A slow smile eases onto his face, and yeah… I’m momentarily stunned by him. To my relief, he doesn’t seem upset about my overthinking last night. Maybe we can move past this and forget the kiss.
Although, I know I won’t be able to. Not in this lifetime.
“Lunch?” Ezra’s brows lift as he mulls over my offer. “Like both of us together? You and me?”
“Never mind. This was a mistake,” I mutter, heading for the door.
“Wait!” Ezra’s hand wraps around my wrist. I frown at the contact, surprised by the stutter of my heart. “Please. I want to get lunch with you.”
My chest puffs up.Take that, Rev.
I swallow a groan. This is not some competition to win over Ezra. The guy shouldn’t even be here.
So then, where does he belong?
“Whatever,” I say, failing to sound menacing. “Get cleaned up and we can go.”
“Are we leaving the building?” he asks.
“Planned on it, unless you don’t tone down that tornadic energy.”
Ezra vibrates with hyperactivity all the way to my apartment door. He seems to be back to his normal self today. Or is the vulnerable side the real Ezra?
I fight the urge to look at him again, knowing it would be a bad idea. Lunch with him is a bad idea.
When I open my front door, he darts inside. He skids to a stop. Frowning, he rushes back to me, nearly colliding with my body. “I don’t have any clean clothes.”
I create some distance between us. For good measure. “Just borrow more of mine. We’ll pick up a few things for you when we go out.”
His lips purse, and his eyes grow big. He looks too fucking delectable. Why didn’t I kiss him back last night? I can’t deny that I wanted to. Still want to as I stare down at his beautiful face.
No.Fuck. I know why I didn’t reciprocate. I don’t get caught up in this kind of shit. I have a business to run. Hundreds of criminals to take down. Criminals who would take advantage of anyone close to me.
Internally, I’m torn between wanting more of these expressions from him and wanting to slam him up against the wall and demand that he stop fucking with me.
I’m going to beat the living daylights out of Rev the next time we step into the boxing ring for putting these toxic thoughts in my head.
If I find out that Ezra’s been playing us this entire time, I won’t hesitate to kill him with my bare hands.
Christ. Maybe I do need to get laid. It’s been… what? Over a year since that dancer in a club? That’s why I’m wound up too tight. I’ve had nothing to fuck but my own fist for too long.
Ezra bolts into my closet, completely at ease tearing through a mercenary’s apartment. He’s surprisingly brave. Has he found all my guns yet? I almost want to laugh at the thought.
Maybe hewouldmake for a good mercenary.
I give him space to rinse off, white-knuckling the kitchen counter when the little shit leaves the door to the bathroom wide open like an invitation.
He rushes out dressed in one of my dark t-shirts, another pair of my black joggers, and his combat boots. Wild, damp hair falls into his face.
Brain malfunctioning, I watch in horror as my hand reaches out to brush a lock behind his ear. His eyes nearly double in size, and his full lips part.
“Cain?” he asks hesitantly, tongue darting out to flick his lip ring.
I almost come unglued, desire slamming into me so strong, I have to rip myself away from him.
“Your hair’s a mess,” I mutter, striding for the door. “Hurry up. I don’t have all day.”
But for him, I think I fucking do.
