“Oh God,” he groaned, shifting restlessly beneath Gabe, his own hard length throbbing with the need to be touched. “Please, yes. That. All of that.”
Gabe’s grin was nothing short of wicked as he reached down and made short work of Matt’s button and fly and then pushed both his pants and underwear down his hips, but only far enough to free him and nothing more.
Gabe, meanwhile, shucked the rest of his clothes until he settled on top of Matt completely naked. He couldn’t remember ever seeing anything better in his life than Gabe naked on top of him, hand teasing down his own abdomen until he wrapped a fist around his erection, hissing out a breath at the initial contact.
Matt was torn between wanting to touch and wanting to watch Gabe do this all on his own. Both urges won out as he settled for clamping his hands on Gabe’s thighs but not letting his fingers creep any higher.
As Gabe began stroking himself in earnest, breathy moans escaped him with each upward stroke and Matt couldn’t help thrusting up, seeking friction for his own neglected erection, swearing he could almost feel the firm heat of Gabe’s fingers around him just from watching Gabe jerk himself off.
Gabe sunk down slightly, until Matt’s erection pressed up against the underside of Gabe’s balls, leaving them both groaning at the pressure and sensual drag of flesh against sensitive flesh. Matt tightened his hold on Gabe’s thighs, the fleeting worry that he might leave bruises making him reflexively pull away, but Gabe used his free hand to catch his wrist and push his palm back into position.
“It’s fine.” Gabe’s words were followed by a gasp as Matt dragged him down harder against him. “I’ll tell you if it’s too much.”
He’d never been one for rough play in bed—once he’d had a boyfriend for a few weeks who’d liked pain to get off. More pain than Matt was comfortable with giving. He didn’t judge people for what they wanted or needed and he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. That just wasn’t what he enjoyed himself, and he hadn’t been able to give the guy what he really wanted.
Skirting the edge, however—the line between a thorough screw and getting a little rough—well, that was something he enjoyed with the right person.
Gabe seemed to get the hint without him needing to say anything, grinding down harder on his erection trapped between their bodies even as Gabe stroked himself faster. Matt didn’t worry about how tight his hold got any longer, could only catch his breath and tense his body as pleasure railroaded him like a steam train.
Gabe was pure erotic beauty above him, muscles standing out in stark relief, a fine sheen of sweat making his skin glisten, dark brown eyes drenched in lust and focused on Matt in a way that made his stomach bottom out.
“Oh fuck,” Gabe moaned, hips suddenly jerking out of the rhythm he’d set. “I can’t—”
If he said anything else, Matt didn’t hear him. Apparently just the idea that Gabe was about to come was enough to set Matt off himself. Gabe drove down on him one last time as Matt exploded, coming all over Gabe’s balls and the hand stroking his cock, making Gabe groan loudly in a way that was practically obscene. Gabe came a second later, as promised, leaning forward and spending himself all over Matt’s abdomen and chest, sending a secondary, shuddering echo of pleasure rippling through his body.
As they both tried to catch their breath in the aftermath, Gabe made to roll off him, but Matt pulled him down, not caring about the stickiness between them.
“That was hot as hell,” he mumbled as Gabe settled comfortably on his chest.
“You started it,” Gabe teased in a sleepy voice.
Sleeping sounded like an excellent idea, except Gabe’s stomach rumbled, making the both of them laugh.
“We better shower before the pizzas turn up.” Gabe pushed up to stare down at him, and Matt’s breath caught in the back of his throat at the easy affection he saw in Gabe’s unguarded gaze.
It’d been so long since he’d had a steady boyfriend, since he’d had someone who cared enough about him to regard him with that kind of warmth in their expression. It made Matt’s chest hurt and the thoughts from earlier curl through the middle of his mind.
He wanted Gabe in all the ways that counted. For more than just a holiday fling.
