Clawing at the back of Mal’s head, Danny urged him to pull away, only to drag him back to his lips as soon as their eyes met in a brief dance of dilating pupils. More teeth. More tongue. Deeper.Deeper. The grip of Danny’s hand at Mal’s head, the other clutching the skin of his hip and dragging nails into the waistband of his slacks—it was rough, demanding, but not painful, not violent. It grounded Mal how Danny held back even while, for the wayward hero, this had to be as out of control as he ever got.
Dropping his hands to the collar of Danny’s jacket, Mal pushed it from his shoulders. Danny wouldn’t release his hold on Mal, so the jacket caught at his elbows and Mal reached for his jeans instead. As soon as his fingers brushed the skin of Danny’s stomach, the hand at Mal’s head and the other dipping low along his backside started to spark with a tingle of electricity.
Mal startled. It should have hurt, should have shocked him like a jolt of static on a cold, dry day—he’d felt Danny’s lightning offensively before, and it was not a pleasant experience—but this was different.
Automatic reactions out of self-defense or eruptions from extreme emotion were one thing, but usually only children who’d just Awakened had trouble controlling their abilities. Though, to be fair, Danny had been an Elemental for only a year. Mal never would have allowed his powers to get out of hand like that, but even as he thought the reprimand, his ice seemed to stir in response, wanting to creep over his skin like frost and seek Danny’s lightning out.
Fighting to hold his ice at bay, he was still intoxicated by the tingling sensation from Danny.
“Sorry!” Danny jerked away once he realized what was happening and reined his sparks back in.
“No,” Mal said, already missing the strange, enthralling buzz. “Do it again.”
Danny’s puzzled expression made him look so young as he stared back at Mal, but when those words caught up to him, he grinned.
Kissing Mal hard, one hand slid to his neck while the other squeezed his ass with heady possessiveness. The sparks began again, tingling across Mal’s skin. Too much would likely still hurt, but feeling Danny’s power in the touch of his hands spurred Mal on, and he rocked into the body beneath him like it was his first time and every moment counted.
“Wait…” Danny said, keeping out of range from Mal meeting his mouth again. Too close to focus on more than the hooded look in each other’s eyes, Danny said it again, “Wait,” but not like he wanted to stop—notat alllike he wanted to stop. He slid his cheek beside Mal’s and whispered like he had in Pronto that morning. “Slower.”
Mal shivered. He never, not for one moment, would have imagined thatthatof all things would be the hottest word to ever pass Danny’s lips.
Obeying, how could he not, Mal slowed the rhythm of his hips and rolled them instead at a torturous, teasing pace. His slacks and Danny’s denim created too much of a barrier, not nearly enough friction. It was awful. It waswonderful.
Danny’s hands maintained a mild buzz of electricity. “You know…your face would look real pretty between my thighs.”
Fuck, Mal could not process this—thisDanny. He stared at him dumbfounded.
Gently, Danny pushed at Mal to urge him to the floor. “Turnabout’s fair play, right?”
“Does that mean when I’m through with you, you’ll…turn about?”
“Give me a reason to.”
Mal almost wondered if this was an imposter, but he knew Danny too well. “I am enjoying this side of you, Sparky,” he said and stole one more brief, slow kiss while he rolled his hips to match Danny’s unhurried tempo. Then he shifted his legs to lower himself to the floor, tucked in between Danny’s thighs. He finished drawing down the zipper.
Danny never took his eyes off of him. There was an edge of darkness in that gaze, and it was beautiful. Cupping Mal’s face, Danny brushed a thumb over his bottom lip. “Imagine all the other sides of me you’ll get to see.”
ß
Danny was wired, thrumming, hadn’t felt so free and alive in months. This was the best idea he’d had since he first put on the cowl.
Cho fell to his whims so readily, Danny almost couldn’t believe it. Feigning confidence made him feel like he had it. Chocertainly seemed to believe he did. Danny had already reduced the man to a quivering mess several times over.
Maybe it was the power Danny possessed—a show of lightning, of the sparks that danced about his skin when he lost control. Danny hadn’t meant to start sparking. He’d certainly never done anything like that with Vanessa. Maybe it was an Elemental thing, his powers reacting to Cho’s. The response felt so natural, Danny was relieved he didn’t have to hold it in, not when Cho seemed so enamored by it.
He really was gorgeous as he opened Danny’s jeans and urged him to lift his hips. Down came the denim. Danny’s boxer briefs were soaked through in the front. Cho’s tongue flicked out, and he brushed his fingers with only the barest pressure along the stain, feeling the contours of Danny through his underwear.
Danny’s sparking got away from him for a moment, and a tiny lightning bolt zigzagged up his body. Relaxing into the feeling, he let the pulse thrum through him, communing with his element in ways he never had before. He never knew being with another Elemental could feel like this and wondered what Cho’s ice could do to him.
Slower, with more care, down came his underwear.
Slamming Cho against the fridge, pulling him onto his lap, taking every ounce of control between them—it made each moment worth it, being with someone who looked pretty, talked smooth, commanded attention, but who Danny ultimately despised.
He’d never had Cho so powerless before. This was what he wanted, what he needed to glue together his cracked and broken pieces, just one aspect of his life where he had all the power, where only he knew how everything would end.
This was Cho’shome. Manipulating his way into Cho’s heart would be just as easy.
If the man’s face was pretty, then his hands—damn. They were art, as much as that sensuous photograph on the wall. They fluttered long and expressive around Danny’s length, settling into a firm hold.
