Job Hunt (21 page)

“As a reminder,” he offered finally with a shit-eating grin that Gareth could do nothing but return. Jack was not going to explain either the remark or the reasons for the unusual adornment, at least not tonight, and Gareth shelved the inquiry. It was just one thing among many that he wanted to know about Jack, and there were more pressing concerns on his mind right then.

Like the skin under his hands, soft and hot, that Gareth couldn’t get close enough to. He skimmed his palms up and down Jack’s chest, traced the ridged abs with calloused fingertips, and teased Jack’s nipples until Jack arched and hooked one arm around the back of Gareth’s neck, his head thudding against Gareth’s shoulder.

“Do you have any idea how much I want you, brat?”

“I’m right here.”

Jack tightened his grip and ground his towel-clad ass against Gareth’s hardness until Gareth struggled to breathe. He wanted Jack Horwood like he’d never wanted anyone before. But despite the heat between them, this wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d invited Jack to dinner.

What they had was too fragile. Jack… was too fragile. They were trying to establish boundaries, find ways to work together, and Jack was so tired he could barely see straight. A night of hot sex, while certainly high on his bucket list, had not figured in Gareth’s immediate plans.

“What do
you
want, Jack?”

“You,” Jack answered on a soft exhale. “Hands, mouth, cock… I don’t care. Don’t care who does what, either. Wanna see you. Feel you. Just… you.”

Jack was hiding again. Gareth had noticed it during their after-dinner conversation, but had been more intent on reaching an agreement. Now, though….

“Jack, you’re tired.”

“And your memory’s for shit.” Jack tried to pull away, but Gareth’s arms around his middle didn’t budge.

“Not true.”

“Then kiss me.”

Their lips met softly, more breath than touch, and Jack melted into Gareth’s hold. A long while passed before they separated.

“See, that’s what I’m talking about.” Jack smiled, lips only a thought away from Gareth’s mouth. “Just… you.”

“Us,” Gareth whispered back as chills raced down his spine. “Just us.”

It wasn’t the best way to resolve the issues between them. Maybe it would turn out to be Gareth’s worst decision ever, but giving Jack what Jack wanted had become an imperative.

Stumbling steps and heated kisses ate up the distance from the mirror to the bed. A good tug had Jack’s towel sliding to the floor. Then Gareth’s lips were on the leather around Jack’s throat and the racing pulse beneath.

Jack tumbled them to the sheets and flipped them, keeping one hand on the back of Gareth’s neck and the other on his hip. His form was perfect, and Gareth laughed when long-forgotten memories of training sessions at the break of dawn flashed through his mind.

“You taught me all sorts of useful things, see?” Jack teased, before he stretched out alongside Gareth and claimed another kiss.

Gareth didn’t mind. He enjoyed Jack hot and hungry, the slip and slide of lips and tongues, the taut, straining muscles under his palms. Jack’s taste was addicting too, all heat and wine and spice like a rich casserole at the end of a long day spent in frosty air. Gareth tilted his head to deepen the kiss while his hands grabbed hold of Jack’s butt and pulled Jack’s hips down. Jack’s loud gasp and louder moan shot fire down Gareth’s spine. He did it again, laughing when Jack broke their kiss to swear at him.

“What?”

“You’re a bloody tease.”

“And?”

Being on the receiving end of Jack’s green glare sent more heat into Gareth’s blood. He dug his fingers into Jack’s hips and held him still. Just before he bucked his hips up. Jack’s glare turned dark, and Gareth had a single moment to marvel at the sight before Jack’s fingers found Gareth’s nipple ring and yanked in retaliation.

Time slowed and sped in strange patterns after that. Kisses grew voracious, hands went everywhere, and Gareth relished every gasp and moan he could wring from Jack’s throat. Most of all he loved Jack’s purr, deep and throaty and so heartfelt that Gareth would have bet money Jack wasn’t even aware of making the sound. Jack was losing himself in their increasingly frantic mutual exploration, and Gareth thought that was the hottest thing he’d ever experienced… until Jack flinched when Gareth slid his fingers over Jack’s ass and between his cheeks.

“Jack?”

“Fine.” Jack’s face was buried against Gareth’s neck, but Gareth would have sworn the words were grated through clenched teeth. “Just… caught by surprise.”

