by Lissa Ford
The air in Jude’s lungs seized. Rowan’s kiss was a fierce blend of pain and anger, which Jude answered with his own cocktail of longing and rage. It wasn’t a kiss at all but a battle: teeth and tongues fought until Jude growled into Rowan’s answering snarl. Rowan’s hands dug into Jude’s shoulders punishingly.
Jude liked Rowan’s aggression. It matched his mood perfectly. He let his tongue surge against Rowan’s, fucking the other man’s mouth, tasting. He was going to take everything he could out of Rowan and let the chips fall later. After a long moment of torrid action, Rowan pulled back, gasping. Jude’s kisses left him breathless. Good. Very Good. A couple more minutes, he’d look desperate, hectic color flushing that golden skin of his, pupils blown. Jude would get him to beg. He’d make it his mission. Jude nipped at Rowan’s tender earlobe, then licked.
Rowan showed an even row of white teeth, a snarl of a grin. “Yeah,” he muttered, moving back in to suck at Jude’s lower lip. “Yeah.” He shivered between Jude’s palms.
Not good enough.
Jude sank his teeth into the tendon where neck and shoulder met, and Rowan went boneless with an “oh fuck.” Getting there. Jude let his larger frame and weight bear Rowan down into the cushions. Rowan’s legs dropped apart to let him in, and Jude took the advantage to rut his dick against Rowan’s hardened cock.
“You wanna do this?” The words purred out of Jude’s throat and against the skin of Rowan’s neck.
Rowan was gulping for air like a landed fish, mindlessly humping. “Yeah.”
Jude pulled back to loom over Rowan. He drew Rowan’s face closer to his and drifted his lips over Rowan’s. “Say it, Ro.”
“I want to fuck.”
Jude bent his head and nuzzled at Rowan’s neck again. “What’s that? You need to be clearer.” He slid his tongue against the pulse point between Rowan’s jaw and ear, tasting. “You need to tell me exactly what you want.”
“Ohhhh, fuck. I…I…” Rowan’s eyes rolled back into his head when Jude palmed his dick with a sure hand. “I want you to fuck me.”
“Mmm?” Jude’s hand slid away from Rowan’s cock.
“Jude. P-please.”
There. That was what Jude was waiting for.
Jude smiled grimly to himself when he levered up off the couch, bringing Rowan with him. Liquid fire surged through his veins, the inferno of lust that happened when skin on skin contact with Rowan torched the bonfire.
Only total capitulation would satisfy Jude. He would go after Rowan’s white flag, now, in Rowan’s bed.
Regrets were for tomorrow.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rowan’s bed was as Jude remembered, a king-sized expanse of high-quality linens Jude had once enjoyed rumpling and marking with Rowan’s sweat and spunk. The journey down the hall had been brief but served the purpose of giving them both enough time to strip. Just across the threshold of the bedroom, as soon as Jude kicked off his jeans, Rowan reached for him, smoothing palms down Jude’s shoulders before running his fingers through the pelt of auburn hair covering Jude’s chest. “You feel so fucking good,” Rowan slurred before putting his mouth against the hollow of Jude’s throat. “You taste so fucking good.”
Jude tilted his head back to allow Rowan better access to the pulse points on Jude’s neck. He ran a possessive hand over the taut swell of Rowan’s ass. “Take as much as you want,” Jude murmured. Because I sure as hell will.
On a growl, Rowan licked and worried the skin on Jude’s throat before hungrily reaching for another kiss. Jude gave it to him, liking his pliancy, his urgency. Jude ran his other hand over the dense muscles of Rowan’s back before palming his ass in both hands to bring their groins together. Rowan gasped and tore his mouth away from Jude’s. “Fuck!”
“That’s the idea.” Jude replied unrepentantly.
“This is a huge mistake.”
“Yeah. Probably.” Jude pushed Rowan insistently toward the bed. “Almost certainly.”
Rowan laughed, then gasped when Jude jerked them together for a hard kiss before nudging him until the backs of Rowan’s knees hit the edge of the mattress.
Jude was going for the takedown when Rowan put a shaking hand on Jude’s chest to stop him. “Wait. Wait.” Rowan blew out a breath. “Jesus Christ, I can’t think.”
