Page 28 of Wreaking Havoc
“I don’t know,” he answered quietly, still facing out at the ocean. After a long moment, he spoke again. “I’m not very brave.”
Kai wasn’t so sure about that. But if that belief was what was holding Sascha back…
Kai stroked the back of Sascha’s neck with his thumb again. “You don’t need to be. I have bravery enough for the both of us.”
He might not have much else to offer, but he did have that.
Sascha let out a sigh, and then he uncrossed his legs, bringing his knees up with his feet flat on the sand, before leaning back fully, resting his weight against Kai.
Kai ducked his head to hide his grin in Sascha’s soft blond hair, then slid his hands down and around to clasp Sascha’s clothed thighs.
His trousers were of a rough, dark material.
“Your clothes are different today,” Kai pointed out.
The tips of Sascha’s ears turned a fetching pink. “You mean from what I was wearing at home? That’s…not my usual style.”
That was a shame. He’d looked delightfully soft and tempting the day before, wearing thin leggings and a stretched-out sweater that slipped off his shoulder again and again.
“Why not?” Kai asked.
Sascha hesitated, fingers toying with the sand. “Well…those clothes aren’t very…masculine?”
Kai didn’t understand. “Why does your clothing need to be masculine?”
Another deep sigh from Sascha. Kai’s bargain was full of them. “That’s a good question.”
One it didn’t seem he was going to answer. “You look nice in pretty things,” Kai pressed.
The pink color of Sascha’s ears deepened to red, but he didn’t turn back to face Kai. “Do I?”
“Mm,” Kai hummed, his thumbs stroking against the rough material on Sascha’s thighs. “Pretty things for a pretty man.”
“You think I’m pretty?” The words were quiet, directed to the sand.
“I think you’re lovely.”
He was. Lovely and strange and wounded, much deeper and more varied than that simple scar on his arm. Kai could feel it, in that little piece of Sascha’s soul he held. Fear and disappointment and sorrow. He’d been pulsing with it all, speaking with his brother. Not to mention the anger. What would it be like, if Sascha let that anger loose?
What Kai wouldn’t give to see it.
He lifted one hand and traced the shell of Sascha’s ear. Sascha’s breath quickened at the touch. Was he sensitive there? Kai leaned in, giving a quick nip with blunt teeth. Sascha gasped.
Kai grinned. Yes, quite sensitive.
He nuzzled at the back of Sascha’s neck, breathing in deeply, inhaling the scent of his skin. He smelled clean and vaguely floral. Fresh.
Sweet.
Kai lost himself in it for a moment, only brought back by Sascha’s huff. “I thought you said you were brave enough for the both of us?”
“I am,” Kai confirmed, giving another nibble of Sascha’s ear.
“Seems to me like you’re doing a whole lotta nothing,” Sascha griped, clearly aiming for snippy but missing the mark when his breath hitched again at another press of Kai’s teeth.
“Is that so?”
It sounded like an invitation. Kai ran his hands up from Sascha’s thighs to his bare waist. He was slender there, as if Kai could encase it fully with both hands. Perhaps, in his demon form, he could. He ran his nose once again along the short hairs on the back of Sascha’s neck, before brushing his lips over his shoulder. “I thought you wanted me to be nice to you, hm? You crave sweetness, don’t you, Sascha? Sweetness to match your own?”
