Resilience (22 page)

Todd snapped his mouth shut and shook his head before finally chuckling. “Sorry, no, it’s just sometimes it takes my brain a while to catch up to yours. What you meant was, if we pay for the regular processing, and it takes four to six weeks, and we get our passports in four weeks, then it’s dumb to pay more for them if they’re promised in two to three weeks and we end up getting them around the end of the third week, right? ‘Cos we really didn’t save much time.”

“Right,” Adam said, grinning at Todd. He knew his lover would catch on.

Todd frowned at him and Adam’s grin kind of melted away. “Adam, honey, why are you fussing about it? I’ll pay for the expedited everything, and if it comes around the same time as the other, oh well. No worries, okay? But why are you picking at it?”

Adam bit his lip against an outright denial. He had to look away from Todd to think, though, because Todd was just too damn cute to ignore. “I guess I’m just scared, and I fucking hate being scared. It sucks.” Understatement of the year. Being scared tended to make Adam bitchy at the best of times. Luckily Todd seemed to sap the bitch right out of Adam.

“It’s gonna be okay.” Todd sounded sure of it, but Adam wondered.

“You aren’t scared about walking into some kind of werewolf turf war?” he asked as he turned his head enough to look at Todd. “Because I am. I want stun guns and tear gas and cattle prods and…and whatever else will scare those fuckers off if they aren’t on our side.”

Todd sighed then laughed for a solid minute, jostling Adam and chasing away a big

chunk of his moodiness. By the time Todd had stopped Adam was even grinning again.

Todd just fucking made him happy. “I’m glad you find my fear so amusing,” he teased.

Todd kissed him, a wet, sloppy, hot kiss that had Adam’s dick hard and singing

hallelujah in seconds. “I would tear apart anyone or thing that tried to hurt you. Don’t think we’ll be going unprepared.”

It touched Adam, it really did, as nothing ever had, but he didn’t think the outcome of Todd versus hairy freaky wolves would work in Todd’s and his favour. “How are we not going in unprepared? Last I looked, we couldn’t bring weapons with us and, man…” Adam scratched his head again as a ripple of unease flittered through him. “I just keep thinking the bad guys will know we’re coming, which is fucking stupid because what could we do to them? If we were a threat, they’d have already shown up at our doorstep.”

And it’d figure someone would choose then to bang on the door. Adam screeched like a sissy, he couldn’t deny it in any way, shape or form, and Todd jumped and slid halfway out of his seat…taking Adam with him.

“Jesus,” Todd panted. “Jesus on a pogo stick, that’s just…c-creepy!”

“No fucking shit,” Adam bit out, glaring at the door. He was really angry now, at

whoever had just scared the hell out of him. “I’ll get it. Where’s your gun?”

“What? No!” Todd and he played hand slap and push, each trying to keep the other

from getting up and getting to the door. Finally another round of banging set them both to silence.

“I’ll get the baseball bat, but no gun,” Todd whispered.

Adam didn’t like that idea at all. “What are we gonna do, knock a ball out of the yard and yell fetch if there’s a wolfman at our door?”

Todd snorted and got up, keeping a tight grip on Adam. “Maybe.”

The third round of banging was louder, but a familiar voice accompanied it. “Todd,

Adam, are y’all okay in there?”

Adam growled and lunged around Todd. He hated being frightened! But Todd was

quicker, and Adam found himself grabbed and spun, pinned to the wall beside the door and in short order kissed until he couldn’t think. He wasn’t even aware of Todd unlocking the door—and how the man could do that while kissing Adam utterly senseless was a mystery Adam intended to delve into later—until Gabe and Mika started giving a critique.

“A little more tongue, I’d say.” Gabe leaned in, actually leaned in and hummed. “What do you think, Mika?”

Mika raked Adam with a hot gaze. “Man looks happy enough to me.”

Todd rumbled, Adam could feel it in Todd’s chest pressed to his. But Todd didn’t let up on the kiss, and Adam blocked out his annoying friends and closed his eyes. He let Todd kiss away the last of his anger, and most of his frustration and fear. When Adam sighed and sagged against Todd, Todd murmured his approval and layered soft kisses on Adam’s face.

Adam decided getting the shit scared out of him might be worth it if this was how Todd gentled him down.

“Wow, they look so sweet,” Gabe murmured. “My Todd has become a stud for sure.”

