That was only part of it. “I’m actually not talking about them. I’m talking about me. To me you were a mindless, dirty fuck. Banging the hot, smart kid. Showing the boss who was really in charge.”
The words didn’t send Will running. But the air in the room did change. Forget being tired. Will’s eyes went wide and a sort of wariness washed over him as he looked at Hunter. “Is that still that case?”
Hunter wanted to lie but he knew the answer mattered. Give the wrong one and Will might bolt. Not that Hunter even knew what the right answer was. Dating, monogamy—he’d never put stock in either. And what the hell kind of future could they have?
The answer should be yes. End it and be able to go into tomorrow without the emotional weight dragging him down. That would be the smart thing, but…
“No. You know you mean more than that.”
“Careful, talk like that will blow your fuck-and-run image.” Instead of lying there, almost bolted to the bed, Will shifted. This time when he turned to his side and pushed up on an arm, his other hand slipped across Hunter’s stomach.
Instead of trying to pull back or turn away, Hunter went with the emotions kicking around inside of him. The same ones he’d been trying to ignore from the start of his relationship, as dysfunctional and confusing as it was. His hand slipped over Will’s. “Do you see me running?”
“No, and I want that to mean something, but you still don’t think you can trust me.”
Jesus, the conversation sucked.
Honesty sucked. Being undercover and living a fake life with a fake name didn’t shake Hunter. This did. “In some ways, yeah, I admit it. But in others I trust you more than I’ve trusted anyone else.”
“Tell me what that means.” Will’s voice didn’t change and he didn’t back away.
Hunter decided to take that as a good sign and push on. “No one else knows about my dad, how he tried to kill me. We share a rough past, so you know what that did to me and how I viewed people who were supposed to care about me.”
“I do.”
“I know things about Pentasus and what the company does. All of that should make me walk away from you, leave you on your own. And, yeah, maybe it’s unfair but you do have those Rivers genes.”
Will frowned. “I thought you were talking about the part where you did trust me.”
“I am, and my point is none of the shitty stuff seems to matter. Not for more than a minute or two at a time. The doubts come into my head and then leave again.” Hunter swallowed back the words he wanted to say next. They seemed too risky and pretty dumb. Talk about handing a guy a weapon against you. But as the comfortable quiet dragged on, he let them slip out. “It’s never happened before. I’ve never believed in anyone but myself.”
The corners of Will’s mouth turned up in a smile. “You think maybe you like me a little bit.”
The breath Hunter had been holding punched through him. Relief would have buckled his knees if he’d been standing. “A lot. It’s the glasses.”
“I’m not wearing them now.”
Sexy with them and sexy without them. Hunter dragged the back of his free hand over Will’s thin T-shirt. Down to the bottom hem and then underneath. “That’s probably a good thing.”
“Why?”
“Because this might fog them up.”
One of Hunter’s hands went to the back of Will’s neck and brought his mouth down. Hunter lifted and met him partway in a blinding kiss. His free hand wandered over Will’s bare skin as the memory of the conversation and all those risks faded away. Forget the doubts and the arguments. Like this, close and searching, everything felt right.
The kissing dragged on. Long, tempting kisses. Nothing rushed. A lick of Hunter’s tongue across Will’s lips. A tease of teeth against skin.
When Hunter’s mind cleared, he realized he’d flipped Will onto his back and loomed over him. Their legs tangled through the comforter and their fingers slipped together.
Right as Hunter dipped his head for another kiss, Will pressed his thumb over Hunter’s bottom lip. The smile that came next almost dropped Hunter to the floor.
“Are your idiot friends still watching?” Will asked as he leaned up and trailed his mouth down Hunter’s neck.
The idea didn’t seem to bother Will all that much now. Hunter wasn’t sure he cared either. Let Seth enjoy. “Not if they want to live.”
“Any chance of you joining me under the sheets?” Will tugged at the top of the covers but they were trapped under Hunter’s frame.
