In My Arms Tonight

by Bailey Bradford

  He strode into the entry way then towards the kitchen, pausing by the door when an unfamiliar voice rumbled in response to Chase’s question about how whoever that was wanted their coffee. James might have, at that point, turned around and left, but Xavier’s voice brought him up short as he started to turn around.

  “So, you seemed to hit it off with Glenn.”

  James’ breath hitched in his chest and he felt such a throbbing pain there he thought his heart was actually seizing up.

  “He’s a nice guy,” that voice rumbled, “sexy as fuck. My sister would be happy if we hooked up for a while.”

  The pain in James’ chest exploded into a fury not unlike the one he’d felt in his kitchen so long ago. But he had better control now, didn’t he? James closed his eyes and dropped a shoulder to the wall as he fisted his hands. He didn’t have any right to be angry, he knew he didn’t. That deep voice kept rumbling on about how hot Glenn was, how funny, how www.total-e-bound.com

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  attractive, how his ass looked in ‘those jeans’ and the way his shoulders stretched the seams of his T-shirt and James thought fuck it, self-control was over-rated.

  “And his mouth—the man knows how to kiss”—the voice purred,—“makes me

  wonder what else he knows how to do with it.”

  In the silence that followed, James thought he could hear his heartbeat as well as everyone else’s. He held his breath and tried not to lunge into the kitchen and do anything stupid. His pulse pounded in his ears for several minutes as he tried to calm down, tried to breathe quietly. I have no reason to be pissed, to be jealous. None. At. All. James kept telling himself that, but his head wasn’t buying it, or his heart wasn’t, something, he didn’t even know at this point. All he did know was that he felt like someone had taken a red-hot poker and shoved it in his chest, and that was his own fault.

  He still wanted to kick the ass of the owner of that rumbly voice, and his feet were moving before he could think about it.

  “—might be pushing him too far,” James heard Chase say in that warning voice of his.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t—”

  James stepped into the kitchen and immediately sought out the person who wasn’t Xavier or Chase. The sheer size of the visitor made James glad he had some impulse control, because the big burly guy who had been talking about Glenn would surely have torn James to pieces with his pinkies.

  The guy looked at James with some weird mix of emotions flickering in his brown eyes—or maybe he had some of those creepy contacts, James didn’t know or care. He was too busy noting the perfect body and face, the long nose with the slight bump, the lips— lips that had been on Glenn’s—

  I did not just growl! Two sets of amused eyes told him otherwise. The huge horny jackass who wanted Glenn didn’t even bat a lash, though.

  “James,” Xavier began as he took a couple of steps over until he was almost fully between James and the Giant Asshole. “You haven’t met Troy. He’s the head bartender at The Xxchange.”

  And Glenn’s future fuck buddy? James wanted to ask, didn’t want to ask, just wanted this Troy guy annihilated if he wouldn’t stay away from Glenn. He focused on Troy’s brown www.total-e-bound.com

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  eyes, unable to handle seeing something that could have been sympathy on the giant’s expression.

  “Glenn and I really aren’t suited,” Troy said, and James didn’t miss the glare Chase shot the man. James narrowed his eyes at Troy but he was already putting it together in his head, and his anger at the man was lessening with each piece of the puzzle snapping into place. James managed what he thought was a smile and nodded at Troy.

  Then he pushed Xavier back a step and glared from Xavier to Chase. Xavier cracked first. “We were just trying to—”

  “Make me see the light?” James snapped, adding another shove as he took a step forward. “Fucking with me? Because you were—”

  “James, we weren’t fucking with you,” Chase said softly, a plea in his voice James rarely heard. James arched a brow at him. “We wouldn’t, you know that. It’s just, Glenn seems to be—he’s…” Chase darted a pleading look at Xavier, but it was Troy who answered.

