“Are those notes for an article you’re working on?” Shadow’s brown-eyed gaze was centered on the notebook in question as though he could somehow see through the cover.
Pen’s rising panic had him snapping at Shadow. “Everything in this notebook is confidential. You just keep your hands off of it.”
The corner of Shadow’s mouth tightened. A hand cupped the back of Pen’s neck as Shadow bent and covered his lips in a kiss. Pen grabbed onto Shadow’s shirt to ground himself as Shadow’s tongue pressed inside and began fucking his mouth.
As always, Shadow’s dominance brought out the submissive in Pen. The second Pen yielded to the bigger man, he was pulled up out of the chair and into Shadow arms. The kiss continued until Pen was limp and plastered against Shadow’s body.
Shadow lifted his head and studied Pen for a moment, before giving him one more brief kiss on his tender lips. “Let’s go eat, baby.”
With his hand in Shadow’s, a befuddled Pen followed the big guy into the living room. Somehow he felt as if he had just lost an argument that never was.
As with most nights, they ate on the oversized brown couch while the news blared from the television in the corner. Curled up in Shadow’s arms, Pen sighed while trying to keep the deep inner sadness at bay. Today had been especially hard.
A finger raised his chin until Pen was looking into Shadow’s face. Pen would never get over how handsome the man was.
“Tell me,” Shadow ordered.
Pen looked away and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath that came out in a huge, shaky sigh.
Arms pulled Pen close, and a hand pushed his face into crook of Shadow’s shoulder. “Now talk, baby.”
Pen didn’t know why, but Shadow’s scent surrounding him made him feel as secure as the strong arms holding him.
His words were choked and tight, but he managed to say, “Today is my brother’s birthday.”
There were no tears. The pain was too raw. Pen leaned on Shadow’s strength and just existed.
Shadow tightened his hold and stood before carrying Pen into the bathroom. Not a word was said as gentle hands removed his clothes. Water splashed against the shower wall, and seconds later, Pen was standing under the warm flow.
A snick accompanied by the scent of citrus filled the cubicle. Fingers began massaging Pen’s scalp as Shadow washed his hair. After rinsing the bubbles out, Shadow began washing every inch of Pen’s body with a soapy washcloth.
When Shadow knelt and lifted Pen’s foot, a few tears escaped. Clearing his throat let Pen whisper, “You are such a nice man.”
Shadow snorted and began washing Pen’s other foot. “Remember that tomorrow.”
The water was shut off, and Pen was lifted out of the shower and set onto the thick bathroom rug. A large towel enveloped Pen’s limp, weary body. Letting Shadow do his thing, Pen laid his head on the big man’s muscled chest.
Soon, in their big bed, a naked Pen was straddling Shadow’s torso with his face buried in the man’s neck. Firm hands stroked Pen’s back, giving him the comfort that he needed.
“On his birthday I always baked him a chocolate cake.” Pen smiled through his tears as the memories flitted through his mind. “It had to be made from scratch. No store bought or from a box for Daniel. And he always ate it, even when it was flat and hard as a rock.”
Into their quiet cocoon of darkness, Pen whispered, “I miss him so much.”
“I know, baby,” Shadow responded.
* * * *
Shadow opened his eyes and looked at the red digital numbers of the alarm clock. It was after midnight, and Pen was currently snoring into his neck.
What he needed to do didn’t sit well with the conscience he hadn’t known he had until he’d met Pen. During a private meeting with Cade earlier in the day, Shadow had learned that Rescue for Hire’s computer specialists, Tony and Boone, had found there had been a breach in the state’s forensic computers. They had tracked the breach to Pen’s computer.
According to Cade, Pen was getting too close and in danger of disrupting all the progress they had made in the Gregslist kidnapping case. They needed to know what Pen had discovered so far. If Shadow couldn’t get the information, Cade said he was going to haul Pen in and demand answers from him.
Shadow shuddered at the thought of überalpha Cade taking on his snarky baby. He would protect Pen at all costs, but who was going to protect Shadow from Cade’s wrath if Pen became angry and his viperous mouth got going?
After moving Pen to the bed, Shadow whispered to the stirring man, “Bathroom, baby.”
