by Ella Frank
HENRI WAS ONLY half joking as he watched his cock disappear between the roundest, tightest ass cheeks he’d ever had the pleasure of getting between. But when Bailey angled his upper torso down and shoved back, Henri thought his threat just might turn out to have some weight.
Bailey looked, felt, and sounded unreal, and with the way he was now thrusting back and forth, using the landing as both an anchor and a kind of springboard to help him move exactly the way he wanted to, Henri really didn’t have to do much but hold on and let his cop top him from the bottom—and fuck, he was doing a damn good job of it.
Up until this moment, Henri had been the one in charge, issuing the orders, guiding Bailey. But as Henri looked up to Bailey’s muscles rippling across his back and his shoulder blades flexing, Bailey was definitely the one setting the pace and rhythm.
“That’s it,” Henri growled, as Bailey widened his legs a little further, both spreading himself open and giving his knees a much-needed switch in position. They were no doubt aching like a motherfucker, but judging by the rapid breathing and curses flying out of Bailey’s mouth, he didn’t much care. He was too far gone, immersed in the toe-curling ecstasy. “Stroke me. Fuck, Henri, I need your hands or something on my—”
Henri wrapped his hand around Bailey’s cock in a second, and as he began to work it up and down, he thrust in and out of Bailey, until his cop threw his head back and cried out.
“Yes, Henri, fuck. Fuck. Right there. Right fucking there.” The demand was as bold as it was needy, and as Henri delivered exactly what Bailey had asked for, the cry that left Bailey’s throat was raw, eager, and uninhibited.
Gone was the shy, unassuming police officer. Bailey had left this plane of existence for one where there was nothing but them. His muscles tensed and began to shake, his body gripping Henri’s cock like a vise, and they both finally gave in and flew over to the other side.
As the storm that had just barreled through the loft subsided, Henri eased out of Bailey, who looked as though he were about to collapse on the stairs, uncaring of his nude and used body. Henri leaned forward to press a kiss to the center of Bailey’s spine.
Bailey grunted and shifted to the side, and when he craned his head to look back, Henri aimed a sinner’s grin his way.
“You made a mess of my stairs, Bailey.”
Flushed all over from his arousal, Bailey was dotted with sweat and cum, and looked like something straight out of one of Henri’s fantasies. “Guess I did. But it’s your fault, so…” Henri grabbed the rail and pulled himself to his feet. Bailey ran his eyes over Henri from head to toe and let out a satisfied sigh. “Was definitely your fault.”
Henri chuckled. He was all kinds of fucking pleased that Bailey was finally in a place where he said exactly what he was thinking. “You able to get up to my bedroom on your own? Or you need me to throw you over my shoulder?”
Bailey’s eyes widened. “I’m almost tempted to see if you could actually do that.”
Henri rolled the condom off, took a step over the messy step, and offered his free hand to Bailey, who took it. “You doubting my manly prowess?”
Once he was on his feet, Bailey winced a little, then chuckled. “Well, considering I can barely walk, I’m thinking no.”
Henri wrapped an arm around Bailey’s waist and gently squeezed his ass. This was nice, the two of them alone like this. It was a pity it couldn’t stay like this for a little while longer…or could it? And before Henri knew what he was saying, he blurted out, “Come away with me.”
Bailey blinked at him, and Henri quickly added, “I know your life is crazy at the moment, and the last thing you probably should do is vanish. But that’s what I’m good at and maybe—”
“Yes.”
Henri almost tripped over his tongue. But he quickly regrouped and said, “Yes?”
“Yes,” Bailey said again, and then that gorgeous smile Henri had feared was lost appeared. “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than disappear with you right now. Just tell me when and where.”
Chapter Fifteen
CONFESSION
This is the end of something.
I can feel it, and so can he.
