Then he kisses me with a frantic hunger I haven’t felt from him in years. I’m not sure how it happens, but a few minutes later, we’re both rolling around on the floor and he’s lying next to me and blowing me, and I’m fishing his cock out of his slacks to blow him.
And after he gets me off, he buries his face against me and leaves a dark love bite right there at the base of my cock.
Of course I let him. I massage his head and whisper what a good boy he is while he does it.
I’ll always wear my pet’s marks.
It’s one of the few tangible proofs I have of his love.
Chapter Thirty-Six
A little while later, I’m feeling pensive when I take a cab to Jordan’s hotel. I suspect Elliot’s going to steal any future opportunity he can to chew on me and leave marks.
How Jordan responds to that will set the tone for the rest of our relationship, I suppose.
Jordan looks sweetly eager when he opens his hotel room door for me, but his smile fades almost immediately. “What’s wrong?”
Shit.
I step inside, easing him back and closing the door behind me so I can kiss him.
He melts in my arms.
I’m kissing him, and I haven’t even brushed my teeth since my encounter with Elliot less than an hour ago.
#badman
“If you had a good job here in DC, would you stay?”
He looks up at me, confusion and desire swirling together in his gaze. “Sir?”
“Yes or no answer. Would you put your degree on hold and stay?”
He studies my face. “You talked to Elliot.” It’s not a question.
Dammit.
He’s fucking perceptive. “Yes, I talked to Elliot. Yes, or no?”
“Will I be with you?”
I nod.
“Yes, Sir.”
The relief flooding into my soul nearly makes me cry. I kiss him again and pray I am on the right path, finally. “Move in with me, baby. Trial period. We keep the hotel room. If you decide before the inauguration you don’t want to stay, or that you don’t think this will work, I’ll help you move back here, and you’ll still be able to return to Florida. Please?”
He nods, wide-eyed and gorgeous in his stunned shock.
I love him. I’m in love with him.
Spending your life holding back, riding the brake while simultaneously jamming the gas to the floor in an attempt to stall the inevitable or cling to the past, wears you out.
It’s time to shift gears and hang on tight. Elliot and Jordan can either get in, get out, or get out of my way.
I swear I was going to help him pack. But fifteen minutes later, we’re naked in his bed and I’m pounding him into the mattress with his ankles slung over my shoulders. He saw Elliot’s love bite and left his answer on my right hip.
This’ll be interesting.
No, we don’t go grocery shopping. We pack as much of his stuff as we can easily transport tonight, catch a cab to my building, and then I call in a delivery order for Chinese food, which we eat naked in my bed while watching TV and I teach him how to use chopsticks.
I text Elliot before I go to sleep, as always, and he responds.
All I can do is move forward.
And I sleep better that night than I have in years.
* * * *
Monday morning, I can’t believe Jordan’s still in my bed, but it already feels perfect having him there. We shower together, eat breakfast together, and head to work together.
This is really nice, because I can sleep in later, since I’m not going to Jordan’s hotel first.
I might even be able to start working out again. Once Shae takes office, my mornings will start early and my nights will run late.
The feeling that I’ve made the right decision only grows stronger as the days pass. Elliot goes to Nebraska to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family, which is melancholy for me but allows me to spend the day focused on Jordan. We cook a small turkey and everything.
He loves to cook. He’s a damned good cook, too. And because I know time is short before the inauguration, I start implementing easy rituals for us, chores for him to do, that kind of thing.
We’re both thriving.
Poor Elliot is miserable in Nebraska and cuts his visit short when it looks like a weather front is coming through.
As good an excuse as any to get away from his family.
At least he doesn’t have to sleep in the back of his congressional office any longer. Secret Service wouldn’t allow it. He takes a hotel room.
Elliot and Jordan leave marks on me for each other, and it’s adorable in a way, and heartbreaking in another.
My pet is terrified he’s going to lose me, when even my boy knows nothing’s farther from the truth. My boy’s actually eager to try to win Elliot over.
