Unprotected Hearts

by Rachel Kane

  But that sense of danger, rather than dampening his need, only inflamed it. They could have been in the middle of town for all he cared. He felt driven, controlled by something deeper than rational thought. He was stroking Jace with his hands now, milking that thick cock, then letting it go as his tongue ran up the underside. He let his tongue-tip trail back downwards, until it reached Jace’s sack. He opened his lips then, sucking as gently as possible, first one ball and then the other, unable to get both in his mouth at the same time.

  Jace wasn’t just standing still all this time. The fingers of one hand were running through Trent’s hair, encouraging his head forward. He had his other hand around the base of his shaft. As Trent bathed his balls with his tongue and lips, he guided his cock to stroke Trent’s face. Trent didn’t need much prompting. Leaving Jace’s balls, he opened his mouth wide, and sucked in his lover’s cock.

  His lover. Was that a strange thing to think? Surely no stranger than blowing him in the middle of the woods? He knew they had to talk about this at some point. Some time when his mouth wasn’t full of cock. But the encounter today, realizing how much Jace needed to protect him, had awoken emotions in Trent that he couldn’t deny. As much as his life was spent hiding from his own feelings, he couldn’t hide from this: He wanted Jace. After all this was over, he still wanted Jace in his life.

  He couldn’t say it. Not just yet. But he could show it, by sucking hard on Jace’s cock, by letting Jace fuck his mouth.

  And Jace was clearly in need of letting off steam. Today had been rough on him too. Truth was, he was being rough with Trent right now. Pushing harder than he really needed to, jamming his cock back into Trent’s throat. His hand no longer tousled Trent’s hair, but had it in a tight grip, controlling Trent’s head, forcing him down further.

  Any other time Trent might have protested. But not now. Right now he wanted Jace to take control. Jace was his protector. Trent trusted him…and trust was hard for Trent.

  As Trent sucked him off, though, he understood Jace was looking for something more than a quick blow in the woods. Soon Jace pulled out of his mouth, and guided him to the forest floor.

  There was no denying Jace what he wanted, even though Trent felt a little fearful. One look at Jace’s eyes, the driven look behind them, and he knew he would give in to anything Jace asked of him. He could get past any fear. That was the strength Jace imbued in him.

  The bodyguard’s rough hands pulled open Trent’s pants and tugged them down. There was no ceremony. The emotions were too raw. No violins and cellos, no soft light from a chandelier. Just the sunlight filtering down through the trees, onto the ground where they lay.

  Jace’s mouth was on him, and Trent closed his eyes. Jace gave his cock very brief attention, sucking it hard into his mouth until the base was against his lips, and Trent felt engulfed in warmth. But that wasn’t going to last. Jace had other plans. After a few moments of sucking, he moved down to Trent’s balls…then down further.

  Trent almost laughed. The feeling of Jace’s tongue exploring his ass was somewhere between being tickled and being fucked. The sensation made him writhe on the ground, lifting his knees, pressing his thighs against the sides of Jace’s head.

  “God, stick your tongue in me,” he said, his voice surprisingly loud in the silence of the forest.

  It was a strangely luxurious feeling. Funny how it made him kind of embarrassed, kind of bashful, at the same time it made him want to stretch his arms and legs out wide and let his hips and back twist with pleasure.

  Jace didn’t seem in the mood for slow gentleness, yet he was taking his time, getting Trent ready for more. Once he decided Trent was ready, though, things moved faster. His hands found Trent’s flanks, wordlessly suggesting Trent roll over onto his belly. The ground was so cold! Trent got up on his knees.

  Can something be animalistic and tender at the same time? Can roughness and softness coexist? Trent would not have thought so, but there was something in the desperate energy of Jace that suggested otherwise. Jace slowly pushed himself into Trent. He was so thick, and with only spit for lube, it was difficult. But Trent found himself relaxing, the way Jace’s hands stroked against his flanks. Jace strained against him, pushing in further…yet not too far, and not too hard.