  “Moving on, I think that’s what they’re trying to say.” James looked at Troy. If there’d been sympathy in his eyes a few seconds ago it was long gone now, replaced by a hard look instead. “I don’t know what’s going on between you two, or if anything is, but Glenn seems like a nice guy, one anyone would be lucky to have. Add to that, he’s really sweet and…eager when he’s had a few drinks. It’s a good thing he has friends looking out for him.”

  But they couldn’t look out for him all the time. Then the eager comment slapped him upside the head and he glared at Troy. “How eager?”

  Troy merely shrugged and said, “Eager enough.”

  James curled his hands into fists and he took a step forward only to have Xavier shove him back. “Get it together, James,” Xavier rumbled in a voice that shot straight to James’

  spine, snapping it straight and stilling his feet. “Troy didn’t do anything more than dance with Glenn and make sure he got to his new place safe and sound.”

  “How do you know?” James asked, narrowing his eyes at Troy.

  “I trust Troy, and if he says nothing happened, then nothing happened.”

  James would have felt more reassured had Troy not taken that moment to glance away. “Call Glenn,” James said, fear building in his stomach, spreading to his bowels and up through his chest. Why did Troy look away? “Just call Glenn and make sure he’s okay. Please, Xav.” James was ready to drop to his knees and beg, if that’s what it took.

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  Xavier blanched when he seemed to realise James was really worried that Troy had done something to Glenn, but he nodded once then murmured, “Sorry, Troy. I have to do this for James.”

  In other words, James was crazy and making shit up in his head, but Xavier would call Glenn just to prove to James he was fine and James was still a mess. Maybe that wasn’t exactly what Xavier meant, but James wouldn’t have blamed him if he had. He wasn’t capable of being rational all the time.

  Chase hadn’t missed Troy averting his eyes, either, though, because James saw Chase settle his bright gaze on the bartender. And Troy squirmed. “Tell me,” Chase demanded once Xavier left the room, muttering about needing to find his damn cell phone.

  Troy sighed and held his hands up in front of himself, palms out before pointing at James. “You need to stay where you are. I’d feel like shit if I hurt you. I don’t know what your story is, but I’ve never been good at being anyone’s punching bag.”

  James stopped moving forward. Troy’s muscles were a deterrent, but not as much as his need to hear what happened with Glenn. Chase’s shoulder bumped James’ and he knew his friend would have his back—and Troy’s balls—if the man had done anything Glenn didn’t want.

  Troy’s big shoulders sagged and he dragged his hands over his face. “Fine,” he sighed before lowering his hands to rest at his hips. “I kissed him at his door, then he asked me to come in, said he needed to forget someone and nothing else was working.” Troy glared in a way that sent a shiver down James’ spine, even as guilt flooded his veins so heavily James expected to drown in it. “I told him no, because he was more than a little drunk, and because I don’t think he’s the kind of guy to do casual. The fact that he’s hung up on you ought to be proof enough of that. Otherwise,” Troy came up from his casual pose of leaning against the cabinets, “I’d have been all him. So you need to make up your mind, buddy, and quit fucking with Glenn’s head. Either cut him loose or keep him. If you don’t want him, I’d be more than happy to take him on.” And with that, Troy walked out of the kitchen, bumping Chas
e hard enough to bounce him off James.

  Chase snarled and started to go after the man, but stopped, then glared at James instead. “Fucker winked at me! Winked! ”

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  “He does have a warped sense of humour,” Xavier said from behind them. “And Glenn’s fine, James. Chase, you did ask Troy to come over here and try to make James see the light where Glenn is concerned, which was kind of…”

  “Stupid, I know,” Chase admitted. “I am sorry James, but I didn’t know what else to do. You won’t ask about Glenn but you perk up like a dog offered a bone if we say his name, and he’s…he can’t wait around forever. Then at the club he was getting so much attention, I just—” Chase sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It won’t be long before someone else catches his eye, just for sex. I asked Troy to keep an eye on him, and even worked the bar so Troy could hang with Glenn and try to keep him safe from all the predators circling around. I didn’t know they’d really hit it off.”

