by Aiden Bates
Like he was reading my mind, Derek cleared his throat and opened his mouth to speak again. “I, ah…had a conversation with your ex while you were napping back in the lab the other night. I know, I know, you weren’t napping,” he added with a laugh before I could correct him. “He seemed to have it in his head that you and I were, well…”
“An item. I guessed as much.” Justin had always been like that. Too damn analytical for his own good. Always figuring out what I was thinking before I’d even managed to sort it out for myself. “How’d you feel about that?”
Derek laughed. “I told him he was crazy. Nothing going on between us. But then, ah…”
“Then we fucked,” I supplied. “Yeah. Bit too on the nose of him, really. Like some kind of sex-prophet.”
“That’s one way to put it, I guess. But…mm.” Derek furrowed his brow, obviously choosing his words with care. “I’m not going to pretend I didn’t, you know. Sort of immediately notice that you were, well…”
“Pointing a gun in your face?” I chuckled, remembering how tense our first meeting had been.
“That you were incredibly fuckable-looking, Kaleb King,” Derek corrected me with a little grin. “After you stopped pointing the gun in my face, I mean.”
“Yeah, well…same to you, Derek Stillwell.” My shoulders slumped as the weight of the admission fell off of them. “Told myself what a bad idea it would be to act on it, with both of us tangled up in the same investigation and all, but…”
“No stopping nature, huh?” Derek stared down the highway ahead of us for a moment, then turned in his seat to face me. “And even when we were, you know…”
“Blowing each other.”
“Enjoying each other’s company. I was telling myself that it was just a one-time thing—just blowing off steam.”
“Yeah…I was telling myself the same, to tell you the truth.” The furrow in Derek’s brow was infectious. Now, it was in mine too. “Is that what it was, then?”
“I guess that’s the question,” Derek said with a sigh. “We’re both bad at relationships. I get that. But at the same time…I don’t really do flings. As long as we’re being honest…I like you, Kaleb.”
If I’d had half of Harper’s cool, casual playboy demeanor, I would have just smiled and played it off. Fed him a stupid line, all James Bond charm, no awkward, messy feelings involved. But as much as I would’ve liked to be that man for Derek, I was nowhere near that slick. Especially not when it came to emotions.
I only got as far as the smile.
“Yeah. I like you too, Derek. So.” I ran my thumb over the curve of the steering wheel, sucking my lower lip beneath my teeth. “Not a one-time thing, then. At least, as long as we’re both still okay with that?”
“I like that.” Derek nodded, nestling his cheek against the headrest. I could feel his gaze on me, comfortable and warm. “I’m enjoying myself. You’re enjoying yourself. Beyond that, we can play it by ear.”
Play it by ear. It was a good enough suggestion, I was annoyed I hadn’t proposed it myself.
“Sounds like something I can manage,” I told him. “As long as we’re enjoying ourselves, we’ll play it by ear.”
We drove all night, until the sky began to fade in from midnight blue, to purple, to the salmon pink of sunrise. By the time the Welcome to Charlottesville sign came into view, I was itching to get out and stretch my legs and Derek’s eyelids were so heavy, it was a wonder he’d managed to stay awake.
I pulled into the parking lot of the first motel we came across, leaving Derek in the car while I went in to book us a couple of rooms. But after I’d paid the bored-looking front desk attendant cash, I came back out with some potentially awkward news.
“Hope you don’t mind sharing a room again,” I warned him, offering my hand to help him out of the passenger seat.
He took my palm in his with a little laugh and a squeeze. “Just one bed, I take it?”
I shrugged. “Some kind of knitting convention in town this week. All the other rooms were booked up. If it’ll bother you, the desk attendant has assured me each room comes equipped with a very serviceable armchair I could crash in…”
Derek clapped his palm against my cheek, patting my stubble twice. “You’ve gotta learn to loosen up, Kaleb. One bed sounds fine. In fact…” Something wicked twinkled in the sea green of his eyes. “One bed could even be fun.”
And just like that, my cock was stiff as ever all over again. I’d been fighting it the whole ride there. Now, I’d be struggling with it while I carried our bags into the room as well.