“You want me to stop?” Jude pressed a soft kiss to Rowan’s temple. “You want me to go?” He kissed the bridge of Rowan’s nose before letting his mouth travel the expanse of Rowan’s cheek, down to the Chinese rune tattooed on Rowan’s shoulder, high enough to comply with trooper grooming standards. Jude ran his tongue over the ink, remembering vaguely that Rowan had explained it was the symbol of a dragon, which meant bravery, tenacity and power.
“Goddamn,” Rowan breathed, eyes drifting close.
Jude swallowed a smile and took a step away. “I’ll go.”
“No! No—I—” Rowan sucked in a hard breath. “Lemme turn around.”
Before Jude could stop him, Rowan turned and planted both hands on the bed, offering up his ass. His tight, delectable ass. Jude took a moment to admire the view, running an appreciative hand up the muscled expanse of Rowan’s back before smoothing down Rowan’s spine. Rowan arched up into his touch. Then he backed up, seeking.
Jude couldn’t resist nestling his hard dick between Rowan’s inviting cleft. Passing that up would be like asking a crackhead to pass up a free bowl. They moaned together, both enjoying the friction, the smell of sex, the blissful promise of a good hard fuck. But that wasn’t what Jude wanted. Jude had other plans.
Rowan was vaguely waving at his nightstand. “Supplies. Top drawer. Hurry.”
Not yet. Jude reached forward and dug his hand into Rowan’s hair. He tugged Rowan’s head back, a signal. Rowan resisted for a moment, reminding Jude how close his dick was to Rowan’s entrance by shoving backward. Jude kept the gentle pressure on Rowan’s scalp until he obeyed the unspoken directive, until the shell of his ear was next to Jude’s mouth. “Turn around,” Jude murmured.
Rowan groaned but he shook his head. In answer, he rubbed his ass harder against Jude.
Jude’s breath stuttered. The pressure of Rowan’s tight ass against his cock was nearly enough to make him shoot. Jude was relentless, though. He was on a mission. “Turn around, Ro.”
Rowan shuddered. “You son of a bitch,” he muttered.
“Do it.”
Rowan swore again and waggled enticingly against Jude once more, but Jude was having none of it. His time with Rowan would not be reduced to a simple fuck, even though Rowan was trying to steer it that way. He nuzzled Rowan’s jugular with his teeth, savoring the prickle of Rowan’s stubble. “Turn.”
“Asshole—”
“Turn.”
Sluggishly, Rowan obeyed. Eyes closed, breaths shallow and quickening. Rock hard in Jude’s hand.
Jude studied the two crescents of lashes lowered against Rowan’s cheeks. “Now open your eyes.”
“You’re getting laid, Jude. Do you have to take me apart while you’re at it?” Rowan cried out, keeping his eyes stubbornly shut.
Jude would have felt sorry for Rowan if his desperation hadn’t tasted like victory.
“Yes,” Jude answered. “Taking you apart is just the beginning.”
“Motherf—”
His mouth covered Rowan’s words of outrage with a demanding kiss. Before Rowan would be able to think it through, Jude took them both in hand, brought their dicks together and stroked.
“I…oh.” Rowan gasped, a little sound of surprise and pleasure.
“Open…your…eyes,” Jude hissed. His grip caressed them both. Up. Down. Up. A flick of thumb against the silky skin of Rowan’s flushed cockhead.
Rowan bit down on his lower lip until it was rosy. He swore and thrust and shuddered but after a moment’s brief struggle he cracked his eyes apart, sluggishly, like someone fevered, someone waking up after a long sleep.
Jude studied the heavy-lidded, tawny gaze. The glaze of desire.
The edge of emotion lurking in the depths. He brought his face close to Rowan’s, hoping the other man saw the same reflected in Jude’s eyes. “Good,” Jude said. “And now I’ll give you everything I have.”
A shudder rolled through Rowan’s frame. Jude made quick work of the prep. Rowan lay compliant in his capitulation, almost blitzed out while he waited for Jude to finish getting them both ready for the hard fuck they both craved, his shallow breathing making his chest quickly rise and fall. Jude surged into Rowan, savoring his heat and slickness, and they both groaned with relief at the completion.
“I missed this,” Rowan sighed, almost unwillingly once Jude was firmly rooted. “I missed you.”
“Me too.” Jude dragged his lips over Rowan’s. “You have no idea.”
