Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 578(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Mike
“You don’t have to say anything else if you don’t want to,” Mike said, “because honestly, I don’t care.”
Rayne frowned, and Mike hurried to clarify what he meant.
“Look. I hate to risk sounding like a dick, but it kinda sounds like those cheaters deserved exactly what they got and what they lost.”
Rayne looked shocked before he shook his head. “No. No, they didn’t deserve it. Neither did their kids or partners.”
“Did you put a gun to those guys’ heads and make them step out on their spouses?”
Rayne sighed. “No, but—”
“Okay then.”
“It’s not that simple, Mike.”
“But it is. Men are responsible for their own actions and the consequences of them. It’s always going to be easier to blame someone else for your fuckups.”
“Mike.” Rayne blinked, but the tears didn’t fall. He was glad because he wasn’t sure he could handle that. “I’ve already made enough excuses for what I’ve done. I had to accept responsibility for my part too. And I have now. I’ve made my peace with what I became and the changes I had to make to never be that version of myself again.”
“What do you want now?”
“What I want is to be a good man. I know what I did was wrong.” Rayne’s chest inflated with frustration. “What I did with the act of sex hurt me, and worst of all, it hurt a lot of other people. And I was obsessed with this behavior, despite the consequences.”
“And is that why you’re considered a sex addict?” Mike questioned. “I know the scope is broad.”
One side of Rayne’s mouth turned up into a sweet smile. “Did you look it up?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to. I wanted to know more, Rayne. I wanted to understand.” Mike was glad that Rayne had confessed more of his truth to him, and after hearing how he was raised, Mike only wanted to care for him that much more.
Rayne gripped Mike’s hand and clutched onto it. “I won’t do that to you. I swear it.” Rayne looked pained and mortified, but he kept going. “I never cared about any of those men, not a single one… most of all, I didn’t respect them. That’s the difference between them and you.”
“I’m not worried.”
Rayne stared at him in wonder for a long moment, and Mike let him. “I’m not afraid of you either.”
Mike smirked. “Maybe you should be.”
“Why?” Rayne licked his lips, his light gray eyes darkening to ash, his gaze locking onto Mike’s and blinding him with their beauty.
“Because I want you,” Mike confessed, and Rayne’s smile turned dangerously sexy. “And whether you know it or not… I already have you.”
Rayne forced a swallow before he asked on a lusty breath. “Mike. Do you… will you be my boyfriend?”
Mike reared back, a little caught off guard, and he didn’t know what expression showed on his face, but Rayne’s cheeks turned bright red before he dropped Mike’s hand.
He shook his head. “Rayne, I don’t know a thing about being somebody’s boyfriend.”
Rayne looked as if he wanted to sink into the couch and disappear. “It’s okay. I, um…”
Mike got a grip on his rapidly beating chest and took Rayne’s wrists and hauled him to his feet. He caught him around his waist and pulled him against his chest so hard he gasped out a breath. Mike palmed the back of Rayne’s neck as a possessive desperation flooded his insides. “I’m not boyfriend material, Rayne…”
Rayne gulped and opened his mouth, but Mike covered it with his own before he could say another word. He growled against those soft peach lips as fire and euphoria pulsated through his system. “But I do know how to be your man. I know how to do that all day.”
Rayne choked on his emotions as he buried his face in Mike’s throat.
He hoped that was what Rayne wanted and needed in his life. A real man. Not some boyfriend who would parade him around town on his arm like some boy toy instead of protecting him, cherishing him… loving him. “Tell me that’s what you want.”
Rayne moaned. “Yes. That’s exactly what I want, Mike. As long as you’re mine, that’s all I’ll ever need.”
Chapter Thirty-five
Rayne
Rayne cleaned the kitchen while Mike locked up the house. Need loomed and coiled in his lower stomach, his cock in a persistent state of hardness that no number of calm breaths could tamp down. By the time Rayne placed the last fork in the dish rack, Mike was turning off the lights in the living room, encasing them in darkness. Rayne dried his hands on the dish towel and hung it on the refrigerator door handle, then joined Mike at the bottom of the stairs.
“What time do you have to be at work in the morning?” Mike asked.
Why in the heck was Mike asking about his schedule? Rayne blinked through the haze, unable to think of much else except his craving to have Mike’s strong body on top of him. The last thing on Rayne’s mind was work or anything having to do with tomorrow. He was completely present in the moment now.