Gareth threaded his fingers into Jack’s soft hair and held on. “You
have
done this before, right?”

Jack relaxed enough to lift his head and roll his eyes. “Just not in a long while,” he admitted.

“How long a while?”

“Years.”

A new wave of heat swamped Gareth at the breathless admission. He eased his grip from Jack’s hip and rubbed gentle circles across the small of Jack’s back.

“Do you want—”

“No!” Jack’s tone was sharp, the kiss that followed short and brutal. “I want
this
. Now.” He dipped his head down for another kiss, and Gareth didn’t fight the urgency and need. He didn’t resist the questing hands, the feverish clutches, or the whispered demands. His body was on fire, and he’d already decided that whatever Jack needed….

But their paths diverged right there. Jack was tense and heedless, no longer in a mood to enjoy their night. When Jack all but snarled an impatient, “Get on with it, Flynn!” Gareth snapped.

In a move straight out of the close combat manual, he put Jack on his back and pinned him. Jack squirmed and bucked, but Gareth’s fingers found a nipple and pinched. Hard. Shock made Jack arch up, and Gareth took his mouth, all tongue and teeth and hunger while he held Jack’s body captive.

“If you’re looking for a quick fuck you’re in the wrong bed, brat,” he said, adding a twist to the pinch that had Jack groaning and shivering in his hold. Gareth didn’t ease his grip. Jack would climax as soon as Gareth’s fingers released him. And that was just the way he wanted it.

“You haven’t changed so much that I can’t see what you’re doing,” Gareth continued. “You’re just a single step from walking out again….” Gareth stared into Jack’s wide eyes, and he knew he was right. He leaned down to kiss Jack again. A soft brush of lips this time, at odds with his earlier ferocity and the brutally tight grip he had on Jack’s nipple. “If you choose to walk out,” he said, voice quiet and serious despite the heat between them, “if you’d rather have strangers in your life than people who know you… then I want you to remember this. I want you to know—really know, this time—what you walked away from.”

The soft kiss he placed on Jack’s lips heated, turned hungry in an instant. Gareth’s nail caught the top of the trapped nipple. He pressed down until Jack gasped, and when he let go, Jack’s body convulsed.

“That’s it,” Gareth whispered into yet another kiss as Jack shuddered beneath him. “Gonna make you come until all that fury’s gone and you’re so relaxed you’re begging me….”

“Was begging before,” Jack retorted, but he stopped fighting.

Jack Horwood, spread out on Gareth’s bed, all tousled hair and swollen lips and hooded eyes, made Gareth’s mouth water. He wasn’t going to let Jack’s impatience or his need to run get in the way of their enjoyment. Not when he had Jack right where he wanted him. Gareth took a few deep breaths to bring his racing heart under control. Then he stretched out on top of Jack.

“Now, let’s see how much I can relax you before I fuck you through the mattress,” Gareth suggested.

“I’m sure relaxed is exactly what you want me to be,” Jack grumbled. There was a smile in his gaze, though, and he wriggled suggestively until Gareth’s teeth found an earlobe and bit down.

With Jack less frantic, Gareth set about exploring. Lips and fingers roamed to find all of Jack’s most sensitive places. Gasps, groans, and shivers guided him, along with the curses Jack resorted to when sensations overwhelmed him. Sharp nips to Jack’s triceps produced the most creative language Gareth had heard in a while, yet those words were tame compared to the sounds Jack made when Gareth scraped teeth over Jack’s hipbone or when he bit and sucked a trail of hickeys into the soft skin of Jack’s inner thigh.

Jack was writhing by then and clutching at the sheets with white-knuckled fists. He didn’t react when Gareth reached past him under the pillow to find lube and condoms, didn’t flinch when well-slicked fingers breached his entrance, only demanding that Gareth put his mouth where it could do some good.

Gareth watched Jack come apart under his hands. He mouthed Jack’s balls and teased along his thigh again before finally leaning to suckle the tip of Jack’s cock into his mouth.

“Gods…. Gareth!” Jack howled at the heat and suction. His eyes were wide-open, and his head thrashed from side to side. He was leaking, and Gareth let his tongue tease the slit and enjoy the taste of Jack’s arousal before bobbing his head and taking Jack to the back of his throat. Jack’s deep, gravelly groan rattled through Gareth like a minor earthquake, trying to undermine his control.