Shadow made sure Pen had settled back to sleep before he bypassed the bathroom and went into the kitchen where, on the table, Pen’s notebook sat next to his laptop.
Using the camera on his phone, Shadow took pictures of the section in the notebook labeled Daniel.
Chapter Ten
Pen opened his eyes. The sweat covering his body from Shadow’s last round of lovemaking had dried, and his breathing was returning to normal. He wasn’t foolish enough to think Shadow’s brand of sex was over. Hell, Pen had come only twice so far.
He watched Shadow move over to the dresser and open one of the drawers that contained some of his stuff. There had never been an official request or announcement that they were living together, but they were.
The week since Pen had broken down on his brother’s birthday had been both awesome and heart wrenching. The rebuilding of the paper and Pen’s added responsibilities filled him with a satisfaction he had never felt out in the field. His growing relationship with Shadow filled his heart like it never had been before.
But Daniel’s loss and the lack of answers ate at Pen’s soul. At times it seemed Daniel wasn’t gone but away from Pen for just a while.
Shadow had treated Pen as if he were spun glass this last week, especially in the bedroom. Now, as the man who was quickly becoming the center of Pen’s life came toward the bed, Pen saw that time was over. In Shadow’s hands were rope and toys.
“Are you ready to play?” Shadow murmured as he set the items on the bed.
Pen’s skin prickled as the small hairs covering his body stood up. “Oh yeah,” he whispered. He was so ready for his magnificent lover’s games.
Shadow climbed on the bed. Pen lifted his lips for Shadow’s kiss and wasn’t disappointed when his mouth was invaded and explored. Soft rope looped around one of his wrists, and his arm was pulled up toward the bed’s spindled headboard.
His other arm was lifted, and rope was tied around it. Pen pulled at the rope, but Shadow’s knots held him secure. The tender kisses Shadow placed along Pen’s jaw turned sharp when they reached his neck. The pinch told him Shadow was sucking up bruises as he made his way down Pen’s body.
Shadow paused at Pen’s already tender nipples. The big man had been biting and licking them during the hours since they had retired to the bedroom for the evening.
Pen arched up into Shadow’s mouth. His loved how the man’s tongue batted at his nips, demanding they harden and stand up for him. When they were both pebbled to his satisfaction, Shadow leaned up and asked, “What do you think about rings?”
Astonished, Pen blinked to clear the haze of lust from his mind. “Nipple rings?”
The corner of Shadow’s mouth twitched. “Yeah.”
“Um… maybe?”
Pen screamed when Shadow lifted his hand and the next moment pain gripped his nip from a tight, pinching nipple clamp. Another moan was wrenched from him when his other nip was given the same treatment.
Panting through the intensity Pen glared at Shadow. “You could give a guy a warning.”
“Now what fun would that be?” Shadow’s tone indicated he didn’t feel one iota of remorse. With one hand Shadow lifted Pen’s hips and stuffed a pillow under them.
Not giving him a moment to adjust to all his ministrations, Shadow leaned down and licked the clamped nipple. Pen could only jerk at the ropes and groan. His dick bumped against his stomach, painti
ng it with streaks of sticky pre-cum. Darts of lightning burst from the nipple Shadow was licking and shot straight to his straining dick. Pen didn’t want to come yet. He knew Shadow had just begun. Somehow he thought squeezing his ass muscles tight would stop the tingling at the base of his spine. That only made the urge to come stronger.
Air cooled his wet nipple when Shadow abandoned it to suck up more marks on his abdomen. He paused at the hot spot he had found earlier that sent Pen into a moaning pile of mush. A trickle of sweat ran down Pen’s temple into his hair. Shadow’s wily tongue dipped into his belly button until it was coated with saliva.
A warm hand encouraged Pen to bend his knee. Shadow slid the rope around Pen’s thigh before encircling his calf and pulling it tight, locking his bent leg together. Another rope was looped around Pen’s ankle, and Shadow lifted Pen’s leg before tying the rope to a spindle of the headboard.
Pen expected Shadow to tie up his other leg so that his ass was open for playtime, but the big man had other ideas.