Never mind Thomas punching him, he suddenly got the feeling he was about to do himself far more damage by the time everything was said and done with Gabe.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE SOUND of breaking glass woke Gabe. Not with the urgency that it’d happened in his immediate vicinity and he needed to see what was going on right fucking now, but with the slower rousing knowledge it was a sound he shouldn’t be hearing at ass-o’clock in the morning if everything was right with the world.
His pillow shifted beneath his cheek, until he realized it wasn’t a pillow, it was Matt’s shoulder blade, who was sprawled half on his stomach facing away from him.
“What the hell was that?” Matt murmured, sounding more asleep than awake.
Another crash of broken glass woke Gabe properly and he surged upright with a curse in Spanish as the sheet tangled around his hips.
Matt sat up as well, fully awake now, eyes wide in the dim light coming in around the curtain from the streetlamps outside.
“Gabe?” Matt whispered, tone full of concern.
“I’m going to check it out.” He quickly grabbed his pants and one of Matt’s T-shirts before shoving his feet into a pair of shoes that might not have been his either. “It’s probably just some drunk idiot, but stay here until I give the all clear.”
Matt nodded but slid to the end of the bed and grabbed up the sweatpants Gabe had left there the night before, and even though he got some weird, warm pang through his chest at the realization they were wearing each other’s clothes, he pushed the thought aside as he hurried over to the window by the door to peek out at the motel parking lot.
Everything was quiet now, nothing moving in the night shadows. But he soon spotted the source of the damage: glass littered the blacktop, sparkling under the combined light of the moon and orange-tinged lights surrounding the inner parking bays.
Gabe slowly unlocked the door and cautiously made his way out. As he paused, casting a searching glance over all the shadowed corners and alcoves where someone could be hiding, he wished for the first time he carried a gun. As an analyst, it wasn’t required and he’d never found himself in a situation where he’d needed one. He had qualified at Quantico, but since he rarely found himself in active field situations—spending more time behind a desk—he’d never bothered to carry. Possibly when this assignment was over, it was something he should seriously consider.
As sure as he could be without night-vision goggles that no one was waiting to jump out at him, he stepped away from the door and approached Matt’s rental, parked next to his bureau sedan. Several of the rental’s windows were smashed out, and as he rounded the far side, he saw the ugly black scrawl of graffiti spray-painted across the panels: fags burn in hell. Not overly original, but between this and the pamphlet, enough to jack his temper sky-high in an instant.
What the fuck was wrong with people in this inbred redneck Stepford town?
Rapid footsteps coming up behind him made him spin on the defensive, but it was only Yas, jogging from the direction of the street with her gun in hand.
“Lone offender, dressed all in black including a mask,” she reported, slightly out of breath as she stopped in front of him. “Took off northeast, but I lost him when he veered down a side road and jumped a fence into a backyard. I’ve already called the sheriff.”
“Thanks, Yas. I owe you one.” He returned his attention to the vandalized rental, stomach churning at how Matt was going to take this. He wished like hell he didn’t have to tell him.
“And the rental car belongs to?” Yas prompted as she tucked her gun away. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt but still managed to look put-together, as though she hadn’t been rudely woken a few minutes ago and scrambled out of bed like he had.
Yas nodded, expression nothing but professional, even though she knew exactly how personal things were between him and Matt.
“Gabe, this fits the MO of the other vandalism and property damage in the reports the sheriff gave us.”
His gaze collided with Yasmin’s steady hazel eyes as the words hit him like a sucker punch. He’d been so busy stressing over Matt getting upset, he hadn’t even realized this was exactly like the reports they’d fielded the past few days. The only difference being those had been racially motivated, while this was clearly homophobic. Though, he supposed when it came to bigoted assholes, it was the old potato-potahto thing.
“Fuck,” he muttered, forking a hand through his hair.
The last victim had ended up in the hospital because the vandalism and property damage had quickly escalated to a physical attack. If it was the same offender….
No way in hell was he letting anything happen to Matt.
So, what? Now he was going to play bodyguard while investigating with Yas and compiling his report for the original assignment that’d brought him out here? Sure, if he could clone himself and make three Gabes.