If I was being honest with myself, I was beginning to think it was a losing battle. Especially considering the fact that Derek didn’t seem to think it was a fight worth putting up to begin with.
“I’m going to shower before we crash, if that’s okay,” Derek said as we took in the room. One bed, as promised. The bedding looked a little dated, but when I sat down on it, the mattress felt comfortable enough. Coffee pot and microwave in the corner. Television mounted on the wall. Not exactly the Ritz-Carlton, but we could’ve done worse for ourselves. “Going to have to work on flipping my sleep cycle over when this whole mess is finally done with, I guess.”
“Enjoy,” I told him, taking off my boots as he disappeared into the bathroom. “I’ll be out here.”
But only a few moments after I heard the shower turn on, Derek poked his head back through the door. Through the crack, I could see a glimpse of his bare thigh and chest—he wasn’t even wearing a towel.
“Hey, uh, Kaleb…” Nick gave me a coy smile. “I was just thinking…you’re probably need to wash the road off you as well, and, y’know, the planet is dying and all…”
I raised an eyebrow, amused. “Save water, shower together?”
“Something like that. Door’s open if you wanna hop in, anyway.”
I kicked my boots off, considering it. Shower sex wasn’t something that I usually considered on the menu—I’d wound up at one too many 911 calls in DC where a horny Alpha and Omega had decided to soap up and get dirty, only for one of them to crack their head open for their efforts.
On the other hand…I was feeling pretty grimy after all our hours on the road. And if Derek and I would be sharing a bed…hardly felt gentlemanly, slipping between the clean sheets while I still had the dirt of the day on me. Plus, Derek had a point…we were in the midst of a climate crisis and all…
Determining that I was, in fact, single-handedly saving the planet by taking Derek up on his offer, I stripped on the way to the bathroom, pushing the door open to find the mirror already fogged with a thick layer of steam. Behind the glass partition of the shower, I could just barely make out Derek’s tall, muscular form beneath the water. He was humming something as he rubbed himself down with the complimentary shower gel, filling the air with the scent of milk and honey to the tune of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”.
“Room for one more in there?” I called out, hesitating just to the side of the partition.
I heard Derek laugh. “Kaleb King, get your ass in here before I drag you in myself.”
My cock leapt up at the sound of his voice as I passed across the threshold, finding Derek’s hard, nude body on the other side of it. The water rushed down over his back, moving clumps of bubbles down his chest, to his hips, to his thighs. I watched them for a moment as they went down the drain. Then, my eyes met his, my gaze betraying the fact that there was only one thing on my mind just then—and it wasn’t exactly getting clean.
“Come here,” Derek beckoned. “Let me rub you down.”
I stepped beneath the water, sighing as its heat hit my back. Derek liked it hot, apparently. I had no complaints about that. The heat worked out the kinks in my muscles as Derek squirted a handful of body wash into his hands, rubbing them together then pressing them to my chest.
“Oh, yeah. Very dirty. Exceptionally dirty. Just…filthy,” Derek assured me, smirking as he rubbed the soap into my chest hair. “Good thing you
’ve got me here to clean you up, huh?”
“Very good thing. You know how it is, being on the road for so many miles…thinking such dirty thoughts…”
“Oh?” Derek raised an eyebrow. “Thoughts like what exactly, Detective?”
“Mm.” I closed my eyes, enjoying the way his fingers worked the shower gel into a lather. “You know…pulling over, grabbing you, stealing a kiss…”
“That’s not dirty, Detective,” Derek purred. “In fact, as far as fantasies that were happening in that car go…I’d call that one positively clean.”
“Yeah, well… Was also thinking a lot about doing this.”
Derek yelped as I grabbed his wrist and spun him around, pressing my cock between his ass cheeks as I pushed his body against the coolness of the shower’s tile, beaded with steam.
“Oh, now that’s more like it.” He arched his back, working his ass against my cock in a way that made me damn near lose control. “Is this the part where you tell me I’m under arrest?”
