Looking For Love (Semper Fi, The Forever Faithful Series Book 2)

by Stella Starling

  Someone was whimpering.

  Moaning.

  Zach was floating in a dark sea of sound. Wet, sloppy ones and low, rumbling ones. Rough, needy gasps mixed with hot, panting grunts. Some were probably from him, but holy fuck, he honestly couldn’t tell. His senses were all jumbled up. He could feel the desperate, sexy noises Micah made as he sucked him off, could taste the smell of urgency and sex, wrapped around him like some kind of erotic cocoon. The heat and darkness and the relentless rhythm of Micah’s mouth milked pleasure out of his every pore, made his cock hum, blotted out everything that wasn’t this… here… right now.

  “Micah… God… yes, baby… so good… so good… Micah…”

  Micah’s strong hands were everywhere—thighs, cock, balls, abs—a firm, sure touch that explored and aroused and owned every part of him. That ramped up the sensations on his cock by a thousand percent. And then Micah flattened his palms against Zach’s inner thighs, pressing them open. Holding them down.

  “Fuck, baby,” Zach said, his hips lurching upward, driving his cock deep into the sweet heat of Micah’s mouth.

  Micah moaned, bobbing his head down to meet the thrust with an eager, hungry movement that made Zach’s cock hit the back of his throat. Zach gasped as a pleasure bordering on pain lanced through him, coiling into a tight knot at the base of his spine. And then Micah did it again. Bobbed and sucked even harder, making a sexy-as-fuck sound that had Zach’s hips jerking upward of their own accord again, forcing his cock even deeper.

  Too deep.

  All the way to the root.

  Micah made a choking sound and pulled off.

  “Oh fuck oh baby oh shit sorry God damn Micah,” Zach gasped. His cock was throbbing—pulsing hard as he teetered on the edge of coming—and Zach knew if he moved at all, it would be over.

  He wanted to beg.

  He tightened his grip on the headboard instead, breathing hard as he trembled on the edge and willed himself to wait.

  “Oh my God,” Micah whispered, his voice rasping from the rough treatment. “That was so hot, Zach, but don’t come yet, okay?”

  Zach groaned.

  He’d been trying not to, but Jesus fuck the raw lust in Micah’s voice almost did him in anyway. He could feel the bed shift as Micah moved, heard a welcome snick and then Micah’s moan. Zach’s cock jerked against his stomach. Micah was touching himself. The slick, sloppy sounds gave it away, and it took everything Zach had not to rip the blindfold off so he could watch. Then Micah was back.

  Straddling him.

  Sinking down onto his cock and gasping out his name.

  Digging his fingers into Zach’s chest as he took him inside in one slow, tight slide of pure fucking heaven.

  Micah moaned, his ass gripping Zach tightly once he was fully seated, and then rocked himself forward, the little shift almost enough to end Zach’s self-control.

  “Right there,” Micah panted, little tremors rippling through his thighs. “Oh, God, please, right there. I need—”

  Zach grabbed onto his hips and slammed up into him. Prayed Micah had prepared himself the way it had sounded because there was no… fucking… way… he could slow down. He lost track of time. Lost track of everything. Fucked Micah hard and fast until nothing else existed but darkness and sweet, hot pleasure and Micah, riding it out, begging and trembling and finally letting loose with a hoarse cry as his whole body went taut.

  His thighs tightened around Zach’s hips as Zach drove his cock home one more time.

  Right… there.

  Zach felt it with his whole body, the minute Micah started to let go.

  “Zach, oh God oh yes pleasepleaseplease oh my God, Zach… don’t stop… don’t… don’t… don’t… nnnnggggghhhhhhhhh.”

  A rush of heat spilled onto Zach’s chest as Micah came, and that was it. He was done. His whole world collapsed into a symphony of bliss, and his hips slammed up again and again as instinct and need took over.

  “Jesus… yes… fuck fuck fuck baby yes… Micah…”

  Zach fucked Micah through every wave of his orgasm, emptying himself out until he’d given Micah everything.

  Until there was nothing left to separate the two of them.

