by Pandora Pine
Jackie had started screaming when she saw everyone gathered around the hole. To his ears, the sound was ungodly. Ronan had been to a lot of death scenes in his career and had seen a lot of grieving family members react to the news that a family member had passed on, but he’d never heard anything like this sound.
Ross and Captain Fitzgibbon had managed to get her calmed back down, but the minute the shovels hit the garbage bag, the screaming, keening more like, had started up again. By the time Michael’s remains had been pulled from the frozen ground, Jackie had screamed herself hoarse.
In order to make a positive identification, they’d had to open the bag to see what remained of the small boy. Ross Frye had been able to identify the striped shirt Michael had been wearing the day he disappeared before running to vomit in a nearby snow drift.
“Are you ready for bed, babe?”
“Can I sleep with you?”
Ronan nodded, shutting off the water. There was no way he wanted to crawl into bed alone tonight.
22
Tennyson
Tennyson awoke with a start. The echo of Jackie Frye’s scream buzzed in his head. The digital read-out on Ronan’s alarm clock said 11:08am.
All of the images from the dig site, Michael’s burial site, swamped over him. He could see the men with their jackhammers, the dust kicking up as the hammers pounded through the concrete, the sheen of the lights off the trash bag that had been the boy’s makeshift coffin for the last seven years.
“You’re safe, sweetheart,” Ronan whispered from behind him, tightening his hold on Tennyson’s body.
“No one is safe. The sicko who did this is still out there.” Tennyson shivered as Ronan’s silky lips pressed against the back of his neck.
“Right here and right now, we’re safe, Ten. I promise.” Ronan kissed him again.
Tennyson tried to feel a measure of comfort in Ronan’s words, but they felt somehow hollow. It wasn’t words he needed right now. It was actions.
As he tried to roll over in Ronan’s arms, the cop loosened his hold, allowing Ten to turn more easily.
“You look like shit, Ten.”
“That goes double for you, detective.”
“Am I too ugly to kiss?”
“Thought you’d never ask.”
Tennyson felt Ronan’s body meld to his own as the detective kissed him. All of the horrors they’d witnessed together last night flew from his mind the second Ronan’s tongue mated with his own.
“Ten,” Ronan whispered when his hardness brushed against Tennyson’s.
“I need you,” Ten whispered back. He wasn’t sure if it was their all-consuming desire talking now or their need to connect and feel human again after what they witnessed in the greenhouse. At this moment in time, Tennyson didn’t much care which option it was.
“Not half as much as I need you.” Ronan kissed him again, his two-day old stubble scratched across Tennyson’s face.
Ten knew that he’d have a serious case of stubble burn later on but couldn’t bring himself to care. In this moment with Ronan, he felt alive. His almost-lover’s lips and rough skin moved down his neck, kissing and biting his tender skin as Ronan moved. Ronan was making sounds like Tennyson’s skin was the best thing he’d ever tasted.
“Fuck me, you’re delicious.” Ronan grinned up at Tennyson before giving his left nipple a little bite.
Ten gasped, arching his hips against Ronan’s body. The friction against his cock sent a shiver through his entire body.
“Anxious for me to take you, huh?”
Tennyson bit his lower lip and nodded. He’d never been this anxious for sex in his entire life. None of his past lovers had been particularly careful with his body, but he knew Ronan would be different. Everything about Ronan was different.
Ronan licked and sucked his way down the rest of Tennyson’s torso, He used one hand to hold Ten in place while his lips, tongue and teeth ravished his lover’s sensitive skin.
When Ronan reached Ten’s drooling cock, he looked up at Tennyson who was panting, unable to catch his breath. “Look what I’ve got here.”
“You just gonna stare or are you gonna do something about it, detective?”
Ronan snorted. “What would you like me to do about it, Nostradamus?”
“Suck it, Ronan. Now!” Tennyson was at his breaking point and Ronan hadn’t even touched his dick yet.
“Look at you, all needy for me.” Ronan blew a warm breath over the head of Ten’s cock.
Tennyson shivered, his hands fisted in the sheets. “God, Ronan, you’re driving me crazy.”