IT TURNED OUT that when and where was early tomorrow morning and somewhere…sunny. That was all Henri had told Bailey, other than to not pack a whole lot. In fact, there had been a lengthy discussion on whether he needed to go home to pack anything at all. But after pointing out that he at least needed clothes to get to and from wherever they were going, Henri had reluctantly agreed to drop Bailey home for a couple hours, while he went about making the necessary arrangements for their little…vanishing act.
That was where Bailey found himself now, standing inside the front door of his home for the first time since his life had been turned on its head, and the silence that greeted him was deafening.
It was strange. He’d never felt that way before in this house, that it was too quiet. It had always been full of friends and family, and after they had gone or moved on, memories had filled the home, making it feel alive.
But as Bailey stood there now, looking into the living room and out to the property that stretched beyond, he suddenly realized just how big and empty it felt, and just how alone he was standing in it.
That was Henri’s fault. Not because of anything bad, but because in the midst of one of his most horrible days, Henri had shown Bailey exactly what he wanted in life—and empty spaces and quiet rooms were not it.
He wanted omelets and conversations and to be held on rooftop patios. He wanted to watch the sun rise and see the man beside him wake. He wanted a boxing partner who would give as good as he got, and he wanted to be devoured on a staircase at least once a month.
Bailey wanted it all, and he wanted it with Henri.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
The quick rapping on his front door startled Bailey, and he whirled around. It was just closing in on five, and he wasn’t expecting Henri until after seven or eight. Bailey peered through the peephole.
Xander. Shit. Bailey had completely forgotten to text him back. His friend had reached out this morning as soon as word of the shooting had hit the news, but Bailey had been in between interviews and questioning down at the precinct and said he’d call him back. Clearly, Xander had decided he was done waiting.
Bailey looked over himself and sighed. There was no way to make his clothes look any less lived in after wearing them for two days straight. But at least he’d showered and shaved back at Henri’s.
Taking a deep breath and plastering on an I’m doing fine expression, Bailey reached for the door handle.
“Bay, hi,” Xander said as he stepped forward and drew Bailey into a hug. “I’ve been worried sick about you.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve called you back, but—”
“No, no. Don’t even worry about that,” Xander said. “I got George to cover for me. I just needed to see you were okay with my own two eyes.”
As Bailey pulled away from Xander, he offered up a halfhearted smile and moved aside. “I’m doing okay. It was a rough morning, but after they grilled me for a few hours, they let me go.”
Xander ran a hand through his hair as he walked by, and Bailey shut the door. “I still can’t believe it. When I heard about the robbery and then your name and a shooting?” Xander shook his head. “I’ve never been more scared in my life, Bailey. Jesus.”
More guilt slammed into Bailey hard and fast, piling on top of the copious amounts he was already feeling. He tried for a smile to ease his friend’s worry.
“I’m fine, see?” Bailey held his hands out to his sides, and when Xander rolled his eyes, Bailey said, “I was a bit shaken up, but other than that, I’m okay.”
Xander looked him over. “Yeah, I don’t know about that. When was the last time you changed your clothes?”
Bailey’s lips twitched, but then he got serious and said, “I haven’t, actually. I just got home around ten minutes ago.”
“They kept
you down at that station that long?”
“No, I, uh…” Bailey rubbed the back of his neck. “I went to Henri’s once I was done there, and, um…”
A smile slowly curved Xander’s lips. “Spent the day?”
Bailey nodded and walked into the living room. “Yeah, that’s right.”
Xander followed, and as they both took a seat, he looked Bailey directly in the eye and, as always, said exactly what was on his mind: “Interesting that that’s where you wound up after one of the most traumatic moments of your life.”
Bailey frowned, thinking about how right it had felt to be with Henri. But if he were to go back to when he’d actually turned up on Henri’s doorstep, he’d have to admit that he too had found it…interesting.
“I guess it is, but I don’t know, Xander. I just wanted to be around someone who…who…” Bailey tried to think of the simplest way to explain his feelings about Henri without getting into things he wasn’t quite ready to talk about yet.
