Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
George wasn’t sure how he ended up on his knees, licking Evan…well, that wasn’t entirely true. A part of him had known that telling the snake story would end up somewhere like this. Now all he wanted was Evan, naked, not sitting there in his pajamas, sipping wine as if nothing had happened.
His hard-on pressed against the fly of his jeans, demanding attention. He had about three seconds to decide his next move. He either returned to his place on the sofa or slid up to straddle Evan. The latter won because he needed to feel him.
Evan didn’t stop him. He put the glass on the arm of the chair and slid his hands around George’s hips, pulling him close before kissing him. He wanted Evan to undo his jeans and touch him. There was no way he wasn’t aware of what George needed. He’d smell the lust and feel the heat in his blood.
There was no hiding with another wolf. Or any shifter. Which was good and bad, depending on the situation.
Things were moving slower tonight. The frantic pace fueled by raw need and anger was gone, and they were taking the time to get to know each other in a way George had never believed possible.
Evan’s hand slid beneath his shirt and smoothed over his back. “What do you want?”
You.
But he couldn’t say that. And he didn’t want to be the person who expected tit for tat. Besides, he’d enjoyed blowing Evan. He liked the way Evan had watched him, the way his pulse changed, and his dick twitched, and the way he hadn’t tried to take control when he got close the way some guys did—as though they expected George to stop at exactly the wrong moment. Sometimes, he liked to slow things down, and Evan seemed like the kind of guy who enjoyed a little edging. George wasn’t so keen when it was done to him, but he loved making his partners squirm with pleasure.
“I’m fine.”
“Liar.” Evan gave his ass cheek a squeeze, and George rolled his hips, seeking friction. “I didn’t get to play with you much last night.” He palmed George’s length through his jeans, giving him something to grind against as he kissed him.
There hadn’t been much playing at all. There’d been too much tension to allow for fun.
Evan flicked open the button, and when George didn’t stop him, he dragged down the zipper, the whole time never breaking the kiss. “What do you want?”
“Nothing at the moment. I’m quite comfortable here.” And he meant it. He wasn’t so wound up, he wanted to come. It was the nice burn of lust that hadn’t gotten so hot as to be almost painful.
Evan’s fingernail grazed his length.
“Besides, I was a bit of a dick last night.”
“I think we can rub the slate clean on bad behavior. And I quite liked the roughness you brought to the bedroom.”
George had smelled it on his skin. It was more his own intent that bothered him. That he’d barely been in control. “It’s easier being with another shifter, isn’t it?”
“It is unless they are a wolf, and then it’s difficult. Being with a human is just as bad because there’s all the lying.” Evan’s words whispered over his lips, and he punctuated them with kisses.
“Have you forgotten I’m a wolf?”
“No, but you’ve been away, so you’re not all caught up in pack drama.”
“Not yet, anyway.” And he hoped to stay out of it as much as possible. “So you just keep it to casual hook-ups?”
Evan’s hand was still pressed to his erection, and he couldn’t help but move against it.
“Not always so casual, but I wouldn’t have called any of them serious. There was no living together. What about you?”
“It was a long-term casual thing, and we both knew it was never going anywhere, but we weren’t interested in looking for someone else.”
Evan laughed. “A little more than friends with benefits, but a little less than boyfriends?”
“Something like that.” It had been easy and fun, and it wasn’t as though there was a huge selection up in Darwin. That they were both shifters had made things a little easier, even though Brian had been a snake.
“And now that you’re back?”
“I’m not back forever. I figure twelve months, and I’ll be itching to go again. At the same time, I’m looking forward to seeing my family, even though I don’t want to run with them. But I do want to run with a pack. It’s been a long time, and I…I miss that.” There was something about running with another group of wolves that was very different to running alone or with a couple of cats. There was an energy.
Evan pulled a face.
“Just because you don’t like shifting.”
“The shifting part is fine. It’s the being a wolf part. It’s weird, not having hands and not being able to talk, and I just…it’s not me. If there was a pill I could take, I would be more than happy to never be a wolf again.”
“Yet you like teeth and claws in bed.”
“I never claimed it made sense. Finish your wine, then we can take this to the bedroom because I doubt you want to come in your pants, and I don’t want it on my clean pajamas.”
George smiled, as it was far too easy to imagine making a mess of Evan’s navy-blue pajamas. “You’re serious about me staying?”
“Yes. I’m enjoying this. Whatever this is. Unless you have a pressing need to go back to your hotel?” Evan lifted his eyebrows but didn’t take his hand away from George’s dick.
George leaned over and grabbed the glass. He finished the wine in a couple of swallows. Not the best thing to drink in a hurry, as he had to suppress the shudder that wanted to follow.
He slid off Evan’s lap and took the glass to the kitchen while Evan turned off lights. Staying the night wasn’t the smart thing to do, and not only because it was Evan. Though it mostly was. He didn’t stay the night with hook-ups, but he wasn’t sure that’s what this was anymore. There’d been far too much talking for a start. And then they had history—none of which was good—and while Evan said they had wiped the slate clean, that was never really possible. It wasn’t as though either of them could forget, even if they could forgive. He’d forgiven Evan, and maybe some of last night’s anger should’ve been directed at himself for not letting go after his final argument with Ryan.
Evan’s hand slipped around his waist as he pressed a kiss to the back of George’s neck. “I can feel your tension.”
He did not want to like Evan more than he already did.
What wasn’t to like? Evan was tall, good-looking, and smart, and aside from the whole not liking being a wolf thing, he seemed fairly well adjusted for a wolf from a traditional pack. Which did nothing to explain why Evan was interested in his uneducated, wandering ass. Unless he was expecting George to wander away so he could go back to his isolated existence.
“I’m not sure what we’re doing.…” George turned to face Evan, which left him trapped between Evan and the kitchen counter.
Evan put his hands on either side of George as though he quite liked the idea of keeping him in place. “I don’t know yet, but I’m not in a rush to label it. I’m happy to see what happens.” Evan kissed him, a light brush across his lips that was more of a tease.
Was he in a rush to label it?
He didn’t think so; it was more a case of him liking to understand the ground he was standing on, and he wasn’t sure he could see the ground at the moment. “I want to make sure we have similar expectations.”
Evan gave a single nod. “You want to know if you can fuck other people?”
George lowered his gaze and shook his head. “I’m too fucking lazy for that. I like a regular thing. Which I just told you, but I don’t know what you want?”
“No hassles. I don’t want wolf drama at my door. I don’t want any drama at my door.”
“I understand that. Where do I fit in?”
“I’ll give you my roster so you can see when I’m available.”
George lifted his eyebrows. “So it’s?—”
Evan silenced him with a kiss. “If you need to call it something, let’s call it convenience for the moment. We both prefer shifters. If you’re not going to go hunting in between, then I don’t need to shift, and we don’t need to be careful.” His teeth raked over George’s lower lip. “That’s what I like. That’s what I want. I don’t have to hide, and I don’t have to worry. No drama.”
“That sounds very reasonable.” And too good to be true. It was as if he touched down in Melbourne and slipped and landed in the hottest wolf within the city limits. Things like that didn’t happen to him. They usually took a bit more coaxing. When was this going to turn around and bite him on the ass?
Although, from the way Evan was looking at him, it would be him doing the biting, and he’d enjoy it.