He sat back and looked at her. She was beautiful, intelligent, unafraid, everything he enjoyed.
“This isn’t working,” she said.
Eli shifted off her and sat back on the sofa cushion. “We should be perfect for each other. The spark was there when we met.”
“But now we know too much of each other, too much about where our hearts lie.”
Eli sighed. “I’m never going to get what my heart wants.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“Even if Jack wanted things to be different, how could they?”
Constance laid a hand on his arm. “Eli, you always find a way to get what you want.”
“Not this time.” For once in his life, he didn’t have a plan. If he had, maybe he could’ve convinced Jack to stay.
“I learned something tonight,” Constance said.
Eli was thrown by the shift in subject, but he wasn’t going to protest. “You did?”
“More ships are due to arrive within the week. Once those extra troops are here, I think Howe will make a decision about his next move.”
“We should send the information to Jack right away. I’ll compose a letter.”
Constance shook her head. “Take it in person.”
“I’m supposed to use the cipher unless it’s vital to the army’s immediate survival.”
Constance raised a brow. “Now you decide to play by the rules? Just go. You can move in and out of the city easily enough, and you want to see Jack.”
“Like you wanted Bradford to spend the night?”
She scoffed. “That’s different.”
“Like hell it is.”
“Don’t give up on what your heart wants. I haven’t. This war will end one day, and then we’ll see.”
“What if it’s too late?” For Constance. For him.
“I could ask you the same thing.”
“Damn it, I’ll leave first thing. Will that satisfy you?”
She smiled. “It will.”
He’d give Jack another chance to break his heart once and for all.
***
Eli opened the door of the tavern and stepped inside. It was packed with men, mostly soldiers. Smoke hung heavy in the air, along with the scent of greasy meat and beer, which likely tasted little better than piss. He schooled his face so as not to betray his disgust. It was too bad Jack and his friends couldn’t find a better quality establishment. New York might be a shadow of what it had been before the war, but at least he could find decent food and entertainment.
He glanced around the room, looking for Jack. A serving girl brushed past him. “Excuse me, sir.”
Her tray tipped, and he steadied it. When she looked up and saw him smiling at her, her eyes widened and color rose in her cheeks. “Is there anything you need, sir?” Her voice held a dreamy tone, and Eli knew his charming smile could win him more than just the information he needed.
But he was here to track down his lover, not to find a bedmate for the night. “I’m looking for an acquaintance. Captain West?”
“Oh, yes, sir. He’s in the back parlor.”
“Thank you.” He fished a coin from his pocket and dropped it on her tray. “I appreciate your assistance.”
“Anytime. Find me if you need anything else, sir.”
“I will.”
He made his way through the crowd, heart pounding faster as he approached the back of the tavern. The parlor the serving girl had indicated was sparsely populated in comparison to the main room, though there were a dozen men there. Jack sat to the far side with several other officers. Their expressions told Eli they were engaged in a serious discussion. He backed out of the door, found a free seat for himself in the main room, and signaled to the girl who’d helped him before.
“Did you find your friend, sir?”
“Yes, but he’s attending to army business, so I’ll wait here for him.”
“Would you like some ale, sir?”
“Yes, please. What do you have to eat?” His stomach was torn between remaining empty and chancing the food at such a place.
She frowned. “The chicken stew is the safest.”
“How safe is it?”
She shrugged. “No one’s died recently.”
“How can I turn down those odds?”
She grinned. “I’ll be right back with that, sir.”
The stew wasn’t as bad as he’d feared, and the bread that came with it was hard but not moldy. He pulled a book from his bag and read while he waited. Over an hour passed before Jack emerged from the back room. He spotted Eli immediately. The look on his face wasn’t as angry as Eli had expected. He seemed resigned, as if maybe he’d expected Eli to turn up eventually.
Jack said something to the men with him. Then they headed for the door, and he made his way to Eli’s table.
Eli gestured toward the other seat. “Join me?”
“What are you doing here?” Jack asked without sitting down.
“I needed to see you.”
Jack sighed. “Come with me.”
By the time Eli returned the book to his bag, Jack was nearly at the door. Eli had to push past people to catch up.
Jack hastened down the street, saying nothing until they were past the inn and other shops and headed out of town.
“I missed you,” Eli said.
“I’ve missed you too, Eli, but you have to leave.”
Eli stuck his lip out in what he knew was an attractive pout. “Why?”
“Eli, you know why. You’re going to compromise everything. You think you can have anything you want, but that isn’t how things work here.”
Eli glanced back toward town. “Don’t the men you were with know about your mission? Aren’t they all on our side?”
Jack looked exasperated. “Just go home.”
“No.”
“Eli, why can’t you take this seriously? Why can’t you take anything seriously?”
“Apparently I take us more seriously than you ever have.”
“No matter what either of us wants, we can’t continue what we were doing in the city. Don’t you get it?”
“The fact that you hate admitting what you need? I understand that perfectly.”
“We’re putting ourselves in danger. For what? A moment of pleasure.”
Was that really all it had been to Jack? “You can’t tell me there aren’t plenty of soldiers willing to sail the windward passage for a bit of relief on these cold nights.”
