Wylde (20 page)

“Yeah, that’s my work, but I like taking care of people.” Kell put an arm around Noah, bringing him closer so his dressed body rubbed against Kell’s partial nudity. He loved the feel of the smaller man’s shirt grazing against his nipples, the two of them slowly sizzling like the vegetables Noah liked to cook in his wok. “What about your work? You don’t talk about it much.”

“Mmmm, writing about software advancements. It’s pretty cut and dried, but it’s regular money.”

“Makes sense, you being a single parent, that you’d want something reliable,” Kell said. “Plus you can live and work anywhere.”

“Yep. Also, Josh’s mother had money, so….”

“What was she like?” Kell tilted his head, his breath catching in his chest when Noah’s finger went to his heavy silver belt, stroking the figure of a half-man, half-wolf.

“Margaret settled for me,” Noah said on a sigh. “We got drunk one night in college and made Josh. I think she knew, right away, knew there was a part of me that wasn’t fully with her, but we were happy, best friends. It was wrenching when she died.”

“I’m sorry.” Kell reached out and cupped Noah’s cheek. “You made a helluva kid.”

 

Noah leaned forward, eyes holding Kell’s, and took his kiss. He was becoming more confident, his hands loosening Kell’s belt.

Kell’s hand slapped down over Noah’s. “Noah,” he growled. This was it, his Waterloo. “If you touch my cock, I’m going to come. And I want to come on your skin, on your penis.”

Noah’s irises were only a thin rim of gray. “Jesus! Kell, what you say….”

“Too much?”
“Honest. Raw.”

“Raw is how I want to—” Kell cut himself off. Crazy! He couldn’t be saying he wanted that kind of commitment to Noah, taking him without protection. It was too fucking early for that, he knew, even if it had settled in his bones that this thing between them was inevitable. “When I come back after seeing Makepeace, I’d love a back rub,” Kell said, giving Noah an out if needed.

Noah swallowed, heart pounding visibly in his throat. His touch, scent, called to Kell. He wanted to mount, to push inside and spill. To conquer what was his. “Just a back rub?”

“Well, no, actually,” Kell said calmly. “I thought I’d suck your cock.”
Noah flushed, but he didn’t say no, and he didn’t pull away and run screaming. Kell thought that was progress. That, and Noah had pulled down Kell’s zipper now, and Kell’s erection fell out, heavy, unsubtle.

“That’s all?”
“No, I thought you’d suck mine too,” Kell rasped, his eyes heavy lidded as Noah leaned down and licked one of his nipples. He just about yelled. Fuck! Noah’s lips, tongue, teeth on him. “Baby, bite down harder on me,” he pleaded. “I can take it. I want it!”

“Kell, you’re all rainbow colored,” Noah remarked, obviously concerned. His hand petted Kell, finding the slender thread of hair, following the path until he grazed Kell’s penis.

Kell laughed, pulling Noah close and biting him just under his ear with measured strength. “I want your scratches on my back,” he whispered in Noah’s ear. Noah’s hands clenched into muscle, and then they were kissing, kissing like they were drowning and this was the last taste, the last kiss ever. Teeth clicked, jarred, a little clumsy—

Kell fell back, yanking Noah over him, reaching down, frantic, tearing Noah’s sedate slacks open, and then hot, silky skin filled his hand, and then they both filled his hand, and was there anything more satisfying, more gut-wrenching, than two cocks held in his fist? “Rut in my hand. Do it!” Far gone, Noah thrust, his humping a messy collusion against Kell’s grip, his breath panting hot against Kell’s neck as his dilated eyes held Kell’s. Kell reached down and feathered a delicate finger over Noah’s balls, hard against his body, sleek, soft skin, warm, so Kell also petted, admired. “God, I want to tie you up! I want to hold you down, crush you into the bed.”

“Don’t think…” Noah huffed, face tight. “We’re going to last. This time.”

Kell laughed, but then his laughter cut like a light switch when Noah began to move in earnest, rutting against him as he’d demanded. At the peak moment, he leaned over Kell, mashing Kell’s hands against the hardwood floor, covering him with his slighter body, pale skin, blue veins, pink prominent nipples swollen from Kell’s touch, taking command of Kell in a way that had never happened before. Kell sure as fuck wouldn’t have allowed it with his handcuffs and his macho belt, the tools of his trade, that and all the tricks he bent over who got off on having a cop’s cock up their ass.

Captivated, Kell could only watch, and then he gasped when Noah bit his neck, just above the collarbone, marking him, biting him with feeling. Noah taking him made his toes curl and his body arch, and then he was coming on Noah as Noah came on him, tangled together.

“S
EE
the scoring on the bone?” Daniel Makepeace pointed out

laconically, cracking open some pistachios as he watched Kell look over his findings. “I compared it to the impressions in your raccoon’s remains as well as Morley Orris’s. It’s a match.”

Kell folded his arms, thinking that he didn’t want to see any more people in his town reduced to what could fill a small plastic box. Something had to be done. Damn. “So you’re saying it’s a strong possibility that the same killing tool was used in both cases?”

“I can’t be absolutely sure of Hindle since his body was eaten by a variety of animals a long time ago, but these victims were fresh, so yes, I’m confident about that much, anyway. See, there was one possibility I hadn’t explored when I began my analysis.” Daniel bit his lip.

Kell’s brows lowered, and he dogged Daniel’s heels as the pathologist circled the remains, studying them with his head cocked. “I have a strong feeling I’m not going to like it. First, tell me, what
aren’t
you confident about, Daniel?”