  Tears were in Trent’s eyes, and he didn’t know why. It didn’t hurt. Not the way he would’ve expected. It was more like something in his emotions had shifted.

  He had already trusted Jace with his life. Now, if possible, he was trusting him with something even more intimate.

  He pressed backwards, feeling his ass slowly take in more of Jace’s cock.

  They both gasped, Jace then uttering a long, low growl.

  “Fuck me hard,” said Trent.

  Jace didn’t require encouragement for that. He pulled out halfway, then slid himself home. His balls slapped against Trent. The pressure inside Trent was enormous; he could feel his prostate being stimulated by the plunging of the cock into his ass.

  Out here in the open, in the mountain air, Jace took Trent like he owned him. He grabbed Trent’s hips and thrust deep inside him. It was painful and wonderful and too much, and Trent wanted more. Feeling his lover’s fat cock inside him, he started getting these proprietary feelings, like nobody else in the world should ever get a chance with Jace. Jace was his. And he began to understand Jace felt the same way. There was something about the way Jace was holding him, controlling him, demanding entry. Jace was taking full ownership of him.

  But the events of the day had left them both wired, and Jace couldn’t hold out long. Soon he was grunting, pushing hard into Trent; Trent felt that cock getting even harder, before Jace shuddered and groaned, coming inside Trent.

  They sunk to the forest floor. Jace’s cock was pulsing, pouring come into him. The seed was adding lubrication, ironically making it so much easier for the cock to slide into Trent.

  It made it so easy that Trent was able to lift one leg and roll over, so that, with some cooperation from Jace, they were now staring at one another.

  When Jace pulled out, come was still oozing out of him. He let it coat his hand, and rubbed it onto Trent’s hard shaft. He pressed their cocks together, his big wet hand sliding over them.

  Trent lay his head back, feeling the heat of Jace’s hand and cock.

  Jace was very slow now. The strokes he used on their cocks were methodical, almost too thoughtfully paced; usually by this point Trent had his hand wrapped around his cock and was rapidly pounding himself to an orgasm. But this was agony. This was teasingly slow. Again that urge to laugh. He was crazy. He was absolutely crazy, falling for someone he had met only Friday, letting himself get jacked off in the woods after the most dangerous experience he had ever lived through.

  But it felt like the best crazy on earth.

  Jace’s hand squeezed, and milked, and stroked. His own cock had begun to soften, and he let go of it, focusing entirely on Trent. He leaned forward and again sucked Trent, this time softly, more tongue and lips, less suction. Realizing Jace was tasting his own seed on Trent’s cock pushed Trent over the edge. It didn’t matter how slowly Jace was going, Trent couldn’t hold back any more.

  His hips thrust upward, and his balls tightened. He exploded into Jace’s mouth.

  The trees overhead seemed to fold together into a high wooded arch. The entire world closed in on him. Everything was warm and dark and wet like the inside of Jace’s mouth.

  Trent felt his seed shoot over and over. He felt Jace swallowing it all down.

  It seemed like hours later when Jace crawled up to his side, wrapping an arm around him, kissing him with salty lips.

  “I think I’m ready to talk now,” said Jace.

  17

  “I don’t know what to do,” said Jace, his voice uncharacteristically soft. They sat together inside the lodge, on an old wooden bench that served as some of the only furniture. Jace’s shirt was still open, and Trent’s hand played lazily over his skin while they talked. />
  “You knew what to do out there,” said Trent, half-smiling. He wasn’t sure whether he was talking about the escape or the sex. Maybe both.

  “When Grumman’s men were threatening you, I felt something I have not felt for a long time: Helpless. It’s not a feeling I like. It’s why I got out of this business.”

  “You weren’t helpless. See? Here we are. Safe.”

  A quiet chuckle from Jace. “What did I do? You threw the ashtray. Mark had his shotgun.”

  “Um…it’s the thought that counts?”

  At that, Jace laughed. The sound was loud and happy and strained, all at the same time. He leaned against Trent, and eventually the laughter trailed off, and he shook his head.