“Only if you promise to get naked.”
Will had his tee up and over his shoulders before Hunter finished the sentence. “Better?”
Damn, that was hot. “It’s a start.”
Hunter didn’t hold back now. He lifted his lower body and tugged the covers down. Within seconds he lay next to Will, then on top of him. Their fingers joined again and Hunter dragged their arms above Will’s head. Held him there as they kissed. As Hunter rubbed their bodies together.
It didn’t take much for the pulsing need to flip into overdrive. The friction had Hunter ready to strip them both in minutes. The material of Will’s shorts scratched against Hunter’s bare legs, driving him crazy. Their erections touched through their clothes.
Needing more, Hunter reached down and freed them, holding both in his palm as he pumped his hand up and down. The tightening of his palm had them both gasping. The kissing and touching took Hunter right to the edge.
After a few minutes Will turned his head and broke the kiss. “Damn.”
Exactly the reaction Hunter wanted, but it was only a start. He caught Will’s mouth with his again as his fingers continued to caress and the skin warmed under his hand. “Tell me what you need.”
“You,” Will said in a raspy voice.
Hunter pulled his head back, not letting Will go in for another kiss just yet. “Say it again.”
“Only you.” Will shook his head. “There’s no one else.”
The words spilled through Hunter. He wanted to catch them and examine them, but he pushed the analysis away. This moment was about feeling. About touching. About fucking.
About connecting.
He sat up with his legs straddling Will’s hips. In a few jerky movements he had Will’s lower half lifting as he almost ripped the shorts off. Will had nothing on underneath. Just those and Hunter dropped them to the floor right after he peeled them off.
Taking his own boxer briefs off proved harder. He tilted to one side and the mattress dipped. Tried to shove them down using two fingers. Swore under his breath as the elastic band caught.
He was about to give up when Will’s fingers slipped over the material. His hand teased, stopping over Hunter’s erection. Cupping and squeezing. Then he slid Hunter’s briefs off. Got them down to Hunter’s thighs and took it from there. Used his hands and feet to tug them off.
Then he lowered his body again until just their chests touched. Skin against skin. Nothing separated them. Nothing stopped them. Their hands moved in a wild frenzy, touching every arm muscle, then stomach, then back. Leg slid over leg.
Hunter thought about moving on top of Will, driving them both crazy, but he was too far gone. Tonight he needed it fast. Needed to imprint on Will in a way that didn’t wash away when the world got tougher.
He reached over, with his chest skimming over Will’s arm, and grabbed the small drawer by the bed. He tugged hard enough to pull it all the way out. It would have fallen to the floor but Will caught it and grabbed what they needed.
There was nothing smooth about his moves tonight. Hunter knew that and welcomed the teamwork. Stark fear and an overwhelming need drove him. He’d never bounced back and forth like this. He’d never experienced anything like this.
But there was one thing he did know how to do, and he already knew they excelled at this. Body against body.
He rolled on the condom and rubbed a finger over and inside of Will, letting the lube ease his way. One of Will’s legs fell to the
side as he let out a soft satisfied sound. Hunter pushed Will’s other leg back with his knee toward his chest. The position left Will open and vulnerable.
There was no question who was in charge, but Will let it happen. He lay against the pillows with his hands on either side of his head. It was as if he knew what Hunter craved and didn’t question.
There was no power play. Hunter would set the rhythm. And when he slipped inside, going in deep on one long push, he wondered how he’d ever lived without Will. He wanted to stay there, not moving. Enjoy the sensation of being surrounded even as the tension built inside him.
They both began to sweat. Harsh breathing filled the room.
After a few seconds Will’s hips lifted off the bed and his hands went to Hunter’s hips. “I need you to move.”
“Now, baby.” The endearment surprised Hunter but he didn’t fight it. He let it tumble right out.
