In My Arms Tonight (19 page)

Glenn started to reach for him when James swayed, catching him as he lowered his face to Glenn’s. James nuzzled his cheek, then licked where his first shot had hit. Glenn shuddered and closed his eyes, unable to keep from holding James, although he kept the embrace loose.

“You look so fucking good like this, with my cum marking you,” James whispered in his ear, and another shudder tore through Glenn. “It’s almost a shame to do this, but damn, it’s making me horny all over again.” James lapped noisily, showing his enjoyment with each sucking sound he made.

Glenn wondered if he should feel weird about letting James shower him with spunk, but he honestly just couldn’t. It’d been hot to see James unravel, even when James was supposed to be the one in control. The man had come apart, marked him like some primeval caveman claiming his mate, and it stirred things in Glenn, feelings and desires that he wasn’t yet ready to examine. He would settle on admitting he’d liked it, very much, and deal with the rest later.

The obnoxious sound that had woken him started up again. Glenn grunted and James nipped his chin before dragging his lips down Glenn’s neck.

“Almost done, then you can answer it.”

“Okay,” Glenn mumbled, eyes crossing as James sucked at his throat. It was better to wait anyway, otherwise he might make a mess of his cell phone. The ringing continued and James cursed, lifting his head and raising up. Glenn let him go grudgingly, then James sat up and grabbed his phone.

“It’s from Les,” James said, arching a brow as he handed the cell to Glenn.

Glenn groaned internally and glared at the phone. He and James needed some time to talk, to work things out between them—if they could keep from jumping each other’s bones long enough to actually
have
a conversation.

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IN MY ARMS TONIGHT

Bailey Bradford

119

Which wasn’t likely to be any time soon. Les only called him if it had to do with work.

Adam was the chatty one in that relationship. Shooting an apologetic look to James, Glenn pressed the answer button.

“Shearing.”

“Took you long enough,” Les’ gruff voice snapped over the line. “Need you to come in, if you can. Vasquez called in sick.”

Well, shit, it figures.
Vasquez had been looking like crap though, and coughing so hard Glenn had expected him to expel at least one lung any second. “All right, I’ll be there in an hour.” Glenn shrugged at James, who merely smiled and nodded in return.

“An hour?”

Glenn imagined Les was running that over in his mind since Glenn lived less than five minutes from work. Glenn wasn’t offering any explanations. “Yeah. You want a cup of coffee?”

Les snorted. “You have to ask?”

Glenn finished the call and closed his phone, turning to James. “I have to go, but—”

James waved a hand at him. “I know, at least I think I do.” His smile faded and he looked at Glenn intently. “This thing between us isn’t over just because you’re leaving.”

“No,” Glenn agreed, wanting to say more but deciding to let James have the lead.

“We have to talk and all that relationship-y stuff,” James grumbled, but he looked happy, his eyes crinkled at the outer corners. “Maybe you can come by when you get off work?”

“I can do that, sure, but I’m going to stop by my place and shower, change clothes first.” He ran a hand over his stubble. “Probably shave again.” He tended to be the furry sort.

Even if he shaved before going to work, he’d be bristly by the evening and James might not appreciate having his pale skin covered in whisker burn.

“Don’t,” James said, surprising Glenn. He dropped his hand from his chin. James rolled his eyes and grinned. “I meant, don’t shave before you come over. I like a man who’s kind of a bear.”

Glenn was pretty sure he was glowing, or something sappy like that. “Okay, I’ll leave it if you’re sure.”

James nodded, his gaze never leaving Glenn’s. “I am, very sure.”

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Glenn got the feeling the man was talking about more than just some stubble, and that was intense, but fine with him.

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121

Even giving himself an hour to get to work left Glenn feeling rushed. He’d wasted a good ten minutes staring in the bathroom mirror at the marks on his neck, one of which he could hide, but the other, the one beneath his ear on the left side? Nothing short of a ski mask was going to hide that sucker. Maybe if he stayed out of the office and parked by the billboard at the edge of town, he’d be able to escape an ass chewing about appearing professional from his boss.

