9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine

Cormac

T he moment Carly stepped into view, Felix went from holding on to his chill to losing it entirely.

The average person might not notice, but I’d been studying the man intensely for six months, so I was aware.

Just like I was aware of the fact that his teasing had a different edge to it tonight. A sensuality and deliberateness that hadn’t been there before. My hopeless heart couldn’t handle wandering in that direction though, so I focused on enjoying the gala. On an intentional excuse to get into his space, to touch him even more than usual.

“Hey, Carly,” Felix said, taking a few steps to meet Carly and the other woman beside her. The black-haired woman strode forward, and they shook hands. “It’s so great to meet you in person. This is Cor, my boyfriend.”

She extended her hand, her gaze warm. “Felix spoke highly of you. I’m glad you could make it.”

I’d never sussed out how I’d ended up his fake boyfriend for this, and the idea of him talking about me? Fuck, I couldn’t imagine.

I was the third Brannon kid. The third in command at Brannon Construction. Boyfriends liked that I was sturdy, but beyond that, they weren’t that interested in getting to know me. Invisible, invisible, invisible.

Yet Felix had offhandedly mentioned me to his client like I mattered.

My heart squeezed hard. “I’ve heard plenty of great things about you as well.”

“And this is my girlfriend, Leigh.” Carly gestured to the woman by her side. I offered her a hand, and we shook. It made a bit more sense why Carly was so welcoming about Felix bringing me along. Queer folks tended to gravitate toward each other, whether intentionally or not.

“So glad to meet you.” Felix shook her hand as well. “Hope we’re not sticking out too much in this soiree.” He took the words out of my mouth. I dressed up for funerals and weddings, and that was about it. Family functions weren’t formal but chaotic free-for-alls.

“Not in the slightest. We’ve got a mix of people here. While the majority are the donors who help fund this exhibition, we also invited specialists in the field. I figured you’d both be excited to pick their brains.” Carly pointed to Jake Lippincott and the others around him, who were all entrenched in deep conversation. “If you walk up the stairs and head to the left, our exhibition is on full display.”

“Well, why didn’t you say that first?” Felix joked. The amber lighting brought out the rich sepia tones of his skin, and the navy suit looked so good on him I wanted to peel it off with my teeth. His wavy hair was tamed tonight, and the cocky curve of his lips mesmerized me. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, which had made the drive over here fly by.

“Thank you so much for all the hard work you did to help us with the exhibit,” Carly said to him. “Please enjoy the food and drink, and don’t hesitate to check out the sword collection. We have a rare set of Viking ones we were lucky to obtain.”

Felix nudged me in the side, and I withheld my eye roll. All I could think of now with Viking swords was his comment about his cock. I’d met plenty of guys who said they were large but ended up being in the five-incher club, but the match to my curiosity had lit and burned brightly. When I did bottom, I was a size queen, and the idea that someone as slender as Felix might be packing was hot as fuck.

“Carly, so glad to see you.” An older gentleman approached, and she and her girlfriend gave us a polite head nod and engaged the next guest. Felix and I moved in unison and returned to the spot along the wall we’d claimed as ours.

“So.” Felix took a sip from his scotch. The liquid wet his lips, and he traced it with his tongue. My cock woke up at once, and I shifted my stance. A semi in dress pants was annoying as fuck. When my gaze lifted from his lips, his eyes were locked on mine. A wickedness danced in his expression that had my heart thudding faster.

There was no way Felix Ruiz was hitting on me…

Except my brain kept sending down-to-fuck signals left and right.

“Cor?” he asked.

I blinked. Shit, had he been saying more? “Uh, what?”

“I asked if you wanted to grab some food or check out the swords?” Felix asked, those dark eyes still glimmering. “Did something distract you?”

I swallowed hard, my throat parched. Another sip of my scotch didn’t help either, even as the warmth slid down my throat and heated my chest. “Uh, yeah. Swords. Let’s go.” As exciting as it was to be here, checking out the exhibit at a private event, all those jitters paled in comparison to the reaction Felix elicited from me.