I laughed. “I left my handcuffs on my belt outside. Afraid I’ll have to turn to more desperate measures if I’m going to punish you appropriately for your crimes.”
“And what would those be, Detective? Have I been a very bad boy?”
I rolled my eyes, pressing my body firm against his back and dipping my lips down to brush along the curve of his neck. “Being criminally sexy, I reckon. If I didn’t know better, you’ve been planning this for a while, too. That’s premeditation.”
I laid my hand out in a flat blade, sliding my palm all the way down Derek’s side to the firm curve of his ass before laying a nice, smart smack against it.
“Ah!” Derek cried out. “Detective, please—whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?”
I smirked against his shoulder. “Oh, you’re guilty all right,” I growled, before sinking my teeth into his shoulder.
“Police brutality! Police brutality!” Derek shouted, arching even harder and moving his hips from side to side.
My cock slipped down between his cheeks with the movement, stiffening to its full hardness as my tip settled against his tight pucker. His body was completely at my mercy—and as good as he was with shower gel, I highly doubted it was soap that had his hole so fucking slick for me.
Laughing and kissing, I turned Derek’s body back towards me as we washed each other off. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had this much fun with anyone naked, even when I tried. With Justin, things had been fine—hot even, on occasion, but never exactly fun. Derek, on the other hand—he was playful. Charming. Funny, even—a fact I was reminded of as we began to towel off and he began to drag me back to the bed.
“Well, you know what they say, Detective,” he cooed coyly, pushing me down onto the mattress. “Fuck the police.”
I was still howling with laughter as he moved on top of me, just like he had the first time. But as I opened my mouth to point out that once again, we were short a condom, Derek crushed my lips beneath his own, stifling my protests with a hot, steamy kiss.
“Just let me have you, Kaleb,” he whispered against my lips. “Just this once. You know I’m aching for it, and you…” He smiled as he settled the tip of my cock against his asshole again, gyrating his hips to swirl my cockhead around his rim. “You want it too. Don’t pretend like you don’t. Did you really think I hadn’t noticed how hard you were the whole drive here?”
I laughed. “I think you’re in heat, horny as hell and not thinking straight.”
“Straight enough,” he countered. “I’m an Omega. You’re an Alpha. We both want it, don’t we?” He paused, drawing away slightly, but the twinkle in his eye didn’t quite vanish just yet. “We can stop if you want to. Just…”
“No,” I said, feeling my resolve crumble. Derek’s hole was hot against my tip, soaked with lubrication and just begging to be fucked in the way I knew only I could provide. “No…I fucking need you, Derek. Just…just this once.”
“Take me then, Detective.”
Shrugging slightly, I did as I was told. Derek let out a soft, pleasure-filled gasp as I took his hips and slammed them downward, sinking my cock into his ass in one hard, sharp motion.
“Fuck!” Derek moaned, tilting his head back and closing his eyes.
“Did I—did I hurt you?” I asked, unsure of whether it was a moan of pleasure or pain. I didn’t know quite how rough he liked it yet—maybe I’d been too forceful. If I had, we could stop—no matter how good he felt wrapped around me like he was.
But when Derek’s eyelashes flickered open again, I had my answer. Pleasure—a whole lot of it, in fact.
“You couldn’t hurt me if you tried, sweetheart. You’re just…Mm. God. You’re so fucking big. Just surprised that you actually fit.”
I smiled, rocking my hips from side to side so I could sink into him another inch. “It’s a tight one—but I think we can make it work.” I laid another smack to his ass, earning myself another pleasure-drenched moan. “Ride me, sunshine. You set the pace.”
Derek leaned forward, gripping my shoulders tight as he took my cock, sliding up my shaft until the ridge of my tip started to stretch his hole, then taking another inch of me on the way back down. His honey slid down my length, lubricating me down to my balls so he could take me deeper still. Harder. Faster, until he was riding me like a cowboy atop a bucking bronco at the county fair.
“Christ—keep doing that and I’m gonna come, sweetheart,” I warned him, feeling my balls ache with need for release. They were tense enough already, cushioning Derek’s ass as he impaled himself on me all the way to the hilt.