“You’re a bastard, Jude. For putting us through this.”
Jude snapped his hips. Rowan cried out as his gland was struck. “I’ll make it up to you,” Jude murmured, settling into their tempo.
Rowan writhed as Jude pounded, seeking. “Don’t think that you’re forgiven,” he gasped between thrusts.
“I wouldn’t.”
“That everything’s okay because I let you fuck me.”
Jude huffed out a laugh. “You don’t let me do anything without thinking it over a hundred times first. You wanted this.”
Rowan undulated his hips against Jude’s, drawing Jude’s more colorful swear words out of him. “So did you.”
“Mmm,” Jude agreed, nipping Rowan’s lower lip. “I also want this.”
Jude wiggled his hand between them and took hold of Rowan’s blood-bright dick. Rowan swore and prayed and gasped as Jude jerked him with the ruthless expertise hard won over the months of their previous togetherness: Jude knew that fucks from his cock coupled with long firm pumps of his fist would drive Rowan to the edge.
He smiled when Rowan cried out, “Oh, you fucker—” and ropes of spunk flooded their bellies.
“Yessss,” Jude crooned while Rowan convulsed. “Yes, baby. That’s it. So good…”
Rowan’s head rolled back in an extremity of pleasure. Jude watched in satisfaction as Rowan’s tendency to blush when fucked suffused his skin with a dusky rose.
When Rowan lay limp and spent in Jude’s arms, Jude tucked his head against Rowan’s shoulder and let his hips pick up a rapid, punishing rhythm.
“Oh God,” Rowan muttered against Jude’s sweaty temple. “So…damn…good…”
Jude’s bad leg began to burn, but he ignored the pain. His heart thudded against his chest, sweat prickled his skin but he kept driving home until he groaned in his final thrust, freezing as his orgasm slammed into him. Rowan let him ride out the release surrounded by tender, silly words Jude was sure Rowan had no idea he was murmuring. When it was over, Jude panted against Rowan’s skin, his cum cooling between them to fuse their stomachs together. The flavor of Rowan’s skin laved across Jude’s tongue; he breathed in the scent of their releases mixed with the faint hint of sandalwood and cedar from Rowan’s aftershave. Rowan’s skin was slick with sweat and heat. Everything that was Rowan filled him, and he was content.
Peace flooded Jude. Maybe for the first time in over a year.
The next thing Jude knew, he was being awakened by Rowan rolling him off his warm pliant body with a muttered: “Jude, get off. You weigh ten tons.”
Jude startled. “Oh shit, did I fall asleep?”
“Yeah. Passed clean out. No clean up, no cuddle. Some Romeo you are.”
Jude rubbed his sleepy, scratchy lids as he sprawled next to Rowan. Then he eyed Rowan warily. Despite his sharp words, Rowan was regarding Jude with a soft, almost shy expression. Rowan’s inky hair was springing up all over the place, and his skin was still dusky with his sex-flush. So Jude couldn’t have been asleep that long.
Rowan’s bashful little smile burrowed into Jude. Before he could stop himself, he reached out and brought Rowan’s face to his with a cupped, insistent hand. “Regrets?” he asked seriously.
Surprise and caution flickered in Rowan’s eyes but Jude ignored them and brought their lips together with a kiss. Please don’t pull away, Rowan…
Rowan didn’t. To Jude’s delight, he sighed and sank into the kiss, which was velvety and sweet as sugar.
When their lips parted, Rowan said, “Yeah. I have a lot of regrets.” Jude felt the sting of disappointment until Rowan continued, “But this isn’t one of them.”
Jude knew he was grinning like a fool. “Good,” he said. “Good.”
Rowan was smiling, too. They were both beaming at each other like idiots when Rowan’s cell beeped.
“Go ahead,” Jude said. “I need a shower and food, in that order.”
Rowan laughed. “I can supply both.” He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “Thai Express is still open. I can call in a delivery after I take this call. Gang panang?”
Jude shouldn’t have felt so happy that Rowan remembered Jude’s usual. “Perfect.”
