by Tara Lain
“Oh baby, that feels wonderful.” Gray moaned like an addict on a long high.
His own cock was out of patience. The second that tight squeeze gripped his dick, lightning flashed up Ru’s spine, exploded in his head, and he lost the ability to do anything but fuck. He snapped his hips, diving in and out of Gray’s barely resisting channel.
“Jesus, Ru, I wish I could come more. Nobody ever fucked like you do. You’re like the best in the world.”
Maybe not the most authoritative compliment, coming from a man who’d been in the closet most of his life, but still like a symphony in Ru’s ears. Ru threw back his head and laughed until his balls squeezed a gallon of cum into the condom and his heart squeezed amazing waves of joy into every cell of his body.
Chapter Sixteen
Ru fell forward between Gray’s legs, which pulled his cock from its happy home and pressed his T-shirt-clad chest against Gray’s bare one.
Gray laughed softly. “If someone measured our heart rates, they might call a paramedic.”
“Ummm. Can’t move. Turned to jelly.” From somewhere down around his belly, a rumbling sound emerged.
“You might have to eat that jelly. Sounds like you’re hungry.”
“I guess.” Another rumble.
“I’ll make dinner for you.”
Ru propped his chin on Gray’s pec. “Who’s hungry?” He laughed.
“Well, I could eat—now that my appetite for other things has been satisfied. For a few minutes anyway.”
“Actually, dinner is mostly ready. I’ll be glad to serve it—right after you carry me to the kitchen.”
Gray kissed his nose. “Want to take a shower first?”
T-shirts and showers don’t mix. “No, you go ahead, and I’ll get food on the table. I’ll just sponge off for now.”
Moving very slowly, they managed to crawl out of bed. Ru put a fresh towel and razor out for Gray in the guest bath, then slipped into his own bathroom and rinsed himself off, tossed the now somewhat raunchy T-shirt into the wash, and pulled on a new one plus clean jeans.
By the time he had the salad dressed and some veggies steamed, Gray emerged, looking more delicious than the meal. Ru shook his head. “I could be lured into trashing dinner and starting all over.”
“Quite tempting, but you need your food.” He wrapped his arms around Ru from behind. “And we’ll have lots of time for champagne and cocks.”
Ru nuzzled him. “Will we?” Wow, that sounded good—as in the too-good-to-be-true department.
“Yes. Months, years? Who knows how long?”
“Well, darling, you qualify as a serious addiction, and you know how they treat addictions, right?”
“How?” He grinned.
“One day at a time.”
A little flicker of something—worry? Doubt?—flashed across Gray’s face and was gone. “I’m enjoying the hell out of this day.”
“Sit and eat.”
The meal turned out to be almost as great as the sex—and twice as scary. Fucking Gray could feel like a one-nighter or a “getting your rocks off” thing if he pretended hard enough, but sitting at his table sharing food and chatting about their days felt way too domestic. A person could get used to shit like that. Not good.
Gray helped him clean up, then took Ru in his arms. “So I better go. Will you text me after you talk to Shaz and tell me what time Chris can pick you up tomorrow—assuming you can come?”
“Oh, I’ll get there. Never fear. And yes, I’ll text you a time.”
“This has been so great. Thank you for dinner and for—everything.”
“Don’t thank me, love. My debt of gratitude stacks up to the space shuttle. I don’t even believe I could get so lucky.”
“Me too.”
They walked arm in arm to the front door. “Don’t you want to go out the back?”
“No, I’m okay. Chris is pulling up to the curb, I’ll jump in, and we’ll be off.” Gray leaned down and kissed Ru deeply. The kind of kiss you could build a dream—or a life—on. “I’m so glad I have you in my life. It makes all the great stuff greater and the bad stuff not so shitty.”
Whoa. Don’t fall apart. He’s a movie star. “Ditto.” Ru opened the door and peeked out. “I don’t see the limo.”
“I’ll text Chris now.”
Ru looked up into Gray’s beautiful face. “You’ll be careful tomorrow, right?”
“I always am.” He touched Ru’s cheek. “But thank you for worrying about me.”