I think he can do it, too.
Later.
For now, I’m keeping their contact to a minimum to reduce Elliot’s stress, and Jordan is busting his ass to make sure Elliot’s residence will be perfect for him, and that the move happens without a hitch. He’s damn near desperate to impress Elliot.
I’ll let them try to find their level after the inauguration.
By the second week of December, Jordan’s talking about maybe making a trip to Florida after the inauguration to retrieve some things from his storage unit, and I’m pricing out rental cars so we can drive it and make it a weekend mini vacation.
Yet there’s one more thing I need to do, since I kind of promised Jordan I would.
I need to find him a job.
I do not like being beholden to anyone.
Anyone.
Which makes what I’m about to do even more difficult, personally.
The next Wednesday, Shae and Elliot aren’t at the campaign headquarters. They’re at their respective official offices on the Hill, and I had things to do here. Jordan and Kev are meeting with White House staff about moving day logistics.
Leaving me a prime opportunity to handle this.
I force myself to clench my guts and walk down the corridor to Chris’ office, to talk to him.
Alone.
I find him on the phone and, when I stand in his doorway and lightly rap, he waves me in and motions for me to close the door behind me.
Once he’s finished with his call he hangs up and leans back in his chair. “I think I’m going to have to spank my wife extra hard for putting me through this torture. I spent decades doing advance work for POTUS and dignitaries, and now I’m stuck picking out china patterns. What’s up?”
“Can I sit, sir?”
“Sure. What’s on your mind?” He grins. “And drop the ‘sir,’ shit. We’re alone.”
I slide into one of the chairs in front of his desk and realize I don’t know exactly how to word this. “We’ve been through a lot together,” I start. Which is a totally chickenshit lead-in, and even I realize it.
He nods. “We have.”
“You also know I’m not in the habit of coming to you and asking for things. For…favors.”
He nods again, this time more slowly, already realizing there’s an ask. “Correct.”
I mean, of course he’s already realizing it. He’s not an idiot.
“You know how you’re hiring for permanent positions at the White House?”
“Yes?”
“I need you to hire Jordan. Please,” I belatedly add. I’m definitely not used to asking for favors.
Especially from Chris.
He scowls. “Jordan?”
“Jordan Walsh.” Although I know damn well he knows exactly who I mean.
He studies me for a long moment. “Hire Jordan…permanently?”
“Yes.”
This is the man now codenamed Priest, my former co-worker and boss from the Secret Service, not my buddy Chris, the husband of my current employer.
I wait him out.
He slowly leans forward, elbows braced on his desk, hands clasped as he levels his piercing
green gaze at me. Man’s fucking handsome. Had I known for sure how he swung before all this happened, I would’ve gladly made a pass at him myself. Except I’m one-thousand-percent certain he’s a complete alpha Top, and so am I.
That’s a recipe for relationship disaster no matter how you cut it.
He studies me for an almost uncomfortably long moment. “What’s going on, Leo? I thought Jordan was returning to Tallahassee once his job ended. That he was a temporary…distraction.”
“He won’t leave if he has a job here in Washington. He won’t have to.”
He looks understandably confused. “Isn’t he working on his master’s degree?”
I take a deep breath. “I need a reason for him to stay. That means I need Jordan to have a White House job. One where he will have frequent and plausible contact with the vice president.”
His left eyebrow slowly arches. “Why?”
“Because, otherwise, it’ll be really weird to haul him out of the shadows, out of absolutely damn nowhere, to be Elliot’s body man when he officially kicks off his campaign for POTUS at the end of Shae’s two terms. Provided she’s re-elected.”
It’s understandable that Chris now looks confused. “I thought you were going to be Elliot’s body man when the time comes? Shae told you she’d be okay with that.”
“It’s…complicated.”
He sighs. “Can we quit fucking dancing around this, Leo? Why do you want me to put Jordan in the White House? What happened?”
“Because at some point, I’m going to need to be able to tap Jordan to be Elliot’s body man when I resign.”
