by AJ Sherwood
It seemed, though, what held Ari back from him was uncertainty. He’d needed to know exactly where he stood with Carter. He’d been much more relaxed with Carter after their mutual decision to stay together. Hell, if he’d known that was all the man needed, Carter would have said something well before now.
Ari had been adrift most of his life. Some of what he’d told Carter gave him that impression, at least. If he was to make any headway, have any prayer of keeping him, Carter had to make sure Ari knew he’d catch him. He was the safety net. He’d not let Ari fall.
This was something he’d need to think about more carefully, but not tonight. He didn’t have the brainpower, honestly, not after a full day of planning. And the shower was meant for him to relax, start powering his brain off so he could sleep. If the shower didn’t work, he’d borrow a page from Kyou’s book and down some Nyquil.
With a bone deep groan of pleasure, Carter stepped under the spray. The heat and force of the water acted like a mini massage and he turned his head this way and that, letting it beat against the back of his neck for a minute. Ah, better. Reaching for the body wash, he soaped himself copiously and then leaned his shoulder against the cool tile as the water sluiced him clean. His eyes drifted shut as he relaxed fully. A slight displacement of air stirred through the moist heat and his head came up partially. Air conditioning or something else?
Something soft and fabric hit the tile floor and Carter’s dulled senses kicked back into life. Turning, he regarded the shower curtain and the figure that he could see through it. Oh. Oh, really? He’d never in a million years expected Ari to ambush him in the shower.
The shower curtain drew back with a hiss and cooler air flooded the shower. Ari stood there uncertainly, not a stitch of clothing on him. What a truly, lovely sight. So that golden, sun-kissed skin was completely natural, huh? Carter’s libido perked up and took notice. Nudity clearly didn’t phase the man, as Ari wasn’t exhibiting any signs of shying away from Carter’s eyes as he was swept from head to toe. But something about his body language suggested vulnerability. He hung back, one arm wrapped around his waist, like Ari wasn’t clear if he was welcome or not.
Silly man. Carter smiled and held out a hand. “Join me?”
Those wide shoulders relaxed as Ari stepped in, pulling the curtain back in place behind him. He wasn’t shy about getting his own eyeful of Carter either as he came in closer, lips parted, dark brown eyes going black with hunger.
“I wanted some time with you,” Ari confessed lowly, hands coming up to cage Carter’s hips. “Hard to arrange with a curious eight-year-old in the house.”
“You can join me in the shower anytime, hon,” Carter assured him huskily. He let himself be maneuvered backwards, Ari crowding him in against the tile. Carter groaned low in his throat and pressed into that warm body, Ari rapidly becoming slick from the spray of water.
Ari lifted up a little on his toes, tilting his head to close the two inches of height between them, and his hot tongue teased over Carter’s lips, demanding entrance. Carter gave it with another groan, enjoying the kiss immensely. It was heady to be skin to skin like this with him, for once nothing barring the way, and Carter let his hands roam free. Ari’s cock stiffened against his own, and he smirked a little. He wasn’t the only one enjoying this. Carter slid his hands down to the small of Ari’s back, encouraging the man to rub up against him, and Ari did in small circles. Damn, that was good.
Pulling away, Ari’s mouth trailed down towards his neck, nosing the short hairs at the nape of Carter’s neck. He took the muscle between his teeth. Carter whined low in his throat and pushed into the contact, unable to repress a shiver. Oh yeah. He was more than ready to rumble now.
Ari groaned his name and licked where he’d bitten. Pain and pleasure signals sang along Carter’s nerves and he shuddered again. He did like it a bit rough, to be honest. Ari rumbled and pulled back, sinking down onto his knees. Carter stared down at him, a little surprised. He hadn’t expected Ari to take the more vulnerable position, not this soon. Sure, he’d relaxed his guard considerably after sex the other night, but he’d not thought it was this much. He’d really hit the right button in the man, hadn’t he?
Ari looked up at him under his lashes and Carter damn near came from that expression alone. It spoke of all hunger.