  Until he lost track of where he ended and Micah began.

  Until, finally, Micah curled up on his chest and breathed out a warm sigh of contentment and whispered something sleepy and sexy and silly against his lips… and pulled off the blindfold, taking away the darkness and filling Zach’s vision—his whole world—with the one thing he knew he’d never get enough of.

  With Micah.

  His spark.

  The love he’d been looking for, and by some blessed, blessed miracle, finally found.

  18

  Micah

  Alicia usually brought Pippin back to Micah’s apartment after an overnight stay, but after Zach dropped Micah off so he could have lunch with his ex-girlfriend—something Micah had firmly decided not to feel weird about, because it was Zach, and Janis was horrible, and besides, Micah was still sort of basking in the afterglow of all the loveliness that had been Zach’s birthday—he decided to walk over to the Lees’ to pick Pippin up himself.

  The familiarity of the route meant that he generally navigated it pretty confidently, and by the time he got to the Lees’ door, he was feeling flushed and happy with the success of not tripping over anything during the walk. It was only after he rang the doorbell and failed to hear the usual welcoming bark and scrabble of Pippin’s claws that he realized maybe he should have called first.

  “Are Pipp and Alicia out?” he asked Mrs. Lee once she’d invited him in.

  She sighed before answering, a distressed sound that conveyed far more to him than the still-difficult-to-read expression on her face. Micah bit his lip, wondering whether he should ask what was wrong, or if—when Mrs. Lee looked away from him with her lips crinkled down at the corners—it meant that whatever had made her sigh like that was simply something that wasn’t his business.

  “No,” she finally said after a short, awkward silence. “Alicia’s got Pippin in her room. I’ll go tell her you’re here.”

  Mrs. Lee was back within a few minutes, Alicia and Pippin trailing after her. When Pippin saw Micah, she gave a low whine of greeting and a subdued tail wag, but stayed next to Alicia. Micah trusted that Pipp knew where she was needed most, and her behavior only made him more concerned that something had gone badly. Her body language—leaning heavily against Alicia’s leg in a move both protective and comforting—was far easier for Micah to read than most people’s faces, and his heart tripped a little as the Grande Avenue intersection incident came to mind.

  Had something like that happened again?

  “Did something happen?” he asked, looking back and forth between Alicia and her mother. “Alicia, are you okay?”

  The girl promptly burst into tears, covering her face and running back down the hall. Pippin gave a short bark, the sound echoed by the loud slam of Alicia’s bedroom door.

  Mrs. Lee shook her head, staring after her daughter with a look that Micah was pretty sure meant she was just about as unhappy as her daughter seemed to be. Pippin gave another anxious bark, then slunk over to Micah and licked his hand, whining up at him and then turning her head back in the direction Alicia had gone, as if she trusted that Micah would be able to make whatever it was better.

  “Mrs. Lee?” Micah asked. “Did Alicia get hurt?”

  “No,” she answered, shaking her head as she crossed the room to pick Pippin’s harness up off the back of the couch. She smoothed her hand over the buckles with a sigh, then brought it to Micah and scratched Pipp behind the ears. “But this weekend, I had to tell her that we’re going to be moving. It’s for the best, but… Ali isn’t happy about it. She’s going to miss her time with Pippin. You two have been such good friends to her.”

  “Moving?” Micah asked, feeling blindsided. “Um, can’t we still visit?”

  Pippin whined, as if she already knew Mr
s. Lee’s answer.

  “We’re moving to Washington.”

  “All the way across the country?” Micah tried to wrap his mind around the idea of the Lees moving to the east coast.

  Alicia had become something between a friend and a little sister to him, and he knew that for Pipp, the perky teen was even more than that. Working with Alicia fulfilled Pippin in a way that her relationship with Micah no longer could, and he had no doubt that breaking the bond between the two of them would affect his dog as much as it hurt Alicia. Micah would miss Alicia, too, of course, but imagining Pippin’s life without Alicia in it?

  It kind of made him want to burst into tears, too.