He looks even more confused. “Why would you resign from being Elliot’s body man? You’d get to—oooohhhh.” His eyebrows arch.
I nod. “Not until after he’s elected, obviously. And…” I shrug. “Maybe not fucking ever, if Elliot can’t manage to de-ass his head. Meanwhile, yes, there is something going on between me and Jordan. Happy? Your distraction worked. But Elliot is still a chickenshit. He obviously won’t nut up and publicly come out any time soon. I need to plan ahead in the hopes that Elliot does come to his senses, meaning I’ll already have Jordan placed in a logical position, a job he can logically be doing anyway, so when—”
“If.”
“—if Elliot finally grows a set and asks me to marry him, I have Jordan ready to slide into that position as his body man.”
“Plus, it solves another issue, because you’re already sliding into Jordan,” Chris snarks.
I shrug, because there’s really no other reply.
It’s the truth.
Chris sighs. “Okay, stupid question—”
“Yes, Elliot knows about me and Jordan. No, Elliot’s not exactly happy about it. He can’t very well complain, given that he told me I could. It was his idea. For years he’s told me to date other people, and I never did, until Jordan. I also told Elliot there’s no reason for me to give up Jordan, since Elliot won’t give up his fear. Me getting rid of Jordan is a non-starter, and Elliot knows it. Besides, I was honest with Jordan from the start and told him that I wouldn’t give up either of them.”
“How does Jordan feel about that?”
I shrug again. “Jordan’s my good boy. He also thinks Elliot’s hot.”
“Who doesn’t?” Chris mutters.
My turn to smirk. I won’t deny a little possessive pride washes through me at Chris’ tone about my pet. “Jordan’s signed an NDA. Both of them know the three of you have made things work for years, so they understand where I’m coming from.” I didn’t have to tell Jordan that, either. He nailed it all on his own.
“Even if Elliot isn’t happy about sharing you?”
“Yep.”
Chris focuses on his hands for a moment. “I’ll hire Jordan as an aide, for now,” he finally says. “I’m not hiring him in as permanent White House staff just yet. I can juggle things around in my department, and I’m already light as it is on personnel, so there shouldn’t be any trouble there. That also puts him in a different direct-report than you, so you’re safe from any ethics conflicts.”
“Thanks. I really owe you, man.”
He sits back and studies me. “So what happens when Elliot is more scared of losing you than losing his family, or of losing an election, and he finally pops the question? What happens to Jordan then?”
“Again, look at the three of you. You make it work. I don’t see why we can’t. Especially if Jordan is Elliot’s body man. Or, if Elliot finally nuts up, Jordan can be my chief of staff in the East Wing.”
Chris wags a finger at me. “No, that’s fucking dangerous. That’s nepotism territory, and you know it. Not to mention a huge ethics conflict.”
I laugh. “Uh, hellooo? Like Kev isn’t? He’s Shae’s chief of staff. Besides, wouldn’t Jordan being Elliot’s body man also fall into that category?”
“With Kev we took the time to set up a good cover first,” he reminds me. “Not to mention, Kev had over twenty years of political reporting experience, and a freaking college degree in his specialty, to back up his chops. Oh, and a father in politics. Jordan’s young, man. Hire him as Elliot’s body man if you and Elliot are a declared item, sure. That can easily pass a smell test, as long as you two are fucking careful and don’t have any pictures of you and Jordan floating around anywhere. Gives you more flexibility that way. Jordan will have a ready excuse to always have contact with Elliot, and, by extension, you.”
I slump in my chair and throw my head back. “This got really complicated really fast.”
“Tell me about it.” I feel his gaze on me, even though I’m not looking at him. “It’ll get even more complicated, it sounds like.”
“Yeah. Probably.” I snort. “Hopefully. Because I’m in love with that chickenshit sonofabitch. And I know it hasn’t been very long, but I’m in love with Jordan, too.” I haven’t said it to him yet, though. I might be stupid, but I’m not that stupid.
