Illegal Contact (The Barons)

by Santino Hassell

  “Oh, come on.”

  “‘Oh, come on’ nothing, Gavin. I don’t feel comfortable with that.”

  “Why?” I challenged. “You’re intimidated by some rich bastards? The same guy who strolled up to Joe’s office and gave me the side eye the whole time? Who told me football was stupid and that I wasn’t a god?”

  Noah bit the inside of his cheek but didn’t succeed in hiding a smirk. “That was different.”

  I yanked him against me. “Yeah. It was different because back then I thought I could do without you. Now I know I can’t.”

  Noah went still in my arms. He tilted his head back, studying me, before slanting his gaze away. A spike of tension went through him, but he quietly said, “I’ll think about it.”

  ***

  Noah

  I’d planned to leave the day before Thanksgiving, but I fell asleep face down on the bed in the guest room with my cell phone still propped between my neck and shoulder. It had come to my attention that before hiring me, Joe had booked Gavin for a series of appearances once his house arrest ended. Unsurprisingly, Gavin had growled and sneered before asking me to cancel everything. Which resulted in a particularly unfortunate conversation with an airline who refused to credit the ticket.

  Gavin had scoffed and said to leave it alone, but the broke boy from Queens still living in his father’s apartment could not let it slide. There was zero way in hell I was giving up on a nearly two-thousand-dollar refund without a fight. Except for falling asleep before I’d even been able to put up much of a fight. That had been a slight snag.

  The shrill screech of my alarm startled me out of sleep, which is when I realized I’d not only stayed the night before and was now trapped in Westhampton with limited-running LIRR on Thanksgiving Day, but that I’d also failed to finish the phone call. There had been a time early on when I’d wondered how much Gavin and me sleeping together would affect my actual job, but I’d thought there would be conflicts of interest. Tension due to the power dynamic.

  There had been none of that, for the most part. We’d carried on as usual except for him always coming up behind me and groping me into submission, which almost always led to sex. Sex so addicting that I craved the end of my workday like I was waiting to get my next fix. It was why I’d started going lax on my self-set rules, and why my workday wound up extending since at least two hours were spent hanging out with him when I needed to be doing something else.

  With a groan, I rolled out of the uncomfortable position I’d been caught in and stumbled to the bathroom. I was groggy and sore, and the prospect of pounding hot water from the multiple shower heads was delicious. Once I was inside the glass stall, I pressed my head to the wall and let the water beat down on me.

  Was Gavin up yet? Maybe he took a morning off from his workout routine on holidays. He’d not broken that routine once in the four months I’d been working for him, which was admirable, but also infuriating, since I’d failed to follow suit despite his constant goading. There had been nights when we’d stayed up for hours kissing or having sex or even just watching television together, but he always got up at the same time, without fail. Even after I’d started crashing in his room.

  The very thought sent a coil of unease into my stomach. Playing house with Gavin Brawley was a very dangerous game. Forget sleeping with the boss—sometimes it felt like I was working for my boyfriend. And I wasn’t sure which dynamic was more fucked-up, or if it was fine, and I was the one overthinking it since nothing bad had happened. Yet.

  I finished showering and tried very hard not to think about our expanding relationship. It mostly didn’t work, and then I stepped out of the bathroom fully naked and found Gavin stretched out on my bed in nothing but a pair of briefs. It should have been illegal for him to wear underwear that tight.

  “Have you ever thought about doing one of those sexy calendars?”

  Gavin stared at me.

  “You know, the ones where all the football players are half-naked or mostly naked?”

  “The kind where they have mostly white players modeling even though seventy percent of every team is black?”

  I recoiled. “Jesus. Really?”

  “Yes. Really.”

  “Okay, never mind.” Shaking my head, I thought of other options to exploit Gavin’s muscles. “What about the body issue of ESPN magazine?”

  Gavin snorted out a laugh as he propped himself up on his elbows. “Are you trying to pimp me out?”