The push-and-pull started. Hunter plunged in and out and his hand slipped to Will’s erection. It didn’t take long. The tight squeeze, the slip of Hunter’s fingers. Between the touching and thrusting, Will’s head tipped back to expose his long neck. He visibly swallowed as his hips began to buck. Through it all, Hunter kept moving. His body, his hand…constant motion as he rode this wave.
Will started to shake. His muscles clenched and his body stiffened. He wrapped his hand around Hunter’s and squeezed tight. He came right after. Hunter caught some of it in his hand and the rest shot across Will’s stomach. The intimacy of the moment sucked him in deeper.
Watching Will had Hunter’s muscles shaking. Seeing Will, touching him, the pressure of his body. It all proved too much. Hunter couldn’t hold back and didn’t try. As his hips bucked, his body let go. The orgasm grabbed him. He grunted as he came. The orgasm hit him and stretched on. He moved on instinct until his body emptied.
With his energy spent and his muscles turning to liquid, Hunter slipped down. He fell on top of Will. Landed on his chest and stayed there. No part of him wanted to move, so he snuggled in. Rubbed his nose against Will’s chest and inhaled the mix of sweat and faint memory of soap.
He didn’t fight the sense of rightness. Didn’t bounce up and run even though a small part of his brain screamed for him to run. Not because he wanted to leave Will but because staying meant getting sucked in deeper. Soon he wouldn’t know where he ended and Will began.
A few minutes later Hunter jerked awake just as he started drifting off to sleep. He looked down and Will’s eyes were closed. His chest rose in steady breaths.
So content. So satisfied.
Hunter’s eyes started to close until he remembered the sex and the heat. How he’d brought Will to orgasm with a hand. Yeah, he needed to wash up.
He forced his body to move. Sitting took a second as he tried not to rock the mattress or wake Will. He got as far as the side of the bed when Will’s voice broke into the silence.
“Are you going to regret this in the morning?” Will asked.
Fair question in light of all that had transpired.
Hunter couldn’t help but look down at Will. Hunter saw a new intensity. Hope mixed with something. An emotion he couldn’t really identify. One that scared him—and nothing scared him.
“I regret a lot of things.” Hunter held back from saying more. He’d already spilled too much and the stupidity of that kept poking him.
“Interesting answer.”
The slight hitch in Will’s voice was enough to crumble the wall Hunter was so desperate to throw up. With his defenses down and his body completely relaxed, Hunter gave in and said what he knew might be the one thing too much. “Never you. No matter what happens, I will never regret you.”
“Then come back to bed.”
Chapter 19
They were all up and moving by six the next morning. The Paris streets outside remained quiet. Few people walked around. The room was stuck in all-action-all-the-time mode.
Will stayed at his seat by the small table, drinking it all in and trying to ignore Zach. Something about being in the room with the only other man Hunter admitted that he’d bothered to have sex with more than a few times made Will want to know more. It wasn’t about jealousy…except for maybe a twinge. Really, the interest stemmed from needing to know more about Hunter. Zach might hold the key, but Will doubted it.
Hunter wasn’t exactly the type to spill his feelings on a whim. Will wanted to believe that what had happened between them last night mattered. That Hunter didn’t open up like that often.
Not that he could concentrate on anything but getting through the day. Hell, he was having trouble concentrating on surviving the conversation rumbling around him. He didn’t know a lot about strategies and undercover missions, but he did know when people were making things more complicated than they needed to be.
For the last hour Seth and Fisher had been debating strategies. Every one they came up with, Hunter shot down for a hundred different reasons. Zach just watched it all, offering comments now and then.
Will had an easier way, but admitting that he’d had it for more than a day could send Hunter into a tailspin. It was hard to tell what would piss him off and make him shut down these days. Life really had been easier when he acted as the order-following bodyguard.
“Now to get Gatt’s attention.” Seth looked from Hunter to Fisher, where they stood at opposite ends of the couch. “I figure we can—”
“Use this.” Will knew there wouldn’t be a better time. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the one thing that might give them an advantage, other than the trained men in front of him.