“That is irrelevant, and you’re supposed to be a loyalist, or have you forgotten? Your presence here is going to raise questions.”
Eli snorted. “Did you think I came here without a cover story? I’m delivering some mail for a man’s sister while traveling to secure more stock for my store.”
Jack blew out a harsh breath and started walking again.
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t know!” Jack snapped.
“Somewhere private?”
Jack growled, and despite his annoyance, the sound roused Eli.
“Eli, we’re not.”
“Really?”
“Why are you doing this?” Jack was practically shouting, forgetting his rules about discretion.
“To prove a point.”
“That you can seduce me? You’ve proven that again and again.”
Eli gave a bitter laugh. “You really have no idea, do you?”
“No idea of what?”
“That I would do anything for you.”
Jack took Eli’s arm and pulled him off the road and into a field.
“Now where are we going?” Eli asked. He’d certainly affected Jack, but he wasn’t sure what Jack wanted most—to punch him or to fuck him.
“To headquarters where you can report your information. I hope you actually have some to give.”
“I do, but it’s nothing I couldn’t have sent by messenger.”
Jack made a sound of disgust. “Then you can tell Tallmadge that you flouted etiquette.”
“I’m not here to see Tallmadge.”
“Eli.” Jack’s fists were balled at his sides, but Eli was determined not to let anger win out.
“Do you really want me to leave?”
Jack rubbed his forehead as he sighed. “I still want you. Does that make you happy?”
Eli smiled. “Yes. It does.”
“It doesn’t change anything, though, because I also want to win this damn war.”
“And fucking me will somehow prevent that?”
Jack’s chest expanded as he took a deep breath, likely to keep himself from throttling Eli. “If…when we get caught—”
“Getting caught isn’t inevitable, and if we’re caught, we’ll pay someone off.”
“Neither of us have enough money or power for that.”
Maybe Eli could finally make Jack understand. “That’s why I care about my position in society. I want the freedom that having a fortune of my own brings me.”
“And I thought it was all about fine clothes and a nice home.”
“I like clothes, but I like doing what I want more.”
Jack shook his head. “Eli, go home. We can’t play games anymore.”
Eli grabbed Jack’s arm as they entered a wooded area. “Did you learn nothing about me? All that talk of watching people, learning what they aren’t saying, what they give away by the things they do. Did none of that sink in? Did you not apply any of it to me?”
“I was afraid to.”
“Afraid?”
“Of what I’d learn,” Jack said.
“That I’m self-centered, that I care only about possessions, that—”
“That you’re a much better man than you ever let on.”
Eli stumbled, thrown off guard for a second. Then he pulled Jack to him and kissed him. Jack held himself tense at first, but then he melted into Eli, pushing his tongue into Eli’s mouth, grabbing his hips to close the distance between their bodies.
The crack of a stick had them jumping apart. Eli looked around. Getting caught would be a perfect end to things for them.
Jack’s eyes were wide. He brought a finger to his lips as if Eli didn’t know to be quiet. He followed Jack as he moved down the path in the direction of the army’s encampment.
Another sound. A moan? Was it an animal or a human?
He heard leaves rustling, then a thunk.
Eli hoped no one had been watching him and Jack, but he was just as disturbed by the idea of being eaten by a wild beast. He tried to motion Jack to go in the other direction, but—talk about reckless—Jack pressed on in the direction of the sound.
Another noise. A man’s voice, it had to be. Maybe they weren’t going to be eaten after all, and whoever it was had been too far away to see them. Noises carried exceptionally well in these woods.
Eli caught sight of not one man but two. One of them was pressed against a tree trunk, breeches shoved to his knees while the other man fucked him roughly. Eli turned to Jack, and Jack pulled him close and whispered by his ear.
“That could have been us.”
Eli nodded as his cock responded to the sight. He hoped it would be them very soon.
“Anyone could catch them like that,” Jack said.
“But lucky for them, we don’t care.”
“Someone else may come along who does.”
It was fast growing dark. “What other business would anyone have out here?”
“Scouting.”
“At dusk?” He took Jack’s hand. “Come on, let’s see if we can emulate them.”
“Eli. It’s not safe.”
Eli tugged harder. “Nothing is safe these days.”
“But—”
“The faster you get me up against a tree, the faster we can reach headquarters.”
Jack growled. “Fuck.”
“Yes,” Eli agreed.
Jack took the lead, jerking Eli down the path. For a few seconds Eli was sure Jack was dragging him to camp. Then they veered off the path into a thick stand of trees.
“Turn around,” Jack ordered.
Eli smirked at him.
“Now.”
Maybe Eli really was going to get what he wanted. “God, I love when you’re like this.”
Jack grabbed Eli’s shoulders and spun him roughly. Then he undid his breeches and dragged them down as he kissed and nibbled the back of Eli’s neck. He tore at Eli’s cravat, trying to get it off.
Eli was torn between desperation to be naked so Jack could touch him everywhere and loving being fully dressed, shoved up against a tree, ready to be plowed hard. The nastiness of it was so damn delicious.
