Trent placed a gentle hand on Dom’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m good. We’re all good. You saved my life.”
“Garrett! Secure the room!” Dom shouted. He was relieved to hear that Trent was okay, but he wasn’t ready to stand down. Not until the cops had the attacker in custody and the room was locked down.
In a matter of seconds, the reporter was ushered out. Cops stood in front of the window and the door. A couple of detectives took their statements about the events before leaving to descend on the hotel’s management. A flurry of activity that kept Dom’s adrenaline pumping hard through his body.
It was only when he and Garrett were up in Trent’s luxurious suite that he felt himself starting to crash. The incident had gotten Trent excused from filming that night and the rest of his interviews rescheduled for another day. The movie star was stretched out in a pair of lounge pants and a T-shirt, a beer clutched tightly in one hand.
Dom looked up when Garrett walked back in from the balcony, sliding his cell phone into his pocket. The handsome bodyguard grinned at him. “The boss says you did a good job.”
“A good job?” Trent scoffed, popping his head up. “The guy’s a freaking hero. He kicked a man out a window!”
“Yeah, they’re already talking about that back at the office.”
“I can’t even do that without breakaway glass,” Trent muttered, seeming a little disappointed in his skills, now that he’d seen the real thing in person.
Dom grinned at Trent. The guy was really starting to grow on him. “I’ve seen your movies. You’ve done plenty of really cool things.”
“Don’t patronize me, Strawberry Shortcake,” Trent said, pointing his beer bottle at Dom. “You’re a goddamn hero.”
“Just doing my job. The boss said to protect you at any cost. That includes defenestration.”
“Defene-what?” Garrett said.
“Defenestration. It means to throw out a window.”
Trent chuckled. “You’re weird.”
“You’re also off the clock,” Garrett added. “I’ve got things covered until Sven comes on shift at midnight. Though I imagine you’ve done all the hard work, and things are going to be pretty quiet.”
Trent lurched into an upright position, nearly spilling his beer down the front of his T-shirt, and grinned at Dom. “Stay. We’ll drink and order up some of the biggest steaks we can get our hands on in this city. No more fans or reporters. We’ll just bullshit and drink.”
For a heartbeat, Dom actually considered it. Trent Elrige was, deep down, a nice guy who could probably use a friend he could trust. And Dom was seriously flattered that he would consider him for the position. But Trent’s advice was still ringing in his head.
“I’d like to, but you gave me some advice earlier, and I’d really like to see if I can get that breakfast. Raincheck?”
Trent’s smile turned a little bittersweet, but he nodded. “Absolutely.”
Garrett was giving Dom a look like he’d lost his fucking mind, but he just winked at his friend, knowing he’d have to explain later.
He pushed to his feet and Trent suddenly slammed his beer on the table and hurried over to the desk. He scribbled something down on a piece of paper and tore it off. When he handed it over, Dom was shocked to find that it was a phone number. It was very likely Trent’s personal cell phone number. He was holding the personal cell number for an A-list celebrity. Holy. Fucking. Shit.
“Before I forget. I’m only in town for a few more days, and I want to hear about your breakfast.” Trent paused and gave a self-deprecating little roll of his eyes. “You know, so I can live vicariously through you.”
“You’ll get there.”
Trent smiled. “Thanks again, Strawberry Shortcake.”
“Fucking hack,” Dom muttered and then threw Trent one last grin before leaving with the number in his pocket.
By the time he reached the elevator, Dom had pulled up Abe’s contact information on his cell phone.
D: I just turned down Trent Elrige for a date. Poor guy. He was crushed.
He quickly checked through a couple of other messages from his coworkers and cleaned out some spam email that had arrived during the day. He was just about to put his phone into his pocket again when a message from Abe pinged through.
A: Why would you do such a damn fool thing?
D: No more hit movies, no more sweaty tattoos on the big screen. He’s retiring to lick his wounds. I’ve deprived the world of an international treasure.
A: I bow down to your powers of heartbreak.