“I need to go tell him what’s going on,” he said as sirens sounded in the distance.
“I’ll give you a few minutes, and then I think it’s time I met your boy toy properly.”
He pinned her with an aggravated glare. “He’s not my boy toy.”
She arched a single elegant eyebrow at him. “Oh yeah? Then what is he?”
“He’s—”
Gabe got no further than the one word because he didn’t actually know what Matt was. He’d nearly blurted out boyfriend, because that’s what it felt like Matt should be. It was what his instincts were pushing him to claim Matt as, but their arrangement was temporary at best, and even if either of them were interested in more, now was so not the time to be having that conversation.
“Shut up,” he grumbled at Yas as he headed for Matt’s room.
She smartly didn’t reply, and he put her out of his mind for the moment as he released a long breath and then stepped through the door.
Matt had been perched on the edge of the rumpled bed, hair adorably mussed and eyes impossibly wide.
“What’s going on?” he asked hurriedly as he jumped to his feet, fully dressed now.
Gabe crossed the few steps between them, not even trying to rein in the compulsion to touch Matt, to comfort him even before he imparted the bad news.
“Don’t freak out,” he started as he caught Matt’s hands in a tight grip.
Matt glared at him. “You know when you start a conversation that way, it’s guaranteed to make the person freak out.”
His lips twitched, but he forced himself to remain serious. “Sorry. Okay, I’ll give it to you straight. Someone vandalized your rental car.”
“What?” Matt demanded, voice going hoarse.
“The breaking glass we heard? It was the windows getting smashed in.”
Matt closed his eyes on a mumbled curse, tension lines etching into his features. “Guess I’m not getting the deposit back.”
Gabe drew him into a hug and Matt immediately sank into his embrace like he’d been waiting for it, resting his forehead on Gabe’s shoulder as their arms went securely around each other.
“We’ll figure it out later. Right now, we need to find out who did this and why, which is going to mean talking to my partner, Yas.”
Matt’s arms tightened a little more. “Because this has to do with the case you’re working.”
A statement, not a question. Matt wasn’t dumb and no doubt the full gravity of getting caught up in an FBI case was weighing heavily on him.
“It looks that way,” he answered reluctantly, wishing there was any other explanation. The last place he wanted Matt was smack-bang in the middle of this investigation. Not only because it made the territory between personal and professional awfully murky for him, but also because the idea that Matt might be in danger made him feel sick. “Don’t worry, okay? Yas and I are going to get this sorted quickly, and we’ll keep you out of it as much as possible.”
Matt finally lifted his head to stare into his eyes. “I trust you.”
Three simple words that speared straight into the middle of Gabe’s chest.
God, he hoped like hell he didn’t betray that unfettered belief he could see shining in Matt’s blue eyes.
Instead of replying—not that he had any words he could have said aloud that wouldn’t complicate the situation when they both needed to stay clear-headed—he leaned in and caught Matt in a brief but heartfelt kiss. Their mouths clung together for a long moment, each needing the comfort they’d so easily found in each other since the first time they’d touched. Gabe paused, his lips still lightly brushing Matt’s, both of them breathing unsteadily as something significant shifted between them. That kiss hadn’t been the kind casual fuck buddies or friends-with-benefits shared. It wasn’t the kind of kiss two practical strangers who were indulging in a no-strings fling shared.
No, it was a kiss loaded with unspoken words and feelings. It was a kiss that told of affection and emotion neither of them were willing to put into words yet, but both clearly felt. And when he pulled back far enough to look into Matt’s eyes, he could see it all in his features, in the questions and hopes shining in his gaze.
They had a whole lot of stuff to figure out between them, but they couldn’t do it right now. Not when emotions were running high and Yas was waiting to speak with them.
