“I’m really glad you could come out tonight.” I fiddled with the decorative drawstrings of his Henley. He was such a rocker. Jeans, leather shoes, Henleys with the sleeves up to display all his ink, piercing in his eyebrow, one between his eyes—a barbell in the soft flesh above the bridge of his nose—and his tongue.
“I’m glad you joined my kink community,” he murmured and touched my cheek. “Soon as he comes back from his vacation, I’m introducing you to a buddy of mine. If you’re up for it, I wanna make a Noa spit roast.”
Holy fuck, good thing I wasn’t drinking anything!
“Hot,” was all I managed to say.
“Is that a yes?” He smirked faintly and leaned closer.
“A million yesses.” I squirmed in my seat.
“Good.” He closed the last distance and kissed me slowly, teasingly. “Now tell me, little one. I already know about your feelings toward your ex-stepdad. But what about Cameron?”
I flinched back slightly. Did I have a sign on my forehead? Had I been obvious?
Sloan grinned. “I think I just got my answer.”
“Don’t tell him,” I said in a jumbled rush. The mere idea tied a noose around my neck. “He’s the best friend I’ve ever had—I don’t wanna jeopardize anything.”
That put a pinch between his brows. “That’s not the little daredevil I’ve come to know. And you clearly haven’t seen him tonight. He’s been watching my every move. As soon as I touch you, he notices.”
Really?
Fuck. I’d made this mistake before, with KC. Sure, yeah, he’d kissed me back, but he’d also ended it and then walked out of my life. I’d been a delusional idiot to think maybe he wanted me too.
“Do you want him, Noa?”
Shit, shit. I couldn’t lie. I swallowed hard and nodded once.
“Then trust me on this and follow my lead.”
Gah, he had to give me more than that! But we were out of time. Cameron was making his way back through the crowd, and for the first time in I didn’t know how long, I was genuinely nervous. My stomach felt tight, and I didn’t like it one bit. It wasn’t a nice feeling. I hugged myself in an attempt to ease the discomfort.
“Cameron, sit here next to me instead,” Sloan suggested. “I thought we could enjoy the music for a bit.”
The music? We could barely see the guitar players from here. There were two of them, sharing a small stage across the establishment.
“All right.” Cameron looked a little wary but abandoned his route to his chair and sat down on the other side of Sloan. “You two wanna go closer to the stage?”
“No, we’re fine here.” Sloan smiled casually and draped his other arm around Cameron, who had no clue how to act. It would’ve been funny if I weren’t suddenly so tense. “My kids are coming home tomorrow. I’d like one evening with you two sexy little hellions before I become ‘I’m thirsty, Daddy!’ and ‘What’s for dinner?’”
Despite it all, I couldn’t help but grin. Sloan had a way about him, I guessed.
“I’m not a hellion,” Cameron blurted out. “That’s Noa. I’m the good boy.”
In a split-second call, I realized he was falling for Sloan’s easy manner and distraction too, choosing to respond to something he didn’t agree with instead of asking what the fuck was going on, and it snowballed from there. Because what the hell!
“You think you’re so good?” I asked incredulously. “You just told me yesterday about the time you poured salt into a Sadist’s beer.”
Sloan rumbled a warm laugh while Cameron went on the defensive.
“It was a competition for brats!” he argued. “The Sadists involved volunteered because they got to punish us after!”
“A competition for brats—that you participated in!” Come on! “That means you’re a brat, numbnuts!”
“Easy, boys,” Sloan chuckled, and he gripped my neck. I scowled at Cameron, though I wasn’t actually angry or anything, but he had to know he was totally a brat. “We’re supposed to enjoy each other’s company, not fight.” His eyes flashed with dark desire right before he guided me close for a kiss. It was quick, hard, and hungry, where he snaked his tongue around mine before he eased away. Far from enough to steal my breath, yet intense enough to make me drop the previous topic. “Is Cameron as good at kissing as you, pet?”
What? His question threw me. “I-I don’t know.”
“Let’s find out.” He maintained his grip on my neck and shifted his stare to Cameron, who widened his eyes as Sloan leaned in. Fuck, my own eyes grew large too. Was this happening? Yes, it fucking was. Sloan captured Cameron’s lips in a kiss that went from zero to sixty in a second.
The jealousy struck again. Like an impatient, acidic animal, it raged through me and refused to be kept on hold. Was this his game? Was he going to bring Cameron and me closer? Were we gonna share Sloan tonight? A thousand possibilities flew through my mind, each one mind-blowingly hot.