by Susan Laine
Cain snorted. “Duh. As evidenced by my presence in your, uh, boudoir.”
Riley giggled. Being on the same wavelength with a lover was awesome. Riley had rarely been this fortunate. Joy bloomed in his heart. He felt like a bubbling cauldron of desire. And his appetite for delectable male meat grew inside him. Enough talk.
Chuckling, as if reading Riley’s mind, Cain gripped the hem of Riley’s shirt, lifted it off him, and tossed it haphazardly over his shoulder. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re so delicate.”
Riley swallowed hard. Hearing that from a lover was not pleasurable. Comments like that made him feel like less of a man. Which was strange because he’d known that physical fact about himself his whole life. His throat swelled up and he had no words to describe how he felt at that moment, like he’d been punched in the gut, definitely below the belt.
“But that’s just an illusion,” Cain continued, as if mesmerized by Riley’s body. “You’re so strong, physically and emotionally, in and out of bed. All that fragility… it’s just a mirage.”
Delighted and relieved, Riley felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Really?”
Cain’s fingers traveled across Riley’s neck, clavicles, and upper chest. “You seem so much like spun glass, but you’re stainless steel, bright and shiny and strong. I see your bones and tendons under your fair skin. I could count your ribs. I could grab your hipbones. But I know from personal experience that you’re sinewy, malleable but not breakable, with muscles like ropes. A dancer’s physique.”
When Cain started to unzip Riley’s jeans, Riley’s breath caught in his throat. “R-really…?”
Cain dropped to his knees and pulled Riley’s pants down and off. He slid his hands slowly up from Riley’s ankles—brushing over the ever-present anklet—to his calves, his thighs, his hips. He licked his lips, hunger blazing in his eyes, and took the tip of Riley’s cock in his mouth. Riley threw his head back, let go of his inhibitions and doubts, and moaned out loud.
“I really like this easy access,” Cain praised lewdly after he’d pulled off with a wet pop. “I do, however, love your skimpy little lace-and-silk underwear more.”
Riley was struck silent and could only watch as Cain returned to his task. He took a firm hold of the base of Riley’s cock and started a slow, steady stroke. The tip he sucked on, soft at first, then harder. His lips formed an airtight seal around the crown, and his tongue probed and laved across the slit, swiping away each new droplet of precome as it formed. Somehow, as if he were everywhere at once, Cain even managed to stick his tongue against Riley’s frenulum, sending frissons of pure pleasure thrumming in Riley’s body, as though Riley were an instrument and Cain the master musician.
Then Cain used his free hand to fondle Riley’s balls, and Riley was ready to crumple. His knees wobbled, and his heart thundered. He was seconds from collapse.
“Here, babe. Let me help you.”
With a knowing smirk, Cain steadied Riley long enough to allow him to take a seat on the bed. Then Cain stood again, unbuttoned his pants, and removed them with a flourish, as if wishing to give Riley a show. Riley giggled and inched backward until he lay on the bed fully. Cain knelt on the bedspread between Riley’s legs and stalked forward until he hovered above him.
“You’re so beautiful,” Cain whispered, his eyes wide and darkly luminescent.
Riley gulped and flushed with heat. He’d never been stared at quite like that, as though he epitomized otherworldly grace and allure. “Th-thanks. You too.” He blushed.
Cain chuckled. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
He lowered himself on top of Riley, plastered them together from head to toe, and kissed Riley out of this world. He stole his way inside, tangled his tongue with Riley’s, locked their lips together, and left him breathless and wanton. Cain tasted of coffee, though not the good kind, thanks to the cops at the hotel being supportive and accommodating.
Their hips rolled against each other and their cocks nuzzled, creating delicious friction born of two bodies coming together. Riley smelled the briny odor of precome and the male musk of arousal, the mix intoxicating. Cain’s unique flavor mingled with them, sending Riley’s senses into a rapturous state, almost overwhelmed.
Cain dipped to Riley’s neck, pushed his thick black hair aside, and proceeded to smother him with wet, hot, openmouthed kisses, leaving one mark after another if the sensations of being burned and stung and bit into were any indication. And Riley didn’t mind one bit. At work Riley wore turtleneck dresses or neckbands mostly anyway to hide his laryngeal prominence.
