Laurel Heights 3

by Lisa Worrall

  “Did he—?”

  “Don’t.” Scott shook his head. Will didn’t need to speak. He knew what he was going to say.

  “The thought of anyone putting their hands on you.” Will’s voice cracked and he closed his eyes.

  “Look at me,” Scott said softly, pressing a kiss to Will’s palm. Will opened his eyes and Scott gazed steadily into them. “The only hands that have ever mattered are yours.” He placed Will’s hand on his heart. “The only hands that will ever matter are yours.”

  Will leaned in and captured his lips in a gentle kiss. It was a kiss filled with such an overwhelming tenderness Scott thought he might shatter into a million pieces. When Will pulled back with a soft snick, Scott whimpered low in his throat, not wanting it to end. He needn’t have worried, for Will stood up, pulling Scott with him. Without a word, Will led him out of the living-room and up the stairs to their bedroom, their fingers entwined.

  When they reached the bed, Will turned to face him and Scott’s lips parted on a gasp. The intensity in Will’s gaze sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine. But there was something else there, too. A tinge of sadness? Scott shook his head. He had seen enough of that in Will’s eyes today. He opened his mouth to tell him so when Will suddenly yanked Scott toward him and kissed him.

  Scott grabbed onto Will’s arms to steady himself, clinging tightly to the fabric on the swell of Will’s biceps to keep from flying apart. Will’s exploration of his mouth was more a marking of territory than a kiss, and Scott loved every fucking second of it. He gave up complete control, knowing instinctively that Will needed this. Needed to shout out to the ghosts of Scott’s past, present and future, that he was his, only his—and Scott was more than happy to agree with him. When Will finally broke the kiss Scott panted harshly, desperately trying to catch his breath. The fine hairs on the nape of his neck stood to attention and goosebumps had broken out on his skin, but he wasn’t cold. How could he be, when the air between them hung so hot and heavy he could practically taste it.

  To Scott it seemed as though they stood like that for the longest time, even though it couldn’t have been more than a minute, then Will grabbed the hem of Scott’s T-shirt, yanked it up over his head, and tossed it to the floor. He ghosted his fingers across Scott’s abs and slid them up the planes of his chest, blunt nails gently scraping his nipples. Scott moaned deep in his throat as Will’s fingers retraced their steps, coming to rest on the waistband of his jeans.

  “You’re right,” Will whispered as he took a step closer. “Mine are the only hands that matter, and love is all you will ever feel from them.” This time, Will’s kiss was soft and tender. A gentle exploration of Scott’s lips as though Will were relearning their shape with the scrape of his teeth and the slide of his tongue.

  He moaned into the kiss. It was one of the most intense kisses Scott had ever had, even though it was merely the brush of skin on skin, soul satisfying and not enough at the same time. Scott worked a hand between their bodies and palmed Will’s cock through his sweatpants. Will’s hips jerked in response to his touch and the kiss changed from gentle exploration to hard and dirty, all breathy sighs, soft moans and colliding tongues. Will guided him down onto the bed and straddled Scott’s hips, taking his lips again, sucking Scott’s tongue into his mouth.

  Scott slid his hand under Will’s T-shirt, reveling in the feel of hard muscles rippling beneath his touch. It wasn’t enough. He needed to see him, to see his fingers on Will's heated flesh. Scott tugged and Will quickly got the message, sitting up to pull the offending piece of clothing off, and throwing it away. His gaze travelled over the planes of Will’s chest as he slid his palms up acres of honey-toned skin and curled them around the back of Will’s neck.

  “Fuck.” Scott buried his fingers in the heavy strands of Will’s dark-blond hair. “You are so beautiful.”

  Will smiled softly and murmured, “You should see the view from here.” He leaned down and pressed wet open-mouthed kisses across Scott’s chest, pulling the hard nub of his nipple into his mouth. Arching his back, Scott cried out at the sensation, his breath a gruff whimper when Will moved lower and dipped his tongue into his navel, swirling the tip around the puckered flesh.

