47. Jack
47
JACK
B unny’s eyes are wide as he takes in the scene. I try to get his attention but he’s entirely distracted. Gotta fix that.
I dig into my pocket for the remote that controls the toy in his ass and tap a button on it. “Look alive, sunshine.” He jumps and makes a squeak of surprise. When he looks at me, his eyes get a mischievous sparkle to them and he puts a hand over his mouth to muffle a giggle. I lift an eyebrow. “What got into you?”
“I was just thinking about it, and I realized this is actually the first real date you’ve taken me on.”
“That can’t be true.” I ponder it with a frown, which grows deeper when I realize he’s technically not wrong. “What, romantic moonlight walks in the woods don’t count?” I tease.
Bunny snickers. “I know we’ve done everything seriously back-asswards. I mean, you hated my guts but we barely knew each other, and then all of a sudden I was living with you.”
“I didn’t hate you,” I say, a little stiffly. Bunny gives me a sharp side-eye but doesn’t say anything.
I shrug and gesture around the big playroom. “As far as I’m concerned, this is as good a place as any for our first date. It’s kind of fitting, actually. This is a… I don’t want to say a big part, necessarily, but an important part of who I am. And I thought for a long, long time that there was no chance in hell I’d ever meet someone who would be more than grudgingly tolerant of that part of me. Or I thought it meant I was too fucked-up to be a good fit for anybody else entirely.”
“I’m sorry.” Bunny looks like he’s going to say something more, but instead he just leans his head against me.
Ugh, what the fuck was that word vomit? I was trying to make a joke about our dirty, kinky proclivities being a perfect match for each other. Although now that I think about it, I guess that’s not really a joke, either. And the look Bunny is giving me is making me feel strange and off-kilter.
I put my hand on his nape and lead him over to one of the easy chairs along the edge of the room. I sit with my legs wide apart and point down between them. He drops to his knees instantly, sending a surge of heat to my groin. When he looks up at me, eyes luminous and lips slightly parted, everything I’m thinking spills out.
“I want to possess you —I want to make you mine. I want to take care of you, protect you and keep you safe. I want to break you, make you fall apart and then put you back together. I want all of your laughter, your tears, your screams.”
I’ve never thought or felt anything like the way I feel about Bunny —not for anyone else. I mean every word I’m telling him. But the fact that this is coming out of my mouth in the first place is throwing me for a loop. It’s not like me.
“It scares me sometimes how much I need this —need you,” Bunny whispers. “I want to be yours. I want to belong to you. All of me.” When he rests his cheek against my thigh, his warmth seeps through the fabric.
I’m itching to crack a joke and cut through the strange, heady tension of this moment. “Oh, I love everything about you, Adair.” I don’t understand why it’s suddenly a struggle to summon my habitually sarcastic inflection.
He shoots me a look I can’t read. I tousle his hair to distract myself from the ball of energy vibrating in my guts. Disheveling him brings a smile to my face.
He gives me a half-smile. “Everything but the disorganized, scatterbrained, chaotic parts, right?”
I think about it for a second. “Nah. Weirdly enough, I even like those parts. I like taking care of you. I like being the one that makes sure you’ve got your phone on you, and that your car is running —oh, speaking of which. We’ve got to get you snow tires really soon if you expect to be able to get up the driveway.”
Bunny bursts out laughing before clapping a hand over his mouth to stifle his mirth. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”
I scowl at him, but there’s no real heat behind it. “Yeah, guess not. And, I mean, it’s give-and-take. I know I’m not exactly a charming, romantic motherfucker.” I let out a snort. “I’m not exactly like your werewolf book boyfriends.”
He grins up at me, his expression sunny. “You’re more romantic than you think you are. Don’t worry —your secret’s safe with me.”
“ Pfft .” I roll my eyes at him because I don’t know how to respond to this.
“I love you, Jack. I can’t quite figure out if it’s in spite of you being or because you’re a bossy asshole, but I love you all the same.”
“That’s lucky for you,” I tell him. “Because you’re fucking stuck with me. I’m not letting you get away. You do belong to me.” I watch his face carefully, to see if he frowns, or blanches —or if there’s any of a million other things in his expression that would convince me that’s not what he actually wants.
But all I see in his big blue eyes is something hopeful. My heart skips a beat. “Love you, too, Bunny,” I tell him. His face lights up.