Cain’s fingers ghosted their way down, twisting Riley’s nipple in passing, then tickling his ribs and hip, and finally rounding beneath him to cup his buttcheeks. This brought their bodies even closer to each other. Cain made no move to advance toward Riley’s nether regions.
Riley looked up at Cain, dazed. “This all you want?” He was confused. No other man had wanted anything less than anal in the end.
Cain smiled down at him, his eyes warm and loving. “Yes. If that’s okay with you?”
“Sure.” Still baffled, Riley agreed. He wouldn’t have minded being fucked. But the day had taken its toll, and though he was horny and in need of release, he didn’t want to jump through a lot of hoops to get his climax.
So they moved in unison, their legs scissoring, their hands roaming and groping feverishly, their kisses virtually unbroken. Their cocks rubbed against each other, sliding easily on sweat and precome.
Riley was on fire within, his craving cresting all too soon. He wouldn’t have expected that from an act that seemed lesser than penetrative sex. In truth this surpassed fucking, with intimacy and closeness that brought them almost beneath each other’s skin. This was new for Riley, but he found he liked it a lot.
He liked Cain a lot.
It had been forever since Riley had felt so easily and effortlessly connected with someone. Which was saying something since all he’d done to the guy since day one was lie, lie, and lie some more.
But maybe the only reason Cain felt drawn to Riley was to bed him….
Despite his rising apprehension, Riley was too close for his distrust to prevent his climax. With an inarticulate cry, he spasmed and came between their writhing bodies. Cain groaned, buried his face in Riley’s neck, and followed suit, his hips jerking as jets of sticky, warm stuff smeared them again.
They rocked together lazily as the waves of pleasure ebbed. Neither was willing to let the other go, and they continued to touch and pet each other leisurely, sharing kisses and little indistinct whispers of encouragement and endearment.
Chapter Nineteen
“THAT was nice,” Cain murmured, sounding pleased and satisfied as he slipped off Riley to lie next to him on the bed, his sweaty chest heaving as he panted roughly. He had fair hairs on his chest, tiny curls that Riley ran his fingers through. The soft mat led down to a delectable trail of hair beneath his navel and farther down to a nest of coarser curls surrounding his cock.
“Yeah.” Riley agreed mostly to say something to show he’d liked the sex too. But he was relatively certain their shared experience had been less about passion and more about stress relief. It had been a long, arduous day, and they’d both needed to unwind. Sex was a quick and easy way to do that if you had a willing partner.
“Listen…,” Cain speculated quietly. “After all this, once Camille is caught and the case is officially closed, do you think we could go on a real date?”
Riley pushed up fast and stared at Cain, his ruggedly handsome, chiseled face right there, on the pillow—Riley’s pillow—like he belonged there. Riley’s muddled brain had trouble making sense of what he was hearing. But the reaction blooming in his chest… it felt an awful lot like hope.
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. Why the hell wouldn’t I be?” Cain narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Fuck, Riley. I do love having sex with you, but that’s not all you are to me.” He added a quirky half smile. “Even t
hough you’ve been busy deceiving me every step of the way.”
Embarrassment warred with dignity in Riley’s heart. He’d chosen to protect a friend instead of divulging secrets to a virtual stranger. To Riley that hadn’t been a tough choice. At least not at first. Later, once he’d gotten to know Cain, things had changed. Riley felt moderately guilty about not being forthright and open with the private investigator. But not so much that he regretted making the decision. Sheridan had been in trouble; helping her had been a priority.
“Hey.” Cain placed his fingers under Riley’s jaw and raised his gaze. “I’m not mad at you. I was disappointed at first, but I realized I didn’t have the right. You don’t owe me anything, but you do have a responsibility to your friend. And that’s what motivated you. You set me out on a journey to discover the truth on my own. I shouldn’t have to rely on you for all my answers. I’ve gotten quite a few without you. So really, Riley, I promise I’m not angry with you anymore. After all, as we both know by now, you’re innocent in all this. You’re not conniving or killing people like Camille.”
