“You’re nervous,” Aaron said.

Leo almost laughed. Of course he was. How could he not be? “Yes.”

“Because this is the first time we’ve ever been alone together?” Aaron asked.

Alone...how many times had Leo imagined it? How many times had he fantasized about what they might do? About how it would all feel?

“I’m glad we finally are,” Aaron added.

Those words...that look...his bare body so close... Leo swallowed. Aaron was so good looking. Leo had never met anyone who came even close. From his golden eyes to his dark hair, it was almost as if he had been designed specifically to appeal to everything Leo had ever found attractive in another man.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting for this forever,” Aaron continued.

Thoughts of Leo’s pack went to the very back of his mind then. In an instant it was just him and Aaron...something that he felt like he had been waiting forever for too.

“Yes, I mean, no, I...”

“Tell me why you’re so nervous, Leo,” Aaron urged.

And so, Leo did, his words coming out in a rush, and they were the first words that openly acknowledged what they’d already sensed about each other. “I don’t have permission to be off pack lands.”

“Permission?”

“From the alpha,” Leo said.

Aaron arched a brow. “You’ll be punished if he finds out?”

All Leo could do was nod. “Severely.”

“And yet, you’ve risked it?”

“I had to.”

“Because of this?” Aaron asked and the next thing Leo knew he was being pulled into Aaron’s arms.

Something like relief settled over him then. It was a feeling that Leo had never really experienced before, not like this. His entire body seemed to settle into a weird state of contentment and yet, at the same time, excitement filled him, sizzling through his body, tingling along his skin.

Dual feelings.

But they went together.

They complemented each other.

They fit.

“Yes,” he whispered.

Aaron leaned in slowly. As he did so he wrapped his arms around Leo’s body, giving Leo no choice but to wrap his arms around the other man’s neck. They pressed against each other then, and both men felt the other’s arousal.

“Do you have any idea how it feels to finally have you in my arms?” Aaron asked.

There was such urgency to his voice, such intensity that Leo looked down, he couldn’t help himself, but all he could see was the point where their bodies touched, where Aaron’s skin pressed against the thin cotton of his shirt.

“You can feel what you do to me,” Aaron added.

Leo looked back up, saw his tanned skin against Aaron’s lighter skin, his fair hairs against Aaron’s darker ones. They contrasted each other. Both so different in so many ways. And yet, there was this, and none of those differences really mattered. Not now, not in this moment, all that mattered was what was about to happen.

“Yes,” he whispered.

“And I can feel what I’m doing to you,” Aaron said. He paused. Leo could actually feel the heat coming off the other man. Or maybe it was coming off him. Maybe their heat was a dual thing, wrapping and arching around them both.

“You know what this is, don’t you, Leo?” he asked.

Leo nodded slowly. His tongue suddenly felt too big for his mouth and when he spoke the words were little more than a whisper. “I do.”

“Look at me,” Aaron urged.

Leo did as he was asked. His gaze finding Aaron’s, his entire being pulled in instantly to those burning, golden eyes.

“You know what coming here tonight means?” Aaron said.

“Yes.”

“And what we’re going to do?”

And Leo could do nothing but nod again as Aaron, at last, bent his head and their lips met for the very first time.