We circled around a knot of laughing people swilling champagne and came out right in front of the Middletons. Gabe swallowed audibly at my side, but when I looked down at him he’d pasted on a bright society smile that any debutante would’ve envied.
“Mom, Dad,” he said, with only the faintest trace of anxiety showing. Jesus, they really had trained him for this. The back of my neck already itched with the desire to get out of here. No wonder he’d fled to the quiet, nerdy safety of a chemistry lab the second he could. “Dave.”
Dave nodded, Mr. Middleton offered his hand for a manly shake—seriously, even my old-school father hugged me, Jesus—and Mrs. Middleton went in for a kiss on the cheek.
“Gabriel,” she said. “I’m so glad you’re here. Introduce me?” She gave me a quick, subtle once-over that I might’ve missed if I hadn’t been looking for it. Her expression didn’t change at all from the smile she hadn’t lost once since I’d been watching her.
Gabe froze, his eyes going wide, and the hand on my arm tightened painfully.
Oh, for fuck’s sake. I’d never told him my last name. Not even a fake last name.
How badly could I fail at being a fake boyfriend? Let me count the fucking ways.
“Alec Borodin,” I put in smoothly. “Pleasure to meet you. Thanks for having me.”
Did I imagine that slight wince from Gabe’s dad? Well, at least the fake name didn’t matter. I doubted he’d have been much more pleased by Kaminsky.
Gabe’s hand went from painful to simply tight. “Alec, I’d like to introduce you to my parents, Mark and Blythe, and my brother Dave.”
“David,” Dave said in a tone that clearly invited me to call him Mr. Middleton or preferably nothing at all. “Nice to meet you.” His sneering once-over had a lot less subtlety than his mother’s.
“And how do you know each other?” Mark said, reaching out for my hand, this time. He narrowed his eyes at me, but at least he didn’t do the try-to-break-my-hand thing.
“We met in a bookstore.” I tried to smile, but I could feel my resting pissed-off face taking over. “Nothing like mutual interests to bring people together.”
Gabe shot me a grateful look. I could tell by his faint air of continuing panic he hadn’t spent any time figuring out how he’d explain meeting me in a way that didn’t sound borderline insane.
“How nice,” Blythe put in. “Our Gabriel’s always been a bookworm.”
Mark snorted. “Science fiction doesn’t count, Blythe.”
The contempt in his voice pushed a button I didn’t even know I had. How the fuck dare he dismiss his own son like that?
“I read science fiction all the time,” I said, knowing it came off as belligerent and not caring. Fuck it. I’d never see these people again, and maybe if I defended Gabe now, he’d hate me a little less when he found out why I’d attached myself to him in the first place.
And then it hit me, viscerally, the thing I’d been shoving away since we got involved: Gabe would find out. I’d end up telling him once I’d completed the portion of the investigation involving Middleton Marine. I’d see his face go from affectionate and curious to crumpled and distraught. He’d shout at me. Tell me he never wanted to see me again.
It didn’t matter what I did from here on out. That was already the future. No way around it.
My head swam a little, and I had to swallow back a wave of nausea.
Fuck. Standing here, meeting Gabe’s parents, I’d already lost him. I hadn’t meant to want to keep him.
Who knew what I might have said next if Dave hadn’t spoken first. “Is this your first time at an event like this, Alec?” he asked, full of faux-concern. “Please tell us how we can make you more comfortable. We don’t have a science fiction reading room, of course, but other than that.”
Jesus Christ, Gabe had been right about his brother. Gabe started to sputter, Mark and Blythe both smiled. Dave wore a smirk I wanted to wipe off his face with my fist.
“You’re right,” I said as evenly as I could manage, though I probably hit more of a note of suppressed rage. “I’m not used to events like this. Usually the champagne is French. Not bad for Prosecco, though.” I lifted my glass in a salute. “I appreciate your concern. Gabe, should we go find another drink? Allow your parents some time with their other guests?”
