Read Online The Square Peg by Jane Davitt, Alexa Snow - Free Book Online Page B

more thorough search
    of the office and back rooms was unsuccessful. Ben gave up. Wherever Shane was, he
    wasn’t in the bar. Shit. Ben went outside, shivering as the cool air hit him, the drop in
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    the noise level a shock to his ears. He wandered around outside for a while, but Shane
    hadn’t come out for a smoke—if he even did smoke—or a break from the heat and the
    music.
    Ben sighed and tilted his head back to survey his property. Lit up and lively, it
    didn’t look so bad. He was getting some curious looks from people walking by, but the
    way he was swaying probably told its own story, and amused sympathy went along
    with the curiosity in most cases.
    As he stared up, craning his neck, he saw a light was on high up enough that it
    had to be Shane’s apartment. Ben would have slapped his forehead, but he was fairly
    sure he’d miss.
    There had to be another entrance than the one he’d used before, but he didn’t have
    the mental energy to deal with finding it. Instead, Ben went back through the bar and
    up the steps to Shane’s door. It was closed so he knocked. Loudly.
    “I told you,” Shane said from the other side almost immediately. “They’re in the—
    ” The door opened, and he blinked at Ben. “Sorry. I thought you were Vincent.”
    “Right.”
    “Thought you’d gone home.”
    “Really. Even though I said I’d be right back?” Ben was pretty sure he didn’t
    believe Shane, but not a hundred percent sure. He didn’t like being unsure. And Shane
    was the one who’d done this—insisted he come see what the bar was like on Friday
    night, given him beer, looking like a fucking wet dream in jeans.
    Okay, he’d lost the thread of that analogy somewhere along the way. “I need a
    glass of water.”
    Whatever Shane had been thinking, that got his attention. “Come in. Sit down. Did
    anyone give you anything?”
    “I’m tipsy, not an idiot,” Ben said as Shane pushed him toward the chair he’d
    occupied the day before. “What are you doing?”
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    Jane Davitt & Alexa Snow
    “You just said you wanted water.” Shane turned back toward Ben, the cupboard
    door still open behind him, a glass in his hand.
    “I don’t.”
    “You’re maddening,” Shane said. Ben watched Shane’s lips as he spoke,
    wondered what they’d taste like on his. “Well, what do you want, then?”
    “You,” Ben said desperately, and grabbed on to Shane’s upper arms and kissed
    him, pushing him back against the countertop.
    Shane struggled, giving Ben a taste of how much strength was held in that wiry
    body. It seemed more of an instinctive reaction to being grabbed, because when Ben
    immediately released him, letting his hands drop easily enough, but truly reluctant to
    lose the kiss, Shane pulled him closer, muttering “idiot” under his breath. Ben didn’t
    know which of them Shane meant. Maybe both of them. They deserved it.
    “Want something, do you?” Shane said, his lips twisted in a sneer Ben longed to
    wipe off with another kiss. He put his hands back where they’d been, mirroring Shane’s
    hold on him. They were touching each other, but still at arm’s length, tangled in mixed
    signals like they’d been from the start.
    “You know what I want.” Ben glanced down and smiled when he saw evidence
    that he wasn’t the only one aroused. “Yeah, you want it too.”
    “What if I do? Doesn’t mean I want it from you.” Shane licked his lips, his eyes
    wide, his breath coming in quick, choppy gasps, as if he couldn’t pull in enough air. Ben
    liked that look on him—a mixture of defiance and panic. “What’s lit your fucking fuse
    anyway?”
    “You’ve got men sucking each other off in your bathroom,” Ben told him. “It’s not
    what I’m used to. I thought you should know.”
    “Liked listening, did you? Kinky bastard.” There was a flush rising, staining
    Shane’s cheeks and his neck. Ben wanted to strip Shane’s clothes off him and see how
    far down that