So much for keeping it a secret. “Sorry, Dalton,” Andrew said, “The police have been keeping it under wraps, and Steve was being kind of a jerk about it yesterday. But it’s not my fault if you found out from someone else. The thief’s gone though, huh?” He turned to Ford.
“Just tripped the alarm, which means they could still be in the area.” That grin on Ford’s face was dangerous.
“The police—”
“Will take too long. We’re closer than the nearest precinct. The place that was hit is between here and my offices.”
“Are you suggesting…”
Ford shrugged when Andrew trailed off.
“Go! You might get a lead!” Dalton encouraged them.
They could beat the police. Andrew wasn’t an investigator anymore, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t dabble, as long as he didn’t get in their way. And it would be so satisfying to rub a win in Steven’s face.
“Go!” Kevin agreed. “I’ll stay with Dalton. We can figure out a time to meet later.”
If even Kevin was okay with this, Andrew wouldn’t wait for further deliberation.
He and Ford shared one more calculating look, and then bolted for the elevator.
Chapter 5
“Car?” Andrew asked when they hit the street.
“We’ll be faster on foot.” Ford took off, and Andrew kept pace at his side, ignoring any passersby that looked at them funny for sprinting down the sidewalk.
Avalon was at the edge of the nicer parts of downtown, which led into the warehouse distract—where Ford’s offices were. They headed that direction, and Ford pulled an earpiece from his pocket.
“Riley, report,” he called, barely out of breath as they ran. Andrew wished he could listen in the way Ford had done with him the other night. “You’re sure? No one suspicious on any nearby cameras?”
Riley Sedgwick could hack into street cams that quickly? Andrew better never tell Kevin; as much as Candace hated Ford, Kevin hated Riley more.
“Keep scanning. We’re almost there.”
They rounded a corner, and Ford stopped short, almost causing Andrew to plow into him. He was about to ask what had tripped Ford up, when he realized someone was blocking their path.
But not just anyone.
Olivia.
Bile filled Andrew’s throat like he might be sick all over the sidewalk. She looked good—she always did—her hair a little longer than he’d last seen it and maybe a shade or two lighter like she’d dyed it golden brown, her skin perfectly tan and makeup flawless, though her sly smile was infuriating when once he’d found it captivating.
They’d dated for two years, already six months at the point when Andrew arrested Ford. If things had gone differently, he would have proposed at Christmas instead of sleeping with the enemy. He’d already been looking at rings, though he was glad he never bought one, since he would have thrown it into the river.
She looked so casual too, leaning against the wall of a building, typing swiftly on her phone. She was there for the same reason they were, with her reporter’s visage making her dark eyes sparkle with intent, as she typed—and then looked up, sensing the pair of gawkers who’d stopped so close to her.
“Andrew,” she said with a start. Then smiled. “And Isaac Ford. Interesting. I happened to be in the neighborhood when I got the same alert I’m guessing you two did. Police haven’t arrived yet. No sign of the perp, if you’re curious. Weird seeing you two together.” She pushed from the building, but her fingers never left her phone, moving slower but still typing—or maybe slipping to the voice recorder. “Bury the hatchet?”
“I’m not telling you anything,” he growled, fists clenching as he surged around Ford. “Ever again.”
“Andrew—”
“Miss Park.” Ford sidestepped in front of him again, cool and fluid as ever. “A true pleasure running into you, but some of us have honest work to return to.”
The grip of Ford’s hand on Andrew’s wrist, yanking him forward to move past Olivia and her sneer in response to the jab, made Andrew gasp and his heart pump hotter.
He’d thrown his own harsh and angry words at Olivia since the blowup, but he’d never gotten her to lose her smile. And sure, Ford hadn’t done that for him—they were in a hurry—but it still turned the anger and adrenaline Andrew was feeling into something…else.
“Come on,” Ford said, dragging him around another corner, beyond the building that had been the target with the faint sounds of alarms blaring inside. “Riley has something.” He took off faster and finally let Andrew go only after they were completely out of Olivia’s sight.
