Jared’s lips parted in surprise, and Reese gently pushed his tongue inside, exploring, tasting. Jared opened to let him in further, placing his hands tentatively on Reese’s shoulders. The kiss deepened, becoming more forceful, their lips melding tighter at every delicious turn. Only their feet on the ground keeping them from falling off balance, the swing rocking back and forth with the weight of their kiss.
Jared gave himself up to it, reveling in the feeling of Reese plundering his mouth. One of Reese’s hands gripped Jared’s hip and the other threaded through his hair, holding Jared at just the right angle to delve deeper, showing him in a kiss what his words had meant.
Jared’s hands curled into Reese’s jacket as he kissed back. A strange confidence took hold of his body as he leaned up and into Reese, taking over the kiss, pushing him against the back of the swing. Jared followed, straddling Reese’s thighs, and the deep moan Reese let out when Jared settled on his hips on top of Reese’s shot straight through Jared deeper than any stain ever could. Jared tilted his head, changing the angle of the kiss, savoring the sharp feeling of Reese’s three day stubble against his skin. Jared tore his lips away and rubbed his cheek along Reese’s jawline, peppering kisses along the sharp angles of his face as he went.
Reese’s hands slid down to grip Jared’s hips. “Goddamn, sweetheart.” He tangled a hand in Jared’s hair, fisting hard enough to tug Jared’s face back just an inch. “That pretty mouth is gonna kill me.” He crushed his mouth to Jared’s once more, no sweetness this time, only pure want, showing Jared with his lips and tongue just how much he wanted to take. Jared rocked his hips into Reese, letting out a shuddered moan as his cock brushed against one just as hard as his own. Reese’s hips shot up off the bench swing, rubbing deliciously against Jared before pulling back. “Stop. Have to stop.”
Jared shook his head, brushing his lips back and forth against Reese’s. “Don’t want to stop.” He ran his mouth along Reese’s jaw again, wanting to hear that gravelly voice ground out another groan.
“I don’t want to stop either.” Reese’s hips hitched up into his again, making Jared gasp. “But someone could come out here any minute, sweetheart.” Reese trailed off on a groan as Jared rotated his hips in a circle. “Oh, for the love of...don’t move like that.” Reese’s body belied his instruction as he grabbed Jared’s hips and ground him down against his cock.
Jared let Reese pull his body back and forth, the denim of their jeans rubbing painfully against their hardened flesh. “Please,” Jared panted. Nothing in his life had ever felt so good. He let Reese catch his lips again, and breathed against his mouth. “Please don’t stop.” He braced his hands on Reese’s shoulders and ground down, chasing the building sensation that was shooting through his belly and his dick. “Please, I need-“
“What?” Reese rasped. “Tell me, sweetheart. Tell me what you need.” He planted his feet more firmly onto the ground, and Jared gasped when Reese’s thighs slammed up into his. “Need this?” Reese slid a hand back into Jared’s hair, his arm a corded length of muscle against Jared’s back, holding him firmly atop his lap. “Need to feel me, need to know how bad I want you?”
Jared whimpered, and it was all he could do to keep his mouth sealed against Reese as they ground together harder. “Close, so close, please-“
“I gotcha, sweetheart. Take it. Take what you need.”
Jared rocked back and forth over Reese’s hard body, crying out as he felt a warm splash against the front of his pants. He undulated against Reese’s hips, riding the wave of pleasure that crashed through his entire body. Reese’s hips rocketed off the bench swing, chasing his own release.
Jared’s hand shook where they lay on Reese’s shoulders, for once from pleasure instead of fear. Now that the heady haze of desire was starting to retreat, Jared wasn't sure what to do. It had happened before; he’d been wanted, used, then cast aside. He braced himself for the inevitable rejection, and started to lift himself off of Reese’s lap.
Two large hands clamped down onto Jared’s thighs, fingertips curling up onto his hips. “Don’t.”
Jared froze.
Reese lifted a hand to cup beneath his chin. He drew Jared’s mouth closer, and pressed their lips together. “Don’t run away. You’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. Trust me sweetheart, this only makes me want to have you again, with nothing between us next time.”
Another jolt of pleasure shot through Jared, and Reese chuckled softly at his quiet gasp. “There will be a next time,” he vowed. “But for now, I think we’d better get on inside. Iris is too perceptive for her own good, and I’m sure your siblings are wondering where you’ve been.” Reese stood up, gently lowering Jared down off him, only letting go when he was sure Jared was steady on his feet. “So unless you want a search party out here, we’d better go in.”
Jared pressed a hand to the front of his jeans, adjusting himself enough that he could walk without wincing. Reese shot him a knowing grin.
Smiling from the inside out for the first time in too long, Jared followed Reese inside.
Gideon relaxed against the old wooden headboard, his posture lazy, but his eyes alert. “What brought you up here, my girl? Know it’s not just because you missed me.” His gaze roamed over her tall, lithe body. “Goodness knows I’ve missed you.”
“Haven’t been gone but a couple months.” Iris winked at him in the mirror. “That is nothing but a blink of an eye for people like us, old man.”