If Cain only knew…. Unsure whether he should accept the assurances at face value or take them with a grain of salt, Riley managed to acquiesce with a curt nod. Cain smiled, the expression odd on him since he did it so rarely with others; Riley seemed to only catch sight of it in the bedroom. Cain cupped Riley’s cheek, caressing him gently. That one touch reassured Riley more than Cain’s words.
“Yes.” Riley smiled at Cain’s confused look. “Yes, when this is all over I do want to go on a date with you.” He snuggled closer and relished Cain wrapping his arms around him, though they were both still covered in cooling, icky come. “Describe the night to me. Where will you take me, what will we do, and—”
“No spoilers, gorgeous. You’ll just have to be patient.” Cain’s self-satisfied smirk was back with full force.
Riley acceded. “Tell me more about you. You said you watch games at a bar with some of your buddies. Like, football?”
Cain shrugged. “Whatever’s on. There’s something for all seasons. But mostly us guys use that as an excuse to get drunk together and console each other without appearing all weird.”
Riley hesitated. “You mean like… being a pansy?”
“Nah. Just oversharing and weeping over a glass of scotch, you know, which makes a bar the worst possible venue for heart-to-hearts.”
“Is Hall one of these friends?” Riley experienced an unexpected twinge of jealousy.
“You asking if Paul and I ever fucked?”
Riley blushed. “I wouldn’t have put it so crassly… but yes.”
“No.”
“Is he gay?”
“He’s bi. But he’s not into guys like me.”
Riley frowned, bewildered at the response. “What does that mean?”
“I’m too surly and jaded for him. He likes his guys more upbeat and youthful.”
Riley chuckled and rested his jaw over Cain’s chest to look at him. “You can be upbeat.”
Cain stared up at the ceiling and shrugged. “Not often, no. It’s different with you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know exactly. It just is. You make me feel… weightless. I’m floating in the air.”
Riley giggled and started to sing “You Raise Me Up.”
Cain kissed him quiet, thoroughly and with determination. Riley enjoyed every minute.
“I LIKE these old-fashioned claw-foot bathtubs.”
Cain’s slow, sensuous voice sent tingles running up and down Riley’s spine. The scents of vanilla and lavender floated in the air, along with wisps of steam from the hot water. Riley sat with his back to Cain’s front, both leisurely savoring the bathing experience—together. Soap bubbles did their best to obscure their naked bodies beneath the slowly waving water.
“Me too. This wasn’t here initially. I had to buy a new one. The old one had rotted through. The previous resident was an old alcoholic who used to fall asleep in the tub and flood the place. It had to be replaced.”
“Glad you found a good one. These are pretty expensive, aren’t they?”
“Not as costly as hot tubs. We have a swimming pool out in the courtyard, but I don’t think anyone here’s been taking a dip there in ages. I don’t even know if they do, like, maintenance to it. On the hottest days it sure smells like something died in there.”
“No matter.” Cain licked the shell of Riley’s ear, making him shiver, and chuckled low. “I prefer skinny-dipping out in the wild, as in on the beach. Might I tempt you to try that one day…?”
Riley wiggled against Cain and laughed. “How do you know I haven’t already done that?”
Cain whistled. “Oh, you are a mystery. I’m great at solving them, you know.”
“You’ve got me unwrapped, so it shouldn’t take you too long.” Riley craned his neck to the side to plant a kiss on Cain’s wet lips. Under the bubbly waters, he palmed Cain’s cock and toyed with it, slow and steady, not to get him off but to keep the home fires burning.
Cain groaned into the kiss, his hot breath mingling with Riley’s. “Your hands… playing a piano made them this dexterous?”
“You have any idea how many straps and buttons and hooks there are in my dresses? That is how I got so nimble.”
Cain pulled back and studied Riley till Riley fidgeted nervously under the stare. “I’d love to walk around town with you in one of those smoking-hot dresses.”
Riley gulped. The guys he’d been with had wanted to keep that part of him under the cover of darkness, to only be taken out at night to play with like a doll from a box. No one had ever suggested that he be a woman out in the sunshine where anyone could see him.