Glenn snorted and narrowed his eyes at the hickey. Just looking at it made him flush hot with arousal, and his dick, which damn well should have been exhausted, straightened up and begged for attention.

“It’s just me here,” he scolded his unwieldy body part. “Slut.” Glenn snorted again and finished shaving—he’d leave whatever stubble he grew out during the day, but he didn’t think coming in with a hickey from hell a face full of scruff was going to do him any favours on the job.

After he dressed, Glenn stopped by the café and grabbed two coffees and a blueberry muffin. He’d learned not to bother bringing Les anything since the man always had some kind of goody from Charlene for breakfast. Vasquez liked the banana nut but since he was out with some kind of funky shit there was no reason to grab one. Glenn would just eat it, too, and at his age he needed to keep his muffins to a minimum.

At the office, he tried to slip in and leave Les’ coffee since the man wasn’t at his desk, but Glenn’s desk phone rang and he groaned as he saw a local attorney’s number pop up.

Fifteen minutes later he finally managed to get off the phone with the woman, who only had a couple of questions about a robbery case in which Glenn had arrested the perpetrator.

Maya Jiminez was a great attorney, but she was a lot too interested in Glenn for his own comfort.

Glenn hung up and started to close his eyes and cradle his suddenly aching head in his hands when he remembered why he was in a hurry to get out of the office. He bolted out of his seat and spun around and nearly slammed right into Les.

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IN MY ARMS TONIGHT

Bailey Bradford

122

“Damn it!” Glenn snapped, slapping a hand to his chest just in case his heart burst right out of his chest, it was thumping so hard. “Jesus, Les,” he grumbled as the man stared at him, something that might have been amusement making his eyes gleam. “It’s just wrong that a guy your size can move so quietly!”

Les huffed and looked pleased with that for all of a half a second, then he raised his hand and poked Glenn’s neck before Glenn realised what Les was doing. “Don’t let Ewers see that. He doesn’t cut me any slack when Adam does that to me. I swear he does it when he’s irritated with me, just so’s I’ll get my ass reamed by Ewers.”

Glenn just knew he was glowing red with embarrassment, but he was a little too shocked by Les being so forthcoming. And by the smug grin twisting Les’ lips.

“Uh,” was the intelligent response he managed. Les huffed again and this time Glenn realised the rough sound was actually a chuckle. Glenn shook himself out of his stupor and laughed softly, as amused at himself as he was at Les and his confession. “Yeah, that was the plan. I’d have been gone if Maya hadn’t called just as I got in.”

Les groaned and closed his eyes for a second. “That woman is entirely too chatty.” He sucked on his bottom lip as he seemed to be considering something. Glenn frowned, wondering why Les was looking at him almost shyly. Les finally shrugged one big shoulder and sighed. “Fine, I can’t stand not knowing.”

“Knowing what?” Glenn had a feeling he knew, and already he felt his neck heating, the warmth spreading to his cheeks and setting that mark to throbbing as it rushed over it.

“You
know
what,” Les grumped after rolling his eyes. “
That.
” He poked Glenn again, harder, and Glenn slapped his hand away.

“Cut it out, jackass.” Glenn snapped his mouth shut before relaxing. This place wasn’t the FBI office, and the rules of propriety were a little looser here. “What
is
your fascination with—”

Les’ eyes widened as he looked over Glenn’s shoulder. He shook his head minutely, but it was enough for Glenn to get the message. “Ewers?”

“Yup.” Les moved to his side and gave him a nudge. “Go around back and get gone.

But I want to know if you got that at the club, that’s all I was asking.”

Glenn snorted even as he brushed by Les. That wasn’t
all
Les was asking, if Glenn had said it happened at The Xxchange, Les would think he’d messed around with some stranger www.total-e-bound.com

IN MY ARMS TONIGHT

Bailey Bradford

123

or maybe Troy. If Glenn said it didn’t happen at the club, he’d probably figure on James being the culprit. Of course, that wouldn’t necessarily be right, because it could have been someone he met at the club and brought home—

And Xavier and Chase had to have seen his vehicle at the house, so yeah, they already knew where he’d spent the night. Glenn was a little surprised not to have been confronted by either man, but it was good that they were letting James make his own decisions and not being overprotective. The last time someone had done that to him, James had been drugged out of his mind and held prisoner, no matter how anyone else described it. Glenn was so proud of his man for coming so far, and James was his, as surely as he was James’. No point in hiding that, was there?