Seeing Dave’s face go purplish-red wasn’t quite as satisfying as feeling his nose break would’ve been, but Mark and Blythe’s matching open-mouthed stares made up the difference.
That and Gabe’s expression of pure, unadulterated adoration as he turned to look up at me.
“Yes,” he said faintly. “Another glass of Prosecco sounds lovely.”
“There’s nothing wrong with Italian wines!” Blythe hissed, and I forced myself not to laugh. Bingo. I wasn’t that much of a wine snob, but my sister had kind of a sparkling wine obsession and had taken me to more tastings than I could count. Score one for Amanda.
“Of course not,” I said. They wanted to be condescending assholes? Fine. Two could play at that game. “Italy’s a lovely country, and the Italians make far better Chianti than the French.” And with a nod, I pulled Gabe away into the crowd.
He pushed on my arm, steering me toward the side of the room. “Oh my God,” he choked out. “I can’t believe—that was beautiful. I’m going to remember that forever. And you didn’t even have to grab Dave’s ass to put that look on his face!”
What? That begged for an explanation, but I didn’t get the chance to ask. Just as I thought we’d escaped the worst this party could offer, a tall, dark, handsome Ken doll in a perfectly tailored custom tux appeared out of the crowd, said, “Gabe! I didn’t know you’d be here,” and pulled him in for a hug.
With his hands straying below the waist.
He fit the profile too. He was groping Gabe.
And what was left of my temper went straight out the giant, light-festooned windows.
10
Gabe
I knew what was going to happen a second before, like that instant when you could see two vehicles were about to collide and go up in flames.
Even as used to my brother as I was, I couldn’t believe how quickly Dave had managed to antagonize Alec, and I needed a minute to regroup. Maybe laugh a little. Or cry. Something. The room had some entrances along the side that led to various working parts of the factory. Right now, they had large potted plants in front of them.
We could hide behind one. I desperately needed to hide behind one, maybe with a whole bottle of Prosecco. No, one in each hand.
But then I spotted Adam Whipley, Middleton’s VP of sales, worming his way through the crowd, blinding white teeth on full display like a shark with a top-dollar dentist.
Oh no, no no…
“Gabe!” he said a little too loudly. “I didn’t know you’d be here!”
I did my best to dodge, but he came in for the hug like a heat-seeking missile, wrapping me in his muscular arms and letting his hands slide down past my waist, not quite far enough to count as groping. My face smooshed against his shoulder. God, he always smelled like he’d bathed in aftershave. Expensive aftershave, to be fair. But enough to drown in.
When I managed to extricate myself and take a step back, one of Adam’s hands still lingering on my waist, I bumped up against Alec. Who’d been standing so close it probably looked like the opening salvo of a threesome.
Adam’s hand got trapped between Alec’s body and mine, and he wriggled it to pull it loose.
Alec didn’t move a muscle. He was a wall of heat and tension at my back.
Adam’s smile went a little fixed, and he got his hand out at last, taking a single step back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you’d brought someone,” he said, looking over my shoulder at Alec.
The two of them definitely shared some physical traits; Adam’s black hair was ruthlessly slicked back, but his dark eyes and broad build made him very much the same type.
So sue me. I had a type. And generally pretty
bad taste to go with it.
I’d only slept with Adam once, after another party much like this one. And he never, ever let me forget it.
“Adam Whipley,” Adam went on after a moment, when Alec hadn’t said a damn word. “VP of sales, and Gabe’s very close friend.”
“Alec Borodin.” Instead of trying to go for a handshake, Alec slipped his arm around my waist, tugging me back against him more firmly. Almost indecently, even. He spread his fingers over my abdomen in a possessive gesture that maybe should’ve made me mad—but really, really didn’t. Very close? Seriously? “Gabe’s date.”
Adam rolled his eyes, and his smile widened. “Of course you are. For this evening, anyway. Gabe, call me tomorrow. We’ll get together again. I enjoyed last time.”
He nodded, turned, and sauntered away, leaving me pressed up against over six feet of seriously annoyed date with my jaw hanging open and my heart pounding with fury.
