He was reaching for the lock when Owen’s hand shot out from behind him and landed on the door beside his head. Jeremy turned around, a question in his eyes.
“Jeremy, I…” Owen shook his head, and then he was kissing him, fingers digging hard into his scalp to hold him still while his mouth claimed Jeremy’s in a fierce clash of tongues and teeth.
Yes, baby. I’m yours. Kiss me. Claim me.
Owen lifted his lips and swore. “I wanted you to bring lunch so I could prove to you that nothing had changed. That I could be in the same room with you and not lose control. That we could… Maybe this is still too new for that, because I can’t stop imagining bending you over my desk and taking what I need.”
They hadn’t yet. Owen hadn’t… “We can’t. Not here.”
“Not here,” Owen agreed reluctantly. “I don’t want anyone interrupting what I have in mind. But I’m damn tempted. I never got office fantasies until now. But with this? With you? I could take you so hard on that damn desk, Jeremy. I’d cover your mouth so no one could hear you scream and you’d love it.”
Jesus, Owen was actually thinking about it. Jeremy could see the wheels turning in his mind as he weighed the possibility of getting caught against his lust. Time to do something to distract him before he forgot where he was and actually did it, and there was only one thing Jeremy knew would work on his insatiable lover.
His heart raced as he reached for Owen’s belt, opening his jeans and gripping his velvet steel erection in his hand. Dropping to his knees, he parted his lips and swallowed the hard shaft down his throat. God, he loved the taste.
“Jesus Christ, Jeremy. Yes, oh yeah that’s… You’d go down on me anywhere, wouldn’t you? In your kitchen, in the alley, right here in the middle of the afternoon. Your mouth was made for this. For me.”
He bent his knees and his hips started to pump aggressively against Jeremy’s mouth. “I am going to fuck you,” he muttered. “Maybe not here, but when I get home, I swear I’m going to remind you why you made that agreement with me in the first place. Why this is all you need and you’ll come back again and again because you’ll never get enough.”
Neither one of them could seem to. Every time they were together now, they were on each other in minutes. It was a drug in his veins, Owen’s reaction to him. Jeremy craved it. He reached up and cupped Owen’s ball sac, caressing the tight skin as he gave his lover what he wanted.
“Jeremy.”
He felt Owen’s climax fill his mouth and drank it greedily, so aroused it was all he could do not to join him. The only thing that stopped him was remembering all the men outside and the walk he had to make to his truck when this was over.
Owen shuddered as Jeremy licked the last drop from the head of his shaft before dropping to his own knees and kissing him again. It was sexy as hell, knowing he was tasting himself on Jeremy’s tongue. He wanted to tumble him down to the floor and take him. Wanted to bend over his desk and beg to be taken.
Instead, he gently pulled away. “We should stop now. I might need a minute before I can walk in public.”
“Damn.” Owen was staring at him with worried eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t plan on that. I mean I loved it, but I didn’t bring you over here just to…”
He didn’t want to admit how much he’d liked it. “I know you didn’t. But plans change.”
Owen’s chuckle was raw. “Truer fucking words were never spoken.” He stood and grimaced as he tucked himself back into his pants before helping Jeremy up. “I have an errand to run after work, but I’ll be at your place as soon as I can. And I’ll bring dinner.”
Jeremy’s throat tightened again. “Okay.”
“And Porter?”
“Yes?”
Owen used his thumb to wipe Jeremy’s lower lip. “When she calls back, tell Tasha you’re in an exclusive relationship so you don’t need her to find you any more men to play with. She won’t leave you alone until you do. But don’t mention me. I’m not ready for her to know just yet. Soon…but not yet.”
Jeremy frowned. He hadn’t expected Owen to want her to know at all, but still, the command left a knot in his stomach. “Thank you for your permission, Master Finn. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t around to give me orders.”
Owen smiled. “You’d miss me. And you’re going to spend the rest of the day thinking about me. About tonight.”