Tracing a thumb over Ari’s bottom lip, Carter husked, “That’s damn sexy, that look on your face.”
Ari’s pink tongue flicked out at Carter’s thumb, teasingly. Then he leaned in, using that mobile tongue to catch Carter’s cock and draw it into his mouth.
Oh god. His knees might not hold him.
Ari’s hair was like a slick, black oil spill against his head. It gleamed in the light the way only deep ink black hair could. He looked sleek and sharper, somehow, and Carter’s thumbs traced along his cheekbones in a loving sweep, hands trailing down to palm the sides of Ari’s neck. He kept the touch carefully light, a caress. Not a threat. Ari hummed at him and took his cock deeper, tongue laving along the underside in a hot rasp.
Carter’s eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head as he fought the urge to thrust. His breath became sharper, shorter, as a spiral of pleasure tightened his gut. He absolutely wouldn’t last long. The combination of sight and sensation was undoing him, and he couldn’t even regret it.
Even as the thought crossed his mind, he had only a moment to squeeze Ari’s neck once in warning before orgasm ripped through him. His head nearly slammed into the tile as his vision whited out as pleasure took over.
Holy shit.
Carter’s legs felt shaky. He honestly didn’t know if Ari had swallowed or not, that was how out of it he was for a second. Ari pressed a kiss against the inside of his thigh before slowly standing. There was a smugness to him now, feline somehow. Carter had to taste that smirk. There was a trace of bitterness, which answered the question—he had swallowed. Well, hell. Carter hadn’t expected that either.
“You going to let me return the favor?” Carter murmured against his mouth.
“Please,” Ari breathed in return.
The man was as hard as a rock against him. Carter hadn’t expected a different answer. Still, polite to ask. The question was the mechanics, because putting Ari’s back against a wall was just—no. Bad idea. Ari was currently relaxed, but they weren’t over that instinctive reaction yet. He knelt where he was instead so that Ari could lean over him and brace his hands against the wall. Trailing kisses along Ari’s abdomen, he found a few thin scars but he ignored them for now. Following the happy trail down, he stumbled across at least one ticklish spot that had the man squirming and laughing, which pleased Carter. Sex should be fun, dammit. Not stressful. If he could have Ari laughing, that was for the best.
The tub wasn’t quite wide enough for him to do this comfortably, his knees pressed against the walls, but he ignored that for now. Ari had done the same, after all; only fair. Ari’s palms slapped the wet tile and Carter wished he could bottle and drink the noises pouring out of Ari’s mouth.
Carter focused on mapping Ari’s cock with his tongue. It was an unhurried exploration—firm, slow suction and wet licks. Ari didn’t try to rush him, although he whined a few times, clearly fighting the urge to pump and speed things along. Carter tightened his grip on both hips. He had an idea in mind, and it wouldn’t work if Ari rushed him. Carter relaxed his throat and concentrated on physical sensation of the stretch and burn. Gradually, he was able to take more of Ari inside; not a full-on deepthroat, but damn close.
Ari shuddered from head to toe, making the most pained and breathy noises above him. Carter gave him a smack on the ass in encouragement to have at it. Ari didn’t need to be told twice. He fucked Carter’s face with enthusiasm, one hand dropping down to cradle the back of his head as he grunted in pleasure. Carter fought to keep his gag reflex dormant and let his mouth be used. Bit of a challenge—he hadn’t done this in a while—but worth it for Ari’s obvious pleasure.
“Ca-Carter,”
Ari gasped in warning, his name strangled and barely discernable.
Carter knew already. He could feel it in the way Ari’s balls had tightened and drawn up. Ari pulsed down his throat and Carter swallowed, or did his best to, coughing when the volume exceeded his ability. Ari slumped against the wall as he came down, panting for breath.
Carter needed a moment himself. He shifted to give his knees a break but otherwise let his head rest against Ari’s thigh, re-learning how to breathe. His throat felt like he’d swallowed a sword. Maybe an ostrich egg. He didn’t care. It was a distinct pleasure bringing Ari over the edge like that, and he’d do it again in a heartbeat.
