Arousal rose as thick as smoke inside Vincent, fogging his head and filling him with its thick, billowing presence. It smoldered in his groin, too choked to burn, yet hot enough to melt Vincent’s defenses. By the time he found the self-restraint to pull away from the kiss, his hands had wandered from Mal’s lower back to his ass.

Mal wanted him to take him home.

The thought of being desired—selected—inflated Vincent’s sense of worth. The rush of adrenaline was secondary only to the power the kiss had brought him. Mal, who was old enough to know what and who he wanted, had decided that Vincent was his. Vincent would give him what he wanted.

Nothing pleased him more.

“xV!” Harley laughed from the bar, feeding off Knot’s earlier catcall. “You’re as bad as Gwynn! I love it!”

“I thought I smelled omega on him,” Knot replied. Vincent was too busy with Mal to see his face, but he imagined Knot was smirking. “That sly dog stole away with a certain someone special earlier in the evening. No wonder he wanted to lay low. He was probably laying a bunch of other places, too. It’s always the quiet ones, right?”

“Your friends are hilarious,” Mal whispered, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Vincent chuckled. “Do you want to go say goodbye?”

“Yeah.” Vincent stole one last brief, intoxicating kiss, then turned his head to look at the bar. Knot had turned his chair around so his back was to the bar. He rested his elbows on the counter. Harley was swinging back the last of his beer, but turned when Vincent looked his way. “I’m heading out, guys. Have a drink at the after-party in my honor, okay?”

“You bet!” Knot grinned. “And make sure you slip in a thrust or two for—”

“Knot!” Harley punched Knot’s arm, laughing. “C’mon, man, give him a break. Have a fun time tonight, xV. If we don’t see you tomorrow, let’s meet in Fiji, okay?”

The sparkle in Harley’s eyes laughed for him, and Vincent couldn’t help but smile. “I’ll see you there.”

As the hotel elevator doors closed, Vincent pushed Mal against the reflective chrome wall and kissed him hard. A fifteen-minute drive had done nothing to curb Vincent’s desire, and by the way Mal kissed him back, he felt safe to say that it had done nothing to lessen Mal’s, either.

“What do you want from me tonight?” Vincent whispered against Mal’s lips. “Whatever it is, I want to make it yours… but I have to know you want it, too.”

An omega in heat still had the right to choose. Vincent refused to take that from him. When he touched Mal, Mal had to want it. When he made Mal come, it would be in the way that Mal wanted to. There was power in pleasuring an omega—of being at his whim, bound to his word. But Vincent would never let it get to his head—he couldn’t. Tonight, he was an instrument, and Mal would play him the way he wanted.

The thought of it sent Vincent’s heart racing.

“You,” Mal whispered. The sound was small, but it was urgent. “Just you.”

The elevator came to a stop, and the mechanism dinged as the doors slid open. Vincent stepped back from Mal just in time to avoid exposing their affair to the two young men who entered the elevator together. Both of them wore suits, although their jackets looked like they’d been pulled on in a hurry, and their ties were loosened. The first young man pushed their desired floor with a flourish, then rolled his shoulders back a few times as if he could barely contain his energy. The other—a man with golden-brown hair who looked to be in his late twenties, spared them a glance. There was a smirk on his face, like he could barely contain his laughter, but the look died when he noticed Mal.

Vincent stood a little taller, ready for what might happen.

The elevator rose, and the young man gawked. “Mal?”

“H-Hey.” Mal smiled nervously. “Good to see you, Everett… and you, too, Caleb.”

The second young man turned to face them, his eyes widened just enough that Vincent could see he was startled, but trying to hide it. “Mal! Imagine seeing you here. Everett and I were just, uh…”

“We were on our way to an after-party,” Everett concluded. “Some of Alex’s friends put it together. Not, you know, any of the cousins, or anything… just some people.”

The elevator came to a stop. Everett and Caleb backed out, Caleb offering Mal a wink while Everett grinned at him sheepishly.

“You want a party hookup, you just give us a call, okay?” Caleb grabbed Everett’s shoulder as Everett stumbled over his own footing. They had to be drunk. “Gonna be a rager. But, you know, it might break up, so… we’ll figure something out if you want to come out to party.”

The doors started to close. Caleb tugged Everett a little closer, then grinned at Mal, who seemed too stunned to reply. In the last second before the doors sealed together, Vincent saw Caleb hook an arm across Everett’s chest from behind and bury his face against Everett’s shoulder as if he was laughing.

What the hell was going on?

“Mal?” Vincent asked cautiously as the elevator continued to rise. “Is everything okay?”

Mal, who was pale and shaken, nodded. “Just… some kids I used to babysit, being too grown up for their own good.”

The shock on his face faded, and when he looked at Vincent again, his eyes had taken on a darker sheen. The encounter faded from Vincent’s mind, and he refocused on the moment. Once more, he found himself alone with the man who’d chosen him—the one he’d do everything in his power to please tonight.

“But it doesn’t matter,” Mal said. He reached forward and took Vincent by the tie. The knot tightened slightly, and Vincent took a few fumbling steps forward, inadvertently pinning Mal back against the elevator door. “They’re grown now and on their own… they don’t need me. But me?” Mal’s voice sweetened and rounded with desire. “I’m grown, but I find myself needing you more than I could ever hope to say.”

Vincent’s cock throbbed. The tie around his neck tightened at Mal’s insistence, and he allowed it to guide him forward until he was lip to lip with Mal again. The pressure around his neck was inhibiting, but it sparked a new wave of desire within him that pushed Vincent to succumb to Mal’s word and submit.

Tonight, whatever Mal wanted was his. Vincent wouldn’t limit himself anymore. Who he’d been back home had only made him miserable, but here? With Mal? His life had hope and purpose.

The quiet, introverted man he’d shackled himself within was no more. xVerity had come out to play. The truth within his soul was finally allowed to manifest, and he would not let it be silenced again.

“Well then,” Vincent whispered, grinning, as he tilted his head and brushed his lips against Mal’s. “Why don’t we see what we can do to fix that?”