Dom paused and licked his lips. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
D: Instead, how about you come over to my place for celebratory tacos and I tell you how I pretended to be a superhero today?
He waited. His damn heart was pounding harder than when he’d fought Trent’s would-be killer. What if Abe said no? It wouldn’t be the first time, but Dom felt like he was getting down to the last of his chances with Abe. He didn’t want to push the guy, but he also didn’t want to be strung along with no hope.
The elevator chimed as it reached the lobby. Dom started to put his phone away when a message popped up.
A: What should I bring?
Chapter Two
Abe Stephens set down his phone and pressed his forehead against the wall. He groaned long and loud. Flirting with danger seemed to be his M.O. more and more these days. It was getting too damn hard to resist Dominic Walsh. He was hands down one of the sexiest men he’d ever met. One chime from his phone and he was hurriedly pulling up the app, hoping it was Dom with his funny texts. Some of which left him feeling faintly sweaty and tempted to go back on his vow to start looking for someone who’d be interested in a more permanent arrangement rather than the wild, string-free fling he was sure Dom was looking for.
It was worse when they actually spoke.
Fuck, he loved Dom’s voice. Warm, scratchy, and always tinged with humor. The kind of voice that made him think of sweat-pants Sundays, curled up on the couch in front of an action movie. Or low, gritty murmurs and moans of pleasure in a dark room.
As usual, whenever he let his mind go there, he lost track of anything else he was doing. He had a feeling that voice would sound so good in the dark, it would make him lose his mind. He blinked at the wall, desperate to swing his imagination away from that.
Why the hell had he agreed to go to Dom’s house? His home!
Abe snatched the towel off his shoulder and wiped at the sweat over his brow. The late-June heat was making the humid air thick. He began unplugging tools in his garage. If he was going to continue to work here, he should probably think about putting in air conditioning. He’d taken up creating hand-carved chairs as a hobby, then moved into whimsical window frames after a neighbor had commissioned one for his daughter’s eighth birthday. Nearly every parent who’d attended the little girl’s party had called to order more, and several had gone on to order chairs as well. Word had spread.
At this rate, he could quit the accounting he did part-time altogether.
Though that was his profession, he hadn’t truly enjoyed it since the financial world had gone to shit in 2008.
With his workshop put to rights, he walked through his house for a shower, telling himself with every step that he was just getting clean to be polite after sweating his ass off in his garage most of the day. He wasn’t hoping that Dom would put his hands on his clean skin. Or press his face into his clean neck. Or nibble his way along his jaw to his lips while sliding his hands down his chest to his…fuck, he was going to need to take care of something else while he was in the shower.
Still calling himself a liar forty minutes later, his headlights lit up the cute white brick house he’d been to only once before. The place had surprised him. He’d expected to find Dom in an apartment or an in-town rental. Instead, Dom had invested in an older fixer-upper with lots of personality. Just like the man himself.
Set back in the trees, the house offered privacy on the q
uaint, heavily wooded street in Mount Airy, not far from the Mount Airy Forest. Dom had told him he bought the place for the old brick-arched doorway leading to the deck and for the backyard full of trees.
Dom surprised him every time he saw him. He came off as a jokester, but there were layers to the man Abe ached to explore.
He parked in the driveway and sat for another moment to mentally put up thick walls around his heart. Tonight, it would be more difficult than usual because Abe had a big birthday coming up. The dreaded five-oh. He’d been dealing with a lot of deep thoughts about his life and where it was going. With his son happily settled down, he felt like he was drifting, and he wasn’t sure why. He had everything he could possibly want. Happy son. A home. A fulfilling hobby. Steady income. What more could he possibly need?
His restlessness was at an all-time high, and Dom’s determination to move beyond friendship was starting to wear him down. Not that he was that resistant—he wasn’t—it was just…he couldn’t get why someone as insanely hot as Dominic Walsh wanted him so badly.