Andrew’s wrist burned where his grip had been.
They were getting close to Ford’s offices, only another block down.
There! Someone running!
The culprit must have heard them, because he glanced over his shoulder and kicked into a faster run, turning down the alley right behind Ford’s building.
On purpose? Was this a trap?
“Wait—” Andrew tried.
But Ford darted into the alley, pulling out a—
“Stop!” Andrew cried in alarm, but when he crested the corner, what he saw was an arc of lightning between Ford and the runner, who dropped to the ground.
A Taser.
“What?” Ford’s expression was haughty and flush when he looked at him. “Thought it was a gun? Please,” he said with a wink.
Andrew was positively on fire for so many reasons, but his focus had to be on the thief, who rolled over during his convulsions, hand clutched tight around something he’d been carrying—a wallet.
Just a pickpocket.
“I surrender!” the man cried.
Ford retracted the Taser and pried the wallet from his hand, gesturing for him to go. At this point, Andrew agreed about not calling it in. They had the wallet, all the good it did them for what really mattered.
Jittery as the man was, he didn’t waste any time before scrambling to his feet and sprinting out of the alley.
Andrew was too wound up, too pumped with energy—fury at Olivia and far too many conflicting emotions toward Ford. He couldn’t slump back to Avalon emptyhanded. If catching the thief wasn’t in the cards for today, then he needed an outlet.
And the alley behind Ford’s offices was a secluded dead-end.
“It’s my turn.” Andrew stalked closer to Ford at the back of the alley with all the husk and heat he felt saturating his words. “My turn to call the shots. Right?”
Ford didn’t make any move to back away, just pocketed the Taser and wallet and tilted his head in startled delight. “Wherever and whenever you want me.”
“Here. Now.” Andrew seized his shoulders and spun him to slam him up against the opposite building. “I’m going to fuck you against this wall.”
* * * *
If Isaac knew failure could end like this, he’d chase the wrong lead more often.
“Left-hand jacket pocket, beneath the wallet.”
“Huh?” Andrew blinked at him, pupils already blown and cheeks flush from their run—and from seeing his ex, no doubt, though Isaac didn’t care what had brought this on, so long as he got what he wanted.
And this was definitely what he wanted.
“You heard me,” he said.
Still closely pressed into Isaac’s body, Andrew rummaged in his pocket and pulled out two very distinct items. “You carry condoms and lube in your jacket?”
“Experience told me to be prepared.” After the rooftop, Isaac knew better than to be, well, caught with his pants down. “I’d hoped to fuck you first, to be honest, but it is your turn to lead, and either way is fine by me. Your show, Andrew. Anything you want.”
Andrew rumbled agreement that pulsed something hot straight to Isaac’s cock. “Yeah…I like the sound of that. Eat brick, Ford. You’re going to need the leverage.”
Shivering down to his toes, Isaac turned to face the wall. Ordering Andrew around was exhilarating, but taking orders was just
as enticing when he was with someone he trusted, and whatever else there was between them, he trusted Andrew.
“Undo your pants.”
Isaac obeyed, feeling Andrew slide one hand into the back of his slacks and shuck everything down his hips. A few beats of anticipation passed before a slick finger found Isaac’s hole and probed intimately around its edges.
He pressed back against Andrew’s hand, voice hitching with a cut off moan, when the finger breached inside him.
“Who knew you’d be so eager for it?” Andrew huffed against his neck, tugging the collar of Isaac’s jacket to place a kiss there that made him shiver again.
“Sounds like someone was looking forward to paying me back.”
“You have no idea.” Andrew’s long finger twisted so deliciously. It had been a long time since Isaac had felt flesh inside him instead of silicone.
The stretching was thorough but swift, trying to stay ahead of any dwindling adrenaline, and soon, Andrew added a second finger that caused Isaac to slam a fist into the brick.
“Better than a hand job?” Andrew asked.
“You enjoyed every minute of that.”
“I did. And I enjoyed touching myself imagining it was you just as much. How do you like feeling me again finally?” His hand pressed in more deeply, a twist of his wrist making Isaac gasp.