He crossed his arms. “I don’t know. I have a lot planned.”
“Plan to get some rest,” Owen advised softly. “You’re going to need it.”
Jeremy ran his hands through his hair and walked out of the trailer without saying goodbye, making a beeline for his truck. He needed to get out of here. Whenever he was with Owen lately he lost track of time, lost all perspective.
“Porter, hold up.”
Scott. Great.
Jeremy wiped a hand across his face to make sure he was presentable without looking like he was making sure and then glanced at the brown-haired bruiser over the hood of his truck. “I have an appointment, Scott. Make it quick.”
“I want you to tell that friend of yours to mind her own business,” he blustered.
“That friend?”
“Jen’s bridesmaid. Every time I turn around those two are together or talking on the phone.”
Jeremy raised his brows. Someone was insecure. “She’s trying to make sure Jennifer is really ready for your big day. Something everyone should be thinking about. No one wants to make a mistake.”
The man’s expression grew more belligerent. “You trying to say something?”
“No, son. If I was, you’d know it.”
Scott started backing away. “You just tell her to stay away from Jen or I’ll start talking about last Christmas. She’ll know what I’m talking about.”
Eyes narrowed, Jeremy started back around the truck toward Jen’s idiot fiancé. Was he really going to pull this card? He obviously didn’t know how dangerous Jeremy could be when someone fucked with his friends. “Last Christmas? Why would you want to admit to getting drunk and trying to force yourself on Natasha in the pub kitchen? I don’t think Jen would be able to forgive that so easily.”
Scott seemed surprised. “That’s not what—I didn’t force her. She saw mistletoe and came on to me.”
Jeremy looked down on him, disgusted. “You’re afraid she’ll tell Jen about what you really did, aren’t you? Natasha is too good a person to do that. She knows what the Finn brothers would do to you if they found out. What I was tempted to do as soon as she told me.”
Scott’s face twisted with bravado. “The Finn brothers. Like they can talk. They have everything they want and they’ll still dip their wick into any woman with a pulse. That night is proof. I caught one of them taking a turn in their car with that bitch after she turned me down. She wasn’t doing much to push him away either. It was a hell of a show.”
Jeremy’s fist tightened on Scott’s collar until he started to choke and tried to bat him away. “You must be mistaken. And you really don’t know when to stop talking, do you? All these years and you’ve never learned.”
“Fuck you. You’re just Owen’s lapdog. You’re no better than me, Porter. A stray dog they pity and teach to beg for scraps at their table. Only you actually think they’re doing you a favor. You actually think you’re family.”
Jeremy lifted his fist in warning and Scott instantly held up his hands. “No, no, shit, I’m sorry, okay? I admit it, I didn’t want Jen to know. I love her and I didn’t want her to know.”
Jeremy let him go and stepped back, noticing the other men had stopped working to watch them. Great. Owen would know about the tussle before the day was over.
“I’m going to give you some advice, though I know you won’t take it. If you really love her? You need to straighten the hell up and realize how lucky you are. You don’t think it hurts her, the way you feel about her family? She believes you can be a good man, despite all evidence to the contrary, and she’s stood by while you
keep throwing her faith back in her face. Stop stealing, stop lying and try being worthy of your fiancée for once. If you don’t, my new job is going to be making your life miserable. You’ve got it coming and I’ll enjoy it.”
He turned and walked around his truck, climbing into the driver’s side and starting the engine before he looked up again. Scott was still there, rubbing his neck and glaring at him now that he thought there was a safe distance between them.
Jeremy rolled down his passenger side window and leaned toward it with a scowl. “Call me a dog again and I’ll bury your bones where no one can find them.” It was satisfying to see the man pale as he drove away.
Scott was a moron. The worst kind. He didn’t know how good he had it. When Jeremy was younger, the only thing he’d wanted more than he wanted to draw was to be a member of the Finn family.
Of course, now there was something he wanted more than that. One thing. One Finn in particular.
“Hell.”