A lot of those deep thoughts lately had been the “What would naked with Dom be like?” kind.…
Fuck, he didn’t know what to do about Dom. His own flip-flopping thoughts were driving him nuts. Dom was a player. No doubt about it. Abe had enjoyed a few one-night stands following his divorce from his wife years ago, but he wasn’t interested in hooking up these days. He’d never really enjoyed casual sex. He liked having an emotional attachment to the person. To wake up the next morning and smile to see them lying on the other pillow, just waiting to make plans to see each other again.
But being in a near-constant state of arousal around Dom was driving him insane. Of course, this state wasn’t new—not since Dom had spent a few days guarding him last year. Dom didn’t seem to feel shirts were always necessary, and his years of training and martial arts had honed his body into a ripped fighting machine.
Attraction to men wasn’t a new experience for Abe either. His first boner had arrived in the boys’ gym locker room, his second while watching cheerleaders practicing the very next day. He’d known he was bisexual before a lot of people believed it was a real sexuality.
But then he’d met Patricia and fallen so hard that he hadn’t looked anywhere else for a long, long time. After she stomped all over his heart, he just hadn’t been able to dredge up much interest in sex outside of a hookup here and there.
And he’d yet to know what one of those was like with a man.
But he wanted to.
Badly.
The problem was…he was too nervous to try. He was too damn old to be fumbling around during sex. He knew what he liked when it came to his own body, but he had no clue what to do with another man. All he knew was what he craved…what he liked to watch when it came to porn.
And since Dom had been laying the charm on so thick, there had been so. Much. Porn. It was almost like he was seventeen again.
Almost.
“Abe?”
He raised his gaze to find those green eyes narrowed above a sexy-as-fuck grin in his open truck window.
“We having a truck picnic or did you want to come inside?” His smile faded as he stepped back and opened the door. “Just tacos and a movie. Promise.”
Feeling like a fool, Abe got out and stood staring down at Dom, who looked just as edible in casual jeans and a ratty Nine Inch Nails tee as he did in the tight nightclub clothes Abe had seen him in last. While he wasn’t bulky, his martial arts training and workouts had made his body into a tight thing of beauty with arms that rippled with muscle. Those damn arms. Abe’s mouth watered, and his dick began to fill.
Dammit.
He cleared his throat, mumbled something about being hungry, and strode up the few steps to Dom’s deck and front door—the whole time trying, without success, to talk his hard-on down.
Seemed his dick didn’t have the same issues with self-confidence.
Dom noticed the boner right away. The boner and the way Abe’s gaze had been glued to his arms. He’d forgotten about the man’s fascination with them. When he’d briefly taken Abe on as a client to protect him the year before, Abe hadn’t hidden the direction of his gaze well. Dom had been one hundred percent open to hooking up with the hottest damn silver fox he’d ever seen in his life. Tall and broad-chested, Abe held this sort of solid carriage and big-guy sex appeal Dom hadn’t even known he liked before.
But Abe wasn’t biting.
And nothing he did seemed to work. He’d never had to try so hard to get laid.
It was humbling. His ego had definitely taken a beating. He’d been a little shameless at first, doing everything but parading around naked in front of the man. But their age difference really seemed to matter to Abe, so he’d backed down and tried to settle for friendship. Too bad the chemistry and his own running mouth made him forget sometimes.
But he’d never push where he wasn’t wanted.
Problem was…he could tell he was. This wasn’t the first boner he’d spotted on the guy. That was what made it so frustrating.
One of Dom’s closest friends was dating Abe’s son, Shane. When Dom had been called in when Shane got into some nasty shit, he’d been expecting to see someone more like his own father. Or how his father had looked before Dom had cut his family from his life. But Abe had been a teen dad, and now he was the epitome of sexy with his salt-and-pepper curly hair and close beard. Dom had lost sleep thinking about those big hands and the smile that somehow made him look both shy and forceful at the same time.
Like he wanted to pin Dom down and do all kinds of raunchy things to his body and he didn’t know how to feel about that.
