Something in the Way He Needs (Family 1)

Huge brown eyes blinked at him and Daniel’s jaw dropped, leaving his lips in an enticing O shape.

Asher arched one eyebrow. “You like that, do you?” he asked, his voice sounding rough to his own ears.

“I don’t—” Daniel swallowed. “I don’t know.”

Asher lowered the man to his feet and then palmed his erection. “This says you do, sugar. And when we get home, after I’ve fed you, I’m going to show you how much you like it.”

“I don’t,” Daniel said again and licked his lips. “I’m not sure about that, Ash.”

Something in the way he said it, or maybe it was something about Daniel in general, made Asher anxious. He knew how to wield a single tail so he could leave a man’s skin covered in red welts and never break his skin. He had planned complex, public scenes and garnered applause and admiration from his contemporaries. But somehow pulling off a mild, private spanking had him questioning himself. This was ridiculous.

“You don’t need to be sure. I am.” There. He’d said it. Now he needed to see how Daniel would react. Asher peered at the other man and waited.

Daniel reached for him, his hand moving slowly, long fingers tracing Asher’s eyebrows, the outer curve of his ear, his jawline. There was tenderness in Daniel’s touch, desire in his eyes. The way Daniel looked at him warmed Asher’s stomach and made his chest constrict. Asher’s heart melted a little, and without conscious thought, he turned his head into Daniel’s hand and kissed his palm.

Daniel let out a shaky breath. “I’ll try.”

Asher grinned in triumph.

“IT’S a short flight, sugar. We won’t even be in the air two hours,” Asher said.

Daniel bobbed his head in agreement, but his eyes were wide, he was chewing on his lip, and he was frantically pulling at the threads in his jeans, expanding one of several holes. Clearly, logic as an approach to calm the man wasn’t succeeding.

Asher wasn’t a fan of public displays of affection, or, if he was being completely honest, affection in general unless it led directly to him busting a nut. But he was willing to make an exception in his case. After all, there were extenuating circumstances. Namely, Daniel’s near panic and Asher’s desire to protect the man from any harm, both real and perceived. Weird, but true.

He reached for Daniel’s hand, prying it from the ruined jeans and holding it tightly. “Just close your eyes and relax.” Asher rubbed his thumb back and forth over the back of Daniel’s hand, the gesture as unfamiliar as it was instinctive. “We’ll be landing before you know it.”

Daniel nodded again, less frantically this time, squeezed his eyes shut, and burrowed his face under Asher’s chin. It made no sense, but he was clearly petrified. Asher continued holding his hand as the plane taxied down the runway. As soon as the wheels left the ground, Daniel lurched up and gripped both armrests so hard his knuckles turned white.

“Shhh, sugar,” Asher said. “It’s okay. Promise.”

Scared, needy eyes looked up at him. “Ash?” Daniel said.

“Yeah?” Asher once again put his hand on top of Daniel’s and stroked it.

“Will you—” Daniel licked his dry lips. “Will you kiss me?”

All the reasons Asher normally had for avoiding that type of intimacy escaped him in that moment. He cupped Daniel’s cheek with one hand, gripped his nape with the other, and leaned down, touching his lips hesitantly to Daniel’s. A sigh was his reward as Daniel melted against him, and Asher decided maybe he didn’t hate kissing as much as he’d thought. He increased the pressure of his mouth against Daniel’s, darted his tongue out and swiped it across Daniel’s lower lip and then pushed it into his mouth when the man parted his lips on a sigh. All right, so maybe he more than didn’t hate it.

Chapter 10

“DID you just move here?” Daniel asked as he looked around Asher’s great room.

Asher looped his keys on the stainless steel peg next to his front door and hung his jacket on the gleaming hook above it.

“No. I’ve been here for about….” Asher stopped, seemingly thinking about the answer to the question. “I’d say close to five years now.”

“Oh.” Daniel couldn’t hide his surprise. “It’s really… clean.”

Tightly looped white carpet, showing some wear around the center of the space, but still in decent shape. Bright white walls. Asher must either keep a can of paint somewhere for touch-ups or he meticulously avoided the walls, because there were no smudges anywhere. A black leather sofa with shiny chrome legs, a matching chair, and a glass coffee table. Everything was in its place.

“I like order,” Asher explained. “Come on. I’ll show you the bedroom.” He walked ahead of Daniel down the short hallway. “There’s a washer and dryer in that closet,” he said, gesturing with his chin toward a door on their left, and then he walked into the room across from it.