  “You don’t understand. I’m not concerned about my ability to be a bodyguard. I don’t need my ego to be boosted or anything. All that is fine. What’s not fine is the way I feel…about you.”

  Trent blinked. Jace’s voice had become serious again, so quickly.

  Was he about to say something that would break Trent’s heart?

  Trent watched as Jace stood up and stretched. The bodyguard moved to the window, and wiped grime off, to look outside.

  “You’ve heard David’s name,” said Jace. “But I think you need to know a little bit about him. About the situation. Because he was my final client. He is the reason I don’t do this anymore.”

  “You can tell me anything,” said Trent. He waited for the blow. Perhaps Jace and David were in some strange long-distance relationship. Perhaps all these feelings that had been growing inside of Trent were pointless, foolishness.

  “David was a reporter. He worked at the New Tribune, on the financial beat. It was a sweet job, hanging out with bankers and brokers, getting to attend their parties, at least as long as he stood on the periphery and didn’t ask too many pointed questions.

  “He’d started as this young, idealistic guy out of J-school, wearing punk band T-shirts and talking about how he was going to expose the government’s misdeeds. I didn’t know him back then, but he showed me photos from that time. He looked so angry. Then, in later pictures, he didn’t look angry anymore. The T-shirts were gone, replaced first by some off-the-rack suits, and then later suits that were tailored for him. His hair went from a spiky mess to this untouchably perfect coif. He was getting soft.

  “But when I met him, he’d gone through another change. The suits were hanging off him. He’d lost a lot of weight. His hair was unkempt, and he’d forget to shave for days in a row. It was rare to see him without a cigarette pasted to his lips.”

  “What happened?” asked Trent.

  Jace glanced over at him. “Every painful story in my life begins the same way: One day I got a call from Harlan. A reporter had stumbled on a big story, but was scared. He wanted to give Harlan all the information. Basically set up a dead man’s switch. If anything happened to David, a story would come out that would destroy half the banks based in the city.

  “And he was scared. People were after him. Harlan wanted to know if I would watch him.

  “Back then I had no qualms. It was just a job. But then I met the guy.

  “I knew the rules. Don’t get involved. You’re not there to solve a mystery or make a connection or anything like that. You’re there to shepherd your client through a dangerous time. Get them out alive on the other side, and you’re done. Cash your check.

  “But David was…he was different.” Jace gave him a lopsided smile. “You remind me a lot of him. He wasn’t scared because he had done something wrong. He was scared because he wanted to do something right. The fear had sharpened him. It burned away all the extraneous stuff, all the lazy comfort, leaving behind just his soul, his energy.

  “I feel awkward admitting this to you, but I fell for him. Hard. And it was mutual. I try to be restrained, I try to be smart, but when you know there’s a connection, you know it. There was no denying what was between us.”

  Trent couldn’t help feeling a little nervous in his stomach, hearing this. He found he really didn’t want to know the story of Jace’s past boyfriends. Of course Trent wouldn’t have been the first. But he didn’t have to know about anyone else, did he?

  Was it ridiculous to feel jealous? He had no claim on Jace. Yet here he was, feeling jealous.

  “Are you two—” he began, but found he couldn't finish the thought.

  Jace stared out the window. Slowly he shook his head. “No. No, it didn’t last. We broke up. He moved on to new stories…and I moved here.”

  Trent began to say he was sorry to hear that, but couldn’t be dishonest.

  “When you’re in the middle of it,” continued Jace, “surrounded by danger, it’s so easy to get close. But then, you get back into real life, and things seem…dimmer, somehow. Like the color drains out of things. All the things that were so exciting when you were on the edge of survival, become distant and strange. One minute, you’re checking the door for assassins, and the next, you’re buying birthday presents and choosing wine together. I’ve talked to other guys in my position, and everyone says the same thing. You get involved, and then it instantly goes bad.”

  Trent looked down at his feet. “Yeah. I guess I understand. Just because something feels real doesn’t mean that it is.”

