Page 10 of Praised
“Like what?”
“Like Sir,” I said.
Heat flared up Rose’s face, coloring his cheeks a red so bright it looked like it came right out of one of the stained glass window panes above our heads.
“Well, okay then.” He cleared his throat and tried to square his slim shoulders. “Talk me through it, Sir.”
“Nuh-uh.” I wagged a finger at him, shaking my head to double up on the no. “That one is earned, Ambrose.”
“I’m quickly forgetting how good that kiss was, and I don’t think you want me to give a bad report to your little friend.”
Rose was an absolute spitfire of a man—I had to give him that. He more than made up for his slim build and short statute with an attitude big enough to knock even the most confident Dom back on his feet.
The problem was I didn’t know why I cared. I didn’t know why I entertained his attitude or his unsolicited demands. I’d wanted to kiss him and he’d allowed it, that should have been the end of the transaction. I had no place to even be thinking about more with him. Rose was a stranger to me, save for the two things about him I’d learned since our first exchange. He took absolutely no shit from anyone, and he lit a fire under me like no one ever had.
“Here,” I said, pressing the tip of my finger against the spot where his neck sloped into his clavicle. Hoping to infuse as much sternness into my tone as I could manage, considering how positively unraveled he already had me, I took a deep breath before continuing. “I would kiss you here. Bite you and suck a bruise so right into that thin skin.”
“A good start,” he whimpered, grabbing my wrist like I’d earlier done to him. I didn’t get the impression it was to stop me, though. He wanted to go along for the ride, so I traced my way down over his chest until I felt out a nipple, which I took between my fingers with a gentle twist.
“Then down to here. Another kiss, and then lower still.” I dragged both our hands down to his surprisingly substantial bulge. Rose was clearly not slight all over, and I tried to not let him see the look that crossed my face when I felt his dick against my hand.
“Would you kiss my cock?” he asked, pressing into my hand.
“I would suck it,” I told him. “Suck this cock and these balls. But I would kiss your hole until it was wet and sloppy—”
I cut myself off. I was taking it too far.
Sure, he’d asked me to tell him what I would do, but I only had consent for a kiss and we were in public. While exhibitionism was fine and dandy, it wasn’t something we’d discussed. There were a lot of things we hadn’t discussed. He’d just barely learned my name.
“Don’t stop there, Flynn.”
How did he make my name sound like sin?
I’d forgotten where we were. Who he was. WhoIwas. I’d all but erased Frankie’s existence from my mind, but I knew he was across the room and he was watching. And while we’d all agreed on a kiss, I wasn’t quite ready for either of these strangers to see me unmanned.
“That’s enough for tonight,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
I cleared my throat, untangling our hands and bodies so I could take a step back. Air rushed between us, hot and sticky, smelling like sweat and a hundred different kinds of cologne. My nose twitched in disgust, and Rose eyed me cautiously, like I was some kind of predator.
And in a way I was.
It was good he understood that before we talked ourselves into something neither of us really wanted. See, I didn’t have a problem with casual things. Casual sex, casual friends, casual whatever. It was honestly what I preferred, but something about Rose sent all of those long-held beliefs right out the window.
And that was dangerous.
“I like things a certain way,” I said.
“The Sir way.” He rolled his eyes at me. “I figured.”
“It’s more than that.”
“It always is.” Rose plucked at his tight shirt until it settled back into place, giving me the chance to make out both of his hard nipples under the fabric. “Well, let’s go tell your friend that you’re the best kiss I’ve ever had.”
He took my hand and gave me a tug toward Frankie, who eyed us like someone had shit in his Cheerios. I tried to school my features and settle back into the smug kind of protection I generally wore, but Rose’s palm against mine made it impossibly hard to not be affected.
“You don’t have to lie,” I said as we got closer.