“You don’t do that?” Cain asked quietly, a seriousness rising to his eyes. “In public?”
Riley swallowed and shook his head. “No. No one’s ever….” His throat closed up and his voice fled.
“Guess you really are a femme fatale, even if you are a guy.” In response to Cain’s words Riley gazed at him in bafflement. Cain smirked. “’Cause you’ve the worst taste in men. Until you met me, that is.”
Riley’s laugh burst out of him like bubbles in water. “Smartass.”
Cain smiled in his lopsided way that Riley had grown to like. Then Cain surprised him by asking, “I answered about me and Hall. What about you and Honoré? You two ever knock boots?”
“What does that mean?” Riley had never heard that phrase in his life. But he had a pretty good hunch. “If you’re referring to sex, then the answer is no. I’m much too vanilla for the likes of Honoré. We’ve just bonded over coming from the same town, is all.”
Cain nodded, said nothing, and shrugged. He seemed content with the reply. What had caused his doubt in the first place? Had he seen something, a gesture of friendship perhaps, and misinterpreted it? In any case, Cain appeared his usual self now.
Sloshing soapy water about and over the rim, Riley managed to turn and lie on top of Cain, his black hair flowing around him. Cain wound his arms around Riley, pulled him a bit till their cocks aligned, and smoothly rubbed their bodies together, a soft kindling of the lustful flame. Cain cupped Riley’s buttcheeks to gently massage them, causing fires to break out inside Riley, and took his mouth for a long smooch.
“Mmm, I like kissing you,” Riley confessed as he withdrew from the kiss, his lips tingling from the feverish contact.
Cain traced Riley’s lips with wet fingertips. “Your lips are the most kissable I’ve ever had the privilege to meet. I could do this for hours.”
Riley snickered. “You’re an animal. And here I thought I was with a gentleman.”
“Sometimes I pretend to be. But never in the bedroom.”
“We’re in the bathroom.”
“Second exception. Well, all places where we could conceivably be naked together. Then I’ll become a wild beast, hell-bent on ravishing you, over and over, till you’re all out of breath and sweaty.” Cain twirled strands of Riley’s hair a
round his fingers and tugged gently, as if fascinated and unable to look away.
“Hmm, swell image.” Riley scrunched his nose in distaste. “You make yourself sound like a pig in a sty.”
“Hey, pigs are clean animals. Not to mention cute. Piglet.”
“You’re never to call me that again. Ever.”
“How is it that you automatically assumed me saying that word means it’s a nickname?”
Riley blushed. Had he misconstrued Cain’s teasing? Then Cain started to laugh, and Riley got confirmation of his doubts. “If I’m a piglet, you’re a… a hog.”
“I was thinking more of something like a wild boar.” He made horrendous and ridiculous sounds of sniffing and grunting, emulating one.
“Oh my God, why are we even having this ridiculous conversation?” Riley harrumphed in vexation and started to turn back around, foam sloshing and swirling. But Cain’s hands stopped him, and Cain crushed his mouth over Riley’s in a deep kiss. When they parted, Riley was breathless. “T-talking about pigs turns you on?”
Cain chortled. “Talking about anything with you turns me on.” He rolled them around until he was on top of Riley who submerged up to his neck, parting his legs to accommodate his lover’s body between them. “Ready for round two?”
To that idea Riley had zero objections.
Chapter Twenty
“HUH?”
Cain roused from his sleep when something hard poked him rudely in the ribs. Too high to be a dick. Besides, he was spooning Riley. Squinting in the late-afternoon sunshine peeking through the blinds, Cain glanced over his shoulder—and was shocked wide-awake.
“Good morning… lover.”
Camille’s mocking tone and derisive smile were nothing compared to the gun in her hand.
Cain swallowed hard, barely daring to breathe in fear for Riley’s life, and his own a bit as well. “As much as I despise rude awakenings, I’ll give this one my fullest attention. Just. Don’t. Fucking. Shoot.” He spoke with a low voice, hoping not to stir Riley.