  “Surely you’ve been through that before. Maybe not with so much at stake.”

  Trent shrugged. “You know, for me it has always been just the opposite. I take forever to admit how I feel. There's so much risk. What if you told someone you liked them but they didn't reciprocate?”

  Jace raised an eyebrow. “I imagine you'd just get on with your life?”

  “It’s terrible. It's so humiliating, to expose yourself like that.”

  “You have been in relationships before, haven't you?”

  “Well yeah,” Trent said. “But getting into them is just a nightmare.”

  “For someone who says he's that scared of relationships, you hopped into bed with me awfully quickly.”

  Trent swallowed. He could feel himself blushing. “We're not in a relationship,” he said. “You have rules about it. I refer you to what you just said a couple of minutes ago.”

  “Just because I know I can't be in a relationship doesn't mean I don't have feelings,” said Jace.

  “Feelings… for me?”

  “Of course you, you bundle of anxieties. Who do you think I'm talking about?”

  What Trent felt was a strange and sudden collision of emotions. He was excited. There was no denying how Jace sent thrills through him. Yet at the same time, he was afraid. Having feelings for each other was great, but didn't necessarily translate into being together.

  After all, Jace was right: This relationship couldn't possibly last, could it? What did they know about each other?

  Jace heard him sigh. “Somehow I thought you'd be happier to hear that.”

  Trent leaned against him. “I really like you. In a whole different way than I've ever liked anyone before.”

  “But you're worried.”

  “I don't know you. How can I know that I'm feeling something real?”

  “You don’t have to worry about it right now,” said Jace, putting his arms around Trent. “We’re safe now. Tomorrow you’ll testify, and it will be over. Then we can try getting to know one another like normal people. That sound okay?”

  His head against Jace’s chest, Trent nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “That sounds perfect.”

  18

  Today it would be over. Today he would be free. For the first time in ages, Trent felt hopeful. He was reaching the end of his great duty, this sense of obligation he had been saddled with. He had survived a threat to his life, the destruction of his apartment, and two awkward days with a stranger who turned out to mean more to him than he could have possibly expected.

  Real life was finally in reach again.

  “Oh shit, I have nothing to wear,” he said.

  Jace laughed. They were in the jeep, on the highway back to the city. Cold air s
wirled around them through the uncovered vehicle, and Trent was freezing.

  “I’m serious!” he said, half-laughing himself. “I can’t believe I can’t change clothes before the deposition! I’ve been wearing this stuff for so long!”

  He plucked a bit of pinestraw off his hoodie and flicked it out of the jeep. Once they’d gotten far enough off the mountain, his cell had connected again, with a voicemail from Dodi telling them to come straight to her office. There was also a message from Billy, again asking when he could get his stuff. It was going to be a long day. His back ached from sleeping on the bench. Worse, he was exhausted from the way Jace had kept him going all night. But he found himself happy, in a bleary-eyed way.

  “If that’s the worst of your worries, I’d say you’re doing pretty good,” said Jace. “Think of it like this: You’re going to be in a small room with a lot of lawyers who are going to have to smell you. It’ll be a fitting punishment for putting you through all this.”

  It was strange, returning to the city after a few days in the woods. He was half-tempted to ask Jace to drive by his old apartment. But that would accomplish nothing, and besides, Harlan and Dodi’s office was on the opposite side of town. So they drove directly to the law firm.

  When Dodi saw them, her eyes went wide. “Oh my god! Trent! You look terrible!” She was far too professional to run up and hug either of them, but her look of sympathy was unmistakable.

  “I’m ready to get this over with,” said Trent.

  “Not so fast,” said a voice behind them.

  Trent turned and saw a sharply-dressed man who, despite his power suit and immaculate hair, had the eyes of someone who had not slept in days. His face had so many of the same lines as Jace.

  “Trent, I’d like you to meet my brother Harlan,” said Dodi.

  “Grumman’s lawyers are in the conference room,” said Harlan. “They’re looking far more smug than I would have expected.”