  “No. I’m trying to use your goods for promo since your attitude still sucks.”

  “So you’re my publicist now too?”

  “No!” I wished I’d brought a towel with me. Discussing his career, and my job, with my dick out was an entirely new level of surreal. “Not at all. I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m always fixated on this stuff.”

  “Because Joe is obsessed with it and puts it in your head,” Gavin said, sitting up fully. He crooked his finger. “Bring your naked ass over here.”

  “He doesn’t put it in my head.”

  “Yeah, right.” Gavin turned impatient. “I said come here.”

  “Aren’t we demanding?”

  “Yeah. Really demanding. Since you knocked the fuck out before I got my good night kiss, I want it plus more.”

  He looked dead serious and his voice was completely matter-of-fact. I couldn’t help an incredulous laugh as I drifted closer to him.

  “I’ll never stop being shocked that you like making out so much.”

  Gavin grabbed my arm once I was within reach and tugged me closer. I knelt on the bed in front of him and sighed once he buried his nose in my neck, inhaling the soap on my skin.

  “Maybe I was deprived as a teenager.”

  “Nobody believes that, Gavin. I bet the girls couldn’t keep their hands off you.”

  “Heh. Keep assuming shit, baby. You’re always going to be wrong.” He nipped at my throat. “A few girls did, yeah. But not many. I was white trash, always suspended, and in special classes meant for kids with behavior problems. My social life wasn’t exploding with activity. I hated school and all of the fuckers in it.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Stop saying sorry.” Gavin swatted my ass. “You have no reason to know anything about my life.”

  “But I don’t have to keep making inaccurate guesses like a loser.”

  “That’s true.”

  I bucked my hips against his. “Get your kiss so I can go.”

  Gavin arched a brow. “Go? Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Home. I told you I refuse to—” Before my eyes, disappointment washed over Gavin’s face. The light in his eyes dimmed and the teasing smile vanished. And my words dried up. “It really means that much to you?”

  “Yes,” he immediately said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’ve never spent Thanksgiving with anyone who wasn’t just doing it out of pity.”

  He sure knew how to sock a guy right in the nuts with a bag of feels. “Fine. I’ll stay.”

  Gavin scowled. “Fuck, now you’re just going to stay out of pity. Aren’t you?”

  “It’s impossible to pity someone who’s worth like thirty million dollars.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” Gavin nipped at me again. “Now turn around and grab the headboard. I wanna eat your ass.”

  A laugh ripped out of me, but I complied, twisting around and leaning forward so my ass was sticking out. “Your dirty talk could really use some work.”

  “Fuck dirty talk. You know what I want to do to you.”

  Did I ever. In the past several weeks, I’d discovered a lot about Gavin but sex-wise. I’d learned he was obsessed with making out with both my mouth and my ass.

  “I can’t believe you’re so into rimming.”

  “Why?” Gavin kissed his way down my throat and sucked on my shoulder. “You come so hard.”

  “Hey, I’m not complaining. You just didn’t strike me as such a giver.”

  “I’
m usually not.” He kissed lower, dragging his lips down my back. The damp stripe he left along my skin tingled. “I don’t usually fuck with the same person often enough to want to get this intimate with their ass. Licking latex isn’t my thing, and I’m not tongue-fucking a rando.”

  There were a lot of places this conversation could go, but we weren’t going to reach any of those destinations with his lips and hands moving south. Before I could puzzle out how to ask whether he preferred messing with one person, he was bracing one hand against my hip and using the other to keep my ass cheeks spread. Pre-Gavin, I’d never been that big into rim jobs, but now I had a hard time keeping my mouth shut once he got started. Especially after he gave me the reach around, gripping my dick while massaging the sensitive nerves around my hole with his tongue.

