Nate stared at him.
And then, a slow smile tugged at his lips. Stalking him through security cameras? Really?
“It isn’t funny,” Raffaele bit out, a muscle ticking in his jaw. The expression on his face was so resentful that Nate’s smile faded.
He loved this man. He didn’t want to make his life miserable.
“Do you want me to quit?” Nate said softly.
The look Raffaele gave him was almost hateful. “No,” he said, his hand moving lower and wrapping around Nate’s throat. Fuck, it should have been scary, not hot. “Don’t you dare.”
“Then what do you want from me?” Nate whispered. His heart was pounding so fast he thought it might just burst right out of his chest.
Raffaele’s grip on Nate’s throat adjusted, becoming more of a caress, his thumb pressing against Nate’s racing pulse.
Nate wet his dry lips with his tongue. He could taste the tension in the air, so thick and suffocating that Nate could barely breathe. He wanted to be kissed. He wanted to have Raffaele’s mouth on him so badly he was trembling with it. Please.
But he wouldn’t kiss him first. He didn’t want to pressure Raffaele into something he would resent. He could feel that Raffaele wanted him—could read it in the enormous tension in his body, in the way he looked at Nate as if he were thirsty. But physical want wasn’t enough for him. Nate wanted Raffaele to want them. To make a choice that had nothing to do with lust.
Nate lifted his hand and cupped Raffaele’s stubbled cheek. God. It felt so good to touch him, after months of nothing. “I missed you, you know.”
Raffaele’s dark eyes glinted with a strange light. “Did you?”
Nate nodded with a rueful smile, barely able to hold his gaze. “I know you don’t want to hear that—”
“No,” Raffaele said, his throat bobbing up and down. “Say it.”
Nate stared at him. “You actually want me to tell you how much I missed you?”
There was something greedy in Raffaele’s eyes as he gave a tight nod.
A laugh left Nate’s mouth. “You’re such an asshole. You don’t do relationships, but you want me to miss you. You do realize how messed-up it is, right?”
Raffaele’s expression flickered between several emotions before settling on something like irritation. “It’s your fault.”
“It’s my fault that you want me to miss you,” Nate stated, shooting him an incredulous look.
“Yes,” Raffaele said testily, glancing down at his lips before wrenching his gaze away. His lips thinned. “You make me want things I’ve never wanted before.”
Nate’s foolish heart soared. “Like what?”
Inhaling unsteadily, Raffaele pressed his face against Nate’s cheek. Nuzzled into it.
A small whine left Nate’s mouth, his eyes slipping shut. God, this man. His scent…
“I want you to miss me every minute I’m not there,” Raffaele said in a barely audible, hoarse whisper, mouthing the side of his face, nipping along his jaw. “Want you to think of me all the time. Only me.”
“God, you’re such a selfish dick,” Nate said with a breathless chuckle. His face was tingling from Raffaele’s mouth, and he wanted to turn his head and crush their mouths together so badly he was shaking with it.
“But you have feelings for me,” Raffaele stated, his voice low and tight, kissing all over his cheek. “You love me. Admit it.”
“I should fucking punch you,” Nate said, trying to open his eyes but unable to do so. “You’re such a smug, conceited—”
“You love me.” Raffaele sucked a bruise on his jawline.
Nate let out a shuddering breath, barely stopping himself from moaning.
“Say it,” Raffaele said. Ordered.
It made Nate’s knees weak. “I love you,” he mumbled, incoherent with want. “I love you. You’re an asshole, but I love you—”
Raffaele seized his face and kissed him.
Gasping, Nate kissed him back, grabbing fistfuls of Raffaele’s hair and moaning in pleasure-hunger-relief. God, finally. He couldn’t kiss him hard enough, couldn’t get close enough to him, he wanted to crawl inside this man, feel the warmth of his flesh and the solidity of his muscles against him. He needed him, he missed him so much, he wanted him inside of him, now—
Nate wrenched his mouth away. “Wait, we can’t.”
Breathing hard, Raffaele pressed their foreheads together, his body rigid with tension. “Why the hell not?”
Nate made a miserable noise. “Maya would kill me.”
“What does your sister have to do with anything?” Raffaele said, mouthing the side of his face and nipping along his jawline before sucking on Nate’s trembling bottom lip.
It took Nate a moment to remember what they were talking about. “I promised her I wouldn’t have sex with you until you prove that you have—that you have feelings for me.”
Raffaele chuckled against his mouth. “Didn’t I just tell you that you make me act like an idiot?”
Nate snorted. “Is that your idea of a love confession?” Unable to help himself, he pulled Raffaele into another kiss. Just a short one. God, Raffaele’s mouth. Its intensity was horribly addictive. He couldn’t get enough of this man, he felt like he’d been famished for months.