Glenn stopped across the office and wasn’t surprised to find Les watching him with a hopeful expression. He had a feeling his smile gave answer before his words, because Les grinned and nodded. “Not the club.”

“That’s good,” Les said, looking happy as a kid at Christmas. “Glad you and James worked it out.”

Glenn nodded, not sure ‘it’ was worked out, but damned determined to make it so.

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IN MY ARMS TONIGHT

Bailey Bradford

124

The day dragged by for James. Memories of Glenn, his strong neck arched as his body clenched and shuddered, kept filtering into his mind, sometimes at the most inconvenient of times. He burnt the eggs he’d been scrambling, setting off the smoke alarm. The screeching noise had shocked him right out of his fantasy of taking Glenn against the kitchen counter.

James yelled almost as loudly as the alarm and had tossed the entire pan in the sink before grabbing the broom and fanning away the smoke.

After nearly freezing his nuts off in the shower due to his drifting thoughts, James made up his mind to make some changes. It was obvious Glenn meant more to him than an easy fuck, and he wanted to be deserving of what he thought Glenn was offering. James knew he couldn’t be that man as long as he let his past control his present, and his future. It was time to push some boundaries.

Well, not literally time to push them. James glared at the clock on his phone. Chase and Xavier hadn’t had enough time to sleep. He chafed at having to wait a few more hours to start working on his plan, then decided to do something useful. After cleaning the apartment until the damn place practically sparkled, James took another shower—no way did he feel clean after all that scrubbing. He dressed carefully, putting more thought into his appearance than he had in ages. Granted, all he wore was jeans and a button up shirt, but he made sure they were both ironed and stain-free. He even dug out a belt and put it on, then he tried to style the red curls that he’d ignored before then.

Grumbling as he tried to tame the springy mass, James stopped with one hand in his hair. He stared at himself in the mirror, surprised at the changes since the last time he’d really looked at himself. The dark circles that had ringed his eyes were almost gone, leaving only a faint blue tinge behind, but it was his eyes themselves that startled him. The shadows and nightmares he’d seen there before, the reason he’d avoided really looking at himself, were nowhere in sight. James knew they weren’t gone, that those memories would likely flare to full nightmarish life in the future, but for now…for now, damned if he didn’t look almost content.

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James left off fighting with his hair and braced both hands on the counter. He leaned closer to the mirror, looking himself in the eyes for several seconds. The guilt and shame didn’t swamp him like it had before. He felt—James’ breath leaked from his lungs on a whispy sound. He felt hopeful, as if he was finally climbing out of the hell he’d been dragged into.

He lifted his hand and traced a fine line bracketing his reflection’s mouth. That hadn’t been there before. James had never considered himself a vain man, but he wasn’t thrilled with that line.

Glenn has lines like this on both sides of his mouth. And those crinkles at the corners of his
eyes…
James traced the mirror image’s eyes, looking for more signs of age, but his pale skin was, as of now, unmarred except for the previously noted line. Maybe he shouldn’t worry about all of this, he thought, both amused and horrified by his sudden bout of vanity. After all, Glenn had lines
and
wrinkles, and the man was so fucking sexy, James couldn’t think about him without getting an erection.

Not wanting to risk leaving a wet spot on his jeans should he continue thinking about his gorgeous cop, James shook his head and pushed away from the counter. He didn’t need to keep ogling himself like that, looking for flaws or signs of damage.

James brushed his hands down his chest to his thighs. He was ready, and Chase and Xavier should be awake now. He checked the time to make sure, and saw that it was a few minutes later than he usually joined them for brunch. He hoped he wouldn’t blush like a doofus when he walked into the kitchen. James had never been prudish about his affairs, but last night—and this morning—had been more than that, and he hoped, believed, that he and Glenn might have something as strong as Chase and Xavier.