“Aren’t you too valuable to be risked in dangerous stunts?”
He texted on his phone. “It’s a toss-up. Yes, they want to protect my high-paid ass, but it saves a lot of money and time when an actor does most of his own stunts. It gives the director more leeway on camera angles and stuff.”
Ru stepped out onto the porch, and Gray followed. Ru sniffed. Odd. Perspiration smell. He walked down the porch stairs and heard Gray’s footsteps behind him. “No Chris yet.”
“He should be here any sec—” Gray sucked wind and made a strange eeping noise.
Ru looked back—straight into the eyes of the drug addict who had tried to rob him on the street. But this time the guy didn’t hold a knife. He held a gun. Shit.
Ru turned slowly to face the gunman. The guy grinned with a big show of teeth, but his hand shook ever so slightly. Maybe not used to using weapons. Maybe he needed his drug. Ru nodded. “Hello again.”
The guy sneered. “Bet you never thought you’d see me again, did you, asshole? Tried to get me put away. Well, it didn’t work. And now you’re going to pay for making me sit in jail.”
“Oh?” He couldn’t see Gray too well since he stood slightly behind. The gunman’s eyes flicked to him but mostly focused on Ru. “So how am I paying? You’re going to shoot me? That will certainly escalate your sentence when they catch you.”
“No one’s catching me. And how you’re paying is with all your jewelry and small valuables, plus any cash you’ve got. So let’s go back in the house and get to work on that.”
Gray’s smooth, deep voice would sound calm to anyone who didn’t know him, but tension stretched his vocal cords. “There’s no need for that. I have enough money right here to make this more than worth your while. Can I reach in my pocket? I promise, no guns or other weapons.”
“Move slow, asshole.” The guy’s eyes fixed on Gray’s slowly moving hand. When he extracted a money clip from the pocket, the robber’s eyes widened. “Holy shit, I—wait. Oh my God, you’re—”
Ru leaped. In one move he sailed the few feet between him and the asshole and hit him with a hard shoulder. The gun went off but also went flying. Ru let the robber’s body take the impact as they fell, then planted a hard forearm against the guy’s throat and pressed down. Asshole’s feet thrashed about, trying to kick Ru. He just pushed down harder until the robber gagged and gurgled.
“I got nothing against suffocating you, asshole, so just keep resisting.”
Hard footsteps came running toward him, and Ru looked up fast. Chris. Good.
“What the fuck is going on?”
Gray answered before Ru could. “This robber was waiting outside with a gun. He threatened to steal Ru’s money and jewelry. I offered him mine—but, uh, Ru intervened.” Gray’s voice sounded more strained than it had during the robbery. Some combination of fear, disbelief, and huge curiosity. Bad, all bad.
The robber had stopped thrashing. He finally got that three men—two of them giants—stood there ready to pounce on him if he moved.
Chris said, “Shall I call the cops, Ru?”
He sighed. Shitfire and damnation. “Yes, I suppose there’s no help for it.” Once he’d have had lots of other options. Now? Not so much.
Chris called 911. Ru glanced up at Gray, who stared at him like maybe he’d grown another cock and it was sticking out his ear. Ru tried for a smile. “You okay?”
“I think I need to ask you that.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He shrugged.
“I don’t get to put my karate lessons to work very often.”
Gray frowned, but didn’t say anything. Okay, that story didn’t go over too well.
Chris hung up the phone.
“Chris, you need to get Gray out of here before the cops come or he’ll be at the police station all night, and God only knows what the press will do with it.”
Gray shook his head. “No way. You need a witness.”
“This guy tried to rob me right before I met you. The cops couldn’t keep him in jail for some reason. Anyway, they’ll believe he showed up here after me again. And I’ve got the gun.” He nodded to where the weapon lay on the grass.
“The perp’s gonna say who he saw.”
Ru raised an eyebrow. “Perp? You make too many cop movies, my dear. Get the hell out of here.” The police siren blared through the neighborhood, and doors started popping open. “Shit. Go, go!”
Chris grabbed Gray’s arm. “Come on, boss. Hurry.”