For this evening, anyway? I enjoyed last time? Fucking asshole. How dare he…? I couldn’t even qualify that.
And he’d been one of the most selfish lovers I’d ever had. Why did guys like that never understand there was a good reason they didn’t get asked for repeat performances?
Fuck Prosecco. Tequila. Or Scotch. Maybe a pure-ethanol IV.
I turned in the circle of Alec’s arm, knowing I wouldn’t be able to get out of his grip.
Not that I really wanted to. Too bad there weren’t any swords at this party. I could’ve demanded they duel in the parking lot. Unfortunately, I was probably the only one of the three of us who knew how to fence. A duel with the dueled-over party calling out advice and critique and insults—to both combatants—probably wouldn’t be all that hot.
He frowned down at me. “That guy is a fucking asshole.”
“Everyone at this party is a fucking asshole. Adam especially. I hooked up with him once and then regretted it. I’d had a really bad night. But he’s just your garden-variety dick. I don’t—can we—not do this in the middle of the room?”
Alec’s lips tightened, and he glanced around and then started to move the same way I’d been going, clearly making his own inferences about the placement of the potted plants. A moment later, we’d slipped behind one, the party receding slightly behind us, the light filtering through the leaves of whatever bush occupied the pot dim enough to make me feel invisible.
I faced Alec, still breathing hard from embarrassment and suppressed laughter over Dave’s comeuppance, a mixture that felt like incipient hysteria. God, I couldn’t deal with Dr. Wilson like this.
I couldn’t deal with anything like this, including what Alec had to be thinking right now. Why had I thought bringing him would be a good idea? He’d had exactly two short conversations so far, both of them awful. He’d hate me for this. Who’d want anything more to do with a guy whose family and acquaintances were so fucking horrible?
“Hey,” Alec said gently. What I could see of his face in the low light had set into hard lines, like he was angry. Or simply fucking over it. “Breathe.”
“I am breathing,” I panted. “I think I’m breathing too much.”
“Okay. I can fix that.”
And he pulled me into his arms and into a deep kiss, bending me back over his arm and taking my mouth like he owned it.
I clutched the lapels of his tux and opened my mouth for the onslaught. His tongue tangled with mine, and the way he moved his hands over my back and my waist and my hips, it felt like he wanted to erase Adam’s touch completely.
And then one hand moved down and squeezed my ass. He hadn’t touched me there, not yet. I stumbled, moaning into his mouth, and he caught me, backing me up across the small hallway we’d hidden in until my shoulders hit the wall.
“Fuck, Gabe,” he said, his voice wrecked, as he pulled away from my mouth. I wanted to protest: No, don’t stop now, not when you’re finally touching me…but I didn’t need to. He didn’t let me go. He bent his head and latched onto my throat just above my collar, sucking a mark below my jaw, one hand busy kneading my ass and the other pulling…what was he…oh, God, he’d pulled my shirt out of my trousers.
And slipped his hand inside.
And started moving down.
“Alec, wait!” Too late. He froze, his lips stilling on my neck, his hand just under my waistband. “It’s not—it’s no big deal, okay?” I gasped out. “Not a—I didn’t expect you to—”
“Is this what I think it is? Lace. You’re wearing—lace. Under your tux.”
Alec’s hand on my ass tightened, until I thought I’d be able to see his fingerprints there tomorrow. My cock pressed harder against the fly of my tux, desperate to get out.
“Yeah,” I whispered. “Lace.” Oh God, what would happen now? Would he let me go, straighten up our clothes, say something about going back to the party?
Instead, it was like a switch flipped.
I’d thought I’d seen Alec a little out of control before, like when he kissed me the first time in the park near my place.
He’d been under iron control in the park, it turned out.
He groaned against my neck and bit down, shoving me against the wall and grinding his cock against my hip. I tried to touch him, get my arms around him, but it was like trying to hold onto a whirlwind. Alec ripped my fly open and pushed his hand down the front of my pants, pressing his palm down onto my straining, silk-covered cock, spreading his fingers to tease at the lacy edge of the underwear along the crease between my thigh and groin.