“You’re hot, brat, you know that?” Gareth rasped, drawing back and sitting up.

“Then will you fucking do something about—shit!” The last word was a yell, a complaint and a heartfelt moan wrapped into one as Gareth’s fingers disappeared.

“Gareth, please….” Jack’s voice was soft all of a sudden, and Gareth leaned in for a kiss that was hot, demanding, and promising at once.

“You have no idea how much I want you,” Gareth huffed, his vaunted control suddenly tenuous. His hands shook as he rolled on a condom and coated himself in lube. He couldn’t look away from Jack’s bitten, quivering lips and the intent eyes that showed almost no green at all.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he directed as he positioned himself and leaned over Jack. Never taking his gaze from Jack, Gareth laced their fingers and brushed their lips together. He rocked against his lover, sliding in inch by slow inch. Jack’s eyes dilated even more. His breathing grew erratic, and his fingers clenched around Gareth’s.

When he was buried to the hilt, Gareth stilled. They stared at each other across an ocean of memories and time apart until Jack let out a long, slow breath, and smiled.

“Move already, Flynn!”

Gareth kissed him instead, long and slow and—for once—not to make a point. He needed to know they were okay, needed to know that Jack was with him, that this was about the two of them… together. And Jack got the message. He didn’t snark, and he curbed his impatience. He kept his fingers wrapped tightly around Gareth’s, clenched his muscles around Gareth’s cock, and let the other man kiss him until they ran out of air.

“S
HOWER
?”

Jack’s lashes barely moved. Gareth reveled in the blissed-out expression that their lovemaking had put on Jack’s face. The marks that bloomed low on his throat, right along the lower edge of the decorated strip of leather, sparked a wave of possessive pride. Jack was his. Whether he knew it yet or not.

“Come on,” he coaxed, “a shower will make you feel better.”

“Not possible,” Jack mumbled, not even opening his eyes this time.

Gareth chuckled and gave up. He grabbed a damp washcloth from the bathroom for a quick clean up before settling into bed and dragging the quilt over them both. He pulled Jack close, tucked the younger man’s head under his chin, and then lay awake listening to Jack’s deep breaths.

Given the way the night had started, he’d not expected Jack to cede control so easily. Hell, he hadn’t expected Jack to stay after he’d told him to stop fighting. Jack Horwood was made of a medal-winning brand of stubborn, but he’d stayed, and he’d not objected to Gareth taking charge.

The display of trust from someone who didn’t trust anyone on a normal day was breathtaking. As were the soft, surprised sounds Jack made deep in his throat every time Gareth found yet another sensitive spot, almost as if Jack had never been touched before. And being with Jack like this… face to face, close enough to kiss and breathe him in, their fingers woven together and Jack holding on for dear life until their climax hit them almost simultaneously…. Gareth would swear that he’d never experienced anything so intense before. He already wanted this again. Wanted more. Wanted….

Body relaxed and sated, Gareth’s mind refused to shut down. He lay in the dark, Jack’s warmth on his skin, wondering if Jack would disappear from his life come morning to continue his crusade, or if—by some miracle—he might decide to stay and fight his crusade with Gareth and Aidan and all their resources at his back.

The darkness offered no answers and neither did Jack’s sleeping form, nestled warm and close against Gareth’s side. The quiet regular breaths Gareth felt on his chest were soothing, though, and Gareth counted each soft inhale and exhale until he finally drifted off to sleep.

C
HAPTER
FIFTEEN
T
HE
P
OWER
OF
Z
ERO

J
ACK
WOKE
in an empty bed. Gareth wasn’t far given that the sheets still held some warmth, so Jack snatched Gareth’s pillow and pulled it close, cherishing the silence in his mind like the gift it was. He didn’t recall falling asleep, but he remembered waking up in the small hours wrapped around Gareth Flynn.

Jack never spent the night with any of his casual hookups. He never brought lovers home. He never shared his bed, but three times in the last week he’d woken beside Gareth, and not once had he panicked or felt the need to run. Gareth’s touching him, holding him, felt so right that each time it had happened he’d gone back to sleep in moments.

He’d been running on too little sleep all week, he knew that. But being behind on his sleep quota had never before resulted in him sharing his bed. Usually when Jack got that tired, all he wanted was enough booze to make his mind take a break and let him rest.