Read Only You for Free Online Page B

go, Nick.”
    “All right, all right,” Nick said, stung. He raised his hands, palms out. “Suit yourself.”
    God help him, he’d meant for that to be it. Nick would swear it on a stack of Bibles. End of conversation. His lips moved without his permission, though, and he blurted, “Daniel. Do you have a soulmate?”
    Barrett winced.
    Daniel raised his head, the movement sharp, brittle, and stiff. “Excuse me?”
    “ Shit .” Nick covered his face in a vain effort to stave off an embarrassed rush of heat in his cheeks. “I didn’t mean any offense—”
    Daniel didn’t seem distant now. More like he could take a bite out of Nick and a strip off his hide to boot. “Don’t ever ask that again,” he said. “Enjoy your evening together.”
    Nick thumped his head against the door when he swung it closed. He could feel the piercing weight of Barrett’s stare slicing through him. “Don’t ask. I don’t know why I did that. Aside from being a moron.”
    “As if that’s news.” Barrett snorted quietly. He ran the tip of his tongue flicker-quick across his lips and didn’t stop staring at Nick. Seemed almost as if he couldn’t stop. “Did you realize you’d parted your hair right above the mark?”
    Had he? Nick felt quickly. He had. Damn it . “And?”
    “It’s gotten darker, I think.” Barrett guided Nick’s head down and sifted through his hair.
    Nick breathed out slowly. No need to ask. He knew what Barrett would see. He could feel it, in a strange way. More so than before. Darker indeed. Tea with three drops of cream instead of four, but plain enough to the focused eye. He knew it even before Barrett breathed, “Shit,” and let his hair fall back in place.
    And that was it, for Nick. The last straw. The final fucking sliver that broke the camel’s back. Enough. He reached without looking and managed, just, to bump his knuckles against Barrett’s wrist. From there, he wrapped his fingers around the fine bones and held on like a bracelet. “Don’t go.”
    Barrett would have—at any other time—mirrored Nick’s movement. Laced their fingers together. Whether by instinct, reflex, or habit, Nick’s fingers twitched at the sense memory. “Do I have a choice? We can’t shut our eyes and ignore it, Nick.”
    “Can’t we?”
    Barrett scoffed. “Sure. I can see it hurts you. You can barely keep from picking at it like a kid with chicken pox.”
    “It hurts now,” Nick said. “It won’t always hurt. If Ivan could do it, so can I.”
    Barrett’s forehead wrinkled when he frowned. “You’re not serious.”
    “Aren’t I? Watch me.” Nick changed his trajectory and made for the kitchen. The smell of that beef stew would drive him crazy after smelling it all night if he didn’t manage to sneak a taste, and he wanted some. “This is our house,” he said. “Our home. You’re the mate I chose. I’m not going to let a fucking soulmark change that.”
    “Nick…” Barrett started. “Do you know how crazy you sound?”
    “Yes. And I don’t care.”
    “You don’t mean that,” Barrett said, slowly—but hopefully. He bit his lip when Nick glanced up at him. He wanted to listen. Good.
    “I do mean it,” Nick said. “Every word. So I have a soulmark now? So be it. That doesn’t mean I’m leaving you to go track down some stranger. I’ve loved you since before I knew what love was. Are you willing to toss all that aside because the rules say we should?”
    “You know I’m not.”
    “Okay, then.” Nick dropped the work gloves to land where they liked on the floor and stalked into their kitchen. He lifted the lid of the slow cooker and let the rich smell of beef and carrots and red wine saturate his sense of smell. “I’m not stupid, Barrett. I know it isn’t that simple. It isn’t even supposed to be possible, but since when do we let that stop us, right?”
    Barrett’s lips twitched in an almost-smile. He moved closer, slowly but surely and steadily. Much better. “True,”