Adam opened his eyes then and flipped Gabe off, much to Gabe’s delight. Todd

nuzzled Adam’s neck and Adam had to point out, “He’s always been a stud, just no one else was smart enough to see it. I mean, look at this.” Adam grabbed a handful of firm, rounded ass.

“Adam,” Todd whispered, and Adam let go.

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to embarrass you.” Adam wished his tongue and his brain could get together to set some rules on etiquette and all that stuff. “But you are gorgeous, you know. I can’t believe someone didn’t snap you up before I got the chance.”

Todd shook his head and laid another kiss on Adam before stepping back. He was blushing furiously, probably because he had a boner no one could miss, when he turned to his friends. “So what brings y’all over?” Todd asked with only a slight stutter.

Gabe and Mika looked—how could they not? And Adam preened, because Todd was all his.

“We, uh, we…we—” Gabe jumped and yelped. “Hey, what the fuck?” He glared at

Mika and promptly elbowed him in the ribs. “That was totally uncalled for!”

Mika glared back but his amusement shone clearly in the way his lips curled up just the tiniest bit. “You were ogling another guy.”

“So were you,” Gabe pointed out. “I should elbow you again, as a matter of fact. Todd’s been my best bud for years, so I can ogle him objectively.”

Mika opened his mouth only to shut it when Gabe pointed at him. “Do you really want

to argue about it?”

Mika arched a brow. “Maybe. Later, when we’re home and you’re naked and begging

me to fuck you.”

“Oh my God,” Todd rasped. “Shut up, please! I don’t want to know!”

Gabe blinked as if he’d forgotten there was anyone else there besides him and Mika.

“Sorry? Didn’t mean to have my mate spill that little bit of fun.”

“Just stop,” Adam said when Todd could only squeak. He didn’t mind listening, so

maybe he was kind of a voyeur or whatever, but Todd obviously wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. And that thought sent Adam’s mind spiralling down into the gutter until Todd grabbed his hand.

Adam shook himself and wound his fingers between Todd’s. He looked at Mika, who

was usually the calmer, quieter one of the two. Although obviously not this time. Adam turned back to Gabe. “So y’all are here giving my lover a stroke because…why?”

“Oh!” Gabe clapped his hands then bounced on his toes. “Because we have great news!

Mika and I, along with Aidan and Zane, are going to go with y’all to look for Jameson! And we get to fly on a private jet, how cool is that?”

Adam thought he just might have a stroke, too.

Todd and Adam decided to hit up Fort Worth even though it’d likely be a disaster

taking care of getting their passports. Plus, Todd just didn’t want everyone in town to know where he and Adam were flying off to. For that matter, he hoped they’d buy Gabe’s

proposed explanation that he and Adam were off on a hiking vacation. The questions they’d get asked if people found out they were going to Europe, aw, man, Todd didn’t even want to think about stuttering through the explanations.

There’d be the troublemakers, too, who’d spread rumours about how much such a trip

would cost and where did Todd and Adam get that kind of money and, yeah, he didn’t want to deal with it. He couldn’t even imagine the fuss if people found out they were flying out on a private jet. That belonged to the head honcho werewolf—er, shape-shifter—of North

America. Holy mother, visions of villagers with torches and pitchforks, and really big guns, were not a totally impossible reality.

Texans and their guns. Sometimes it was just a bit unnerving knowing there were so many people in the state with deadly weapons, licensed to carry concealed.

Todd pointed just such creepy thinking out to Adam as they walked down the

sidewalk. He was glad they were in shorts, it was frigging hot. The sun was brutal, and it was early hours yet.

“Can’t you tell who has a weapon tucked beneath their shirt or in their pants?” Adam shook his finger at Todd. “And don’t even crack a joke about guns and pants and penises.”

Todd’s brain hadn’t leapt that far ahead. A bead of sweat ran behind his sunglasses and dripped into his eye. “Ouch! Crap. Hang on.” Todd nudged Adam to a shady spot and out of the middle of the sidewalk.

“What happened?” Adam was already patting at him.

Todd, aware of just where they were, gently pushed Adam’s hands aside and shook his

head. “Just sweat in my eye.” He finally got to take the sunglasses off and rub.

“Todd, don’t rub your eye. You can scratch your cornea.”