Fingers trailed along Pen’s free inner thigh, bringing up goose bumps.
“Open up for me,” Shadow demanded.
Pen bent his knee and spread. Fingers covered in cool gel touched and explored his already loosened hole from their prior session. Something hard and blunt was pressed against Pen opening. Pen looked at Shadow in dismay. The thing felt huge and rigid.
“What is that?” The muscles and skin guarding Pen’s hole stretched farther.
“A fat red dildo.” Shadow sounded almost gleeful, and Pen knew he was in for the ride of his life.
Pen’s chest heaved as he struggled for air. “Aren’t dildos supposed to be soft?” he asked between pants.
“Not this one. It’s hard plastic and has bumps for pleasure,” Shadow answered before flicking one nipple clamp.
While the waves of pleasure-pain radiated from his nipple, the unrelenting dildo pushed past his prostate. One of the bumps Shadow talked about nailed it, and cum gushed from Pen’s dick.
Pen’s world narrowed to lust and desire at the hands of his lover. When he was able to open his eyes again, he saw that his other leg was now strung up in the same manner as the first. This left Pen wide open and at Shadow’s mercy.
A sexy, evil glint lit Shadows eyes, and he pulled the dildo from Pen’s hole. In some ways the bumps mimicked anal beads, and Pen arched up as pleasure coursed through his body, making the muscle of his hole spasm so good.
Shadow must have been on the same wave length because, when Pen settled down, the big man murmured, “Next time we’ll see if you can walk around with a string of beads inside.”
Pen’s dick liked the idea, and wetness pooled on his belly. He wasn’t given time to answer. Heat from Shadow’s big, muscled body radiated over him as the big man’s hard cock invaded his still quivering hole. The dildo had been big, but Shadow was massive.
Shadow didn’t stop until he bottomed out. Pen would have squirmed, but the ropes prevented any movement. He was forced to take what Shadow gave. As was Shadow’s style, once he was as far inside of Pen’s hole as he could get, he stopped moving.
Pen began squeezing his ass muscles trying to assuage the wants and needs that were building to extremes by the unrelenting pressure Shadow’s cock was putting on his sweet spot. Just when Pen thought he might regain some control over his body’s reactions, Shadow pulled one of the nipple clamps off.
For one long, agonizing moment, Pen froze. The next moment his eyes widened and his screams burst from his throat. Cum was milked from his balls in thick spurts.
Shadow’s hand moved and hovered over his other poor nipple.
“No… please… don’t. I… can’t…” Pen begged.
But there was no mercy in Shadow’s expression, and the other clamp came away, sending Pen into a place where everything was gray and cushy.
* * * *
Shadow watched the gorgeous man fly into subspace. After all Pen had been through since his brother’s disappearance, he needed to just be for a while, and Shadow was the one to give him that.
Other than a soft groan or garbled murmur, Pen continued to ride on his body’s pleasure.
Shadow watched and enjoyed what he had given the beautiful man. And then he began to move. It was his turn to take.
No other man that Shadow had been with had given him as much pleasure as Pen. Shadow had decided Pen was his forever and was plotting how to make it so. One never knew how the prickly man would react to Shadow suggesting something.
Muscles clamped around Shadow’s cock. He turned his head, and Pen’s light-gray-eyed gaze looked back at him. The two men held each other’s stare as Shadow continued to pound Pen’s ass. Never again would he cover his cock with latex. Pen’s silky tightness was his forever to enjoy.
Shadow continued his thrusts. His earlier orgasms assured him it would be quite a while before he would again fill Pen’s opening with his cum. Shifting, he went to work on Pen’s sweet spot. His reward was small muscles massaging his cock, and a streak of cum spilling from Pen’s dick. Shadow’s Pen was starting to run dry.
Sweat began to drip from Shadow’s brow. Prickles covered his skin, and his big balls pulled up. Biting his lip, Shadow couldn’t hold out much longer.
Next to his ear, a breath of air carried a whisper. “Love.”
A grunt signaled Shadow’s orgasm. The breath was knocked out of him at its intensity. Cum exploded from his cock in great spurts that filled Pen to the brim until it spilled down his ass cheeks.