“Makes you feel good?”
Bailey nodded. “Yeah. When I left the precinct, Sean called and asked if I wanted to meet up, but—”
“Oh God, because he’d be such a comfort right now.” Xander’s lips twisted. “He can barely look after himself these days—how was he planning to look after you? Offer you a drink?”
Bailey frowned but couldn’t disagree. While Sean had tried his best to talk Bailey through those initial moments on the scene, telling Bailey that everything would be back to normal soon enough wasn’t what he’d needed.
Unlike their father and Sean, Bailey wasn’t of the don’t talk about it, deal with it in silence mentality. He’d always preferred to get his feelings out, whether it be through a few rounds with a punching bag or talking his way through the problem. So the idea that he’d give his report, answer a few questions, go home, and sleep things off might’ve been Sean’s solution to what had happened last night, but it sure as hell wasn’t Bailey’s.
Neither was drinking his way through a bottle of booze, which apparently Xander had also noticed was Sean’s go-to solution these days.
“He’s just going through a rough spot right now, that’s all,” Bailey said, but judging by the arched brow and doubtful expression on Xander’s face, he wasn’t buying that for a second.
“Seems his ‘rough spots’ have been lasting longer and longer these days. And if that’s his excuse? I can’t remember the last time I saw him in a smooth spot.”
Again, Bailey agreed. But he also thought it interesting that Xander was so aware of what was going on with Sean. Usually their conversations, when concerning either of his brothers, were about how annoying or irritating they were being.
But not this time. Xander seemed genuinely upset. He was angry at Sean’s recent behavior. But considering what a grumpy asshole Sean had been the last couple of times they’d all had dinner, Bailey could hardly blame Xander.
That didn’t, however, stop Bailey from trying to defend Sean. He was, after all, still his brother. “He’s just working a hard case.”
“So what?”
Xander’s response was so unlike him—in that it held zero compassion—that Bailey’s eyes widened a fraction.
“You were in the middle of an armed robbery last night, and I don’t see you cradling an empty bottle of bourbon and reaching for the next.”
“No, you don’t,” Bailey said, and before he knew he was going to, he added, “But I went to Henri knowing he’d likely touch me, fuck me, and make me forget what I’d done. So is that any better?”
Xander opened his mouth, an answer clearly about to fly off his tongue until he seemed to realize exactly what Bailey had said. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you use the phrase ‘fuck me’ in a sentence before. Excuse me if I seem a little stunned right now.”
Bailey shot him the finger. “I’m just pointing out that people deal with stressful situations differently, that’s all.”
Xander sat back on the couch and rubbed a hand over the stubble lining his jaw. “I suppose, and anyway, I doubt that would work with Sean. That would actually mean finding someone who would want to fuck him. And let’s be honest, nobody has the time to hunt down that unicorn. If she does, in fact, exist.”
Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Bailey found himself grinning. He also realized for the first time that the two men he’d been seriously involved with in his life both shared a similar opinion of his eldest brother.
Huh, at least they’ll have something to talk about when they finally meet.
“So, back to where you wound up this morning and…why.” Of course Xander wasn’t about to let that go. “This is getting pretty serious. You and Henri.”
Bailey thought about the easy way he’d been able to open up with Henri today. How right it had felt to fall apart in Henri’s arms and be put back together again. “It’s getting very serious.”
“Wow.” Xander rested his ankle on his knee. “I’m…”
“Speechless,” Bailey said, and chuckled. “That’s a first.”
“I… I guess it is. But yeah, I am.”
Bailey knew the feeling. Every time he thought about Henri, he got a little tripped up. It had all happened so fast, and was so unexpected, that it was hard to even pinpoint when he’d gone from thinking of Henri as a one-night stand to…the one. But that was where he was at, and after Henri’s invitation that they go away together, Bailey had to believe Henri was right there with him, or at least close.