“Well, I can’t follow all the jargon in Morley’s diary, so I’ve been handicapped in that sense. I won’t give you the tired disclaimer of ‘damn it, Jim, I’m a pathologist, not a pot grower’
.
”

“You just did,” Kell noted sourly, trying to rub the headache from his temples. He’d looked for some aspirin at Noah’s house and come up with a suggestion of peppermint oil and a massage. It appeared his new boyfriend was also a homeopath as well as a sometimes-vegetarian. “So what aren’t you telling me?”

Daniel sighed. “It’s the imprint of the killing knife. It troubles me, since near as I can figure out, it’s something that might have been manufactured in Africa. The blade shares certain characteristics with something carved by hand there. From the wounds I’ve examined, I ran a simulation, and I can project that whatever is being used can disembowel someone very efficiently.”

Kell’s gut tightened in a sympathetic reaction. “Uh huh. But why the hell use that kind of knife? You can pick up less distinctive blades.”

“I’d say there would only be two reasons. One, it’s the only blade you have, or two, you have a specific purpose in mind in using one, perhaps pointing suspicion in a certain direction.”

“Shit.” He might have to pick up some Tylenol in his office if Makepeace didn’t have any. Noah had told him that pain meant he had to treat the whole person or some shit. He was definitely taking a canister of aspirin up to thei—uh,
Noah’s
place.

Daniel pushed back his rumpled hair. “I have a feeling whatever it is we’re missing is like pornography,” he noted ruefully. “You’ll know it when you see it.”

“Come on, you’ve been reading that journal for days now. You must have some ideas.”

Daniel didn’t look happy. “I know Morley was maybe blackmailing a few people here in town. Too many to narrow down as yet, but there are records of payments made, and some of the initials are familiar.”

“What about what Alec described seeing?”

“Alec saw something in the dark and then he fell, so we can’t be sure… but a ‘wild’ boy? It really sounds like science fiction. How could some kid survive up there?”

“Well, keep on it, Daniel, but I don’t want you or anyone else going up there into the forest until I’m ready to go hunting. I left a message for Anderson, telling him to leave off looking for his missing gun until I’m sure it’s safe up there.
If
that’s the reason he was prowling the woods.”

Daniel shook his head. “He is an old-time hunter and fisherman. But one thing you should know… I did find trace residue on that raccoon. I think whoever cut it up shot it first.”

Kell blinked. “Shot it. Why shoot it and then cut it up with a primitive blade?”
“Like I said, someone may have a reason for pointing in a certain direction to throw us off.”

“Hmmm.” Kell’s brows lowered. “In other words, pointing to our ‘wild man’.”

W
HEN
Kell pulled out his keys on his way out, Daniel offered, “I’ll keep you apprised of anything else I come up with. And Kell? If and when you go looking for this killer, I want to go with you.”

“Forget it,” Kell said flatly. “I’m not risking any more people.” “Right. Except yourself.”
“That’s the plan.”
“So have you shared this plan with your new boyfriend?”

Kell flushed. “Uh… say, do you know anything about tofu? Noah likes the shit, and I thought I’d bring some home with me for dinner, but I got no fucking clue what to buy.”

Daniel gave a crack of surprised laughter that made Kell turn redder. “
Tofu?
Man, you’ve got it bad!”
“S
OFT
tofu.” Noah blinked at the packages Kell had put on his
purple-stained marble counter. “Chocolate… and strawberry flavored.”

“There’s some hard in there too. And, uh, extra firm.” Kell cocked a wicked brow, smirking in victory. “I thought you could do more with something hard rather than… you know, just soft.”

Noah touched the plastic sealed squares before shaking his head at Kell’s double meaning. “Extra firm. You’re such a tease.”

“No, I’m not.” Kell’s face was suddenly serious. “I never tease. I’ll take you all the way, baby, I promise.”
Noah gasped as Kell’s warm lips nuzzled the back of his neck. Kell’s hands curved around his belly and stroked it over his T-shirt, but he appreciated the way the bigger man didn’t grope for his sex, considering Josh could walk in on them in the kitchen at anytime.

“Kell.” Noah felt years of sexual frustration bubble up. He wanted to ask for more… and he also wanted to ask that they take it easy. He hated that he was so confused sometimes. His body wanted Kell, but the shadow of Adam was still there, like a smudgy impression pressed into his heart. It came and went, whispering for him to be wary about giving himself again.

“It’ll be okay,” Kell said, as if reading Noah from his stiff body language. “So… what do we put in the wok? I kind of thought the chocolate tofu would be cool.”

Noah’s hand covered Kell’s where it rested on his belly. He was hard and aching, and he could feel Kell’s erection prodding him from behind, but he had a meal to prepare, and Kell seemed to understand that. Their passion would simmer while they waited, like their meal.

“Why the sudden enthusiasm for tofu? I figured from the way you acted when you first saw it in my fridge you thought it would make your balls drop off,” Noah said ruefully.

“Not at all. I’m really very, uh, new age.”
Noah cocked a brow. “Uh huh.”

“Okay, maybe more like old world,” Kell confessed. “I told you I’m new at this relationship shit. I thought if I tried a little of the things you like and you tried a little steak and eggs….”

Just then, Josh walked into the kitchen, but he didn’t look ruffled as he took in Kell snuggling his dad. Instead, he gave Kell an amused look as he took in the variety of tofu on the counter. “You bought dessert?”

“Dessert?” Kell asked blankly.

 

Josh laughed. “Yeah, that’s dessert tofu.”

 

“W
HAT
’
S
the deal? I washed the sheets,” Jade said, crossing her

arms defensively as she lingered in the guest room doorway, looking at Alec. Well, looking at his ass as he bent over to take off his shoes. And his wide shoulders. And his slim waist. He was shirtless, his skin smooth, and she bet it would be warm to the touch.

“Huh? No, I was lost in thought. Sorry, I just got off the phone with Kell. Just… trying to understand what’s happening, what exactly I saw. I think Kell intends to go hunting soon.”