Jack forced two fingers between Eli’s lips. “Get them wet.”
It had been a long time since he fucked without oil to ease the way. This was going to hurt, but the wicked side of him loved that. He wanted Jack to shove into him, concerned about nothing more than finding his release.
Eli pulled away. “Just fuck me.”
“No, Eli. Do what I said.”
“I want it rough. I want to—”
“Suck my fucking fingers.”
He drove them into Eli’s mouth so hard Eli gagged. Jack slid his fingers in and out, and Eli moaned, sucking them like he would Jack’s cock. Eli wondered if the sound would carry through the woods, but in that moment he didn’t care. He wanted this, and he was going to have it. God knows when he’d get it again. Jack would soon put himself in front of bullets, shells, and bayonets. Would he come out alive?
Jack jerked his fingers from Eli’s mouth. Using his other hand on the center of Eli’s back, Jack shoved him against the tree; the bark scraped his cheek, and he relished the sting.
Jack drove his wet fingers into Eli’s ass, and Eli gasped.
“Be. Quiet,” Jack growled. He punctuated the words with deep jabs of his fingers, which made his orders impossible to obey. Jack withdrew his fingers, and Eli whimpered.
Eli heard a rustle of material and glanced over his shoulder to see Jack fighting the knot of his cravat. “I didn’t think we were—”
“I said be quiet.”
Eli did as he was told.
Jack pulled his cravat off and wadded it into a ball. “Open up.”
Eli stared at him. “You’re going to gag me?”
“Damn right I am.”
“Jack.” The word was a plea, but Eli didn’t really want Jack to give in.
Jack raised a brow and glared.
Eli’s cock was so hard he thought he might come just from the thought of what Jack was about to do. He didn’t want to love this, but he did. He opened his mouth, and Jack pushed the wadded cloth past his lips. All moisture left his mouth immediately.
“Keep it there,” Jack ordered. “Bite it. Do whatever you need to do, but do not dare spit it out unless you hear someone coming.”
Eli nodded vigorously.
“Ready to be fucked?”
Eli nodded again. He watched as Jack spit into his hand and then rubbed the moisture on his cock.
“Face the tree.”
Reluctantly, Eli did so. He’d do this on Jack’s terms so long as Jack didn’t stop.
Jack drove into him, shoving deep on the first stroke. Eli was glad of the gag. No way could he have kept from crying out. It felt like Jack had split him in two.
Jack pulled out slowly, and Eli shuddered.
“You love that, don’t you?”
Eli wanted to scream yes, to beg for more.
Jack grabbed his hips, steadying him, and then thrust deep, seating himself fully. Eli’s ass burned. He tried desperately to suck air in through his nose, but it wasn’t enough. Jack nuzzled his ear. “Calm down, and breathe slowly. You’ll be fine.”
Eli shook his head. He was never going to be fine again.
“More,” he tried to say, but only a murmur came through the gag.
“I’ll give you more.”
Apparently Jack could understand him better with a gag in his mouth than when they actually talked.
> He drove into Eli over and over. Eli could barely hold still enough not to rip his face and arms on the rough bark.
Jack rammed into him so hard Eli’s knees buckled. Jack wrapped an arm around Eli’s chest, pinning him. Eli whined, the sound barely audible around the cloth.
Jack didn’t slow down. Eli dropped a hand to his cock and started jerking himself off. He needed to come right then.
“No!” Jack grabbed his hand and placed it on the tree. “No hands.”
Eli shook his head. He’d never be able to come like that.
“Yes.”
Eli held tight to the tree as Jack kept working him, angling him just right to slide over his sweet spot on each stroke.
So close, so fucking close. One of Eli’s hands slipped, and his head hit the tree. Jack wrapped his other arm around Eli’s neck to hold him still.
Eli was going to be bruised. They’d have to make up a story about being attacked.
Jack yanked him back as he thrust deep. Eli screamed, but there was no sound. He was going to lose consciousness. He couldn’t get air. Couldn’t—
Fuck! He was coming, his seed shooting hard against the tree, his dick begging for friction.
“That’s it. Yes, love, that’s it,” Jack murmured in his ear.
Love? Oh, God. His cock pulsed. Then he sagged in Jack’s arms. Jack pulled him down, sinking to the ground with him.
Eli caught himself as he tumbled forward. Jack fucked him without finesse. A few moments later, Jack gave a muffled grunt, and he felt Jack’s seed flood his ass.
“Eli. Dear God, Eli.”
Eli ripped the gag from his mouth. His jaw ached. His lips felt cracked. His ass throbbed. He’d never been better.
He turned and looked at Jack, fearful Jack might reject him. Instead, he smiled at Eli and kissed him gently.
“We’ve got to clean up and get to camp.”
“What do we say? I must look as though I’ve been beaten,” Eli said.
Jack frowned. “I didn’t—”
“I loved this, Jack. No apologies.”
Jack studied him for a moment as if considering whether he was telling the truth. He seemed to accept it because he didn’t argue further. “We’ll say we were waylaid by deserters.”
Revolutionary Temptation Page 17