Felix took the first steps forward before reaching out with his extended hand.

My heart flipped over. Slowly I threaded my fingers through his, enjoying the electricity racing across my skin. For a few brief moments, I could pretend Felix and I were together for real. That we were a couple enjoying a night out.

If fucking only.

Felix led the way toward the exhibition area, and we traveled up the steps with ease.

“What is it about this place and long staircases?” Felix said.

“Not used to physical exertion, IT boy?” I teased.

“Oh, I get plenty after hours.” He shot me a heated glance. I stumbled, but Felix’s grip kept me from falling. This felt like flirting, more than his normal teasing, and no matter how much I tried to talk myself out of it, my heart thudded faster. Walking behind him, I could see the flex of his ass with each stride, and holy fuck, it was tight and so damn fine I couldn’t stop looking.

Except tonight, I had a free pass because boyfriends definitely looked at each other’s asses.

Maybe I should feel guilty over ogling Felix all night, at taking advantage of the fake boyfriend ruse, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. He didn’t seem put off in the slightest. If anything, he was the one stoking those flames into an inferno.

We reached the top of the staircase and turned left to the exhibition.

“They lined the rapiers up first,” Felix said, not letting my hand go, even as we both slowed down.

I sure as fuck wouldn’t complain. My hand looked like a paw wrapped around his slender fingers, which were far softer than mine. I busted my knuckles on a weekly basis and had built thick-as-fuck calluses before my first week as a contractor ended.

The first showcase displayed rapiers from the 1600s, European in make. Some were always on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but they had brought new ones into the mix. We walked up to examine it, and even though I glanced over the information in the showcase, the beautiful rapiers that had been preserved, my gaze kept straying.

Felix’s eyes lit up as he skimmed over the swords, and the glow of them had me ensnared. I couldn’t help but devour every detail: the way the shadows sharpened his angular jaw, the precise frame of his glasses, how his lower lip glossed when he wet it.

“How the fuck aren’t more people in this section?” he asked. We meandered to the next showcase, this one on Japanese swords from the same era. The katana, wakizashi, and tanto were all polished, and the metal was looking sharp, even with their age.

“You’d think rich people were just using this gala as an excuse to throw money around,” I said dryly.

“If that means we get the run of the exhibition, that’s fine by me,” Felix said. “Holy shit, look at the haft on that blade. The cobalt is still so bright.”

My heart thudded even harder. Fuck, being around Felix was so damn easy. Not only did we have plenty in common, but something about him coaxed me to the surface faster than anyone else. Normally, I was the taciturn one in conversations, even in the family. I absorbed more than chatted, which over the years resulted in feeling forgettable.

But Felix talked to me like I was the only person in existence. Like everything else melted away into the quiet dark.

“Gorgeous,” I murmured in response, but my gaze remained on him.

Even though he stared at the case, he squeezed my hand in an absent gesture before guiding us toward the next display. The ease with which we touched each other wasn’t something to be taken for granted. I’d had less chemistry with boyfriends I’d dated for over a year, and I was well aware of how rare this was. The lights were dimmed, a golden backlight to the cases that kept the attention to the artifacts on exhibit.

“Oh, the Viking swords are here.” Felix brought us close to the case, a slight bounce in his step.

When I heard the exhibition was coming to town, I’d been curious about these swords. They were made of crucible steel, with lettering imprinted on them. I let go of Felix’s hand and walked around the side of the case to get a better view.

Felix followed me, peering by my side. “Yeah, this was worth getting all dressed up for.” He nudged me, the same excitement flaring in his eyes, and I couldn’t help the giddy bounce of my heart.

“Definitely. It’s wild to think this craft could last over a thousand years,” I murmured. “Much longer than this fake relationship of ours. And you’ve escaped unscathed. No one has thrown fingers and or demanded we kiss.” I aimed for a joke, but it landed a bit flatter than intended. Maybe because at night, in bed, all I thought about was kissing Felix.

