Destiny Calls by Samantha Wayland (best books to read for knowledge .txt) 📕

To his credit, he didn"t lie. To his discredit, he did play dumb. “Did I like what?

Making Brandon feel like shit? No. No, I didn"t like it.” She rolled her eyes the moment he looked away. It was a good try. “Patrick, did you like kissing Brandon?” she asked in a voice that told him she wasn"t letting it go.

The expression on his face answered the question a thousand ways without words.

“You"re insane.”

“Did you get an erection?”

He stopped mid-stride, his back to her, his hands clenched at his sides. “Yes. But that"s to be expected.”

“It is?” she asked, trying hard not to smile. She could hear the ridiculous explanation coming a mile away.

“Sure. Men are simple. Kissing means an erection.” She couldn"t hold back her laughter. “You don"t honestly believe that, do you?” The look he shot her told her he was going to be stubborn about it. She didn"t care.

“Patrick McLoughlin Brown, if you"d kissed that big ugly guy, would you have gotten an erection?”

For a moment, Patrick just stood there, his face reddening as he thought about her question. She could see his struggle. He so badly wanted to tell her yes, to tell himself that it was true. But he couldn"t. Patrick had plenty of bad habits, but lying wasn"t one of them.

She sat watching him, her heart filled with compassion, her body humming with desire. His face was a mask of confusion and shock.

“You liked kissing Brandon.” It was a statement. The question had been asked and answered.

20

Destiny Calls

He closed his eyes again, as if to ward off the truth of her words. Ultimately, though, he couldn"t deny it. “Fuck, yes, I liked it. Wouldn"t you?” Just hearing him admit it was enough to set her heart rate through the roof. If she let her mind form images, she"d be lost again. “Yes. Yes, I would. I"ve often wondered what it would be like.”

“It"s fucking amazing,” he said, both resigned and perplexed. He opened his eyes and looked at her oddly. “Why the fuck isn"t this freaking you out?”

“Why should it?” she asked, genuinely curious.

“Because I"m straight. Hell, I"ve been your lover for years.”

“So? Being my lover doesn"t mean you"re straight.”

“It doesn"t mean I"m gay.”

She laughed again. For a wonderful, brilliant man, he could be as dense as a brick.

“Are those the only options? Gay or straight? Is it a black or white thing with you?”

“I thought so.” The confusion in his voice tugged at her.

“Maybe you ought to think about it, Patrick,” she suggested gently. “You and Brandon go way back. Maybe there"s something there.” He was shaking his head before she finished speaking. “I don"t want Brandon. I can"t.”

“You don"t have to make any decisions tonight. Just think about it.”

“No, damn it. This is going to screw up everything.” He tugged his hair with frustration.

“What would it screw up?”

“You. Me. Us. Damn it. I have spent the better part of the past year actively fighting the urge to throw you down on any available surface and fuck you senseless. I want you so badly it hurts and now you think I"m wandering around with a hard-on for Brandon.”

She thought about reminding him that he was wandering around with a hard-on for Brandon. Considered telling him that wanting her didn"t mean he couldn"t think about the thing with Brandon. She really wanted to reiterate that he should consider his options and that Brandon was a wonderful man and worth some risks. But her raging hormones won the battle for supremacy over her brain and her good intentions.

“Well, why the hell have you been doing that?” she asked, exasperated.

“What? Wanting you?”

“No, you idiot. Why the hell have you been fighting the urge to fuck me senseless?” Once again, Patrick found himself at a loss for words. It was happening to him a lot tonight. Stepping back, he told himself to breathe and think. Maybe this would be the night that would go down in his personal history as the one where he fucked up all his oldest friendships. It sure seemed like it was heading that way fast.

21

Samantha Wayland

It was a sobering thought.

Steadied, he attempted to explain himself to Destiny without overplaying his hand.

“I"ve been trying to give you space. You and Andrew were together for a while and, you know, I didn"t want to leap on you and have you think that I didn"t…I don"t know…respect that.”

He thought he should be insulted when Destiny burst into laughter, but mostly he was relieved. His lips twitched in response, the barest of smiles—something he hadn"t thought possible at this late stage in the night from hell. The giant knot that had settled in his belly unraveled a little as he looked down at Destiny"s smiling face.

Even when she was laughing at him, she was so damn lovely. When she rocked back, he watched her thick blonde hair cascade over her shoulder, the ends curling around her arms and the back of the chair. He dreamed about wrapping it around his fist, pulling her head back and sucking on all the sensitive spots on her neck that he knew so well.

“I"m glad I amuse you, Kitten,” he said, his voice rough with need.

At the sound of his private nickname for her, the one he only used when they were lovers, Destiny stopped laughing and focused those huge, whiskey-brown eyes on him.

His heart started knocking against his ribs, the blood barreling south and flooding into his already rigid cock. He could spend hours getting lost in her eyes.

“You do amuse me, Patrick. You always have. In this case, though, I also find you sweet, which is a far rarer occurrence.”

“Thanks. I think.”

“Patrick, I told you, Andrew and I have been over for almost a year. He"s just my roommate.”

“I know what you told me, but you"re still living with him, for Christ"s sake. What am I supposed to do?” He hadn"t meant to sound so ticked