  Heat unfurled in me, and then I was a man possessed by the need to be touched. One hand gripping me, the other slowly stroking my erection, and him licking slowly. I was overheated and antsy with the urge to demand more while another part of me loved this tease. When he took his time undoing me until I was bleary-eyed and out of breath and splayed out so he could continue exploring my body, I wondered why no one else had ever taken this time getting to know every inch of my skin. Why was it the guy I had no business being in bed with?

  My dick was throbbing by the time Gavin mapped his way back up the knots of my spine with his mouth. I was breathing hard, eyes shut, and wanting nothing more than for him to slide into me. His tongue was just an appetizer for the main event. For me, that’s what it was. He’d admitted to not being super into the receiving end of anal sex, and that was more than fine with me. I fucking loved it. And that he was so strong that he could guide me into whatever position he wanted made it even better.

  Gavin lined up our bodies so I was hunched forward with him plastered to my back. I’d just showered, but I was sweaty already. His skin stuck to mine as he breathed hard in my ear, licking the ridge, while he positioned his dick to line up with my ass. He pushed in slow and steady, and by now I was ready for the burn of that stretch as well as the heady feeling I got from being so goddamn full. I’d never had a guy go in me so deep, and it would have been painful if he didn’t know what he was doing. Thankfully, Gavin wasn’t a fan of jackhammer fucking. He thrusted steady, angled just right, and nudged me into a messy, trembling wreck before he worked his way up to full speed.

  This time, he did it while pushing my thighs open wider, which led to my dick aligning with the sheet and dragging against it with each of his thrusts. I rocked my hips, mouth hanging open, and let the friction tease me. Forget feeling overheated—my body was an inferno. I fisted my hands to support my weight and turned my head so I could see his face. I only got a glimpse of dilated golden eyes and messy hair before he gave me the reach around again, grabbing hold of my cock and pumping me into delirium. Each tug squeezed out a moan, and each time he twisted his hand over the tip and dragged his thumb along the slit he teased out a drop of come.

  “God, I love fucking you,” he said hoarsely in my ear. “Never wanna stop.”

  “Please don’t. I’d die happy with your dick in me.”

  Gavin released a husky laugh, then proceeded to pull out and flip me onto my back as if I weighed nothing. I hadn’t even reacted to my new position before he was jerking me forward with my thighs pressed down and open. I grabbed my own dick, jerking it as he teased my ass with the sticky head of his cock. Our eyes locked.

  He sheathed himself in me with one sharp thrust, but I could tell he was almost at his peak. With his pale skin flushed red, his brows knotted up and mouth gaping, he propelled out of his torturously steady pace into a hard fucking that ended too fast. Before I was ready for it to end, he was moaning as he came. But watching him come was so damn beautiful. The way his eyes rolled back and the delightfully broken sounds he made, as if each time was a surprise.

  And the primal part of me that loved having our sweat and come everywhere loved that we could do this raw. Gavin pulled out, still panting, and used his still-swollen dick to smear his come all over my ass and even up to my erection. I shivered. I squeezed my eyes shut and jacked myself while he kept playing with my ass, alternating between his dick and his fingers while I grew increasingly louder.

  My hearing muffled as the pressure built. Wave after wave of intense pleasure rocked me until I was crying out gibberish and shooting so hard it probably hit the ceiling. The come down was slow considering it felt like I’d just been hit by an orgasm freight train, but I did notice that Gavin’s body language was wrong. There was no sprawling on top of me complete with lazy kisses. He’d completely frozen.

  And when I looked up through damp eyelashes, I saw why.

  Joe was framed in the doorway of the guest room, and he looked pissed.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gavin

  Joe did an about face before I could get my bearings. I remained kneeling on the bed, sucking in steadying breaths, as Noah stared at me with huge eyes.

  Shit.

  “I’ll talk to him,” I said gruffly.

  Within a minute I’d done a quick washup and was jogging downstairs in a pair of basketball shorts. Joe was in the large foyer pacing with one hand bracing his head and the other clutched around a manila envelope. After watching him for a couple of seconds, I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “I knew this would happen,” he growled. “As soon as I laid eyes on him, I knew this would fucking happen.”