Questing fingers came down and stroked through his hair. Carter turned his head enough to kiss them before turning his face up and sharing a smile with Ari as if passing along a naughty secret.
“Tonight,” Ari started, only to falter and stare at him another moment, as if he wasn’t sure of something.
“Tonight?” Carter prompted encouragingly.
Ari swallowed visibly before he tried again. “Tonight, I want to try sleeping next to you.”
Carter tried to tamp down an insane urge to crow, but there was no disguising his smile. “You can. And if you’re not able to sleep, it’s fine if you retreat to your own bed.”
Those agile fingers kept stroking through his hair. “It took me months of being around Ivan and Kyou before I could relax with them in my personal space. Remi was never a problem. But she’s a kid, so that just makes sense. It’s weird with you. My instincts are all mixed up. But most of the time, I feel as safe with you as I would with Remi.”
The openness of that confession was hard won—Carter could see that clearly. He tried to respond in kind, to reward his lover who was trying so hard to reach him. “I want you to feel safe with me. I know it’s rare in this line of work—I’ve never had partners like yours. I’ve had some jobs where I only slept in cat naps because I couldn’t trust the men I was with long enough to really hit a REM cycle. I get it, Ari, I do. You don’t need to push yourself to the straining point. I can wait for you.”
Ari shook his head, jaw set in a line of determination. “I don’t want to wait. I’m still jittery sometimes, I can’t help that, but I don’t want to wait. I want to know what it’s like to sleep next to you.”
God, this man was going to just ruin him. Absolutely ruin him. Carter felt like he would either crack and say something he shouldn’t or latch onto him like a koala bear for the rest of the night. In desperation, he fell to teasing instead. “Well, to start with, I snore—”
He got a solid flick of the fingers against his forehead for that.
Chuckling, Carter pressed a kiss against the warm skin under his cheek. “Come on. Water heater’s about had it. We’re lukewarm right now. Let’s get dry and in clothes. We do need to catch some shuteye.”
“Okay.” Ari helped him up to his feet and then leaned in to kiss him, affectionate and gentle. “Quanto sei bello amore mio.”
“That,” Carter murmured against his mouth, “did not encourage me to go to sleep.”
Ari laughed softly, a gentle puff of air, and pulled him out of the shower. “More sex later, caro. We’ve got a painting to steal.”
“Steal back,” Carter corrected, accepting the towel Ari handed him. “Important distinction. It’s not stealing if you’re stealing it back.”
24
Ari
Ari might have been a touch nervous as he put on the security uniform. Nerves were actually good. Confidence could kill a person faster than anything else on jobs like this. But a touch of nerves kept a person alert. He didn’t try to give himself a pep talk out of them.
Last night had been an interesting mix of success and failure. Oral sex was a rousing success, but after about an hour of lying next to Carter, he’d reluctantly reached the conclusion he wouldn’t be able to sleep. And he needed the sleep. Ari hadn’t shared a bed with anyone in…well…since Remi first came to stay with him. Months. And even then, he’d not gotten used to it. Before her, the only other person to share a bed with him was Luca. And they’d been kids. For once, his overactive survival instincts weren’t the ones throwing up alarms and causing trouble. He just needed time to adjust to having someone in the bed with him. Ari was actually pleased by this. It showed progress on his part. Once they were through the job, he’d have time to slowly get used to having Carter under the covers with him.
Speaking of his brother, he’d promised to text Luca a head’s up when they were going in. Just so he’d be on the lookout for Remi and not caught off-guard, if she had to go to him. He snagged his phone from the nightstand and typed a quick text, then tossed it back onto the bed. Let’s see, ID on the lanyard, black shoes, no tie with this outfit, thank god—
The phone rang. He stared down at the screen with a sense of inevitability. Yeah, that figured. Picking it up, he answered with a resigned sigh, “Yeah, Luca.”
“What the hell do you mean, going in? I thought this was days away.”
“Timeline got moved up on us.”