Shadow’s insides turned inside out, trying to expel more spunk from his body. When he had no more to give, he tugged at the ropes holding Pen in place. After they dropped to the bed, Shadow gathered Pen close and rolled over with his cock still inside Pen’s body where he thought it belonged, forever. Shadow now relaxed.
* * * *
The next morning Shadow had his hands full with a touchy, feely, cuddly Pen. Their usual morning lovefest turned into hot-shower blowjobs. They ended up taking another shower when Pen’s wandering hands ignited mutual hand jobs. If this was going to be Pen’s reaction to rope and toy play, Shadow vowed to visit a few special websites on the Internet and place a couple of orders.
Chapter Eleven
A short, loud buzz burst out, shattering the quiet of the dark room, followed by the rumbling hum of vibrations. Shadow didn’t bother to open his eyes as he reached out and picked up the phone from the nightstand. Pen’s warm body snuggled on top of him was too much of a paradise to disrupt.
After pressing the talk button, he put it to his ear. His eyes snapped open when a voice ordered.
“Get in here now. We have found the snowball, and it’s bigger than we thought.”
Shadow threw the phone down and lurched out of bed with Pen still in his arms. The poor man wasn’t even awake when icy water poured over them from the showerhead.
“What the hell is going on?” Pen tried to push away from Shadow.
Shadow poured shampoo on the crabbing man’s head and rubbed it a few times before shoving the still sputtering man under the warming water. When Shadow thought enough of the soap was washed away, he opened the shower door and set Pen on the bath rug.
With efficient movements, Shadow took care of his own shower. When he opened the shower door again, Pen was still standing there looking like a drowned rat.
“Hurry up, baby, I have a rescue.” Shadow grabbed a towel and threw it over Pen’s head before using another to dry himself off.
“Oh shit. That’s so exciting. I wonder who you’ll be rescuing.” Pen began dancing around as if he didn’t know which way to go first.
“Brush your teeth and get dressed. The Jeep is leaving in five minutes, and you will be in it.” Shadow threw the damp towel in the clothes hamper and headed for the bedroom closet.
Fifteen minutes later Shadow was ushering Pen down the hotel hall to the room the paper was working out of.
“Call Grant,” he instructed. “He will bring you some breakfast.
Don’t leave the room. If I’m not back by this afternoon, whoever is watching the room will take you home.”
Pen stopped before the door and unlocked it before peeking sideways at Shadow from beneath his eyelashes. Shadow wasn’t sure what was causing his in-your-face boyfriend to become a shrinking violet. The man hadn’t even sniped at him during the ride to the hotel.
Shadow sank his fingers into Pen’s messy, loose curls. He hadn’t given Pen time to style his hair. Come to think of it, Pen hadn’t complained once about that. Something was up, and Shadow didn’t have the time to find out what it was.
Pulling Pen close, Shadow kissed that sweet mouth that tasted like mint toothpaste. A finger crept up and touched the divot in the middle of Shadow’s chin.
Shadow needed to go. Ending the kiss, he said, “Be good.”
Pen frowned up at Shadow with troubled, light gray eyes . “Promise you will stay safe. I don’t want to lose you, too.”
Understanding hit Shadow, causing his chest to ache. Taking Pen’s face between his hands, he promised, “I will come back.”
Pen twisted the black material of Shadow’s shirt between his fingers. “I know it’s too soon, but I love you.”
Shadow’s whole body stilled. He took a slow, deep breath and said something he’d never said before. “I love you, too.”
Making sure his hands were gentle, he set a clinging Pen inside the room and walked away.
* * * *
Shadow looked around Cade’s huge wooden desk at his fellow Rescue for Hire teammates. Each of them were dressed in black and armed to the teeth.
“This is it, men.” Cade stood behind the desk. The man’s aura garnered immediate respect and trust. “The rescue will be separated into two stages that are continuous. There may be a brief rest period in between, but no one will go home until the mission is finished. The first is infiltrating the house of two brothers who we believe are the Gregslist kidnappers. The second will be working with the members of Rescue for Hire West to rescue a group of people being held hostage in an industrial building.”
Shadow's Pen [Rescue for Hire 10] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) Page 8
