THE INSTANT Kaz opened the door to the presidential suite at one of the most expensive hotels in Paris, Milo whirled around and brought their lips together in a hungry, fevered kiss. A mad dash of emotions had ridden him since they left the gala. He needed Kaz—physically, emotionally, in every way he could get him.
Without waiting for entry, he pushed his tongue into Kaz’s mouth, luring his tongue out to play. Kaz grunted, whether from how forceful Milo was being or from pleasure, Milo wasn’t sure. He looped his arms around Kaz’s neck and kept him from going anywhere while Kaz circled his waist with those powerful hands.
When Kaz pulled his tongue back, Milo wrapped his lips around the tip and sucked, giving Kaz a preview of what he intended for that night. The answering growl told Milo he did the right thing. It excited him further.
His body felt so hot he was sure he would melt if they continued down that frantic road. In an effort to slow things down, he moved his lips to Kaz’s cheek, up to his ear, and then down to the strong column of his neck.
Breathing hard, Kaz lifted Milo up and marched the rest of the way into the suite. Milo held on as he was carried into the bedroom and dropped onto the bed. Kaz resumed the kiss, but at a languorous pace. He savored the exploration of the inside of Milo’s mouth, and Milo loved that Kaz tasted of the burnt apple he came to expect from the scotch Kaz favored. He’d missed the bitter sweetness of it.
Like Milo had done earlier, Kaz kissed a trail from the corner of Milo’s lips to his jaw. Milo lifted his chin to give Kaz better access to his neck and wherever else he wanted to go from there. But the kisses never came. Instead the warmth of the large body over his disappeared.
Milo’s moan of pleasure turned into one of confusion as he opened his eyes to see Kaz standing at the side of the bed. Those cool eyes searched Milo, and then Kaz’s lips turned into a rigid line, giving his handsome face an edge.
“What’s going on here?” Kaz finally asked after a long beat of silence.
Pushing himself up to his elbows, Milo sighed. “If I have to tell you, then I’m not doing it right.”
“Why are we here?”
“Maybe because I want you. And you clearly want me.” Milo sat up the rest of the way and hooked his fingers into the waistband of Kaz’s pants. Then he cupped the bulge straining the fabric, begging to be freed from its constriction.
With a hiss, Kaz stepped away from the touch. “You said we were over. You said that your career will always take precedence. What changed?”
Confusion turned into annoyance. “For someone who claims to own me, you certainly have a funny way of showing it.”
Kaz’s blue eyes narrowed dangerously. “What game are you playing?”
“You were practically molesting that girl at the gala.” Milo pushed to his feet and got into Kaz’s face. He had to look up because of their height difference. “Don’t think I didn’t see your hand on her ass.”
“And what about you and Tommy?” Kaz challenged, switching to Nihongo. “Are you two dating now? Or just fucking?”
“How dare you bring Tommy into this,” Milo said between clenched teeth.
Several red flags rose in Milo’s mind, but he ignored every one of them. Let Kaz be angry. Let the both of them fight it out. Because it was clear that no one was getting fucked that night.
Kaz grabbed his arms and shook him. “You brought Tommy into this. Don’t think I don’t know that you were intentionally baiting me. What I don’t understand is why?”
The last part was said in English in a calm, calculating voice. It scared Milo more than Kaz’s previous anger. An irate bull of a man, Milo knew how to handle. But someone calm was truly dangerous.
“I think this is a mistake,” Milo said, dropping his gaze. He stepped away from Kaz’s grasp and ran his fingers through his already mussed hair. “This is all a mistake. I have to go.”
Kaz closed his long fingers around Milo’s arm and flung him across the bed. Then, with deliberate movements, he removed his jacket, loosened his bow tie, and flung both articles of clothing to the floor.
“What are you doing?” Milo asked, breathless.
“I’m giving you what you want,” Kaz said, deliberately removing his platinum cufflinks one at a time and placing them on the bedside table.
Milo tried to stand, but as soon as he gained purchase, Kaz pushed him back onto the mattress. Then he returned to undressing. He eased each button with maddening slowness, baring that delectable skin of his one inch at a time.
“Kaz, please.” Milo’s mouth watered.
His throat refused to work properly the instant his eyes landed on the bumps of muscle that made up Kaz’s abs. He was ripped, even more than the last time he had seen Kaz bare-chested. But he studied the man for an entirely different reason. He reached out and closed his hand around Kaz’s hip.
“You’ve lost weight,” Milo murmured.
Kaz removed the cummerbund of his tux and threw it aside as he’d done with the jacket and tie. “What does it matter to you? I would think there’s only one part of me that you need at the moment.”
The words hurt. They really did. But Milo had no idea why.
He lifted his gaze to meet Kaz’s and noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes. Without putting much thought into his actions, he lifted his hand from Kaz’s hip to trace the deep lines bracketing those stern lips.
“I did this,” Milo whispered, surprised the words made it past the lump in his throat.
Kaz leaned into the touch, cupped Milo’s hand against his cheek, and placed a kiss at the center of his palm. Milo felt that kiss all the way to his gut. It clenched in pain as though he’d been sucker-punched.
“What happened that night?” Kaz asked against Milo’s palm, his breath hot against Milo’s skin. “Why did you change your mind?”
“Why were you with that model?”
Those blue eyes turned to ice. “Because I didn’t want to be alone knowing I would be in a room with you in it.”
All of Milo’s defenses crumbled with that one admission. “Kenji is in love with you.”
“What?” Kaz searched Milo’s face as if he heard a lie.