Seth took the small black square and turned it over. Didn’t say anything but studied every inch.
“What the fuck is that?” Fisher asked as he peeked over Seth’s shoulder.
Giving the equipment up had been the easier part. This…well, he couldn’t count on how Hunter would take this but Will knew he couldn’t stop now. That would only make the situation worse. “Ed gave it to me a few days ago.”
Hunter moved then. Took a step as his mouth dropped open.
Seth was smart enough to know that wasn’t good.
“And you didn’t think to mention that?” he asked in a deceptively soft voice.
Fisher whistled. “I have to tell you, Will. This looks bad.”
He had to stay on track and that meant keeping his attention on Hunter. Will did not drop his eye contact or give any other outward sign that he couldn’t be trusted, because he knew they’d be looking. “I didn’t need it until now.”
“That answer also raises some alarms.” Seth held up the square and looked at it with the overhead light shining behind it. “Just so you know.”
“When I got it, I didn’t know about any of you.” Will’s gaze bounced around the room before settling on Hunter again. “You were just my bodyguard.”
“Just a bodyguard?” Hunter separated each word. Drew the sentence out.
“We’ve actually had many conversations since then,” Zach pointed out. “And this probably means we didn’t need to risk heading to the club.”
The response made sense. From what Will could tell, Zach was the pragmatic one. He’d picked up pieces about how Zach had tried to sacrifice himself to take down Pentasus. Seth and Hunter would drop a line now and then while talking and Will had put what he could together. “You wanted the last meeting to happen in public.”
“Based on the intel we had,” Fisher said.
“We’re talking in circles.” Will doubted he could knock them off track but he knew he hadn’t been wrong about hiding the device then and showing it now. He hoped at least one of them would see that.
They all started talking. All but Hunter. He just stood there, watching and scowling. Two of the things he did best.
“Okay, enough,” Seth broke in. “Look, he’s right. This doesn’t matter. From following the parties yesterday, we know how many reinforcements Peter has with him. Not many, by the way. Gatt’s arsenal is a little less clea
r, but we have facial recognition on a bunch. The rest of our team is in position and will take them out one by one.”
“There are more of you on this particular team than the ones I’ve met?” Will hated to think that was true.
Fisher pinned Will with a glare. “You should assume we’re everywhere.”
Maybe that sort of thing would have worked before. Backed him up and had him assessing. Not now. Will had seen too much. Been tracked down and threatened and before the day was through likely would be in the direct line of a murder attempt. Fisher being a jackass rolled right off him.
“Technically, we are.” Seth stopped, looked like he was debating how much to say. “The point of today is to get Gatt and Peter together, take out the men we can, and bring those two in. In other words, this is it.”
That meant there were a lot of reinforcements. A lot of chances for him to get in the middle and become one more Rivers death. Will almost wished he didn’t know that.
“Destroy Pentasus and cripple Gatt’s organization,” Zach said.
Fisher nodded. “Exactly.”
And it all started with him. Will decided it was time for him to take over. That was the role he needed to play all afternoon anyway. “Well, right now you should hide because I’m hitting the button. We’re ending this.”
“Will, I think—”
“No.” He cut Seth off. “You can go in the other apartment and give Hunter the can-we-really-trust-him speech, but do it fast because I doubt Gatt is far.”
“The guy is not dumb,” Zach said as he reached across the table for the coffeepot sitting in the middle.
Since he was supposed to be dead Will didn’t really have access to money, but if he had, he’d’ve bet it all that Hunter would be getting that speech soon. One of them would give it to him. They included Will in their plans, listened, and even gave him a weapon, but Will knew these guys were in the always-verify business.
Let them lecture on their own time. They were on a countdown now, or would be as soon as he hit that damn button. “But we’re doing this. The more time we give both men, the worse this is going to be.”
The Talented Mr. Rivers Page 19