  “Not DC,” Mrs. Lee said. “Washington State; just south of Seattle. It’s only a few hours by plane, but…”

  She sighed, not needing to finish. They both knew that when it came to visiting, Washington State was just as out of reach as if it had been the other side of the country.

  “I’m sorry, Micah,” Mrs. Lee said, sounding sad. “It was a hard decision, and one I know Alicia doesn’t like, but it’s for the best. My sister’s up there, and she’s got a job lined up for me with the State. You have no idea how hard it is sometimes, being a single mom.”

  She rubbed her fingers across her forehead as if she was trying to flatten out the crease between her eyebrows.

  It didn’t work.

  Micah wasn’t sure what to say, and his throat felt so tight that he wasn’t sure he could say anything at all. He’d had no idea they were even thinking of leaving and he hadn’t been prepared for it. Although really, if he had? He wasn’t sure it would have been any easier to hear.

  “I know Alicia’s upset,” Mrs. Lee said. “But being near family is going to be so much easier on both of us in the long run.”

  Micah nodded. Things usually were easier with family around… but understanding that didn’t really make the idea of losing the Lees an easier pill to swallow. Pippin leaned against his leg and whined again.

  She couldn’t understand. She only knew that Alicia was upset.

  Micah had no doubt that Pippin considered the Lees family, especially with the amount of time she’d been spending at their house lately, and when Alicia was gone for good, Pippin wouldn’t understand that, either… she’d just miss her.

  “I hope it works out for the two of you,” Micah finally said, pushing the words out through the tightness in his throat. And it was true. He cared about the Lees and wished them the best, and no matter how upset Alicia was about it, he did trust that Mrs. Lee had her daughter’s best interests in mind.

  Always.

  “Um, when are you guys leaving?”

  Her lips did the frowning crinkling thing again. “In a few weeks. We’ll go while Alicia’s on break from school, so we have a little time to settle in before she starts at the new one.”

  Micah nodded. He could feel the tension in Pipp’s body as she pressed up against him. She knew how to read her people—it was one of the things that made her such a good guide dog—and she was obviously picking up on how unhappy the idea made him just as easily as she had with Alicia.

  “Will you get Alicia a dog?”

  Mrs. Lee sighed, her shoulders slumping. “I don’t know, Micah. I’ve always thought it wasn’t a responsibility or expense that I could take on, but Alicia does so well with Pippin. It really makes a difference, doesn’t it?” She looked down at Pipp, her eyes going soft. “Honestly? I’m thinking about it, but it wouldn’t be anytime soon. Moving expenses are going to pretty much wipe out our savings for a while.”

  Micah nodded, letting his hand rest on Pippin’s head as much for his comfort as for hers. Service dogs could cost thousands of dollars, and he knew how tight things always were for the Lees.

  “We’ll really miss you, both me and Pipp. Is there anything I can do to make it easier on Alicia, do you think?”

  Mrs. Lee smiled at him, resting her hand against his cheek for a moment.

  “You’re so sweet, Micah. Will you stay in touch with her after we move? I know she’s worried about learning her way around a new city. Making friends…”

  “Of course I will,” he said. “Um, is it okay with you if Pipp and I still visit before you two leave? I don’t want to make Alicia feel worse, but she’s good for Pippin, too.”

  “Of course. That would be lovely, Micah, thank you.”

  He glanced down the hall in the direction of Alicia’s room, wishing he had some kind of superpower to make everyone stop feeling so bad… himself included.

  But actually, Pippin did sort of have that superpower. Or at least, something close to it.

  “Would you like me to leave Pippin with you guys for the rest of the day, Mrs. Lee? Sometimes, when I’m sad, it really helps to have her around.”

  Alicia’s bedroom door cracked open.

  “Please, Mom?” The girl’s voice wavered with unshed tears. She’d clearly been listening. “Can Pippin stay?”

  “Okay, honey,” Mrs. Lee said to her daughter. And when Micah handed Pipp’s harness back to her, she pulled him into a tight hug. “Pippin’s not the only one we’ll miss, you know. Thank you, Micah.”