Milo leaned against his hands on the bed and sighed. “That day we were supposed to have dinner, Kenji asked to have lunch with me. He fed me fugu and said I should stay away from you. That you deserved better, that you deserved him.”
The horror was clear in Kaz’s face when he said, “He threatened to poison you?”
“Hey, I wanted to do the same thing to that model earlier.” He shrugged.
Kaz backed away from the bed and picked his jacket up off the floor.
“Where are you going?” Milo asked as Kaz made his way to the suite door.
“When I return, I want you to hide in that closet and watch,” he said, pausing with his hand on the doorknob.
“I don’t understand.”
Kaz pinned him with a stern stare. “Just do as I ask.”
Milo nodded.
HALF AN hour later, the door to the suite opened once more. Unsure what was going on but not wanting to disobey Kaz, Milo hid in the closet. Two men entered the room, both speaking Nihongo. He immediately recognized them as Kaz and Kenji.
Kaz strode in with that sure stride, shoulders squared, chin held high while Kenji swept in like one of the ladies from old England, all bustle and color. The two men couldn’t be any more opposite from one another. Maybe that was what made their friendship work.
Milo held his breath. Good thing he’d picked up after Kaz and tidied the bed. He hated to think what would happen should Kenji suspect another person waited in the shadows.
A jovial air floated between the longtime friends and business partners. Kenji murmured something that Milo didn’t hear, but the full-bodied laugh from Kaz that followed seemed to reach into Milo’s body and grip his heart. He left the closet door slightly ajar so he could see into the bedroom all the way to the living room.
Kaz moved out of sight to another part of the suite as Kenji folded himself onto one of the cream couches like a flower in full bloom. The distinctive pop of a cork surprised a laugh out of the designer.
It seemed Kaz had opened the champagne bottle that arrived ten minutes before they had. Then he returned with two champagne flutes filled three-fourths of the way with the bubbling golden liquid. Confusion covered Milo in its suffocating embrace.
He handed one to Kenji, who smiled up at him as he accepted the glass. The adoration on his face made Milo’s stomach lurch. How Kaz had remained ignorant of the other man’s feelings escaped understanding when the obvious stared him in the face.
“To your success,” Kaz said, touching the lip of his glass to Kenji’s.
“To our success,” Kenji revised before taking a sip. He licked the corner of his lips and deposited his glass onto the coffee table. “To be honest, I thought I wouldn’t see you at the gala again after you left with that… assistant.”
The loaded pause pinched a nerve. Milo gritted his teeth to keep from cursing. He needed to trust that Kaz had some sort of plan, because making him sit and watch what played out was cruel and unusual punishment. Assistant my ass.
Kaz settled his long limbs onto the opposite couch. “That assistant happens to work for one of the most powerful women in fashion.”
“Cassandra knows I’m more valuable to her than she is to me.” Kenji rested his temple on one pointy fingernail. How it didn’t puncture skin baffled Milo. “Rebel isn’t the only magazine wanting an exclusive with me.”
“I see.” Kaz laid his ankle over one knee and stretched his arms over the back of the couch. “I’d like to think that you’ve always wanted what was best for me. Isn’t that right? I certainly wanted that for you. Always.”
The air between them shifted slightly. Milo felt it in the sweat that began to gather at his fingertips.
Kenji tilted his head. In Nihongo, he said, “Where is this coming from? You know that all I want is for you to be happy. I’ve got your back.”
A pensive expression came over Kaz’s handsome features. “There were so many years when I only had you.”
Milo’s heart clenched. Jealousy pinched at the most delicate parts of him.
“You will always have me, Yuki-kun.”
The intimacy of the conversation made Milo feel like a voyeur. Like he was intruding on a private moment. Like he shouldn’t be there for this.
“I beg to differ.”
Kenji shifted. “What makes you think otherwise?”
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” he asked, maintaining his cool control.
“Find out about what?” Kenji asked, taking another sip from his glass.
“That you threatened Milo? Asked him to break up with me?”
A shiver ran down Milo’s spine at the cruelty in Kaz’s voice. Never did he want to be on the receiving end of that tone. It surprised him that Kenji still managed to breathe evenly, faced with such potent hostility.
“But he doesn’t deserve you,” Kenji said, sliding his glass onto the coffee table between them.
“And you do?”
“Kazuhiko—”
Kaz lifted a hand and interrupted Kenji. “In many ways, you saved me from a life full of so much cruelty and pain. You know me more than most, yet now I realize that you’ve never known my heart.”
“I saved you more times than I’d care to count,” Kenji said, leaning forward. “I healed your wounds inside and out.”
“And for that I am grateful.”
“Kazuhiko, no koto ga daisuki.”
Milo sucked in a breath. His hand flew to his mouth to muffle his shock. Kenji did it. He actually told Kaz how he felt.
The sadness that rained over Kaz lasted but a moment. “That doesn’t give you license to threaten someone important to me.”
“What does he have that I don’t?” Kenji demanded, his voice rising. “I’ve known you all my life. I’ve been there for you. What has he done for you?”
The corner of Kaz’s lips twitched up in an almost imperceptible smile. Unfortunately, Kenji caught the emotion before Kaz could hide it.
The designer pushed to his feet. “You have to let me at least try. You owe me that much.”
“I owe you nothing. Not after what you’ve done.”
Kenji’s jaw dropped. “You don’t mean that. All these years of friendship—”
“Let me put this to rest,” Kaz said like a judge handing down a verdict. “I simply do not share the same feelings for you.”
“No!”
The screech pierced Milo’s ears. He refused to watch any longer.