“I will give you a word of warning, if you’re open to hearing it.”
I tip my head forward again and arch an eyebrow at him, indicating for him to continue.
“However you handle this,” Chris says, “make sure you’re careful with Jordan. Treat him with kid gloves. Guy’s young, man. Babe in the fucking woods. The rarest of DC species—an innocent in politics. Don’t dick him over. The last thing Elliot needs is a scandal bringing him down because you end up freezing Jordan out and then he gets his feelings hurt and goes public with your indiscretion.”
Chris sits back in his chair. “You need to pick one to be more loyal to than the other, and don’t give me any bullshit about you can’t do that. You can, and have to. Shae knew from the start that Kev was my priority, and she had to deal with that. At any time, had she pissed me off or refused to follow my directions, I would have taken Kev and walked, and she knew it. I negotiated from a position of power.”
He laces his hands together on top of his head. “My recommendation, based on my experience, is that you make Jordan your priority. Then, make it crystal clear to Elliot if he fucks up, the two of you will walk. Together. At that point he’s risking losing you as his lover, and losing Jordan as his right-hand man.”
“Then how do I guarantee Elliot doesn’t spook and tell me to get out?”
“Invest him as heavily in Jordan as he is in you. Or more.”
That clicks. “Oohhh.”
Chris nods, smiling. “Right? You can see it all, looking back, can’t you? I mean, how I finagled things.”
He means between Shae and Kev, and I know it. “Yeah.”
“I made sure Kev was invaluable to Shae, professionally and personally. Way more than I was. That wasn’t an overnight thing, either. There’s one more reason you handle it like that, if you’d like to hear it.”
“Go on.”
“Because there is an incredible power imbalance to start with. Inequitable relationship by default. Elliot’s veep, for chrissake. Make him POTUS? Damn. And he’s Jordan’s boss? Even more important t
hat Jordan feels secure with you. Doesn’t mean you can’t mind-fuck Elliot on occasion to keep him on his toes. I recommend that, by the way, for both of them. But it means if Jordan gets scared, he still knows he can count on you.
“Throughout everything we did, Kev could always rest assured I had his back. That if he felt he had to leave, he knew he could, because he knew I’d leave with him. I was his security blanket, emotionally and professionally.”
“Even now?”
His smile turns an unusual mix of melancholy and evil. “He’s not leaving. Because he loves me, and he loves Shae. Once the three of you’ve been together for a couple of years, and things are stable, that won’t be an issue.”
He taps his desk with a finger. “But only if you build the power structure properly from the ground up, and you do that now. Elliot needs to be terrified to lose both of you. The trick is to make him more terrified of losing both of you than he is of staying in the fucking closet. Or, at the very least, he’s more afraid to lose you both than he is of de-assing his head.”
I sit back and think about it. “How do I make myself walk away, though? If forced to? I love the dumbass. I haven’t managed to make myself walk away yet, when anyone else would call me the dumbass for staying as long as I have with no firm commitment from him.”
Chris shrugs. “That I cannot answer for you. If you think that’ll be a problem, then you need to hold up right now and make some hard decisions before going any further with either of them. I didn’t want to walk away from Shae. Yet I knew if something happened and Kev decided to leave that I would go with him. Even though, technically, I’d had a far longer relationship with Shae at that point and I loved her very much.”
I tip my head back and stare at the ceiling for a moment. “They’re both bottoms. How do I play that?”
“Elliot has a toppy streak in him, I’m sure. He wouldn’t have gotten this far in politics otherwise, no matter what it might seem like from your side of things. If you are seriously thinking about making Jordan his body man, you’d damn well better hope that boy of yours has at least a little toppy streak in him. He’ll need it to keep Elliot corralled and on schedule. You and I both know that man needs a fricking keeper on the campaign trail. Not just a keeper, but a hand-holder to keep him from letting his nerves eat him alive.”
Indiscretion (Inequitable Trilogy Book 1) Page 34