“Am I now?” Ronan licked out at the drop of pre-come dribbling out of Tennyson’s slit. He barely made contact with his lover’s skin.
Tennyson groaned. The split-second of contact with Ronan’s tongue had been heavenly. He needed more. Now. “Please, Ronan.”
“There’s the magic word.” Ronan winked at him and wrapped his lips around the head of Tennyson’s dick. He hummed as his tongue roved over the hardened flesh.
Tennyson wasn’t going to survive this sweet torture. Most men he’d been with had been in a hurry to get him off, if they’d gotten this far at all. Ronan acted like they had all day. He acted like he was enjoying the fact that Tennyson’s cock was sitting on his tongue.
Ronan rolled forward on his hands with his head dropping down. Ten’s dick hit the back of his throat and his gag reflex kicked in. Ronan didn’t let that stop him from applying gentle suction.
“Oh, fuck!” Tennyson moaned. He slipped his hands into Ronan’s silky hair. He loved the fact that Ronan was willing to gag on his cock and keep going. Lesser men would have pulled off and started looking for their pants, but not his Ronan.
It didn’t take long for his body’s needs to take over, making rational thought nearly impossible. The last thought that zipped through Ten’s mind before his focus narrowed down to coming was how blue Ronan’s eyes were as they watered while he continued to gag on his dick.
“Jesus, Ronan, so close.”
Ronan waggled his eyebrows, as if to encourage Tennyson to let go.
Tennyson was intent on doing that very thing. He felt his balls draw up and his lower back start to tingle and he knew Ronan was about to get a mouthful of his release. “Ronan, I’m gonna come,” he managed before his cock pulsed in the detective’s mouth. Tennyson held on to Ronan as his cock jerked and his release flowed from him to Ronan as if they were one.
When the storm passed and he could finally think again, Ronan was looking up at him with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What’s so funny?” Tennyson asked, propping himself up on his elbows.
“You’re so fucking polite.” He laughed, pulling himself up onto his knees. “I’m wondering if you’re going to be that polite when I’m fucking you into the mattress.” Ronan reached over his body to rummage around in the nightstand drawer.
Tennyson wondered the same thing. No time like the present to find out.
23
Ronan
Ronan could still taste Tennyson on his lips as he looked through his nightstand drawer for the condoms and lube he was sure were still in there. When he’d moved out of his and Josh’s house, he’d taken those things out of spite, not because he was sure he’d have need for them anytime soon.
He couldn’t help thinking about how responsive the psychic had been to his every touch. Josh had never been like that. His ex-husband had been more like a drill sergeant in the bedroom. Harder. Faster. Lick here. Suck there.
Tennyson had simply reveled in every new pleasure point Ronan had discovered on his own. Being with his new lover was easy and carefree. Two words he’d never have been able to ascribe to his asshole ex.
“Earth to Ronan?” Tennyson was wearing a curious smile on his face.
Ronan shook his head, turning his attention back to Tennyson.
“You looked a million miles away. What’s on your mind?” Ten reached up to cup the side of Ronan’s face.
<
br /> “You mean you don’t know, Nostradamus?” Ronan sat back on his heels.
Tennyson rolled his eyes and sat up before flipping Ronan onto his back. “No, I don’t know. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d bet you were thinking about your douche-nozzle ex. Yes?” He reached over and plucked a bottle of lube out of the drawer, followed by a box of Trojans.
“I’m an asshole.” Ronan stared up at the ceiling, not wanting to see the hurt look he knew would be lurking in Ten’s gorgeous dark eyes.
“I know that.” Ten laughed. “But what does that have to do with you thinking about your ex just now?”
Ronan sighed and looked up at Ten. He hadn’t been expecting his lover’s laughter. “I was comparing the two of you.”
Tennyson nodded, looking like he was considering what Ronan had just said. “That only makes you an asshole if Josh came out on top. Did he?”
Ronan sputtered and started to laugh. “Of course he didn’t come out on top, you ridiculous man.” He ran a hand up Ten’s washboard abs, tangling his fingers in the light dusting of fur covering them. “Now, do you want to discuss him, or do you want to put what you found in my drawer to good use?”
Ten tilted his head to the side as if he were really giving Ronan’s choice serious thought.
