Free Handcuffs and Lace 32 -Ballsy by Mia Watts Page A

conversationally. He handed Mark a plate already ladled with rice, then picked up his own to do the same.
Mark counted in the air with salad tongs. He clutched up a huge portion of greens and put them on Steven’s plate. “The mother plus three. One of the little guys didn’t make it. Not sure he would’ve even without the fire. He was runty. Kind of like you,” he teased, nudging his arm against Steven’s.
“Ha, ha.”
“I took them home.”
Mark’s tenderness in caring for kittens made Steven’s stomach flutter wildly. He cut a smile toward his friend. “You did?”
“Yeah. They were going to be fostered out from the shelter anyway. I didn’t see any reason to add to the mama’s stress by moving them around more. I’ll foster them.” Mark picked up a bun, seemed to notice Steven was watching him and looked over. “What?”
“You’re tenderhearted. Do the guys at the firehouse know that?” Steven asked.
Mark gave him a cocky grin. “I’m a multi-faceted kind of guy, yo .”
Steven laughed suddenly. Mark’s smile eased and humor danced in his pale green eyes. He put his plate down and took Steven’s, placing his on the granite too. Mark took a step toward him. Automatically, Steven retreated.
Mark took off Steven’s glasses and neatly folded them, before putting them on the counter top. He stalked closer. Steven continued to move backward, watching his friend warily. If he didn’t know better, he’d think Mark was making a move. But he did know better. He knew exactly how much he wasn’t Mark’s type.
“What the fuck, Huffman?” Steven hit the wall. The light switch uncomfortably poked his spine. He squirmed forward, putting a hand out to push Mark.
Mark knocked it aside. Eyes so impossibly pale they were almost transparent drew close. Mark caught Steven’s face in his hands, angling him slightly to the right. Steven’s pulse raced as he recognized the familiar feral look in Mark’s determined expression. He’d seen it a thousand times before, but never directed at him. It stole his breath away. No wonder Mark’s dates never said no. All that energy, all the room-filling attention had just been focused solely on Steven.
Mark’s kiss wasn’t gentle. It pressed his mouth in a bruising demand. It clashed their teeth and forced Steven’s mouth open to tangle their tongues. It smashed their noses and forced air to hush loudly against their faces. Mark’s cheeks and chin rasped Steven’s smoother face. It prickled, burned, set fire to a host of unexpected sensations that had been prepared for vegetables and soy sauce but were now feasting on an entirely different meal that stoked every erotic fantasy Steven had ever entertained.
It would be easy to get lost in him, Steven realized, dazed. Easy because it was everything Steven had wanted to happen. Reality wasn’t that kind. This was Mark, high on adrenaline from a fire. It was Mark prepared to fuck the nearest ready ass in a celebration of life, to expend excess energy. When the crash came, it would hit even harder if Steven let this happen.
He shoved at Mark’s shoulders, wedging his forearm between them when Steven didn’t let go immediately. “No,” Steven gasped.
Mark looked confused, watched Steven’s face as though he couldn’t believe he’d been refused. “Are you sure? Your mouth wasn’t saying ‘no’ a second ago.”
No, I’m not fucking sure . “Eat dinner and go find your boy-toy for the night. But find him somewhere other than my kitchen.”
Steven’s arms shook. He stepped out of the circle of Mark’s heat. His body screamed he’d made a mistake, that he should take whatever Mark was offering and shrug it off in the morning. It would be the only way he’d ever have Mark and, God, did he want him.
Trembling, Steven picked up his plate. He grabbed his beer as much to keep his hands full as to redirect them toward dinner. “It’s getting cold. Let’s eat.”
He headed toward the dining room.
“Forget