  Scott threw his arms over his head and gripped the headboard, needing to ground himself, when Will reached down and popped the button on his jeans. He stared down the length of his body and held Will’s gaze as he took the zipper tab between his teeth and pulled, agonizingly slowly. His hips involuntarily lifted off the mattress when Will rubbed his chin against Scott’s engorged flesh. He needed more. Will was killing him with kindness. He thrust his cock toward Will’s face and breathed a sigh of relief at Will’s muttered curse, as he pushed himself up and yanked down Scott’s jeans, before quickly shucking out of his own sweatpants, sending the tangled pile to the floor with a swift kick.

  “Will,” Scott said on a low moan. “Please.”

  “Tell me what you want,” Will replied huskily, his voice so deep it was like a touch on Scott’s skin.

  “You,” Scott complained, writhing beneath Will. “Only you.”

  Will’s grin was sheer wickedness as he gazed down at Scott and, without even the slightest indication of what was to come, he braced himself against the bed and took Scott’s cock into his mouth. Scott’s shout was a combination of surprise and ecstasy as Will buried his nose in the trim hair that surrounded the base of his shaft. When Will swallowed around the head of his cock, Scott almost flew off the bed, only the hard press of Will’s hands on his hips keeping him still. Will set up a punishing rhythm on Scott’s cock and brought him to the edge over and over with quick fast strokes of his tongue, then pulling him back just as fast with slow swipes and gentle swirls around the glans.

  Scott’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he tried to drag much needed air into his lungs. Jesus, he was a writhing, fucked-out mess and he hadn’t even come yet. His skin burned under Will’s touch, every nerve and muscle stretched so taut, Scott wasn’t sure how much more he could take. But there was to be no reprieve from the onslaught of sensation as Will refused to give Scott a chance to recover from one attack on his senses before he launched another.

  “Will,” Scott moaned breathlessly. “Need… please… have to….” He growled in frustration. He couldn’t even string a goddamn sentence together, Will had turned him into a babbling idiot, and what he did next was not going to do anything to change that. “Fuck!” was all Scott could manage when Will hooked his hands behind his knees and pushed them toward Scott’s chest.

  “Hold your knees.” Will's voice was like whisky and molasses, the timbre of it slid over Scott’s skin like a caress.

  Scott grabbed the back of his knees, panting through parted lips as Will slid his hands under Scott’s ass and settled between his thighs. Before Scott could take a breath, Will thumbed open Scott’s cheeks, and swept the flat of his tongue across Scott’s hole. Pleasure sparked through him and Scott almost curled in half at the first stab of Will's tongue as he worked it into his ass. He let out a groan that didn’t even sound like him when Will slipped in a lubed finger alongside his tongue. When did he get the lube? The thought left his mind as quickly as it entered, because Will's finger curled pressed against the spongy bundle of nerves inside his ass. The pleasure was so intense he saw spots behind his closed eyes, and his cock throbbed, desperate for release. He hissed as Will worked another finger inside and scissored slowly, lapping at the sensitive rim while he opened him gently. When Will scraped across his prostate again, Scott keened, letting go of his right leg to reach down and scrabble at Will’s hair.

  “Will!” he pleaded, desperately trying to get some purchase on the thick strands but failing. “Please… need you… need to feel you.” This was torture. Exquisite torture. But torture.

  “I’m right here, baby.” Will slid up and into Scott in a single movement so unexpected, it stole the remaining breath from Scott’s lungs.

  Scott’s hands fell to the sheet ben
eath him, fingers scrabbling at the fabric as Will began to move deep inside him. This was everything. Will was everything. His legs slipped down Will’s sweat-dampened flanks and he grunted when Will hooked his arms behind them, holding him steady. Scott gazed up at Will above him, unable to take his eyes off him. Will’s face was flushed, his hair in complete disarray, a frown of concentration crinkled his brow as he fucked Scott in deep controlled thrusts, and Scott didn’t think he’d ever looked more beautiful.

  “Will,” Scott panted. “I gotta come… please.” He reached between them to take his own cock in his hand, jerking himself in short, sharp pulls.

