Page 335 of Good Boys Don’t Bite

“That isn’t the same.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted you.”

The certainty came instantly. Ronan’s pulse kicked. Wrong moment. Still. Elliot continued.

“Saint was never you.”

“That's not exactly reassuring.”

“It should be.”

“Why?”

“Because I never wanted anything from them except permission.”

Ronan went still.

“Permission.”

Elliot looked down.

“To be what I already was.”

That sentence sat between them. Ronan didn’t know what to do with it. Saint had not created the impulse. Maybe. Had not put Tyler in Elliot’s path. Maybe. But someone had watched Elliot cross the first line and then rewarded him for it. Good boy. Approval. Encouragement. Ronan thought about Elliot’s reaction to those words from him. The title. The bite. Something private that had apparently been poisoned before Ronan even understood it existed. His stomach twisted.

“Did Saint start calling you good boy after Tyler?”

“Yes.”

“How often?”

“Sometimes.”

“Did you like it?”

Elliot’s eyes lifted. The question embarrassed him. Good. Ronan needed something human in this conversation.

“Sometimes.”

“Because it was sexual?”

“No.”

“Sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

Elliot thought.

“Approval.”

Ronan’s chest tightened again. There.

“That’s worse.”