  “There’s a difference between hitting it off and just being horny,” Xavier pointed out.

  James didn’t care at this point, he didn’t want Glenn being with anyone else, despite thinking just the previous day that he could deal with it. Now he just had to figure out how to let Glenn know he was interested, and had been for a while. And that he was still screwed up… James dropped his gaze to the floor and blocked out Xavier and Chase as they went on about the differences between being horny and—whatever.

  Was it fair of him to get involved with Glenn, if Glenn was willing, even? What did he have to offer the man, after all? An image of Troy, all big muscles and handsome and perfect flitted through James’ mind. His stomach knotted. Glenn would be better off with someone like Troy, but as James stood there in the kitchen, he knew he couldn’t let that happen.

  Whether it made him selfish or not, he couldn’t forget Glenn, and it sounded like, from what Troy said, Glenn wasn’t having any success in forgetting James, either.

  Now he just needed to figure out what that meant, exactly, and what to do about it.

  James’ grin probably would have scared small children, but he felt hopeful, scared, and eager in a way he hadn’t in far too long.

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  Chapter Seventeen

  “Oh, come on, Officer Daddy, I’m sure there are other things you’d rather give me than a ticket.”

  Glenn blinked, stunned into silence and frozen in something awfully close to terror as he looked down at the young woman in the driver’s seat of the sporty little convertible. Big blue eyes that should have looked innocent in such a young face instead were filled with all sorts of lascivious knowledge that, frankly, made him feel a little queasy. The girl didn’t look a day over fifteen, even though he knew she was legal as evidenced by her licence, which he’d already ran. Between her looks and the whole Officer Daddy shit, he was vacillating between horror and anger, along with that twinge of fear.

  Belinda—his would be seducer—batted her long lashes at him as she licked her lips.

  Somehow she did something and her boobs almost popped right out of the top of her skintight strapless shirt. Glenn thought he might have actually seen the edge of a peach coloured nipple before he whipped his attention back to Belinda’s face. He settled his sternest look in place and growled.

  “I can ticket you for soliciting an officer, attempting to bribe an officer—”

  Belinda’s mouth dropped open and she slapped her hands to her chest, then promptly tugged her shirt up. “Officer Da—Shearing, you misunderstood what I meant! I just meant you could…could—”

  Glenn glared until his eyes nearly crossed and Belinda shut up. Tears welled in her eyes and spilled onto her cheeks, but he couldn’t find much sympathy for her. Something told him Belinda got her way more often than not, especially when she was so willing to flash her goods to get what she wanted. “Ms De la Cruz, I’m ticketing you for speeding. You were going fifty-six in a forty mile per hour zone. I will not ticket you—or arrest you—at this time for your other offences, but believe me, if you try this type of behaviour with any of the other officers,” like Les, “you’ll find yourself in jail so fast you won’t know what hit you. Do you understand?”

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  Once she understood her assets weren’t going to get her out of trouble, Belinda was as polite as could be. Glenn still didn’t trust her any further than he’d trust the elastic band of her shirt to keep her breasts covered. He finished up with her then waited until she pulled away to grunt and wonder how he’d managed to fake his way through so much of his life. If a pretty woman like Belinda De la Cruz didn’t do it for him, how had he ever got it up for any other female?

  Just too many years pretending. He’d wasted so much time, and now that he’d decided to stop hiding—and to stop waiting around on the one man he’d never have—Glenn was eager to get on with his life.

  Now, if his friends would just let him do that…

  Glenn sighed and started his cruiser as he thought about the subtle ways his friends were interfering. And how recently they’d begun making little comments about James, letting it slip here and there how he was doing, or some witty thing he’d said. Glenn supposed it was because they thought he was over the man, when in truth every bit he heard both hurt and thrilled him.