“Andrew…”
“I like you needy. What did you say that night? That sometimes people in charge like to be submissive, and the ones who never get to be in charge like being in control? I think I’m both, and so are you.”
“Yes…” Isaac pressed back hard into Andrew’s thrusts, careful not to rut against the brick in front of him. “I can take whatever you want to give me…obey every whim…but I’ll give just as good back.”
“I know you will.”
A deeper moan split from Isaac’s lips as Andrew plunged as deep as possible, teasing the tip of a third finger. Then he retracted, frantic in the removal of his own pants. There was the sound of the condom wrapper tearing, a click of the cap on the lube, and then the bottle dropped heavily into Isaac’s pocket.
“Wait until you feel the rest of me,” Andrew said and eased himself forward with a slow, searing press.
Isaac stifled a cry, loving how devious and self-assured Andrew sounded, spurred on by having him eat brick. As good as they fit together with him in charge, they fit just as well this way too.
But Andrew’s bravado paused with a breathy, “Good?”
“Achingly good,” Isaac said, forehead practically pressed to the wall.
Still sheathing himself slowly, Andrew chuckled, letting Isaac stretch and relax and pound another fist into the wall. Only then did Andrew really start to move, rocking back to begin a tempo.
As their pace quickened, he slid the hand still sticky with lube around to Isaac’s front, gripping him tightly. Relief filled Isaac at the touch, but after a few swift strokes, Andrew hissed. “The wall’s more unforgiving than I expected.”
He slid away carefully, gripped Isaac’s shoulders, and flipped him around so that his back met the wall instead. A scrape painted Andrew’s knuckles from the harsh texture of the wall, but what most captured Isaac’s attention was his flushed face and swollen cock prominent with his pants pulled down, weeping and red.
Isaac bit back another moan just from the sight. “What do you want instead?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m still fucking you against this wall.” Andrew swooped forward to tear Isaac’s pants the rest of the way down, captured him around the hips and lifted him—straight up the wall.
Instinctively, Isaac’s legs wrapped around Andrew’s waist, hands seeking his shoulders as he betrayed his surprise. He knew Andrew was strong but not this strong. He held him with no effort at all, easily able to position him, and then lower him just…so.
Isaac’s eyes fluttered, mouth dropping open, though no sound came out, only a shuddery sigh. The heat in his face increased as Andrew slid in deeper, so deep that Isaac’s brow furrowed, and his mouth fell open wider with each new inch.
Then they were moving again, a gentle thrust up, and up, Isaac bouncing against the wall, his jacket cushioning him, as his hands dug into the thick strands of Andrew’s hair.
He twisted his fingers in the dark locks, neck arching back, as he groaned through his first experience being wall-fucked lifted. And then, when his head dropped forward again and his eyes met those of his sweet, yet so very dirty-minded nemesis, something…shifted. He moved his hands to Andrew’s face and kissed him.
There shouldn’t have been anything extraordinary about it. They were fucking in a dirty alley, still mostly dressed, hard and messy where anyone might see them. A kiss shouldn’t mean anything. But when Isaac captured his lips, Andrew stilled, hips pausing in their constant motion. Wrapped around each other, holding each other, even as they were so intimately connected, it was the connection of their mouths that resonated.
Because they hadn’t kissed since Christmas, Isaac realized, and that had been worlds different from this.
Everything slowed, but when Andrew began to buck up again, their hold on each other tightened. Their lips broke apart, though their heads remained close, breath gasping against each other’s mouths, hot and unsteady.
All at once, the tension broke like a winding clock, their eyes snapping apart as Isaac’s neck arched again with a particularly firm thrust. Andrew’s rocking increased and increased as they built toward an end. The tender moment passed and faded, and while it still charged the air around them, the heat was back as they gave into their passions.
Their rhythm intensified, but the press of their bodies was the only thing giving Isaac’s cock any friction. He needed more. Something. Anything. Just—
“Did you turn off your radio?”