“You haven’t aged a day since I met you.” Gideon caught her violet gaze, his expression turning serious once more. “What aren’t you telling me, gorgeous?”
Iris took her time sitting at the dresser, rubbing lavender and chamomile onto her skin. “I wanted to wait until we were alone to discuss it. Lots of tempers flying around your house, hmm? Some running hotter than others.”
“Haven’t had this much noise in my house since those Coopers were little tykes.” Gideon grumbled. “Although Jared missed out on that part.”
“He is lucky, to have become part of that family.” Iris thought of Rae and Declan. “They are lucky to have him too. So close, they’ve all become.”
Gideon grunted. “Sometimes too close, perhaps. Declan can be too damn stubborn to see he ain’t doin’ Jared any favors, keeping him overprotected like that.”
“Protection is in the Cooper blood.” Iris slid out of her robe and into bed beside Gideon. “Jared’s got it in him too, he just hasn’t been given the chance to find it yet.”
Gideon opened his arms for her to slide into. “I can see why Johnathan kept him out of the field. The kid is too scared.”
Iris clicked her tongue. “He’s not scared, he’s unsure. That poor boy has survived far more fear and uncertainty than you or I will ever know.” Iris settled against Gideon’s large body, drawing comfort from his warmth and muscles that were still plenty strong. “He knows how to fight for himself. It’s just been too long since anyone made him try.”
“Woman, you just met him.” Gideon chuckled, his arms coming around her. “Though I long ago learned not to question what goes on in that beautiful mind of yours.” Iris could hear a rare melancholy in her man’s voice when he spoke again. “Boy doesn’t remember me.”
Iris lay a hand on his chest. “He will.” They were silent for a moment, enjoying the feel of their hearts finally beating together again in the same space, before turning the conversation to business. “You spoke with the twins earlier, yes?”
“I did. I suppose that’s why you’re up here, for the raid they’d like to see done on the Jefferson City compound?”
She nodded. “Brandt says it’s about ten miles east of Jefferson. Don’t know exactly where, though, and that’s going to lose us some time.”
“We will figure somethin’ out.” Gideon assured. “Blaine’s itchin’ to meet us there, but I think Brandt has convinced him they wouldn’t make it in time. Not to mention they’ve got their hands full up there with all the shelter raids taking place out ea
st.”
“Vile, vicious people,” Iris spat, referring to the Agents. “The compound near Jefferson City is one of the Vivienne’s biggest Agent training facilities, as well as a hold for rescues. The twins thought you and I could coordinate one hell of a team to go in, get out as many as we can. I didn’t tell him exactly how shorthanded we’ve been lately.” Her eyes darkened. “Agents don’t normally hold rescues, Gideon. They kill them. Only a couple reasons they’d hang on to any like that.”
“Leverage.”
Iris nodded. “Or exploitation. Been hearing too many stories lately about rescue trafficking.”
“People paying for ditchbreeds when normally they wouldn’t give ‘em one look.”
“It’s all in the mystery.” There was a sick bite to her voice.
Gideon ran a hand along her arm. “We’ll get them out.”
“It’s gonna take more resources and manpower than these small town jobs we’ve been running lately.” Iris folded her arms atop his chest, rested her chin on them. “The fact that you have the Coopers here seems like kismet to me, love.”
Gideon shifted. “Circumstances of their visit being what they are, I was still damn glad to see them. Declan’s been tryin’ to do too much on his own, since Johnathan passed.”
“He’s got broad shoulders. Just like Jared will learn he is strong enough to offer help, Declan will eventually learn that he can ask for it. That Rae, she’ll help them figure it out.”
“Darlin’, even you don’t have that much optimism.” He looked down at her with a crooked smile on his face. He slid his hands along her hips and gave her butt a light squeeze. “We need to tell the kids about Jefferson. They need time to get ready.”
Iris smiled at him, pressing her lips to his. “We will tell them tomorrow.” She slid one of her legs up to rest alongside his. “I am fairly certain Reese already knows.”
“Not even gonna ask how you know that.” Gideon groaned when she rubbed her thigh against his. “Boy’s got his eye on Jared.”
Iris used Gideon’s barrel chest to push herself up so she was braced over him. “You and Declan, you two just leave that alone.”
“Did I say I minded?” Gideon flipped them over, settling himself between her thighs. “Slater is one of the good ones. I just don’t want him getting Jared into something the boy can’t handle.”
Iris threaded her fingers through Gideon’s hair, arching her back as he moved down her body. “That boy can handle more than anyone thinks he can.”
“Hmm.” Gideon mouthed at her breasts, her stomach, her hips. “Iris?”
“Yes.” She bit her lip when his mouth traveled further south.
Gideon moved his face to the vee of her thighs. “Let’s stop talkin’ about the kids now.”
Iris pulsed her hips up, seeking his mouth. “Yes.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
The next morning, Jared laced up his sneakers and slowly pulled open Gideon’s front door, not wanting to awaken anybody else. He had gotten up earlier than usual, unable to stay asleep for thinking about what job lay ahead. Jared wasn’t so naive as to think Iris and the Prescotts showing up at Gideon’s meant anything other than an impending Renegade job, and a large one at that. Reese didn’t seem to be in any hurry to head out again, and all these people in one place after weeks of lying low told Jared something was coming soon.