“Jesus H. Christ!” Ronan muttered under his breath.
“Who’s being ridiculous now?” Tennyson pressed a kiss to Ronan’s heart before kissing his way up to Ronan’s grumpy face. “You know you want me, Ronan. I know you want me.”
Tennyson had a point. Ronan did want him. Badly. “Boy, it’s like you’re psychic or something.” Ronan laughed, rolling them over so he was on top again. It had never been like this with Josh.
Sex had never been fun or filled with joy with his ex. It had always been rough and violent, a means to block out the violence they’d both witnessed and sometimes had been a part of at work.
Ronan wasn’t naive enough to think he and Tennyson weren’t trying to forget Michael Frye for the next little bit here, but they were going to use tenderness, and dare he think, a little bit of love maybe, to smooth over what they’d both seen and bore witness to last night.
“I’m gonna make you feel so good,” Ronan whispered, reaching for the lube.
“You always do,” Tennyson said in a soothing voice.
“Even when I’m calling you names and driving you up a wall?” Ronan snapped open the cap and drizzled some of the fluid onto his fingers. As he rubbed them together, he could feel the liquid heat up.
“Yeah, even then.” Tennyson grinned up at him.
“You’re crazy.” Ronan shook his head and focused his attention on getting Tennyson ready for his invasion. He watched in wonder as first one then two fingers slipped inside his lover’s body. He loved the way Tennyson was whispering his name and running his hands up and down Ronan’s arms and shoulders, as if he were trying to memorize every inch of Ronan’s skin.
“Are you ready for this? For me?” Ronan asked as he rolled the condom down his shaft.
Tennyson bit his lower lip and nodded. His eyes were glued to Ronan’s hand which was now slathering his suited up cock with more lube.
“Jesus, you’re practically drooling over my dick, Ten.” Ronan felt a surge of pride roll through his body.
“You’re gorgeous, Ronan. Every last inch of you. How fucking lucky am I to be here with you now, in this moment?”
Ronan didn’t have an answer to that question. That was a lie. He did have an answer, but it was messy and making his heart beat faster than the idea of fucking the gorgeous man laid out beneath him. He’d think about that later, once the demands of his cock had been satisfied and Tennyson wasn’t looking at him like he’d hung the moon.
Lining up his cock with Tennyson’s slicked up entrance, made him feel like he was the king of the world. That Ten trusted him this much made Ronan want to shout it from the rooftop like a modern-day Jack Dawson. He had a feeling Tennyson wouldn’t mind playing his Rose.
“For the love of Christ, stop daydreaming and start fucking me. We can talk about Titanic later.” Tennyson rolled his eyes.
Ronan hitched his hips forward. “I knew you were reading my mind.” Ronan kissed him hard as his cock glided slowly inside Tennyson’s greased passage.
“Open... book...” Tennyson moaned as his fingers gripped Ronan’s shoulders harder.
Christ, Ronan hoped not. He didn’t want Ten to catch a glimpse of the gentler feelings knocking around in his heart for the psychic at the moment.
“God, Ronan,” Ten whispered.
Ronan focused all of his attention on Tennyson. Was he hurting his lover or rocking his world? Ten’s dark eyes were locked onto his own. Ronan could see need and something else he was fanciful enough to classify as perhaps starting with the letter “L.” Now wasn’t the time to explore that at length.
“Wanted you the moment I saw you.” Ten grinned up at him.
“Oh, you mean when you handed me a rock?” Ronan had wanted him in that first moment too. Why couldn’t he just say that?
“Stop deflecting!” Tennyson laughed.
“Stop reading my mind!” Ronan shot back. “You know I wanted you too.” He’d wanted Tennyson when he’d seen him on television after he’d found the Lanski boy. He’d just been too stubborn to admit it then.
Ten pressed a kiss over Ronan’s pounding heart. “As nice as sharing your feelings with me is, detective...” Ten trailed off before cracking a slap against the left cheek of Ronan’s ass.
Ronan’s cock jerked deep inside Tennyson’s body. A man with less control would have gone off then and there. “Oh, that’s how it’s going to be, is it?” Ronan half-growled.