  Still, he was trying. He’d gone to The Xxchange a few times, but evidently something had changed since his visit there when Troy had brought him home. Glenn didn’t remember much about that at all, but Troy had become a good friend…and while Glenn still got plenty of looks, not a single man had approached him. He wasn’t quite up to making the first move, or he hadn’t been, but he was getting so desperate he thought he could go up and bluntly ask an attractive man if he wanted to fuck.

  Or maybe not, since his face felt like it was on fire just thinking about it. He’d just have to be a little more subtle than that. And go without any of his friends, because he was beginning to think they were part of the problem with his lack of a sex life.

  To be truthful though, and he did always try to be truthful especially to himself, it wasn’t that he wanted sex so bad. No, it was more that he couldn’t get over James, past him, around him, whatever. James was always there, in his thoughts and fantasies, and Glenn knew, he knew he had to move on. And he was trying, but damn it, his heart wasn’t listening at all, and his own brain was sure sabotaging him with the wicked dreams, and the sweet ones that he would never, ever, tell anyone else about. Glenn woke up from those dreams and felt like he’d never be able to be with anyone if he couldn’t have James. But he knew, in www.total-e-bound.com

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  the light of day, that kind of thinking wasn’t going to do any good at all, and he tried again and again to get one with his life.

  “Like that’s working so well,” he scoffed as he realised where he was driving to. As he did every day Xavier and Chase worked, he slowed the cruiser down when he got closer to Chase and Xavier’s place. This late in the afternoon, they were both gone, getting The Xxchange ready to open up for business. As far as he knew, they weren’t aware of his habit of driving by in hopes of catching even a glimpse of James. Every time he’d done it, Glenn hadn’t caught sight of the man, but he now knew every detail of the big house by detail. He even knew the types of plants and flowers out in the yard—pink and white oleander, heather, larkspur, verbena and lantana. Part of that was because Chase was turning out to be quite a gardener and frequently talked about his green thumb. The other reason he knew the plants is because he’d spent some time at the local nursery one day when he’d been particularly lonely.

  Today, however,
Glenn almost wrecked his cruiser, his hands going slack on the wheel when he saw something different from the usual landscape. Glenn’s heart tripled its beat as soon as he spotted James leaning against the huge oak tree in the front yard. The one closest to the street.

  Glenn’s face flamed with heat as his gaze locked with James’, and the slow, amused smile curling the man’s slips conveyed a warning that tightened Glenn’s hands on the wheel and snapped his attention back to the road. Glenn narrowly missed jumping the kerb and introducing the front of his cruiser to a telephone pole. He braked before he could think of all the reasons he shouldn’t, then looked at James again.

  The man looked fucking beautiful. Glenn soaked up his image, the tank top showing slightly delineated musculature as James uncrossed his arms and tucked his thumbs in his pockets. Glenn dragged his gaze up and licked his lips as James’ stretched wider in what looked like a welcoming smile. When James licked his bottom lip, Glenn’s dick sprung to full attention, liking that display much more than Belinda’s.

  James tipped his head slightly. The short red curls moved softly in a breeze, and Glenn’s fingers itched to be buried in them, to see if they felt as soft as they looked. James’

  hair had grown out enough that his curls were obvious now, and Glenn wondered if James www.total-e-bound.com

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  was going to leave them be. James had kept his hair short before, those glorious curls tamed and slicked back so that it was hard to tell there was even a hint of wave to his hair.

  As if knowing Glenn’s thoughts, James lifted a hand and ran it through his hair, and Glenn’s cock grew achingly hard. He dragged his gaze down, lingering for a second on that mouth before taking in the broad shoulders that had picked up a little bulk. James’ pecs were slightly defined now, too, and he could make out large, dark nipples under the thin white material. James’ hand swept down, touching himself as if following the path Glenn’s eyes had taken. When James stopped at one nipple and rubbed, Glenn’s dick pulsed and moisture spread over the front of his uniform pants.