Chapter Eight
His hands were covered in ink. Jeremy looked down at them and then over to the clock on the wall. He’d completely lost track of time. That hadn’t happened in a while. Not with his contracted work anyway.
But this wasn’t work. It was Owen.
Every sketch was of him. Jeremy studied the details in the eerily light blue irises, the way the eyes crinkled at the corners when he laughed. The strong jaw, as stubborn as it was handsome. Lips that could be firm in anger or soft in sensual wonder. He knew this face better than he knew his own. Had watched age and life experience define it. He knew all its expressions and moods, and he’d spent the last few hours capturing them all from memory, losing himself to each curve and line.
“Shit.” This was bad. When had he gotten this pathetic? He wasn’t a romance kind of guy, and God knew now would be the worst time to become one. Owen Finn was experimenting, he reminded himself for the hundredth time. The man was good at it and fucking thorough, but if Jeremy allowed himself to believe for one minute this could be more—he was just begging for heartbreak.
He never said he wanted it to be more.
He left his workroom and headed to the kitchen sink to wash his hands. Stubborn or not, Owen would surely come to the same realization that Jeremy had while thinking about the Finn family on the drive home. They were far too involved in each other’s lives to keep this relationship secret for long. And while the brothers Finn might accept Owen—even congratulate him—for getting a woman to agree to being hog-tied and spanked for pleasure, it was highly doubtful they would be okay with his dating a man. And if they knew it was Jeremy, someone they considered an honorary part of the family? Their disapproval would mark the beginning of the end of his status with the Finn clan. He would be alone.
Even if was a short-term affair, if they found out they might never forgive him.
Tasha was the only other person in his life who was like family—which was why when she’d called back at the appointed time, he’d preempted her interrogation and demanded that she share the one detail about the Christmas party she’d previously neglected to mention. The one that worried him. The one having to do with a Finn in a car.
“I’m not going to tell you who, but I will admit that it happened,” she’d offered carefully.
“What happened, Tasha? A kiss? A holiday cuddle?”
“Sex,” she mumbled. “It was the only private place and believe me, I’m not planning on repeating it. Car sex is for teenagers.”
Jeremy had laughed at that, but inside he was in knots. “Was it Owen, Tasha? You can tell me. You two have been dancing around each other for a while.”
He couldn’t believe how much it hurt to think it might have been him. But why would it matter? He and Tasha shared men all the time. He’d even wondered how long it would be before Owen suggested bringing her in as a third. He’d been preparing himself for it so he wouldn’t react the way his confusing emotions might force him to—with jealousy.
“Not Owen,” Tasha said firmly. “I know you tease me about it a lot and I tell you about his women at the club, but I would never do that to you, Jeremy. I need you to know that.”
Relief made him dizzy. “Me? What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. And I’ve always known that was one line I would never cross. You’re too good a friend.” She paused. “Such a good friend that you’re going to change topics, forget about my Finn fling and tell me who you’re dating.”
That distracted him. “I don’t want to go into it yet, Tasha. It’s too new. He’s not… He’s shy.”
Tasha groaned in frustration. “He’s shy. That’s all you’re going to give me? You shaved your beard for him and he’s shy?”
“He makes me forget how to breathe.” He could say that much and not give Owen away. “Makes me forget all the reasons I should hold back. He touches me and I’m willing to do anything he wants as long as he doesn’t stop. As long as he stays.”
“Well slap my ass and call me Lucy,” she breathed. “You sound like you’re falling.”
He shifted uncomfortably. “Let’s finish that sentence with in lust. I’m definitely falling in lust.”
“Fine. I’ll give your lusty lover another week to get over his shyness and then I want to meet him. I promise I won’t scare him away or suggest a threesome. Not until I know him better.”
“You’re a doll.”
Tasha laughed at his arid tone. “I am! And I’m happy for you, Jeremy. You need some of this in your life. Someone who makes you feel like this. I’ll tell you a secret. In our small menagerie of kinky, oversexed friends, I always thought you were the one who’d be happiest in a monogamous relationship.”
