Dim Sum Asylum(55)

“They’re one and the same,” he replied roughly, and he gave my thighs a short, tight squeeze, his eyes darkening for a moment. The air grew chilly, and wisps of vapor ghosted over his forearms. Shooting me a rueful look, Trent took a breath, then let it out between his clenched teeth, obviously putting a wall up around his leaking power. “There’s a lot I don’t know about what they did to me, and what I do know, I can’t count on it not being a lie. I’ve been out of the unit for nearly a year now, and it’s been… rough sometimes, but it’s getting better, especially now. Well, until you started trying to get killed, which was what? Three hours after I’d met you?”

“Fair enough. Okay, so other than the stalking thing you’ve got going on, do I have to worry about you blowing a hole in my head?” My gut told me no, but I’d been wrong before. I’d thought Donnie liked me. I’d only met him briefly a few times, and we’d gotten along fairly well, but that went sideways. “I need to count on you if you’re going to partner with me. I already spend most of my time looking over my shoulder for the old man. I don’t want to have to be watching my back with you.”

“If I was going to kill you, I’d have let you go when you were hanging off the side of the building.” Trent shifted closer, leaning into me. “I’ve got your back, MacCormick. Did you miss the part where I told you I’d asked to be your partner?”

“No, but I also remember the part where you said you wanted to punch me in the face.”

“Or fuck you,” he shot back. “It was punch or fuck, and I don’t think that’s going to change. Being your partner has been… a Hell of a ride, and I’ve got the feeling that’s just how life is around you. I’m willing to give it a shot. Hell, I’m more than willing to give you a shot for other things too.”

“See, that’s where this gets a bit sketchy. Partners shouldn’t—”

His mouth found mine before I could object to even thinking about having sex with him. He kissed like he spoke, a jab of words wrapped around a bit of gentle coaxing with a shot of something wicked and potent. There were layers to how Trent tasted: a hint of coffee, a dash of cinnamon I knew came from the toothpaste tube on the counter in the bathroom, and a ghostly whisper of ice. I wanted to fall into him. Give in to everything he promised in the flick of his tongue across my lips, but amid all of the things Trent Leonard tasted of, trouble was at the top of the list.

He pulled away after stealing my breath, and I had to sit back, hoping I could get my heart to stop pounding. Shaking my head, I didn’t let Trent’s fingers touch my face when he reached for me. I knew the moment he got his hands on me I’d give in to the want he’d stoked in my core.

“Moving kind of fast there,” I finally ground out, my voice shaking and thin despite my best efforts to shore myself up. “And we’re… fucking Hell, we can’t do this. We’re supposed to be partners. How the fuck are we supposed to be going through the door together if we’re fucking each other?”

“Others have. Gaines did. He married his former partner. Your other godfather. Braeden. Remember him? Fire chief now, isn’t he?” Trent apparently smirked imperiously when he scored a point in an argument. “Didn’t your mom stand up for them at their wedding? That’s what it looked like in the photos I saw.”

“So you’re asking me to marry you?” I grinned when he jerked back, a little shock flickering over his face. “See? It could go only two ways. A ring—which I sure as Hell am not doing—or one of us shooting the other one. There’s no third road where we shake hands and go back to being just partners once we’ve fucked. Think about this. Seriously.”

“I have. I did. Not at first,” he confessed with a chuckle when I snorted at him. “Just so you don’t think I’m going further with the whole stalking thing, but about an hour after meeting you. You’re… I like how you fit against me. We work. I can’t see why we can’t take that a step further if we want to. And go on and tell me you don’t want to. You hum when I kiss you.”

“I hum when I take a shower too.” My flippancy was met with an eye roll. “I need to… shit, I need to get back on this damned case and put it to bed. I don’t have room in my life right now for anything other than figuring out who the Hell killed Jie and why they want me dead too. After that… I don’t know. But me surviving into next week is at the top of my to-do list right now.”

“Mine too.” Trent nodded. “But look me in the eye and tell me you don’t want this… want me. Tell me you don’t think it would be good between us and I’ll leave it behind me.”

The scary thing about Trent was it felt like he knew me. As much as I wanted to laugh him off, to shove him aside like I’d done every other guy who’d asked me for anything other than a quick toss under a blanket, I couldn’t. The words stuck to my tongue, turning to sawdust and embedding their hard, sharp sides into my throat. I wanted to know what he’d feel like wrapped around my dick, while my back and hips itched to discover how his fingers felt digging into my skin.

Something must have shown on my face—some tingle of desire—because Trent’s smirk went from mocking and straight into shit-eating.

“Fuck you, Leonard.” I shoved at his shoulder when he began to laugh. “And don’t say shit. Just… not now. Not right now. Or at least not today. Tomorrow might be different, but right now I’ve got to get this case under me. Okay?”