  “It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “Not a big deal?” Joe shook his head, seething. “There’s already talk. I’ve done my best to keep it from getting out, and that was before I knew you were actually screwing him.”

  I frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about this,” he snarled, holding up the envelope. He tossed it at my chest. “You’re really lucky I know the people I know or that would have been all over TMZ.”

  A sinking feeling built in me and solidified once I managed to rip the envelope open since my fingers were still too clumsy for the clasp. Inside were pictures of me and Noah. The quality wasn’t amazing and they were obviously taken from a distance, but they were of us kissing by the pool. There were a few in the series but they ended with Noah shoving me into the water again and walking away.

  My fist clenched around them. “How?”

  “The model,” Joe said. “Apparently, he came by one day to surprise you and saw that. Took pictures, bailed, and tried to sell them to one of the guys at TMZ.”

  “That jealous, lowlife motherfucker.” I’d just caught my wind but it’d been knocked out of me again. My entire world was falling sideways. “How did you get them back?”

  “My friend at TMZ is gay. He didn’t want to out you, so he called me and said he’d kill the story if I repaid what he spent on the pictures.”

  My breath whistled out low. “Joe—”

  “Don’t start thanking me yet.” Joe stopped pacing. He whipped around and jabbed a finger into my chest. “I hoped this was it. You were coming on to him, and the pictures would give you a reality check.”

  My relief and gratitude merged with irritation that this rant was continuing. How the fuck could I be so frustrated by someone and feel so beholden to him at the same time?

  “Joe,” I said from between my teeth. “It’s not a big deal. We’ve been sleeping together for two months and no major catastrophes have fucking occurred. We’re fine.”

  “‘We,’” he repeated. “What is ‘we’?”

  And now we were entering uncharted land. I had no idea what “we” was, because Noah and me hadn’t gotten that far yet.

  “Don’t read into it, okay? I don’t know what we’re going to do in the long run, but what I do know is that we’re having a good time together.” It sounded wrong being left at that. Like our time together was just sex, and that was a damn lie. “I like him, man. Don’t ruin it for me with your ranting.”

  Joe sucked in a slow brea
th.

  “Just chill the fuck out and watch the game with us today.” I pushed his shoulder, trying to be easygoing and failing by putting so much force into it that he stumbled. “Noah drove all the way out to some dumbass farm just to get you an organic sweet-potato pie. You gotta love him.”

  “Yes, I love it when employees do their job.”

  My eyes narrowed.

  “But you know what I don’t love? Gold diggers. Social climbers. People who fuck their bosses to get ahead.”

  My hand shot out so fast my brain didn’t catch up in time to pull back, but I did shift the movement from a punch in the face to grabbing his collar. I jerked him forward and all the rage that had been absent from the shadowy recesses of my mind, all of the tension that had stopped restricting my chest, returned. Adrenaline fueled a need to hit someone.

  Joe let me pull him close to my face; he didn’t resist, and he didn’t show any fear. If anything, he looked disappointed. “Don’t end it like this, Gavin. After all this time.”

  My jaw clenched so hard my teeth ground together. I heard footsteps tentatively moving down the stairs, but I didn’t look back to see Noah. Instead, I leaned in closer to Joe.

  “Don’t talk about him like that.” My voice hissed out low, hopefully too low for Noah to hear. “You have no clue what he’s done for me in the past few months. How he’s treated me. You don’t know anything about it.”

  “I know enough,” Joe whispered back. “I know you need to end this bullshit and send him on his way.”

  “No. I have him for two more months.”

  It came out wrong, but it rang true. And Joe immediately caught on to the fear that clung to the words like a stink. When it came down to it, I had no clue how Noah felt about me or if he would want to keep seeing me after our time was up. And I was too damn scared to start the conversation about that, because this was the first time anyone had made me happy, and I’d rather live in the dark than ruin it too soon.

  “Gavin,” Noah said.