“Come on,” he said softly, voice a little roughened, but he didn’t even bother trying to cover it. Instead he took Matt’s hand in a reassuring grip, lacing their fingers together and leading him from the room, outside where Yas now stood talking to the sheriff and Deputy Perez, the latter of whom was staring at the graffitied car with a hard, deadly, pissed-off expression. Yeah, considering how uncaringly out he and his boyfriend were, this was probably hitting a little close to home for Perez.
Gabe drew Matt closer to himself as they rounded the undamaged side of the car to reach Yas and the sheriff.
“Listen,” he said to Matt with a calm confidence he certainly wasn’t feeling. “They spray-painted the far side as well as smashing the windows, but I don’t think you should see it.”
Matt’s lips pressed into a thin line, face a little pale in the flashing blue and red lights of the sheriff’s patrol SUV.
“Along the same lines as what was written on the pamphlet?” Matt asked, a surprising hint of anger creeping into his tone.
“Basically,” he replied, sending a nod to Yas as they stopped next to her.
Matt gently pulled his hand free, stubbornness setting into his expression. “I want to see. I’m not going to let them scare me, otherwise the cowards win. Right?”
Before he could say anything, Matt strode determinedly away from him, fists clenched at his sides as he rounded the rental to stop next to Perez and take in the graffiti. To Matt’s credit, his stubborn expression didn’t change much, except to maybe become a little angrier.
Perez set a hand on Matt’s shoulder. “We’re going to find the asshole who did this. In the meantime, I’m going to give you my number. You need anything, you call, day or night. Got it?”
Matt nodded and wordlessly handed over his phone, letting Perez put his contact details in.
“That goes for you too, Lopez,” the deputy said as he and Matt rejoined them next to the sheriff’s SUV. Matt stepped right into his side and Gabe brushed their fingers together, resisting the urge to simply pull Matt into his arms and hold him close like he wanted to. He needed to keep his head in the game, not get caught up with the undeniable urge to keep Matt safe at any cost.
“Thanks, buddy,” he murmured to the deputy, feeling a little more secure about having the ex-s
oldier on their side. At this point, he figured the more backup he had to keep Matt out of harm’s way, the better.
“Matt, this is Special Agent Yasmin Quinn,” he introduced as Yas held out her hand and Matt automatically shook it.
“Sorry we had to meet under these circumstances,” Yas said, the sincerity in her voice not at all false. Truthfully, because of the way Matt had captured Gabe’s interest—which he had to admit even to himself hadn’t ever really happened in all the years he’d known Yas—she was probably dying to get to know Matt… just not in an investigative capacity. “We’re going to do everything in our considerable power to rectify this situation.”
“Does that include making whichever sonuvabitch is responsible for this pay the deductible to the rental company?” Matt crossed his arms, belligerence in his stance. “’Cause I sure as hell don’t want to fork out for something I had nothing to do with.”
Yas’s lips kicked up in a grim smile for a second. “I’m sure once the responsible party is apprehended, we can come to some kind of arrangement.”
“Good.” Matt gave a decisive nod, and for some stupid reason, pride welled up in Gabe’s chest at how well Matt was handling this.
Gabe had dealt with his share of crap, both on the job and before he’d joined the FBI. For his sexuality. For his race and heritage. For growing up in the wrong neighborhood. For being smart and getting good grades. For a million other little things he didn’t have control over. He’d seen cases in his analyst role that dealt with the worst humanity had to offer, witnessed firsthand the disgusting way people could treat each other, and had no doubt Perez had experienced some of the same.
For all that, this vandalism had hit both him and the deputy in different ways, but with the same result. Their experience gave them an edge in being able to effectively compartmentalize and shove their feelings aside to get on with the job. Matt, however, was a bakery and coffee shop owner from the arguably liberal city of San Francisco, living in SoMa where he was accepted without question, where he didn’t have to face this kind of ugliness. The fact he was standing strong and willing to do whatever they needed, despite probably feeling intimidated, possibly even scared, it all made Gabe respect and admire him that much more. Matt might be somewhat reserved, but he clearly had a core of steel when push came to shove.
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