“Shit. So, in other words, you’re rushed going into this. Are you going to be okay? Wouldn’t it be better to just pull the plug?”
“We will if it starts looking bad. I think we can do it, though.”
“You’re seriously bad for my ulcer, you know that?”
“You don’t have an ulcer.”
“I do now and it has your name on it. Okay, so…is this an all day thing?”
“Only if things go very, very wrong. More like a morning thing. I’ll call you again when we’re out.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll just be sitting here, chewing what’s left of my nails.”
His brother really was a worrywart. It’s why Ari didn’t tell him a lot. If Luca had any idea of everything he got into, he’d have keeled over from cardiac arrest by now. “Luca. Look, this doesn’t go past you, okay?”
Sounding suspicious, his brother agreed slowly, “Okay…”
“I told you before that I’m not doing this alone, right? But this time we’ve got a new guy, a mercenary.”
“Wait, you’ve got Remi with you. You trust this guy around your daughter?”
“He’s one hundred percent trustworthy. No issue there.” It was too good of a segue to pass up while he had his brother on the phone. “And, um….”
“Oh god, what else?”
“No, this is a good thing,” Ari hastily reassured him. “He’s my boyfriend.”
Dead silence.
“Luca? You still with me?”
“Boyfriend. Seriously? You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”
“Carter is his name.” Ari felt a little shy telling his brother about all this, and he almost ruffled the back of his head before thinking better of the gesture. He’d have to fix his hair again before going back down. “We’re planning to take Remi to Disneyland after this, and he’s got a house too in Cali, so…after this, want to meet up? He’s the nicest guy ever, Luca. I think you’d really like him.”
“Wait. Just back up a sec. You’re telling me you not only trust this man enough to date him—which is huge for you—but you trust him with both me AND Remi?”
“Yeah.”
Luca made strangled duck squawking noises for a second.
“Want to meet him?” Ari reiterated, amused now.
“Hell yes, I want to meet him.”
“Then plan on it. I gotta go, I’m running out of time. But I’ll call you later, okay?”
“You bet your ass you will. And Ari—good luck.”
“Thanks, bro.” Ari hung up and released a huge breath. Wow, that conversation had gone better than he’d feared. And it felt good to be able to tell his brother happy news for once. So often their conversations were just tension and worry.
Ari slipped the phone into his pocket and finished getting ready. After a final check on his person, he deemed himself good and left the room. He made his way downstairs to find Remi already up. She was in her Batman
pajamas still, hair a messy halo around her head, and a perfect match for Kyou who was in the same state. (Sans the Batman pajamas.) They were both ensconced in their respective computer chairs, hands on keyboards and mice, talking in computer gibberish. Already at work?
Coming over, he put a kiss on the top of Remi’s head. “Hey, gattina. You’re up early.”
“Uncle Kyou woke me up an hour ago,” she answered, flashing him a quick smile before she went back to focusing on the screens. “There was too much to do by himself.”
That didn’t sound promising. “Kyou? Did you sleep at all?”
“About five hours. It’s all good, we’re almost there. By the time you three get into position, we’ll be able to cover you. One thing—” Kyou paused and craned his neck to look behind him. “Ah, good, there you two are. Ivan, Carter, I found something good this morning. The original blueprints to the vault.”
All three men leaned over Kyou’s shoulders as he pulled up the blueprints on the middle monitor so that they could see it. “It looks like we actually have three levels to contend with—you’ve got the top story, the one we can see, then two basement levels. The elevator inside is plenty wide for any cargo, but the stairs are not.”
“Elevator,” Ivan repeated in disgust.
“Kill box, more like it.” Carter sounded just as disgusted. “You really think stairs are a no-go?”
“You’ll have to carry the painting upright, not horizontal to use the stairs.” Kyou shrugged, indicating that was their call to make. “It’ll be awkward and slow you down.”
Carter caught Ari’s eye, silently asking which way he preferred to go. Ari’s gut said stairs, but it might be better to make that call when they were on site and got a better idea of what they were dealing with.