Rowan smiled, then snatched up his phone. “Muir,” he said briskly while he moved into the next room, still bare ass naked and grabbing the discarded tee shirt to wipe jizz off his stomach. Jude watched his hips moving with lean grace, admiring Rowan’s sculpted muscles. Carnal thoughts flitted through Jude’s brain before he shook himself and headed into Rowan’s bathroom to try and sort through Rowan’s bewildering array of grooming products.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The gang panang was spicy and loaded with prawns. Jude snapped the two wooden chopsticks apart and began wolfing it out of the carton immediately.
Rowan placed two bottles of Stella Artois on the coffee table before sitting down to tackle his own carton of pad thai. The television was playing in the background, turned to the local late-night news. Rowan muted it so the close-captioning crawled at the bottom of the screen. “That hit and run attempt was no coincidence,” he said after a few minutes of plowing through the noodles. “Someone wants you dead.”
Jude adjusted the towel around his hips. “Your dinnertime conversational skills still need work.”
“Good thing I have my pretty face.”
“Among other assets.” Jude playfully ogled Rowan’s crotch area framed attractively by the threadbare track pants.
“Down boy.” Rowan ogled Jude right back, eyeing the towel wrapped around Jude’s waist from the shower.
Scary how easy it was to slip back into their old dynamic. Almost as if they’d only been separated a couple of weeks instead of long, lonely months.
Evidently, Rowan was thinking the same thing. He cleared his throat and said, almost stubbornly, “You talking to that bartender stirred up a hornet’s nest. First Tully, now attempted hit and run.”
Jude couldn’t argue with the logic because he was thinking the same thing.
“You get a look at the driver of that vehicle?” Rowan asked.
Jude shook his head. “Just a cap and sunglasses. It wasn’t Tully.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” Jude took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. “I didn’t get the impression the car was coming for me, though.”
Rowan’s chopsticks hovered over his carton. “What do you mean?”
“The car was heading right for you, Ro.”
“Me? What makes you think that? We were standing together.”
Jude replayed the incident in his head. He clearly remembered the grill of the dented compact car pointing at Rowan, which triggered Jude to shove Rowan out of the car’s path. But Rowan was right; they were standing side by side.
Apprehension settled over Jude. Something about the case wasn’t adding up, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was yet.
Rowan was going on. “Even though the near miss is a shitty thing, I think it’s a sign that we’re getting close to a smoking gun in the Gruber homicide. Natsios says E.J. Tully does have alibis for the night Gruber died, but they’re weak. Family members, buddies. People who would lie for Tully. The coroner also confirms that Gruber was killed el
sewhere, then dumped on your porch a few hours later. Maybe E.J. learned that Gruber hooked up with you, and the temptation to fuck you over was too great. Or maybe he felt he couldn’t take a chance that Gruber wouldn’t spill the beans to you about his side job selling dope, and needed to make sure he wouldn’t talk.”
“Why dump Travis on my porch if Tully wanted to make sure I never found out about Travis’ moonlighting gig?”
“E.J. Tully isn’t anywhere near a criminal mastermind. Cunning, yes. Smart, no. In any event, we’re tracing Gruber’s last hours.”
“Check if he visited the bartender that night.” Jude dropped an uneaten prawn back in the carton. “She and Travis had a thing going.”
“A ‘co-workers with benefits’ kind of thing? I thought Gruber was a man-slut for cock.”
“Apparently, he swung both ways. Jonni says they hooked up on occasion. She didn’t care that Travis was sleeping around, as long as she was able to blow off steam with him when she wanted it.”
“Do tell.” Rowan stuffed noodles in his mouth and chewed furiously, thinking hard before swallowing. “Or, what if Jonni Dormund really isn’t an anatomical ‘she,’ after all?”
“Now that would be…interesting.” Jude considered. Jonni possessed a slender yet muscular frame, which had no problems slinging cases of beer behind the bar. Jude didn’t notice an Adam’s apple, though truth be told, he wasn’t looking for one at the time. “Maybe she was more jealous than she let on. Travis told her he’d found someone he wanted to hook up with more than once; maybe she couldn’t handle it.”
“Maybe.” Rowan wore a thoughtful expression. Then he shook himself. “In any event, Tully seems like the stronger lead of the two. After we retrace Gruber’s last hours, I’m confident we’ll find a link to Tully.”
Jude ate in silence for a few minutes, thinking.
Rowan broke into his thoughts. “You have that look.”
“What look?”
“The ‘that’s a nice theory, Muir, but’ look.”
