Flesh Market
Page 26
Back on the Trail
They spent the weekend getting to know each other better. Eating, canoeing, watching videos on the projector in the movie room. Humping like bunny rabbits.
Saturday night, while Leo cooked, Julian killed some time by going through the cabin owner’s extensive movie collection, looking for things he thought both of them would like. One shelf was full of action movies, all of them directed by the same man. Something clicked, and Julian finally realized who owned the cabin. That night in bed he made Leo tell him how he ended up with a standing invitation to borrow the summer house of one of the most successful directors in Hollywood.
Julian remembered the stories, a ransom demand and a raid by the FBI that had brought the man’s son and daughter home to him. But Leo filled in the dry black-and-white of the newspaper article, rendering it in Technicolor for Julian’s education. He talked about tracking down the kidnappers, about surrounding the house where the children were being kept, of the snipers hiding motionless on rooftops and inside neighboring bedrooms. Of blowing the door and charging through with guns drawn. He’d carried the little girl out of the building, her face tucked into his shoulder, while his team guarded his retreat.
The more Leo talked, the more Julian knew that he’d made the right choice. He might have been happy as an analyst, but as an agent, he was alive.
Julian changed his flight for another late Sunday night. They talked about Kansas City for a bit while Julian flicked bottle caps at Leo, face carefully innocent. In revenge, Leo dug a bundle of elastic bands out of a kitchen drawer and chased Julian around the house shooting at him until Julian managed to gather his own ammunition and even the score. They ended up back in bed, where Leo made up for a couple of dirty shots with a spectacular blowjob.
No matter how hard they tried, though, evening came. Julian packed his bag in contemplative silence while Leo watched from his seat on the edge of the bed.
“You want me to check the bathroom, just in case you missed anything?”
Julian shook his head. “No, I got it.” He closed the bag and stood there, looking at it. “I have to go.”
Leo reached out to take one of Julian’s hands. “I know. But there’s the phone and video chat, and we’ll see each other in six months. You’ll be so busy, it’ll be time to come home before you know it.”
“Yeah.” Julian kissed him—and immediately regretted it because now he wanted nothing more than to stay there wrapped up in Leo’s arms, lazing in bed, talking about nothing. But he had a job waiting for him, and a flight he had to catch. “If I don’t go now, I’ll be too late to make it through security.”
“You’d better go, then.”
Neither of them moved. Finally Leo broke the silence. “You’ll be fine. Call me when you get there; keep me updated on what you’re doing.”
“I will.” They walked down the stairs. Leo followed Julian out onto the deck and stood at the rail, watching as Julian threw his bag into the car and got in. Julian started the car and backed out, waving brightly at Leo so the other man wouldn’t guess how hard he felt this. He put the car in gear and started his turn toward the drive, when a thump on the driver’s window made him start. He looked, but there was nothing there. Until another elastic hit with a solid smack, hung on the glass for a second, then dropped to the ground. Julian laughed and looked up at Leo, who grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.
Julian gave him the finger in return, then began his drive back to the airport, his heart fifty pounds lighter. Six months wasn’t so long, all told. This weekend had done more to ease old scars than all the talk of the past year and more. And when he got back to Washington, he’d be on equal footing with Leo.
He was no longer who he had been before, but he thought the new Julian was someone he could be proud of.
Loose Id Titles by Kate Lowell
Bite Me Tender
Christmas Goes Analog
* * * *
The BODIES & SOULS Series
Flesh Market
Kate Lowell
Kate lives on the east coast of Canada, in an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. She has one horse now, who still has medical issues, and three cats, all of which still have mental issues. She still refuses to get a dog, because who knows what would be wrong with it.
Kate loves to read and write. She also likes playing with computers and is going back to school to do a programming degree, just for giggles. Or the opportunity to take over the world. (Oh, who are we kidding? Think of all the work that would mean.) She also likes pictures of pretty men and keeps many of them on her computer. (The pictures, not the men.) She would dearly love a cabana boy to mow her lawn and maybe rub her shoulders after a long day of making men fall in love with each other, then cackling evilly and raining frustration and danger on them.
Find out more at http://katelowell.com/
Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
Tracking System
Supply Problems
Pick of the Crop
Hammer Mill
Destination
A Prime Cut
Choice Meat
Inspection
Grade A
Prep Work
Shipping
Tenderization
Lean
Marinade
Service
For Sale
Video
Blue Rare
Delivery
Taste
Display
Technical Difficulties
Lost Opportunity
Sample
The Bill
Point of Sale
The Final Cut
Tear Down
Payment on Account
Clean Up
Break
Mend
Confession
Penance
Home
Holding Pattern
Quantico
Recycled
Change of Direction
Back on the Trail
Loose Id Titles by Kate Lowell
Kate Lowell