and kissed her goodnight.
He was a little surprised, however, when he didn’t hear
Asa’s tread back in the hallway, but heard his knock on
Sebastian’s door from the bathroom instead.
“Come in?” Sebastian was already in bed, but he was
wearing sleep shorts—that made him decent, right? Even
without the shirt? Shit. Who knew?
“Was that a question?” Asa asked as he entered, and
Sebastian scowled.
“I don’t know—is there a polite way of refusing someone
entry to your room when they’re coming from a bathroom?”
Asa stopped and tilted his head, that shower of gold hair feathering his shoulders. “That’s a good question. Weird, but good.” He shook his head. “Anyway, getting back to the
reason I’m here: I just pissed Bella off, and I’m going to piss Bewitched by Bella’s Brother | Amy Lan e
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her off some more. I….” His blunt, matter-of-fact air
disappeared. “I’ve seen the two of you. You’re beyond friends.
If you back my play, she may go along with it.”
Sebastian sat up and pulled his knees under his arms.
“Uhm… only if it’s good for her,” he said seriously. “I… I wouldn’t hurt her for anything.”
Asa nodded. “I know you wouldn’t. It’s just… she’s
hurting, Sebastian. I know you can see it. I… you know how you told me that this entire horrible bullshit day wasn’t my fault? Well, what’s hurting her wasn’t really her fault, either, and the parts that were, well, she needs to forgive herself, that’s all. Anyway… she’s gonna get pissed at me—just, you know, hold off on punching me in the nose and moving out, could you?”
Sebastian raised his eyebrows. “Have you seen how gay I am? Punching somebody is right out.”
Asa’s mouth quirked, in spite of how serious he’d been
the moment before. “My construction foreman is pretty gay, and if he ever decided to slug me, I wouldn’t get up for a week.”
Sebastian shook his head. “Nope—I’m not that butch. I
may be able to manage a bitch-slap, but you would have to really cross the line.”
Asa chuckled a little, and then looked at Sebastian with frank admiration. “How do you do that? You… you just make everything all right with a couple of words.” He blinked those fierce blue eyes and swallowed and looked away. “It’s a good gift. I’m grateful for it today.”
Sebastian flushed and wondered if you could see it all
the way down his neck, like he could on Asa. “I’m glad to help,” he said lamely. “And honestly? The fact that you’re Bewitched by Bella’s Brother | Amy Lan e
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still talking to me after a week of seeing me at awkward social savant? Well, I’m impressed. I think anyone else would have gotten a restraining order by now.”
Asa said, “Possibly, but not for that,” and then the skin near his throat went so red it was almost purple, and
Sebastian became acutely aware that he wasn’t wearing
anything but his sleep shorts.
A thick, thudding silence blanketed them both, and
Sebastian looked at Asa, leaning back against the wall in jeans and a button-down shirt, and Asa met his gaze for a thick, fraught moment. Sebastian got a sudden chill; he
knew his nipples pebbled, and his groin grew heavy, and
while Asa couldn’t see one, his sharp gaze fixated on the other for a moment, and then they were back to locking eyes again.
“Asa,” Sebastian asked through the thickness in his
throat, “do you want to touch me?”
Asa licked his lips and took a breath that seemed to
shudder his great, tall body. “Very much,” he said hoarsely.
“But I don’t know how.”
Sebastian nodded, reminded himself fiercely of Bella in
the next room and Jordan across the hall, and wondered
how loud he’d be if he jumped out of bed and forced Asa
against the wall and pulled his jeans down to his knees and thrust the erection he could see bulging against Asa’s thigh as far down his own throat as he could take.
“I’m going to lie down