Gray looked frantic, staring up the street where the cop cars would arrive.
Ru shook his head. “I’m so sorry I got you involved in this.”
“Hey, you didn’t turn this bastard into a felon.” He took a step toward Chris, then looked back. “But I would like to hear more about that karate sometime.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.
Gray let himself be pulled away by Chris.
Ru swallowed hard. Meeting up with the cops while holding another robber—well, the same one, with different weapons—bottomed his list of things he most wanted to do. But making Gray face this mess—not happening.
The limo didn’t even drive by. Somehow Chris made that huge vehicle disappear. Wish I could.
Two cop cars pulled in at the curb, and the Laguna guys in blue emerged with weapons drawn—four of them.
The robber wiggled, and Ru pushed his arm down on his throat. “Don’t even think about speaking.”
“We’ll make a decision about when he does and doesn’t speak, Mr. Maitland.”
Ru sighed. “I have no doubt, Officer Johns.” He glanced up. Johns had a weird smirk on his face, combined with a crease between his eyebrows. Scary. His gun pointed right at—well, maybe you could say at the perp, as Gray called him, but it looked one helluva lot like it was pointing at Ru.
Suddenly two giant furry attackers leaped at Ru, licking his face and prancing around him like maniacs. The robber began to struggle, and Johns’s gun followed him erratically. Jesus! Ru yelled, “Flopsy. Mopsy. Down!”
Johns’s frown got menacing. “Get those fucking canines away from here before I shoot them.”
A shriek pierced the air. “Shoot my babies and you’ll never work in this town again.” Mrs. O came running across the lawn in her flowered housecoat, currently scarlet hair flying, and high-heeled mules clomping on her feet. Best of all, she waved a broom. Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh.
Johns clearly saw no humor in the situation, but the other officers, two men and a woman, were about to split a gut.
Mrs. O arrived at Ru’s side, ignored the robber lying on the grass with Ru’s arm on his throat, smiled at the now perfectly behaved canines, and brandished her weapon. “Put down that damned gun, you fool, before I have your badge.”
Weirdly, no one in their group seemed to doubt she could do it. Johns moderated his tone. “Ma’am, we have a robbery in progress. Therefore weapons are required.”
“Ru obviously has the situation well in hand, so put that thing away before you hurt someone.”
He lowered the gun, but the look he gave Ru could wipe out a lizard at twelve paces. Why did this guy hate him so much? Just homophobia, or something else?
Johns holstered his weapon, then walked over and grabbed the robber from the ground by his arm. Yanking him hard, he started reciting the guy’s rights as he handcuffed him. When he finished the rote recitation, he snarled at one of the other officers, “Get this guy in the car.”
Ru stood and wiped off his jeans, now covered with grass, dirt, and dog spit. “You’ll find a weapon lying on the grass over there.” He raised his voice so the other police could hear it. “I didn’t touch the weapon in the process of subduing him, so I’d appreciate you being careful not to handle it, since they weren’t able to verify the fingerprints of this asshole last time he attacked me.”
The female cop walked to the weapon, carefully pulled on gloves, and dropped the handgun into an evidence bag.
Mrs. O planted a hand against her chest. “A gun. Good God, are you all right? I heard what sounded like a shot, but I thought it was someone’s television or maybe leftover fireworks from the Fourth. I’m so sorry I didn’t come to check, Ru. Maybe I could have helped.”
Thank God she didn’t, or she might have seen Gray. “It’s okay, Mrs. O.” Flopsy leaped up and licked Ru’s cheek. “Maybe you better take the furries inside now.”
She crossed her arms while still holding the broom. “No. I think I want to be sure that everything is going well out here.”
Ru snorted. Sorry. Couldn’t help it. “Thanks, Mrs. O. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Johns said, “We’ll be taking Mr. Maitland downtown to get his statement.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Do you need me to give mine? I heard the shot.”
“Uh, yes, ma’am. I’ll ask Officer Cantrell to speak with you.” He motioned to the woman officer, who seemed to do most of the dirty work.
