“You wanted to go slow so you could adjust.” Ethan shifted again, grinding his cock against Marcus and wringing a moan out of him. “Feels like you’re adjusting fine to me.”
“I take it all back. You’re evil. So very evil,” Marcus said with a choked laugh.
“Only to you, I promise.”
Marcus blinked and his face suddenly became very serious. He lifted his hand and his fingers brushed across a part of Ethan’s face that wasn’t swollen and bruised. “There’s no one else in your life…”
Ethan sat still on Marcus’s lap, the teasing at an end. “No. I’ve never really dated, and there’s no one in my life that I’m seeing. That I’m physical with.”
Marcus drew in a deep breath and held it for a moment before he slowly released it. “You make me want things, Ethan.”
“That’s not a bad thing.”
“No, but for me, it’s a complicated thing.”
Ethan started to say that complicated didn’t bother him, but Marcus was already pushing him to his feet, putting space between them.
“I’m sorry I took you from your work,” Marcus mumbled.
“Don’t, Marcus. Not to me. Don’t block me out.” Ethan’s voice was sharp, and he stood up straight, closing the distance between them so that Marcus couldn’t escape.
Marcus surprised him by chuckling. “I can’t, can I? At least not for long.”
“I don’t want you to.” Ethan grabbed his hand, needing to cling to that connection between them for as long as possible. “You want to beat the shit out of the asshole who touched me. I want to help slay your dragons too.”
“I would like that, but it may have to wait a little while longer. Things are growing more complicated.”
“What are you talking about?”
Marcus glared at the floor. “I can’t say. Just that we will need to push up the moving date.”
“How soon?”
He shook his head, still not looking at Ethan. “I’m not sure yet. I need to speak with my brothers to finalize plans. Just continue working as you have been until I have more details for you. Then we can look into bringing in more help as necessary.”
“Okay. Whatever you need,” Ethan murmured, hating the way his voice wavered just a tiny bit. Speeding up the move meant that his time with Marcus was growing even shorter. He didn’t know what kind of future they had, if they had a chance at anything at all, even with his horrible secret, but he didn’t want to give up any time with him.
Marcus gave him a small smile and pressed a kiss to the top of his head before pulling his hand free. Ethan watched him walk out of the music room, likely heading back to his office where he could call his brothers and make his plans.
Ethan wasn’t willing to give up on Marcus yet. He could get the vampire to understand and forgive him. And then maybe they could figure out what a real relationship would look like for them. He wanted to see the smile on Marcus’s face, to hear his laughter. The man was far too lonely and his life too empty.
Chapter Sixteen
Ethan closed another box and glared up at the shelves. He’d already filled six boxes of books and still not made a dent in Marcus’s collection. The boxes were also impossibly heavy now and couldn’t be moved without a dolly. It also wasn’t helping that he’d paused on several occasions to flip through some of the more interesting books in his collection and read the back covers.
He sighed again. There just wasn’t enough time for all the books he wanted to read. Of course, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d lain around reading a book. The past few nights he’d worked late packing with Marcus at his side. It really was sinful how sexy the man was in a pair of jeans and a tight black T-shirt. He’d freaking tripped over shit twice crossing the room while staring at Marcus’s ass.
Since the encounter at the piano, they’d managed to behave themselves and keep their hands off each other, which Ethan couldn’t say he was thrilled about. It probably hadn’t been too hard for Marcus since Ethan’s face hadn’t looked its best. The swelling was gone, and the bruising was starting to fade at last.
Even if they weren’t taking little breaks to explore each other’s bodies, they did have the chance to spend the time talking. Marcus told him about all the interesting places he’d lived over the years.
The funny thing was that the longer they talked, the more often Marcus failed to catch himself when he slipped up on the timing of something. Marcus looked as if he was in his early thirties, but if Ethan tallied up all the different places Marcus had been and the time frames, the man had to be at least seventy. But Marcus didn’t seem to notice the slipups. Ethan chalked that up to Marcus growing more comfortable around him, and that warmed Ethan in ways he couldn’t quite explain.