  “Mine,” Will growled, releasing Scott’s leg long enough to bat his hand out of the way.

  Scott arched his back as Will leaned down and took his mouth, his sweat-slick belly rutting against Scott’s cock in time with the snap of his hips and the slide of his tongue. Unable to discern where he ended and Will began, Scott met him thrust for thrust, his orgasm just within reach, his balls tightening as Will took him closer to the edge. When Will suddenly changed his angle and the thick head of his cock hit Scott’s prostate on every stroke, it was all over. Ribbons of white spurted from his cock as Scott came between them and his ass closed around Will.

  “Scott!” Will cried out his name and stiffened, buried balls deep in him as he filled Scott’s channel with the warmth of his seed. He dropped Scott’s legs and collapsed on top of him, burying his face in Scott’s neck, breath hot on his skin. “I… love you.”

  “I love… you…, too.” Scott wrapped his arms around Will’s shoulders and held him tight, muscles in his thighs twitching as he lowered his legs, resting them on the back of Will’s. He turned his face into Will’s hair and tried to remember how to breathe. After a few minutes, the position became too uncomfortable for them and Will reluctantly pulled out of Scott to pad across the room to the bathroom. Scott reached out a hand for the damp washcloth Will held when he came back into the room, but he simply swatted his hand out of the way and gently cleaned him up. If he’d had the brain power, he would have complained, but right now he was more than happy to let Will do whatever he wanted.

  Once he’d dealt with the cloth and the pile of clothes on the floor—Totally OCD—Will climbed back into bed and pulled Scott into his arms. Scott’s sigh was nothing short of complete contentment as he snuggled into Will’s side, settling his head on Will’s chest, his leg across Will’s thighs and his arm across Will’s waist as he reveled in the gentle drag of Will’s fingers through his hair. These were the moments he relished the most. Wrapped around each other, the only sound Will’s heartbeat beneath his ear, nothing between them but skin. When he said he couldn’t even remember a him without Will, it wasn’t for exaggerated romantic effect. He’d merely existed before him. With Will he was alive. He was loved.

  Will’s fingers stilled in Scott’s hair, only for the briefest of moments then continued their previous path. Scott paid it no mind until the third time it happened. Will was working up to something. He smiled to himself. Sometimes Will forgot how well he knew him. “What?” he said, softly flicking the tip of his tongue against Will’s nipple.

  “Nothing,” Will replied, squirming under Scott’s teasing caress.

  “My ass.”

  “You’re absolutely right, it is your ass,” Will replied, grabbing a handful of glute, but Scott would not be swayed.

  “Will.” Scott drew out his name and grinned when Will cursed under his breath. Will shuffled up the bed until his back was against the headboard, motioning for Scott to do the same. As he sat up, Scott frowned at the hesitation in Will’s dark eyes and got the distinct feeling he wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

  “I told Ally I’d look into Rachael and Jack.”

  He was right.

  Scott stared at him, waiting for him to deliver a punchline that never came. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

  Will picked at the sheet covering his lap and avoided Scott’s gaze as he mumbled, “I thought… maybe… it wouldn’t hurt to… you know… check it out.”

  “Check out what?” Scott’s gaze widened, comically he imagined, because everything about this conversation was laughable. “The murders that have already been investigate and closed by our esteemed colleagues and deemed non-murders?”

  “Non-murders?” Will lifted his gaze and raised an eyebrow. “Is that even a word?”

  “Yes, no, probably not.” Scott sighed heavily. “What could there possibly be to look into? They overdosed. Case closed.”

  “But you knew them, didn’t you?”

  “Exactly, I knew them, past tense.” Scott shifted up the bed to mirror Will’s position, plumping the pillows and settling back against the headboard. “I haven’t seen either of them since I left Tivoli to enter the police academy. I have no idea what happened to Rachel or Jack between then and now. How could I know any—?” The word stilled on Scott’s tongue. That was a lie. He did know one thing. His sister kept in touch with them. It was as though a cold hand had closed around his heart. She kept in touch with them…. not me. He shook away the thought before it had time to burrow too deep. “I’m not wasting time looking into a closed case when we’ve got our own to solve.”