Dom had never wanted something so badly in his life. He wanted to experience every dirty and not-so-dirty thing that crossed Abe’s mind.
That was what had him so mixed up. Dom was comfortable with Abe, but the man also made him feel young and awkward. He was thirty-two fucking years old! He wanted to wake up to coffee and donuts with him, but he also wanted to tug him into the shower and explore every inch of his masculine body with soapy hands.
“Go on in,” he told Abe, who had stopped politely at the door.
Abe opened the door and held it open for Dom. “So, why aren’t you out with Trent Elrige?”
Dom shrugged. “Because I wanted tacos. Got them from Cubitt’s on the way home, so they’re hot and fresh.”
The low laugh that followed his words made him smile. So did the scent of freshly showered man and cologne as Dom passed through the doorway, his body brushing against Abe’s. Dom’s heart picked up beats. The man had put on cologne. That meant something. Subtle and musky…and holy shit, he smelled so good, Dom pulled the scent deep into his lungs. It was there—the desire.
Be patient. Be patient. Be patient.
The chant went through his head as they grabbed the food and some beers, then settled onto the couch in the living room. He clicked on the television. One of the Marvel movies blasted across the big screen, and Dom settled in, determined to enjoy a couple of hours of laughter and excitement because they both loved the franchise.
“This one has to be your favorite because of the helicopter and the arms, right?” he asked as he unwrapped the first fragrant taco. Cumin, thyme, chili powder, peppers, and lime. He took a deep breath and a big bite. He had this particular truck on an actual app on his phone, so he knew where it would be parked anytime he craved the spicy, shredded pork and fresh veggies. Juice dripped down his chin.
Abe laughed, handed him a napkin, and dug into the bag of food. “So, you were guarding Trent Elrige? What’s he like?”
Dom shrugged. “Normal guy outside of being too good-looking to be real. We had an eventful night.”
“How’s that?”
“His stalker showed, but the situation was defused.”
“Why do I get the feeling you’re downplaying what happened?” Abe took a bite of his taco and groaned his pleasure.
Oh God, those kinds of noises would kil
l him. “I am a bit. I kicked the guy through a window. I’m sure Rowe will be happy to fight that bill with the hotel since they let the dumbass into the building.” He spoke of his boss with fondness. There was no one who liked to argue as much as Rowe. He’d probably give Dom points for creativity.
“Dom?”
“Yeah?”
“You actually kicked a guy through a window?”
“I did. It was cool as shit.”
Abe threw back his head, laughing once again. He did that a lot around Dom, and he found himself doing whatever he could to keep that sound coming. Abe had a deep, warm laugh that sent shivers through Dom.
“I wish I could have seen that.” He turned back to the movie. “Oh, I love this part.”
Dom settled in to watch, stealing glances at Abe throughout the movie. He realized he enjoyed this just as much as he would getting the man into his bed. There was an ease to them that was just as appealing as the heat.
At one point, Dom realized Abe was staring, and he shot him a wink. “So, Quinn was telling me that you’re going on vacation with him and Shane next month. Brave man. Do you want to hear what I’ve walked in on at the office?”
“Fuck no,” Abe growled with a shudder. “I’m happy for my son. Thrilled, really. But I’m not going with them. They only invited me because I was there for dinner when the topic came up. I plan to have a last-minute job.”
Dom paused while twisting off the cap of his third beer. “Aw, they’d be good with the daddy there.”
He rolled his eyes. “Don’t you start with that daddy stuff again.”
“But it’s soooo hot,” Dom drawled. He leaned closer. “Did you look at that porn link I sent?”
He expected red to creep into Abe’s face, but instead he just lifted his eyebrow and gave Dom the naughtiest grin he’d ever seen on the man. “I watched the whole thing.”
Dom waited. Partly out of curiosity and partly because he was slightly punch-drunk off that grin and the wicked promise in it. When Abe didn’t say anything else, he groaned. “Come on, you can’t leave it like that. Did you like it?”
Sadistic Sherlock (Ward Security Book 4) Page 2
