“I’d rather you ate your dinner and did your work so you can fuck me later.”
Jonah had a soft, low voice. It was deep, and masculine, but he spoke so smoothly every word wrapped around Sacha like silk. He swallowed the food in his mouth, taking a moment to gather himself. It wasn’t often he found himself floored like he was with Jonah, and he wondered if Jonah knew the effect he was having on him.
He doubted it. Jonah was charismatic and warm, but unassuming when it came to how he saw himself.
Sacha wanted to change that. He wanted Jonah to know how beautiful he was.
It was a shame he had at least another hour of work to do before he could show him.
They polished off the food and got back to it. Jonah finished first and left Sacha to clear away the rubbish from dinner, and take a shower.
When he came back, Sacha was still working, but he’d moved from the couch to the floor.
Jonah dropped down beside him. “How much more do you have to do?”
Sacha shrugged. “I must do as much as I can as long as I am not too tired to carry on tomorrow.”
“How much is that?”
“I do not know. I am not good at judging that.”
“Do you need an intervention?”
“How so?”
Jonah took Sacha’s hand and eased it away from the laptop. When Sacha didn’t protest, he did the same with the other. “I mean, do you need someone to tell you stop?”
“Always.”
“I mean work, Ivanov.”
“I know, Jonah Gray.”
“Why are you smirking then?”
“Because I like it when you are assertive. It’s cute.”
“Cute?”
“Yes. And optimistic.”
“That sounds…interesting.”
Sacha laughed and felt the shackles of his work loosen a touch, perhaps proving Jonah’s theory, not that he was going to admit it. He wrenched one hand free and shut his laptop. Then he gave Jonah his full attention. “I am interesting. And interested.”
“In what?”
“In you.”
“What do you want to know? Ask me anything, I’ll tell you.”
Sacha believed him. Trouble was, he couldn’t think of what question he wanted to ask first. If it was verbal, or something he wanted to ask of Jonah’s strong supple body.
They were still holding hands. It blew Sacha’s mind a little, tender intimacy wasn’t his style. Not even close. But every moment with Jonah, naked or otherwise, seemed loaded with the unexpected. It was a game of chicken with Sacha’s impersonal bad habits.
He squeezed Jonah’s fingers, testing the theory. The lone wolf in him wanted to rip his hand free, throw Jonah down, and do what he’d come here for. But the man still holding Jonah’s hand argued that his motives had been unspecific. Jonah wanted sex, but he’d mentioned companionship too. Could Sacha do that? Did he even know how?
Jonah reclaimed Sacha’s other hand and stood, bringing Sacha with him. He walked them to his bedroom, where they’d fucked the first time. It had barely been two weeks, but somehow it seemed an age had passed since that night. And the grand winter ball? Sacha could hardly recall it, his memories overwhelmed by what had happened after in this very room.