Page 97

“It wasn’t special.” He scoffed, cheeks deepening even more in colour. “It’s not like I was—I’m not—I was just horny.”

I paused, a surprising hint of hurt flaring in my chest, before I noticed how tense and defensive he suddenly looked. He was probably feeling particularly vulnerable right now. Understandable. There was a pumpkin on his dick.

“I didn’t mean special like that,” I said steadily. “Just… significant. I’m sorry I wasn’t more considerate of that.”

He fidgeted, keeping his eyes lowered as he picked at the chair’s armrest. Eventually, he muttered, “I mean, I guess I didn’t actually tell you that I’d… never done that before. With a guy.”

“Still, I…” I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “I should’ve noticed. I’m sorry, Rafe.”

“It’s fine,” he muttered awkwardly. “Thanks.”

“So…” I rubbed my hands down my thighs. “Did you… only recently realise that you’re not completely straight?”

“Um, yeah.” He flushed again and hunched over further, not looking at me. After a few seconds, I thought I knew why.

Had he realised when he started watching me?

Suddenly, I was filled with the urge to… do something. I kind of wanted to hug him. But the pumpkin head would definitely get in the way. Instead, I shifted off the footstool and onto my knees beside the armchair. Rafe tensed when I rested my hand on his arm, his teeth worrying his lower lip.

“I’m sorry, kitten,” I said again. He blushed, chest rising a little faster.

“Don’t call me that,” he mumbled, but there wasn’t really much strength behind it.

I chuckled, and I saw his mouth twitch into a tiny smile.

“Promise I’ll be the best neighbour you could ever hope for from now on,” I told him, then teased, “And next time, I won’t leave straight after.”

I’d been mostly joking, but Rafe’s breath caught as his eyes darted to me. Then dropped to my mouth.

He snorted, but it was weak. “Pretty cocky of you to assume there’ll be a next time.”

“I’m not assuming anything, handsome. But…” I shrugged lightly, trailing my fingers along his forearm. He shivered. “I’d definitely be up for it. If you are.”

He was watching me, so I gave him a grin before my gaze drifted to his bare chest. He was lean with just the barest hint of muscle tone, his stomach flat and waist narrow. The tattoos covering his arms stopped at his shoulders, and I couldn’t see any others on his body.

Just visible behind the pumpkin head was a patch of neatly trimmed dark pubic hair. I caught a glimpse of the root of his cock and felt my own dick twitch in my jeans.

I’d always thought my prickly ghoul neighbour was cute, but he wasn’t just cute. He was ridiculously hot, and seeing the entirety of his naked body aside from his cock—even if it was hidden by a pumpkin head—was turning me on, which definitely wasn’t appropriate right now.

But I wanted to touch him.

“What, so you mean like…” When he trailed off uncertainly, I flashed him another grin.

“We could just be really friendly neighbours.”

His eyes flared with heat, telling me he liked that idea. He was tempted.

What wasn’t to like, honestly? We’d inevitably start getting along better as neighbours if we were fucking. He’d literally only have to go next door to get some sex, or I could come here, and I knew Rafe generally hated leaving his house. I was phenomenal in bed. I was a professional wrestler, for fuck’s sake. I had a great body and incredible stamina.

Plus I could remove my own head.

That helped a lot.

Honestly, even if I didn’t look this good, it would probably do most of the heavy lifting. People liked to get weird.

“So, like… casually… hooking up,” he said cautiously, as if to confirm it, but he was blushing again.

“Only if you want to, kitten.”