Jax stayed against the bathroom wall long after Ruan had walked out, fingers curled against his chest as though he could hold his heart still by pressing on it.
It didn't work.
However many slow breaths he took, the thing in his ribs kept going like he'd sprinted up six flights of stairs.
He could still feel Ruan's mouth on his. He could still hear that voice, low and certain and infuriating, playing on a loop somewhere behind his eyes.
I know you want me.
Jax closed his eyes. That was the worst part.
Ruan was right.
He had spent days building a case against it, insisting to himself that this was proximity and nothing more, the inevitable result of being stranded on an island with a beautiful man and no one else to look at.
It would have been easier if Ruan were a stranger he'd never see again.
