please.” Well, wasn’t Alexei turning out to be the nicest human ever? Jay didn’t know what to do with the warmth filling his chest. It was so rare anyone asked how they could be of use to Jay without wanting something in return.
“I don’t know if he’s even looking for me anymore, but if he found me…it could get dangerous.” Jay’s gray eyes were serious, his nod solemn. “I’ll protect you, Alexei.”
“No, you’re not a baby.” Alexei pressed a kiss to Jay’s neck, then whispered in his ear. “You’re a kitten.”
You are making me feel good, kitten. The way you smell. The way you look right now, flushed and fucked out and desperate. Move your hips. Just like that. Fuck into my fist. We’re not stopping until your cum is coating us both.”
Jay stabbed his pencil back into his paper, running back over the familiar lines, an angry, roiling heat filling his gut. He shouldn’t mind being alone. He should be able to be brave. He should be able to raise his voice at the dinner table without feeling like he needed to be punished.
He was growing. He was changing. He was. He could be more than what his maker had made of him.
Because I’m entranced and obsessive and I need to know the exact nature of your relationship or I’ll simply pass the fuck away.
“Okay, we’ll look that up later.” Alexei loved that “we.” He absolutely fucking adored that “we.”
Alexei’s eyes gained that heated look he’d seen in them the other night. Because Alexei wanted Jay. Wasn’t that great? Alexei wanted to kiss him and touch him, and maybe if Jay was good, he would even work that big cock inside of him.
His human was so handsome.
Jay loved the outdoors? Alexei would live in a forest cave with him, if he asked. Jay wanted to be around people? Alexei could handle that, if it was for Jay. He’d let Jay do all the talking, all the inadvertent charming, and it wouldn’t be so bad. Jay wanted a messy house? They’d make blanket forts, have a million pets, destroy their kitchen with culinary experiments. Alexei could be enough. He could try. He would try. Until Jay’s better half came along and ruined it all, at least. And wasn’t that a kick to the fucking gut? But even if they weren’t fated, Alexei could stay at Jay’s side until
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“I didn’t have a real childhood. Your adulthood was stolen from you. Do you think together you and I could make one complete person?”
“I wanted freedom.” Freedom to find you was the thought that went through Alexei’s head. Freedom to choose. To find a person worthy to serve. Worthy to love.
“I can’t breathe without wanting you, kitten.”
“I see a man who was one of those numb, sad, scared people, who has since seen the fucking light. You’re the fucking light, Jay. Anyone can see it, the way he looks at you. You really don’t think he loves you?”
If Jay asked to be his master, the way Vee had been to Jay, Alexei would serve him gladly. Grateful for the chance to stay close.
He was the nicest human. Nicest vampire. Nicest mate.
“Getting a little distracted, are we?” Alexei murmured into Jay’s hair. And oh, it wasn’t fair when he made his voice all low and rumbly and teasing like that.