  “I’m not asking you to,” Will said, grabbing Scott’s hand and linking their fingers together. “I’ll just make a few calls. Like you say, there’s probably nothing to it but….”

  “But what?” Scott frowned as Will trailed off.

  “She had this look in her eyes. A certainty.” He smiled and lifted their hands to brush his lips across Scott’s knuckles. “I’ve seen it before.”

  “Where?”

  “Every time you think you’re right.”

  “Will—” The press of Will’s lips against his prevented him from finishing. Scott muttered in complaint when Will pulled back far too soon for the kiss to be deemed satisfying.

  “You won’t have to do a thing, I promise.” Will drew a cross over his heart. “I just didn’t want to go behind your back.”

  Scott narrowed his gaze. “If you think you can use this as some kind of ruse to get me to talk to Ally….” Will’s cheeks flushed. Like he said, he knew Will too well. “Not going to happen, Will.” He shook his head. “I love you. But the statute of limitations on reconciliation expired a long time ago. There’s not going to be a happy ending, regardless of what romantic notions you’ve got going on in that giant melon of yours.”

  “But—”

  “It’s not up for negotiation,” Scott said firmly. “Don’t push me on this.” He softened his tone. “Please.” The glint in his eye told Scott that Will had a lot more to say, but he nodded. Which would have to do for now. His sister had come between them enough today. He ran his fingers through his hair. “Look. If you want to investigate Jack and Rachael, I won’t stop you. I think you’re wasting your time, but I won’t stop you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Can we talk about something else now?” Scott asked, rising onto his knees beside Will.

  “Anything,” Will replied.

  “I’m hungry.”

  “Oh.” Will frowned. “We could heat up the rest of the pizza.” His eyes widened as Scott grabbed him around the waist and flipped him over onto the mattress.

  Straddling Will’s hips, Scott waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “That’s not what quite what I meant.”

  Chapter six

  Will sat across the breakfast table from Scott and watched him eat from beneath lowered lashes, Scott’s confession fresh in his mind. He’d known Paul Turner was a bigot and that Scott had hightailed it out of the small town he grew up in as soon as he hit eighteen, but the rest of it…. He picked up his coffee and took a swig, grimacing as the hot liquid hit the back of his throat. The thought of anyone putting their hands on Scott in anger was bad enough, but his own father? Will couldn’t imagine how soul-destroying that must have been, but then his father had never been anything than loving and supportive. He clench
ed his jaw so hard his back teeth hurt. Paul Turner was lucky he was dead because right now he wanted to kick the ever-loving shit out of him.

  “You’re staring,” Scott muttered around a mouthful of toast.

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Will.” Scott sighed and put down his knife and fork. “I didn’t tell you everything last night so you could look at me like that for the rest of your life.”

  Will frowned. “Like what?”

  “Like I’m broken, and you need to fix me.” Scott smiled softly. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still the same pain in the ass you wake up to every morning.”

  “Literally,” Will replied, wincing as he shifted in his seat.

  “I’m sorry,” Scott said, his grin belying his sincerity.

  “No, you’re not.”

  “No, I’m really not.” Scott picked up his fork and resumed eating. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

  “Wife number two is coming in at ten,” Will’s cell signaled the arrival of a text and he picked it up. “Then we need to pay wife number one a little visit. I want to keep it friendly. I don’t want her rattled at this stage. You know the drill; we’re just going over things to get a clearer picture.” He opened the text and smiled. It was from Todd. “And most importantly, rearrange a certain dance lesson.” Scott’s reaction was exactly as expected.

  “Aww come on!”

  Will laughed out loud at the disappointed little boy look on Scott’s face, full pouty lip and everything. “Oh yes. It’s happening, babe.”

  “Why do you hate me?”

  “I don’t hate you,” Will deadpanned. “Todd and Marcus do.”

  “You’re hilarious.”

  “I know. Come on, finish up.” Will picked up his plate and carried it to the dishwasher. “The mood Glenn’s been in, I do not want to be late.”