Felix stood straight and arched a brow. “You think I’m afraid of a little kiss?”

“Petrified.” A bit of challenge leaked into my tone. I licked my lips, which were impossibly dry. Felix’s stare was incendiary, lighting me up from the inside out.

“Well, now you’ve gone and done it.” The words were soft, and I almost missed them with the way tension crackled between us like arid air waiting for the lightning to strike. Felix and I were standing a breath apart, and then we weren’t.

His lips brushed against mine. The sparks were instantaneous, like a sliced sprinkler wire, and I moved in. Before my mind could take control, Felix did. He wrapped his hand around my nape and beckoned me in. I reeled from his palm pressing against my skin, his lips caressing mine.

Kissing Felix was all the adrenaline of a sword fight—the anticipation, the clash, the burn of the physical melding together. Except he took me higher than I’d ever soared. I’d imagined these lips for months, traced them over and over in my brain. He tasted refined, like the scotch we’d been drinking, and the heat bursting between us threatened to scorch my very soul. My hands landed on his hips, and I couldn’t tell which one of us drew toward the other. He deepened the kiss, our bodies lined up flush together.

He slipped his tongue into my mouth, all but devouring me. His fingers slid upward to tangle into my hair, the slight sting eliciting a moan from me. I’d be embarrassed, but Felix felt too damn good pressed against me. I tightened my grip on his hips as if I could hold on to this moment longer. The firm ridge of his cock brushed against my thigh, and my eyes rolled back in my head. Holy fuck. Felix was getting hard. My dick was granite, and it took everything in me not to rut forward against his thigh as we kissed and kissed and kissed.

He nipped at my lower lip, the sting sending flares through my bloodstream. I would sell my soul for a few moments more with him. We dove in for more until we melted into tongues and teeth and living in a way I’d been chasing for far too long.

I might’ve imagined this a time or a thousand, but I would never have expected the dominant streak running through him. He brought my head down and commanded the kiss, directing me where he wanted me. The urge to strip and beg him to sink inside me roared something fierce.

He ground his length against my thigh, surprising the fuck out of me. Holy fuck, he hadn’t been kidding about his size. It felt long and thick and goddamn. Sparks flicker-flashed through me, and precum beaded at the head of my cock. My whole body was aflame from the heat exploding through this kiss, through the thorough examination he gave my mouth, my lips, my tongue. He nipped and sucked and devoured with a hunger that had me light-headed.

All I could do was hold on for the ride, returning his kisses with the passion I’d pushed back from the moment we met.

A cough broke through the daze.

Oh shit.

I pulled away from Felix, even though the adrenaline still danced in my veins. We were in the middle of the museum, next to an exhibit. A well-dressed older man stood at the exhibit over, glowering at us, and my cheeks warmed. Fuck, I didn’t want to get Felix in trouble with his work.

Felix stood inches from me, surprisingly not running in the other direction. His shoulders heaved, and his lips were spit-slicked and glossy. Fuck, that had been from our kiss. Lust rolled through me, hot and heavy. His suit jacket was askew, the fabric rumpled, and his hair a mess compared to the tidy way it’d been before. I glanced down at myself. Shit, I was in a similar state of disarray.

The old man still glowered at us.

“I, uh, just get really excited about swords,” Felix said.

An incredulous laugh bubbled up in my chest, but I swallowed it back. “That’s what you’re going with?” I murmured under my breath.

The man passed us to head to the next exhibit, shaking his head.

I braced myself for the shock, the recoil of disgust, the realization he’d kissed a guy and hadn’t liked it.

Except when I met Felix’s gaze, those dark eyes gleamed with a wickedness that made me weak.

“You’re going to get me into trouble, Cormac Brannon.” The flirty tone to his voice, the heat—fucking slay me now.

“I’m pretty sure you’re plenty capable yourself.”

“Come on, Let’s go check out the rest of the swords. There are some excellent specimens on display.” He looked pointedly to my bulge, clear in my suit pants, and the fucker winked.