“Really? The bisexual you like to have three-ways with? I’m the one who’d be happy with monogamy? You know I don’t do that, Tasha. You’re wrong. I’m not built for it.”
“Yes you are,” she insisted. “You have the right heart for it, and somewhere in that thick skull of yours you must know it, otherwise you wouldn’t guard it so closely. When you really fall in love, it will be for keeps, and that is the scary, unadulterated truth.” She paused. “I said almost the same thing to Seamus about Owen not too long ago. Leave it to me to befriend the two lustiest, relationship-phobic men on the planet.”
Why was she mentioning Owen? Had she guessed? “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’ve only been seeing this guy for a few days, and I’m not planning on getting married anytime soon. I don’t even have a dog. We should see if I can handle that kind of commitment first.”
After they hung up, Jeremy had gone back to work, but now he went over the conversation again. A few things stuck out in his mind.
First, she’d slept with a Finn brother—and not the one who’d been playfully after her on and off since high school, but one of his siblings. Jeremy couldn’t help but wonder how Owen would feel about that and if he should tell him. If they weren’t together, he wouldn’t be tempted. That was Tasha’s story to tell, not his.
Then there was the fact that she’d turned Owen down all this time because of him. Somewhere, some part of him must have known that, but Jeremy was still surprised. Even when it seemed like an impossible crush, she’d silently been on his side. What would she say if she knew what Owen had asked for on his birthday? That he was the one Jeremy was hiding from her?
He hadn’t kept the secret just because Owen told him to. He wasn’t that far gone. He’d kept it because he was still pretty sure that other shoe was going to drop at any minute, and he didn’t want her pity when Owen moved on, found the perfect woman for the Finn family to embrace and forgot all about that one short episode when he couldn’t get enough of seeing Jeremy on his knees.
He looked around his house and sighed. This was a family home. The real estate agent had said as much. Sure, he’d turned one bedroom into a workout space and another into his office, but it was still too big to live in alone. He’d never thought so before. He’d relished the space, his room to breathe. His aunt’s place h
ad been the size of his bedroom closet. This house…well, it reminded him a little of the sprawling Finn homestead.
Now it all seemed excessive. It wasn’t like he ever planned on having children, and not just because it was difficult to imagine finding someone he could spend the rest of his life with. His parents had screwed up his head by demanding a refund when their child didn’t work the way they wanted him to. That was their legacy to him, and he didn’t want to take the chance of passing it on.
He sighed. “Maybe I should get a dog.”
Sliding open the patio door, he headed down the balcony stairs toward the water, thankful most of his neighbors were the holiday kind. The sun had gone down an hour ago, so even if they were visiting, they wouldn’t be able to see much. He stripped as he walked out onto the dock and dived in without hesitation when he reached the edge.
The lake was the only place he ever felt at peace. It was the reason he’d bought this house. The water lapped against him in a soothing caress as he pushed himself a little deeper, a little farther out. Nothing could touch him here. Not his memories or his doubts. Not his fears about his feelings. He held his breath and let the water wash it away.
When the need for air forced him to break the surface, he felt the same small measure of release he always did. He started to backstroke lazily in the direction of the dock once more, tensing when he heard a splash behind him.
“This is exactly what I needed,” Owen groaned. Jeremy turned in time to see him duck his head briefly under the water, the dim light from the dock glinting off his blond hair. “Damn, I love you for living by the lake. It’s been one hell of a day.”
Jeremy stayed where he was, his arms and legs easily keeping him afloat. “Oh yeah?”
Owen wiped one wet hand over his face before swimming closer. “Yeah. First, a few of the boys had issues with their paychecks, then our client decided that today was the day he was coming to inspect our progress with his wife—a woman who couldn’t seem to understand why she had to wear a hardhat that would ruin her recent trip to the salon. And then, as you know, there was Scott…”
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