Semper Fidelis (4 page)

“You have friends besides me?” Linc asked.

“You’re such a pretentious asshole.”

“Z! You are blushing. Talk.”

Telling Linc about Galen was in his best interest if he didn’t want to spend the night being hounded. But he was still going to try to downplay it and not admit that he’d been thinking about Galen for the last hour. “Someone who contracts with Synthfad messaged me today. We talked a bit.”

“Like online?”

“No. Through Waze.”

“As in the traffic app Waze?”

Zach nodded.

Linc shrugged. “I guess it could be the Grindr of socially awkward workaholics.”

Zach sipped at his drink. “True.” Linc’s harassment was always easier to take than his relentless jabbing for info. “He doesn’t even know I’m gay. Maybe he’s just being nice.”

“And maybe he’s not even a he. You should suspect that at the very least, what with all your Internet dating fails and all.”

“That’s cold, Linc.”

“Maybe you should change your avatar to Captain America and Iron Man kissing.”

Zach was not averse to that idea. “His first message to me was about Cap using Thor’s hammer. And come to think of it, his second one was about intimate knowledge of Steve Rogers.”

Linc’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Who?”

“Captain America,” Zach clarified.

“Oh yeah, he’s totally gay then—and a geek. He’s probably hoping you are too. You going to keep talking to him?”

“I have a lot going on…”

Linc huffed. “Yeah, ’cause getting laid could really mess with your rocket-building endurance. Come on! You’re not an athlete, man. Some release would probably help clear your head.”

“He says he’s a Marine.”

“And I take it that’s kinda hot?”

Zach scowled at Linc.
Kinda?
Nope. It was beyond hot. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he thought about what to do next.

“Give me your phone. I’m going to message him and ask for a picture. Either way then you’ll know how much effort you should put into this. He’s invited you to his door—you just have to knock on it.”

“I don’t do that.”

“You really should. At least once. As long as it’s safe and consensual.”

“You know I don’t date well.”

Linc grinned. “Forget the dating part. Let’s just go for one night.”

Chapter Three

ZJR: Send me your number. Let’s text instead of talking through here.

Galen stared at the screen dumbfounded.

He blinked and made sure he was reading the message correctly, because as soon as he responded the original message would disappear and he couldn’t go back and make sure he’d read that right.

Zach was asking for his phone number, right?

A slow smile spread across Galen’s face as he typed in those fateful ten digits. Seconds later the ping of a text came through.

Hey Just Galen.

Hey.

Galen thumped his head against the headboard. When had he forgotten how to be smooth? Zach hadn’t started to type anything back, so Galen sent…

Warning, another awkward moment coming next…

He took a deep breath and went for the full truth.

I think you’re cute.

As soon as he hit send he clamped his eyes shut and groaned. What the ever fucking loving hell was he doing? He was a grown-ass man who was more than capable of picking up guys in a mature way and he’d gone with ‘cute’.
Cute? Wow
. Yes, it’d been a year since his last hookup, but he shouldn’t have been this out of practice. His phone pinged and he lifted off his chest to look at how much damage he’d done.

And I don’t even know what you look like.

Huh. Well that wasn’t a brush-off.

Is that your way of asking for a pic? I’m lying on my hotel bed half naked.

That escalated quickly.

Galen guffawed. He held up his phone, snapped a picture and sent it off.

Acceptable?

There was no indication that Zach was responding as the seconds ticked past, and Galen got more and more freaked out that he’d read the signs wrong. Then Zach’s reply came through.

Thought you were joking about the half-naked part.

That bad, huh?

I was expecting you to be a woman. You are so not a woman.

Ummmm…

That’s a good thing.

Galen let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

Good. I didn’t crash my car for you to hope I’d be a woman.

Was that an autocorrect text?

Ha! No. I may have backed into another car thinking I was going to lose my chance to message you when you left Synthfad today.

