Riley’s Downfall(22)

“Yeah, go back to your mate,” Max said as he and Eagle stood by the vampire, talking privately together.

Riley turned on his heel and headed back to his hut. He would just love Sterling and let everything else fall into place. Although he was quite sure he was going to need a heavy supply of sedatives being around his mate full-time. The guy was way too energetic.

Riley entered the hut as quietly as he could and shucked his jeans. Crawling back into bed, he pulled Sterling close to his chest. He buried his nose in Sterling’s neck and took in a lungful of his mate’s scent.

“Riley?” Sterling yawned out Riley’s name. “What are you doing?”

“Loving you, Sterling.” Riley couldn’t believe he had said that out loud, and then he smiled at how liberated he felt saying it. He was positive he wouldn’t turn into a goober like his brothers did with their mates, but there was nothing wrong with showing Sterling that he wanted the man. There was nothing wrong with letting his mate know that he cared.

Sterling turned in Riley’s arms, confusion clouding his light-grey eyes. “I don’t understand.”

Gods, if he had to explain sex to his mate, this was going to take a lot longer than Riley was hoping to spend talking. “About sex?”

Sterling snorted and rolled his eyes. “No.”

Damn, that was a relief.

“I don’t understand what you’re after.”

Riley chuckled as he slid his hand down to cup Sterling’s ass, giving it a light squeeze. “Do you want me to say it?”

Sterling’s eyes grew so round that Riley thought they were going to pop right out of the man’s head. But the light grey that usually sparkled turned dark, arousal swimming in their depths.

“You want to have sex?” Sterling asked, as if the idea was something he never thought of. The man was confusing Riley again.

“We’re mates. That does come with benefits,” he answered, pulling Sterling closer and refusing to let the man go. He had pushed Sterling away for too long already. Riley didn’t want to waste another minute. Once he made his mind up, he always stuck to his decisions. And Riley had decided to give this mating a chance.

“But you don’t want to be mates.” Sterling sounded so dejected that Riley wanted to kick his own ass. He had done this. He had put that doubt in Sterling’s mind and made the guy think he wasn’t wanted.

Well, he was about to change that.

“I just needed time to figure you out, Sterling.” He was not going into detail about all of his insecurities and doubts. That would take not only all night, but probably a month or two.

“So, did you figure me out?” A smile turned up Sterling’s lips, the teasing apparent in his voice.

“Hell, no,” Riley grunted. “And we are talking way too much right now.”

“Okay, okay. But you have to say one thing for me before you go all grumpy quiet.”

Riley quirked a brow, wondering what in the world Sterling would want him to say besides let’s fuck. “What?” he asked cautiously.

A blush stole over Sterling’s face, and Riley became eager to find out just what his mate wanted him to say.

“You have to say, ‘I’ve waited for someone like you my whole life.’”

Riley stopped the laughter that was threatening to spill from his lips. That was the cheesiest line he had ever heard, but he saw the hope glimmering in Sterling’s eyes. Gods, was he really going to say it?

Riley rolled, tucking Sterling under him as he situated his body between Sterling’s legs and then used one hand to cup the man’s face, staring heatedly into his mate’s eyes. If he was going to sink to the bottom of the dick-whipped barrel, he might as well do this right.

“I’ve waited for someone like you my whole life, Sterling.” Riley lowered his head, sealing his words with a kiss and realizing just how true the words rang.

The kiss started out slow, exploratory. Then Sterling made the strangest noise and wrapped his fingers in Riley’s hair and plunged his tongue into Riley’s mouth, taking him by total surprise. The kiss turned demanding, unrelenting, and told Riley that Sterling was taking charge.

Riley knew his mate had a little fire in him from the way he had snapped his fingers at Riley a few times, but he had no idea just how aggressive the man was in bed.

Fuck, he liked it.

The take-charge attitude was turning him on and making his cock so hard that it was almost painful. Sterling wrapped his legs around Riley’s waist, groaning and growling as his tongue skimmed over every single tooth in Riley’s damn mouth.

It was the sexiest little growl Riley had ever heard.

“Sterling.”