“Who’s taking Ru downtown?” She glared at Johns.
“I am.”
“Since you’re taking the man who tried to kill Ru, maybe he should go with someone else?”
“We have no reason to believe that the man intended to kill Mr. Maitland.”
“No. And you have no evidence that he didn’t.” She gestured to Officer Cantrell. “Dear, why don’t you drive Ru, and that nice man can take my statement?” She gestured vaguely toward the two other policemen. Her emphasis on the word nice made Ru bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.
Cantrell glanced at Johns, then walked to Ru with intent. “May I drive you downtown, sir?”
Ru nodded. “Sure. That would be great.”
Johns’s eyes followed them like he could kill Ru by hate alone. Ru shuddered.
He followed the woman to the car, with Mrs. O’s voice ringing behind him. “I’ll call you later to check on you, dear.”
Cantrell held the door for him, and he buckled up while she walked around to the driver seat. As they drove off, she snorted and started to laugh. “That woman is a national treasure. I really wanted to take her statement. I’m sure it would have been good for endless stories, but she seemed concerned about you going with Johns, and I wanted to respect that.”
Ru chuckled. “You’re right on the treasure part. She’s a great neighbor and friend. And yeah, I wouldn’t say Officer Johns is my number-one fan. Not sure why. Maybe just plain old homophobia.”
“Oh, are you gay?”
He glanced at her. “Are you kidding?”
She grinned. “Maybe a little. You’re the fashion designer I read about, right?”
“Well, I am a fashion designer.”
“The one who’s in business with Gray Anson?”
Time to plant the seeds. “Yes. He and I were having dinner tonight, in fact. Going over some business plans. He’d just left. The robber must have seen him.”
“Too bad you didn’t have him to help you with your attacker.” She sighed. “He’s so amazing.”
“I will agree about the amazing part.”
“True. I guess you didn’t need much help. Isn’t this the second time you’ve taken out that asshole?”
“Yes. The man doesn’t learn. Apparently he had a really good lawyer last time.”
“Yes.” Her voice got cool. “And a lot of support from—all kinds of people.”
Ru’s stomach clenched. “Oh?”
She pulled into the back of the Laguna administration building that housed the police station and parked. “Yes.”
She turned to face him. “Just be wary, Mr. Maitland. I agree. You do have an enemy. I’m not sure why either, but I’d damned well like to know.”
Chapter Seventeen
“So, Mr. Maitland, you were walking back to your house, and Mr. Fogarty stepped out of the bushes.”
Ru shifted in his chair and nodded at the chief of police, Marjorie Kincaid. Close enough to the truth. “I’ll take your word on his name, but yes, he stepped out holding the gun and wanted me to go inside and give him my money and jewelry.”
Officer Johns sat there, picking at a piece of tape on the edge of the table.
The chief said, “You recognized him as the same man you had subdued previously?” If she’d seemed suspicious last time they spoke, now it went double.
“Yes, but more heavily armed.” He glanced up. “In fact, Officer Johns had warned me about him.”
The policeman’s eyes flashed up at him.
The chief continued. “Why do you think he believed he could rob you this time when he didn’t succeed last time?”
Ru shrugged. “Guns are great equalizers.”
“And yet he didn’t succeed even with the gun.”
“He’s a drug addict. He got distracted, and I took advantage.”
“Where did you learn your remarkable physical skills, Mr. Maitland?”
Okay, scary territory. “I’ve taken a number of karate classes over the years.”
Johns leaned forward with a pen poised over a notepad. “Give me a name of where you study.”
“I’m not currently taking classes.” Don’t let them see you sweat.
“How about where you used to take classes, then?”
“Carrera Studios in Huntington Beach.” Shit. Way too close to home. “May I ask what this has to do with my protecting myself from robbery?”
Johns leaned back in his chair. “Ever been to Compton, Maitland?”
Would they notice if I threw up?
Suddenly the door burst open and Officer Cantrell stuck her head in, eyes wide as the proverbial deer. “Chief, so sorry to interrupt, but, oh God, Gray Anson is here, and he wants to speak to—”