“Mm. Yeah—warn me and I’ll pull up off of you.” Derek’s teeth were sunk into his lower lip, his voice breathy and full of desire. I could tell he was edging himself to an orgasm of his own—and even though I should’ve known better, I couldn’t bear denying him.
“Fuck,” I swore, trying to fight off my own orgasm and feeling myself failing. “So close, sunshine. So fucking—”
“Oh, god.” Derek’s fingertips clawed at my chest. His breath caught in his throat. His body trembled—balls tensing, cock exploding with cum.
And just like that, I was coming too. I should have pulled out. Every rational part of my brain—not that there were many at that point—told me to do exactly that. But Derek’s ass was too tight around me, his body too warm. It wasn’t that I couldn’t pull out—I just couldn’t bring myself to.
After every drop of cum in my balls has shot up into Derek’s ass, he collapsed on top of me, rolling to lie on his back as his chest heaved. We stared up at the water spots on the ceiling, fingers intertwined, until I finally managed to catch my breath enough to speak.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” I said softly.
“Yeah…probably not.” When I glanced over at Derek though, he was all smiles. “But it was nice though, wasn’t it?”
I didn’t mean to, but I found myself smiling as well. “Yeah. Yeah, it was nice.”
13
Derek
The next morning, I woke up in Kaleb’s arms. The warmth of his chest beneath my cheek was like cuddling with a space heater. The strength of his biceps, one curled around my neck and the other around my waist, held me against him like he’d lashed me to him in the night.
I breathed out slowly, closing my eyes and letting myself enjoy the moment. It was almost insane, how long it had been since I’d felt something like…well, like him. Kaleb King wasn’t anything like the wealthy idiots I normally dated. He’d earned all his muscles doing his work with the DC police, so he didn’t need to wake up at six in the morning to make a protein shake, extra creatine, and hit the gym. He wasn’t addicted to his phone, or his laptop, or the television either—so when he finally did stir, instead of reaching for a technological pacifier, he only squeezed me tighter.
“Morning, sunshine,” he said, looking a little surprised as he cracked his eyes open to look down at me. Surprised…then smug. “How’re you feelin’?”
I glanced at the cheap light-up numbers on the alarm clock next to Kaleb’s nightstand, then nuzzled a little deeper into his embrace. “Do you want the honest answer, or the one I’m supposed to give you?”
Kaleb considered it for a moment. “Honesty’s usually not a bad policy.”
“I’d rather be run over by your car than go faux-interview those nerds today,” I groaned against the firm rise of his pec.
Kaleb’s chest shuddered with a chuckle. I could hear it in his ribs, deep and genuine. “Thought you were excited about talking to those nerds. You know—bein’ a nerd yourself and all.”
“Ugh. Please. I’m a nerd. Nick, he’s a nerd. The Zeigler Dynamics boys—they’re probably either jerking off to Batman and Robin porn or trying to engineer Mountain Dew-flavored lube.”
Kaleb raised an eyebrow. “Mountain Dew flavored, huh?” He chuckled again. “Maybe we should see if they’ll give us some samples.”
“If you’re thinking about putting your tongue in my ass again, Detective King, I can assure you—Mountain Dew will have nothing to do with it.”
“Nothing to Mountain Dew with it?”
I groaned at the bad pun, grabbing a pillow to fling at Kaleb as he slipped out of bed, then another to pull over my face so the little old ladies from the knitting convention next door wouldn’t hear me scream.
“Well, I thought it was funny,” Kaleb said, still laughing softly at his own joke. “Take ten more minutes in bed, sleeping beauty. But then, we gotta go. Day’s a wastin’.”
As we pulled up to Ziegler’s house, I tugged my ball cap down over my brow a little tighter and pushed Kaleb’s aviators up the bridge of my nose. I could still feel my heat thrumming inside me, from the curling, coiled warmth in my chest to the way that my cock and balls seemed to twitch with even the slightest amount of attention paid to them. Even feeling my boxers brush against my tip as I got out of the car felt like something sensual and sinful.