The thought of attempting anything like what their father used to do intimidated the hell out of him. Declan and the others all had so much experience, and Rae could always handle whatever was thrown her way. But as a former rescue whose only jobs since being adopted had been fending off the rogue Agent here and there who decided to try and invade the rescue shelter he worked at, Jared couldn’t see what he would have to offer on a job that required several skilled Renegade runners and trackers.
Jared stretched his legs and hips on Gideon’s front porch, the humidity from last night's rain surrounding him with its cloying suffocation. The air was thick and heavy in his throat, and when he stepped onto the grassy path at the start of the drive to begin his run, his shoes sunk half an inch into the muddy ground with a wet plop. Jared looked down at the mud splashed onto his shins and sighed. Getting dirty and grimy wasn't part of his plan, and he was already sticky with sweat even though he hadn't even started his run.
Changing course, he jogged around to the back of Gideon’s cottage, veering onto the leftmost trail that led down to the pebbled shore of Hidden Lake. Jared toed off his shoes and socks and tossed his shirt up onto the grassy bank before stepping into the cool lake clad in just his running shorts. The water was just chilly enough to be refreshing, and when he had waded in up to his waist, Jared arced his arms over his head and dove in. Getting into the rhythm of swimming helped to clear his mind, and instead of insecurity and doubt, his thoughts drifted to desire and a pair of deep, stormy eyes.
Though his interactions with Reese had been relatively few, the addicting electricity sparking between them only made Jared desperate for more. The possessive way Reese's hand had wrapped around Jared's wrist, the smooth confidence that had been behind their first kiss; these had stirred up a new kind of wanting within Jared's soul. What had happened on the porch last night both terrified and intrigued him in its intensity. Reese Slater was sexy, confident, and worlds different than any man Jared had ever known.
Not that he'd known many, Jared acknowledged silently as he cut his body through the water with long, practiced strokes.
He had gone bar hopping with Rae and Declan numerous times over the years, and some of those nights had led to frenzied makeout and pat down sessions. Not too bad for practice, but the cursory nature of those experiences didn't do much for someone who had spent his whole life trying to fit into something meaningful. Strict rules fostered by overprotectiveness hadn't helped either.
Thanks to Rae's easy manner and sly interference, Jared had met a handful of guys that he'd been interested in spending more than one night with, but that had rarely panned out in his favor. He couldn't bang out one night stands like Declan, or enter into a short term benefit arrangement like Rae often preferred. Rae fell in and out of love as often as she changed her hair color, and Jared was envious of the freedom that gave her. He had never been able to treat any relationship that casually, let alone a romantic one. He'd fooled around plenty, but Jared could never seem to make himself to keep seeing someone that he just wasn't interested in or comfortable around.
Jared paused his laps and tread water, tipping his head back to the overcast sky above. Even when he had dated Corey, the only guy Jared had actually slept with, Jared never felt for him what he was starting to feel for Reese now.
But every slow touch, every almost kiss, every heated moment with Reese had Jared screaming to try again. There was an unexplainable magnetism, some primal pull drawing him towards Reese in hopes of fulfilling desires that Jared hadn't ever believed he could let himself have.
Jared pushed himself to the limit for several laps before swimming back to where the water was shallow enough that he could stand. Still immersed to just below his shoulders, he tipped his head just below the surface, enjoying the gentle ebb and flow of the lake massaging water through his hair and around his temples. Jared was just bringing himself back upright when he heard the loud crack of a breaking limb.
He whirled around and saw Reese, his hot hungry stare fixed on every visible inch of Jared's body. Jared tossed his head to the side to get the hair out of his face, and to give himself a moment to recover. He tangled his fingers together beneath the water, nervously meeting Reese’s eyes. “I didn't think anyone was up yet.”
Reese stood at the edge of the shore, a tree branch laying cracked beneath a booted foot. “They aren't. I don’t sleep much before a job. Too much energy.”
Jared was right, then, about everyone being at Gideon’s for a reason. “You should try swimming." Jared wanted to dunk underwater and hide from how much that had sounded like a blatant invitation. Instead he swirled
his arms through the light current to give his nervous energy somewhere to go while a loaded silence stretched out between them.
A slow grin spread across Reese’s gorgeous face, his eyes roving up and down Jared’s body again. "Maybe I should.”
Images flashed through Jared’s mind, of Reese’s strong, broad shoulders and muscled torso dripping wet with lake water. Before he could push them away, Jared opened his eyes to see that Reese had joined him in the water, having shed his shirt, shorts and shoes. He drew in a breath at the sight of Reese’s hard, naked chest, and the grey band of Reese’s black briefs, resting just below the sharp cut of his hips. Water swirled around Reese’s waist, and Jared was mesmerized, rooted to the spot. He parted his lips, but the words tumbling through his mind on just how beautiful this man was wouldn’t come.
The corner of Reese’s mouth lifted. “Something you want to tell me, Jared?” His hands found Jared's hips, pressing into Jared's skin with the faintest hint of pressure.
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