Couldn’t you have just hit the button to message me instead of driving after me?

Yeah I thought of that later. Was worried I’d never see you again. Grabbing the brass ring and all that.

There was a longer stretch of silence, and Galen wondered if he’d crossed the line somehow. Zach’s reply didn’t help ease his worries.

Not gonna lie. This is kinda weird.

He took a deep breath.

I’m aware. Prefer to call it untraditional. How can we make this less weird?

Tell me something about you besides the whole Marine thing and not working on the classified research study that doesn’t exist. You from here?

I’m on TAD

TAD?

Temporary Additional Duty orders. Lejeune in NC is my permanent base. Stationed at 29 Palms and stay the night in Pasadena when it doesn’t make sense to commute all the way up the mountain again. Your turn.

I took a big risk this weekend and it paid off. I’m feeling lucky.

I’ve never had luck with luck.

Same. But…

But?

I’m finishing dinner with a friend…

Galen watched those dots pop up in his message panel, meaning Zach was typing on the other end. Then…

What would you say if I wanted to come to your room?

* * * *

Galen had always considered himself a goal-oriented person. Becoming part of the Corps was the first decision he’d made as an adult because his goal was not to be stuck in the backwoods town he’d grown up in. He’d known then his choice wasn’t because he wanted more out of life, it was because he wanted to really live—without arbitrary rules. Without judgment. Without walls. Others would think him crazy for choosing the regimented life of a Marine to reach that goal, but it had always made perfect sense to him. As long as he wasn’t a criminal or a dumbass, the Corps didn’t care who he was. He did his job to the best of his ability, dared himself to do better the next day and encouraged others to do the same. He’d spent the last seven years challenging himself to be a stronger man and a wiser Marine. It had taken him every second of those seven years to reach the rank of staff sergeant. And he’d done it all because he was thorough—a planner and researcher. He was confident because of his conscious forethought.

Giving Zach his phone number and telling him to come to his hotel room defied all of who he was.

Or, on second thought, maybe it didn’t. It was his forethought coupled with his training that allowed him to make impossible decisions on the fly. There wasn’t time to think when you spotted what could be an IED in a battlefield. He’d seen Zach, formulated a plan and acted to fulfill his goal.

And now that goal was knocking on his door.

Galen’s heart was going to beat out of his chest. He knew exactly what had happened to lead to this moment. How much luck and coincidence and kismet had gone into Zach saying he was on his way to Galen’s hotel door. This hadn’t been his plan for the night. Hell, this was all so far from unplanned that he was free-falling into unfamiliar territory. But as soon as he opened that door, a peace came over him that had never been paired with the unexpected for Galen before.

He could’ve gotten dressed. Probably should have, as propriety went. But the onceover he got from Zach told him he’d made the right decision.

Galen leaned against the edge of the door, completely aware that this stance would show off the hours of work he put into his body. “How is it possible you’re even better-looking in person?”

Zach gave a lopsided grin that made Galen’s heart stutter a bit. He held up a plastic container. “I brought dessert.”

Galen couldn’t hold in his answering laugh. “So many jokes and all of them dirty.”

“That was the point of bringing this. Can I come in?”

Galen nodded and stepped back for Zach to enter.
You’re cool, you’re cool, you’re cool
, he repeated in his head as he shut the door, trying to get his eagerness under control. Yes, it had been a year since his last hookup, but Zach was by far the best-looking guy he’d ever had a sort of chance with. Zach perched on the edge of the desk and opened the box to reveal a red velvet cupcake with matching red frosting and black sprinkles. There was no anomaly Galen could find in the scene in front of him to make him think this wasn’t a sure thing. He had this.

Zach licked his lips and picked up the baked good. “Think you may want a taste?”

Galen didn’t hesitate.

His lips were on Zach’s before he could finish the request. Before Zach could reconsider or come to his senses or realize he was much too beautiful for the likes of Galen.