  “Maybe we will visit up in Washington?” he said, hugging her back. “I mean, someday.”

  It wouldn’t be the same, though.

  And Micah did believe that things worked out for the best—didn’t they always?—but sometimes, the part before he figured out how that was going to happen felt pretty horrible. Especially when it made people he cared about sad, too.

  19

  Zach

  Zach took a bite of his Italian sub, watching Janis across the table as she talked and doing his best not to feel irritated. When she’d arrived, she’d tried to greet him with a kiss, of all things, and so far, she seemed to be doing her best to treat their lunch like some combination of a date and a trip down memory lane.

  Frankly, he was getting a little impatient with it.

  “Remember that time we rented the jet skis out at Fiesta Island?” she asked perkily, poking at her salad without taking a bite. “We always had so much fun together, didn’t we, Zach?”

  She reached across the table and tried to cover his hand with hers, but he pulled it away and picked up his sandwich again. His dodge didn’t slow her down at all. She immediately launched into another “remember when” story. Zach continued to work through his sandwich, half-tuning her out as he glanced at the clock on the wall behind her.

  Jesus Christ. They’d already been there for twenty minutes and she had yet to get to the point.

  “And that pool party?” she was saying. “The one that was like, a farewell for that hot Master Chief who was getting transferred over to Corpus Christi?”

  “You mean the one where you did too many shots of Jäger and I had to carry you out to my truck after you knocked his new flatscreen into the pool?” Zach asked impatiently.

  “You always did take such good care of me, Zach,” she said, her gaze softening. And then, giving him a look that was probably supposed to be coy, she added “If I remember correctly, the two of us had a pretty fun after-party that night, too.”

  He almost rolled his eyes. Did she honestly think his comment had been meant as flirting? The night she’d brought up had been a bit of a pain in the ass, if he remembered correctly. Not to mention that he’d covered the cost of the Master Chief’s new TV after Janis had completely failed to offer. And yes, they had had some fun times together as a couple—at the time, it had really been all that he was looking for—but all Janis was managing to do by reminding him of their “good times” was to highlight how superficial their relationship had really been.

  He was honest enough to admit to himself that while they’d been together, he’d actually enjoyed how much she’d needed him to take care of her—she’d always been a little bit spoiled, a little bit helpless—but now he’d had a taste of something different, and he no longer saw the appeal. He loved being able to take care of Micah, too, but it
felt like more of a privilege than an obligation. Micah was the opposite of needy, and the truth was, Micah took care of him, too.

  Zach had never had that before.

  “What’s this lunch really about, Janis?” he asked, setting down the uneaten portion of his sandwich. “You said you needed my help with something, and I’ve got other things I need to get to this afternoon. Please tell me you didn’t want to get together just to reminisce.”

  Or, God forbid, to try and get back together.

  Janis’s eyes welled up with tears and Zach stifled a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck. Did her new penchant for crying at the drop of a hat mean that he’d really been too harsh, or was she just trying to manipulate him?

  And was he being an asshole for wondering?

  “You’re the nicest guy I’ve ever been with, Zach,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin. “You did always take good care of me, and I didn’t even realize how good I had it until after we broke up. Some of the guys I’ve been with since we broke up have treated me like shit.”

  Zach took a drink of his soda to keep himself from saying something about karma or poetic justice.

  When Janis’s high school sweetheart had joined the Marines right after their graduation, she’d followed the guy out to San Diego. From the sound of it, she’d been young and looking to escape the Midwest more than actually in love, and once their relationship had ended, she’d decided to stay “for the beach and the great weather and the chance to fuck hot Marines.” As far as Zach had seen, she’d never shown any sign that she’d moved on to wanting anything more than that.

  Did she really expect that she would have found Mr. Wonderful when that was all she had to bring to the table?

  Not that he cared.

  Honestly, he didn’t even harbor any resentment about how things had ended between them anymore. Micah had a philosophy that sometimes the bad happened just to make the good possible, and as much as Janis’s unfaithfulness had stung at the time, their breakup definitely seemed to prove that point.