They both froze, Andrew’s eyes having fallen to Isaac’s earpiece, but there was nothing to say, because of course he’d forgotten about their audience once Andrew was prowling toward him like sex on legs.
“Riley can hear this?!”
“Don’t mind me,” the filthy betrayer husked over the radio, loud enough that Andrew heard too.
Isaac’s eyes darted to the door to his offices, unsurprised but rightly enraged to see it open with Riley’s profile just barely visible.
Andrew turned to look too, but when his attention came back to Isaac, the same fury hadn’t emerged. “Better give him a good show.”
Their rocking renewed with a vengeance, Isaac moaning wantonly from the force of Andrew’s thrusts. He’d thought Andrew knowing Riley was there would ruin it, and if it had, a mercy killing would have been completely justified. But with Andrew on board, Isaac melted against him, not caring that someone was watching.
It was only moments later that Andrew came, but Isaac shuddered in frustration, because he wasn’t yet there himself.
“I got you,” Andrew said and pulled out of Isaac gently, only to lift him higher, until Isaac was basically sitting on his shoulders, and then he—fuck.
Andrew deep-throated him like the feat was nothing, barely leaving Isaac the sense to grip the low overhang of the fire escape above for leverage. He moaned and swayed his hips forward, while his head and back fell against the wall. Whether he was just that close, or the sheer insanity of how sexy this was overloaded his brain, he came with a cry, still stuttering his hips forward as his cock slid between Andrew’s lips.
They were both panting heavily when Andrew finally lowered him back to the ground. Isaac’s eyes went to Riley again, but Andrew raised a hand to his cheek to divert his attention back to him. He kissed him, and Isaac’s eyes flickered closed as his entire body sagged forward.
“He was listening the whole time?” Andrew whispered when they pulled apart.
“Forgot it was on. You were rather distracting.”
“True.”
“Do you mind?”
“An audience? Not as much as I thought I would. Kind of hot.”
“Couldn’t agree more,
” Riley called—loudly from the doorway instead of just in Isaac’s ear. “Bearing witness is much better than just listening in.”
They shared an annoyed look, and Andrew stepped back, tossing the condom away and pulling up his pants. Isaac took more time but had soon tucked himself away too.
“You tell anyone…” he warned Riley, who was no longer trying to hide.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Riley bit his lip as he eyed them both covetously. “And I thought the roof was steamy. If you ever want extra participants—”
“Don’t push it,” Andrew said.
Then he turned to Isaac, stepped in close, and whispered in the ear without the earpiece, “Your turn next time. You’re going to turn in that wallet, right?”
“I will.”
“Meet up later? For the case,” he added hastily, a blush coloring his fair cheeks that seemed so silly after he’d just dominated Isaac against an alley wall with an impressive show of strength.
“Can’t wait,” Isaac said.
Andrew gave Riley a final reticent glance, who had the nerve to wave at him, and then headed out of the alley.
Isaac slumped against the wall, feeling blissfully sore and content.
“Does my insane jealousy over how hot that was in any way exempt me from whatever revenge you’re plotting?” Riley asked.
Gesturing with an irritated twirl of his finger, Isaac motioned for Riley to go back inside. “We’ll see.”
Chapter 6
After work, Andrew entered his house to the smell of—Biang Biang noodles? He could tell from the way his nose hairs wanted to burn away. His mother had always made the dish especially spicy, and he and Steven had been trying to outdo each other to get the recipe right ever since she passed away.
He also entered to the sounds of instrumental jazz on his record player—again.
“There you are,” Steven said as he came into view from the kitchen, carrying the delicious smelling noodles with potholders that he set on the dining room table. There were also vegetables and even some bao, though those looked store-bought, and a beer at each of their usual place settings. “You’re late.”
Bitterness tinged the back of Andrew’s throat, and he fought to keep his hands from tightening into fists like they had when he saw Olivia. His ex and his brother should not create such similar feelings in him, yet with both he felt like they trampled forward without any care that he might be underfoot.
Public Enemy, Undercover Lover Page 8