But all of those considerations just disappeared with Zach’s mouth on his.

His unerring focus, his goal, became Zach. Tasting him. Feeling him. Breathing him in and feeding that rush, that unrepentant thrumming of blood through his heart. The heart that refused to shut down, even though he knew this was probably only going to be one night.

They were touching at one point—lips against lips—and it wasn’t nearly enough, yet it was all he’d ever wanted.

Then Zach’s tongue, warm and wet, teased at Galen’s lips, coaxing them open, and Galen couldn’t understand how out of control Zach could make him with one simple kiss.

Galen opened, let Zach inside him, and he didn’t know which one of them moaned, but the sound was low, deep, needy. Then Zach’s arms wrapped around Galen, crashing their bodies together, Zach’s thigh set between Galen’s leg, their bodies moving in an awkward, unsynced tangle of lips, teeth, tongue and limbs…

Until they gave up the fight for control. And without thought, without word, they fit.

Zach’s fingers at the back of his neck, teasing at his nape, held him in a tight grip that brought them—impossibly—closer together. Zach’s teeth nipped at Galen’s bottom lip, his other hand set over Galen’s heart, then brushing over Galen’s nipple with a too gentle touch that drove Galen mad.

Galen arched his back, settling his hardening cock into the divot between stomach and thigh, where he could feel Zach, just as deliciously hard, rocking against him.

Galen snaked his hand around Zach’s ass and ground their bodies together. That’s when Galen realized Zach still had that damn cupcake in his hand. He pulled away from the kiss and looked down to find the dessert smashed between them and that red frosting smeared across his chest and Zach’s shirt. But when he went to throw the ruined pastry, Zach stopped him, a wicked brilliant smile lighting up his chiseled features.

Zach gripped the cupcake in his hand. “Not yet.”

Galen obeyed. Because who the fuck would be stupid enough to argue with a man who could look adorable
and
dangerous in the same heartbeat?

Zach lifted the cupcake to his lips, making sure Galen was watching him as he swirled his tongue through the sugary mess.

Galen was rapt. Frozen. And so fucking hard that all of the blood must have abandoned his brain, because all he could think as he looked at Zach was that he needed some part of Zach in his mouth. Now. With some of that red frosting.

There were sprinkles on Zach’s lips and Galen put his finger against them, swiping them away and sucking his finger into his own mouth as Zach stared at him.

Zach shivered, set the cupcake down on the desk, then brought two of his fingers—coated in that damning red sweetness—up to Galen’s lips. He traced the line of Galen’s mouth with the frosting. That was all the invitation Galen needed. He sucked Zach’s fingers into his mouth and swirled his tongue around them until Zach’s knees were practically giving out. Zach let loose a moan that he probably had no intention of uttering so loudly and it rumbled through Galen—visceral and intimate—as if it was Zach’s cock in Galen’s mouth and not just his fingers.

“Get them nice and wet. I want to jack us off together,” Zach commanded.

It didn’t matter that Galen was used to being the one in charge at his job. When it came to the bedroom, he preferred to give away control most days. He liked it that way. He fantasized quite often about taking a different set of orders. Orders for him to strip and bend over his bed. And maybe his need to be taken was because there was an imbalance within himself he needed to set right again. He was the one who’d kept himself from doing this for way too long. So if it was in his power—and it damn well was in this moment—then he was going to allow Zach to do whatever the hell he wanted, for as long as he wanted.

He wet Zach’s fingers while Zach unbuttoned their pants, and when Galen finally felt Zach’s cock fall against his, rigid softness of skin to skin, he took his first real breath in years, inhaling the crisp wildness of Zach, and let go.

Their pairing was fast and dirty. So rough as Zach fucked against Galen’s body, the cheap pressboard of that hotel desk slamming into the wall backward with the force. Their breaths were rushed, harsh, panted against skin that was overly sensitive. So alive because he hadn’t been touched this right in too long.