Without waiting for an answer, he pulled out of Tennyson and flipped the other man onto his stomach. “Hands and knees.” He saw a tremor of need shoot through the psychic’s entire body. This wasn’t how he’d planned their first time together going, but if this was what Ten needed, then this was what Ronan was going to give him.
Once Ten had assumed the position, Ronan surged back into his body. He gripped Tennyson’s hips and pulled the other man back onto his cock. Instead of fucking him, he was fucking himself with Tennyson.
His lover proved to be a quick learner and started thrusting himself backward, impaling himself again and again on Ronan’s dick.
“Fuck, yes, Ten!” Ronan roared when they’d found the right rhythm.
The only sounds in the room were Ronan’s shouts of encouragement and Tennyson’s whimpers. Ronan knew his dick was pounding against his lover’s prostate. How Ten could take this kind of fucking and not be coming his brains out yet was amazing.
“Come on, baby,” Ronan growled in Ten’s left ear. “You know you want to come for me.”
Tennyson moaned disjointed consonants in response, as if spoken words were beyond his reach at the moment.
“You know you want to soak my sheets in your release and scream my name until you can’t scream anymore.” Ronan nipped at the tender flesh in the hollow behind Tennyson’s right ear.
Tennyson responded by fucking back harder against Ronan.
Ronan grinned against the back of Tennyson’s neck which was now soaked in sweat. “Yeah, that’s my good boy. Work for it. I know you’re working to get me off too. You want to feel my cock explode inside that tight ass, don’t you?” He dug his fingers harder into Ten’s hips. He knew damn well his lover was going to wear his fingerprint bruises for days after this. Knowing that sent a wave of possession through him like he’d never felt before.
“You’re mine, aren’t you, Ten?” Ronan whispered. “Say it! Tell me you’re mine!” He needed to hear Tennyson confess that he belonged to Ronan more than he needed his next breath.
Tennyson moaned, his head dipped low, before he reared back up, the column of his neck lengthened, with his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down as if it were working up the strength to speak. “Yours!” He roared, the word echoing off the ceiling.
&nb
sp; “Oh yeah, that’s right. Mine!” Ronan was right on the edge. He’d never been this turned on in his entire life. Sex had never been this intense with anyone else. He had a feeling that with Tennyson, this intensity was just the tip of the iceberg. He didn’t know if that thought thrilled him or scared the fuck out of him. Oh well, there would be time to figure that out later. All that mattered right now was making Tennyson come his brains out and then following him into the same bliss.
“Stop holding out on me, Ten. Let me hear how much you’re fucking enjoying riding my cock. Let me hear how much you’re enjoying me!” Ronan didn’t know where these words were coming from. He wasn’t an insecure man in the bedroom, but he needed to know he was doing it for Ten.
“Ronan...” Ten panted. “God, fucking Ronan.”
Ronan had no idea what Ten was babbling but that was good enough for him. He reached around their joined bodies, wrapping his right fist around Tennyson’s drooling cock. He wanted to feel it erupt when Ten came undone. He rested his head in the crook of his lover’s shoulder. “Come for me, Ten. NOW!” Ronan roared. His cock jerked deep inside Tennyson’s body. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt Tennyson’s cock pulse in his hand. He bit down on the tender flesh of Ten’s shoulder while the most intense orgasm of his life ripped through his entire body.
His own cries mixed with Tennyson’s and seemed to vibrate through their joined bodies. Ronan didn’t know how long it went on, but by the time his cock started to soften, his throat felt raw and his slit felt like an eighteen-wheeler had passed through it.
“Sweet fucking Christ, I’ll never be the same,” Tennyson whispered from beneath him.
Ronan’s cynical brain was sure Tennyson meant the state of his body after the mind-blowing sex they’d just had. His heart knew better.
24
Tennyson
Hours later, Tennyson could still feel Ronan all over his body. He ached, in a good way, everywhere. The orgasmic bite mark on his shoulder barked every time he moved his right arm. He had a slight limp when he walked, which pleased him, and Ronan, if his shit-eating grin was any indication. Lastly, Ronan’s fingertips had imprinted themselves on Tennyson’s hips. He’d be wearing those bruises for days to come. His lover had thoroughly marked him, inside and out.