“I can’t explain it,” Bailey heard himself saying, and his cheeks heated as he looked at the man he’d grown up with, the boy who’d been his first crush and was now his best friend. “But this, what I feel with him? It’s different, Xander. It’s…scary as hell.”
Xander slowly nodded. “So says anyone who’s ever been in love.”
“What?” Bailey’s mouth fell open, and he shook his head. “No one said anything about being in love.” At least not out loud.
“Bailey, how long have we known each other?”
Bailey swallowed. “Our whole lives.”
“And when was the last time you went anywhere other than to me when you needed someone to lean on?”
Bailey thought back to the last time he’d felt so incredibly helpless: the night he’d lost his parents, and the day after, when he found out the man he’d always looked up to had turned out to be anything but the hero everyone celebrated.
Xander had been there through all of it. He’d been the sanctuary Bailey had sought out to help him weather the storm. But not this time, and it wasn’t until Xander pointed it out that Bailey realized the significance of what that meant.
As he searched out Xander’s gaze and locked on to his familiar face, Bailey couldn’t explain it, but his vision blurred and his heart ached a little. God, what the hell is the matter with me?
But when Xander winked at him and said, “Hey? It’s okay, Bay,” Bailey knew. This was the end of something here. Not that they were anything other than friends at this point. But when Xander sat forward and reached for his hands, Bailey knew their relationship was once again shifting, and so did Xander.
“Does he feel the same way about you?”
“I…I think so?” Bailey said. “He asked me to go away with him for a couple of days.”
Xander’s eyes widened, and then he squeezed Bailey’s hands. “You did say yes, right? I mean, I know you probably think you should stay in case they need you for more questions, but Bailey, you—”
“I said yes.”
Xander’s lips curved into a seriously deviant smile. “Okaaay. I like this guy already if he has you saying yes to impromptu sex vacations.”
Bailey shoved Xander in the shoulder. “It’s not a sex vacation. He’s taking me away to get my mind off everything that happened.”
Xander fell back into the couch and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, okay. But it’s also an I’m into you in all the ways kind of vacation.”
Bailey got to his feet
and shook his head. “And suddenly I’m regretting telling you anything.” He stepped around the couch and headed to his bedroom.
“Aww, don’t be like that. Where you going?”
“I have to pack.”
“Wait,” Xander said. “When are you leaving on this little vacation?”
Bailey looked to the clock on the wall, and then back to Xander, who was now getting to his feet. “Tomorrow morning, but he’s picking me up in about three hours.”
“Well, aren’t you full of surprises tonight, Officer Bailey?”
Bailey supposed he was. But just like the rest of today, he wasn’t going to overthink it. From the second he’d shown up on Henri’s doorstep, to right now, as he walked into his room with Xander to pack a bag so he could disappear and regroup with his lover, Bailey realized he’d never felt so sure about anything in his life.
He loved Henri Boudreaux, and he was done keeping that to himself.
Chapter Sixteen
CONFESSION
I hope he’s feeling even a tenth of what I am.
Then I know I stand a chance of making him love me.
BAILEY STARED OUT the window of the car that had met him and Henri at Sangster International Airport the next day, and still couldn’t believe they were in Montego Bay, Jamaica. He kept expecting someone to pinch him, and he would wake up and see that he was still back in Chicago, where the temperatures were steadily dropping and his career was on temporary hold.
But as the car kept going, flying by the luxury resorts and a pier with a massive cruise ship docked at it, they got farther from the airport and there was no mistaking it: they were definitely on an island—one that was getting more secluded with every minute that passed.
When they finally came to a stop in front of a pier that had several speedboats moored to each side, Bailey noticed that not far from them were a score of overwater bungalows, completely off the island with only a walkway between them.
“Is that where we’re going?” Bailey asked. Because wow, he’d never seen anything like that in person before, and the idea of spending a couple nights with Henri in one of those? He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be.