Some people might have got annoyed at Adam’s mama-ing, but not Todd. He took one

last swipe at his eye before Adam could stop him and smiled at his man. It always made him feel good to know Adam thought he was worth nagging. “It’s just sweat.”

Adam scowled. “And your big…” his scowl melted as he eyed Todd’s hand, “sexy,

manly hand.”

“Stop it,” Todd whispered. It was both wonderful and wrong how his dick got half

hard just from Adam talking about his hand. Of course, the rough timbre to Adam’s voice reminded Todd of how he sounded when—Oh hell. He wasn’t going to make his hard-on

any less obvious by going down that route.

“You probably need to walk in front of me for a while,” he suggested.

Adam shoved his own sunglasses back into place. “I love how easily you respond. And

now I just want to get you home.”

Sounded good to Todd, but they didn’t get to the big city often and he didn’t want to deprive Adam of the trip. “Why don’t we do some sightseeing, maybe go to a gallery if you want?”

Adam snorted so loud people turned to look at him. “What?” he asked them.

Obviously he wasn’t worried about concealed weapons.

“Do you really want to go to a gallery, Todd?”

How was he supposed to answer that? He knew Adam liked artsy stuff. “If you do.”

Wow. He touched Adam’s shoulder, just a brief connection then ran his knuckles down Adam’s arm before shoving his hand in his back pocket. Otherwise he’d keep stroking

Adam. “I just want to spend the day with you, watching you have fun. However it happens, I don’t care, as long as we’re together.”

Adam’s smile could have lit up the city. “Right answer, stud. Home it is.”

Butterflies in his belly. Todd should have been used to them after more than two years with Adam, but no, and he hoped he never did get to where the sensation was nothing to be amazed about.

“Are you sure?” He had to ask.

“Do you want me to change my mind?” Adam batted back. “Nah, you know I’m teasing. Why would I want to go look at somebody else’s idea of art when I have my very own masterpiece I can touch, and lick, and fuck?”

“You need to walk in front of me,” Todd got out. Geez, he should have worn a button—

up shirt over his tank top. There was nothing but Adam to hide his boner now.

“I don’t mind giving you a show.” Which Adam did by doing nothing more than

walking as he usually did. But the way the khaki cargo shorts cupped his ass, the material caressing the flexing globes with each step he took, God, he was something to see. Add in the trimly sculpted back, the muscular calves, and Todd’s dick didn’t stand a chance of going soft.

They got back to the truck and Todd fished his keys out of his pocket. The paid parking lot was full and he wondered if there was something going on in town to make everyone willing to come out in the heat. He was soaked through and so was Adam, and there was little Todd loved more than getting his hands on his sweaty man.

“Soon,” Adam muttered, proving he knew Todd very well indeed.

It was a good hour and a half drive home, though. “Not soon enough.” Todd took his

cell phone out. He hit the lock button on the fob and hissed when he opened the door. “And I was grumbling about it being hot out here. You’d think I’d get used to it.”

“I don’t think it’s possible to get used to this kind of heat,” Adam said from where he stood at the passenger’s side. “I mean, it’d be like getting used to the heat in hell, and what would be the whole point of being sent there as punishment?”

Todd leaned in and started the truck, glad he’d left the air on full blast. “You calling Texas hell?” He gave Adam a mock-glare that had Adam laughing and shaking his head.

“Aw, now, it ain’t so bad here.” Except sometimes it was, especially when some politician did something stupid and made everyone in the state look bad.

“You know what I mean, and I don’t believe in hell anyway,” Adam said as he got in,

gingerly sitting on the hot seat. “Ow, damn, that’s uncomfortable. Turn the AC on the seats.”

“Oh, yeah.” Todd flipped the switch. He’d forgotten about heated and cooled seats. It was a luxury he’d never thought to have. Well, had never thought about period, until the sales man at the Chevy store had started talking it up.

Todd got in and had the pleasure of hundreds of tiny bursts of chilled air blowing on his heated skin. “Ah, that feels soooo good.”

“It does.” They shut the doors and Adam patted his leg after buckling up. “Only bad

thing is, now we’re going to have to get out and run around the yard or something to get all sweaty and glistening.”

“Or we could just shower. It lacks the distinctive, manly odour—”

Adam snorted and covered his mouth.

“That sweat has, but it’s still got the wet and glistening part going on.” Todd grinned when Adam laughed again. He wanted to hear that sound every day, as often as possible.