“I want to see them. I want to see them right now,” he growled against my skin. “I want to suck your cock through them, and then I want to pull them down just far enough to fuck you until you scream. Bent over that fucking asshole Whipley’s desk.”
I choked out a laugh, which died out into a throaty moan as he took advantage of my loosened trousers to put his other hand inside them too.
He spread his big hands over me, front and back, massaging my cock and my balls and my ass, a finger between my cheeks and pressing against my hole, the heat of his skin through the texture of the lace setting all my nerves on fire.
“Yes, okay, yes, you have to—”
Alec cut me off with another ferocious kiss, not pulling back until my head spun and my lips felt like they’d swollen to twice their size. I let my head fall back against the wall, staring up at him with eyes that didn’t seem to want to stay open. His glittered, all pupil, blown black and fixed on me like he’d never look away.
“I have to what?”
I squirmed in his grasp, whimpering when both hands pressed harder. “Get your hands out of my pants? So I can walk? Unless we’re going to go up two flights of stairs and down the hall like this, in which case I hope you were really good at those three-legged races as a kid. I sucked at them.”
He leaned in until our lips brushed. I shivered, and I thought I felt him do the same. “I could throw you over my shoulder.”
“With my lacy ass sticking up in the air for everyone to see?”
“Oh, fuck,” he muttered, and that wasn’t a shiver, that was a full-on shudder. His eyes closed for a second, and when he opened them again, the look in them left me speechless. “No. No one gets to see but me.”
He slowly got his hands out of my pants, with a final squeeze and stroke to my cock that had me bucking into his hand and cursing, and I zipped my fly. No point in getting the button or trying to tuck in my shirt. If anyone saw us now, there wasn’t any salvaging the situation.
I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hall until we reached the stairs that’d get us to the third floor, where the executives had their offices. Not right over the main workroom, of course—too much noise. But they had a soundproofed section over the other wing of the building, overlooking the lake.
Alec’s hand around mine felt like a promise, now that he’d finally decided he wanted me.
And God, the man had some timing. At my family’s company party. With everyone a few feet away. Basically in public.
We ran up the stairs, and I pulled him to the left, around the corner, and down a long hall. “In here,” I whispered, and turned the knob on Adam’s office door. It opened silently, and Alec crowded me through it, wrapping his arms around me and starting to kiss the nape of my neck before I could even try to close it.
Our legs tangled, and I giggled as he hit a ticklish spot, and Alec laughed and reached down to grab hold of my cock again, and somehow the door thumped shut. I fumbled around until I found the knob and turned the button to lock it.
“Up against the desk,” Alec panted against my neck, his tongue teasing the tender skin below my ear. “Get your pants down, Gabe.”
He’d been steering me across the room, and my ass hit the edge of the desk with a clatter, as something on it fell over. Pens. A photo frame. I didn’t care, because he’d already gone back to work on my zipper, apparently not trusting me to take care of it fast enough to suit him.
The sound of it sliding down echoed loudly in the silent office, with only our harsh, panting breaths to give it a counterpoint. Alec leaned in for a kiss, the outline of his broad shoulders cast in sharp relief by the light of the spotlights on the yachts docked out back coming in through Adam’s office windows. Alec’s mouth slid over mine, and then he dropped to his knees.
I stared down at the top of his dark head in disbelief. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had gotten on his knees to blow me. Most of the guys I hooked up with thought that me being a bottom, which to be fair I was, meant I always wanted to bottom when it came to oral, too.
Not so, but that didn’t mean they ever asked. Or seemed to consider it.
Alec leaned in, mouthing over the ridge of my cock outlined under black silk. The heat of his breath paradoxically made me shiver, and my hands flew up to tangle in his wavy hair, tousling it into soft strands that slid perfectly between my fingers. I could see the tip of my cock pressing against the lace at the top of the manties, red-flushed skin patterned with black.
Undercover (Vino and Veritas) Page 10
