The Way to a Man's Heart

by Ann Marie James

  Max slid his hand down his body to his slowly firming cock, and he gave it a tentative stroke. Letting the vision of Christian’s mostly naked body play through his mind, he turned and squirted a little shampoo in his palm to aid the glide before grabbing a hold of his now-very-hard cock and letting the water fall down the front of his body, imagining all the while that it was Christian’s touch. He couldn’t wait to see what Christian had been hiding under his boxers. He was pretty sure Christian was proportional, from the way he had felt pressed up behind him this morning. His strokes increased in speed as he remembered the way it felt to be held close in his arms and cuddled like he mattered. The scent memory pushed him closer to the edge. As a chef, Max was all about tastes and smells. Christian’s clean, strong, musky scent was the best thing ever.

  What sent him even further was the memory of how Christian had tasted the previous night and the way he had pushed Max against the counter. No one had ever tried to manhandle Max. The fact that Christian was not intimidated by his size was a major turn-on. Everyone thought that because of it, he was the one who would do the physical. He gasped as he added a twist at the end of his stroke and remembered the feel of the counter at his back and a warm, hard body at his front. With a shudder, he began to spurt strong bursts of cum that shot hard enough to hit the shower controls.

  Good thing I have a detachable shower head, he thought. He slumped heavily against the side of the shower, hard enough that it jolted his shoulder where he connected with the wall. He waited a few minutes until he had his breathing under control and felt like his legs might support him before straightening and doing a quick wash. After reaching for the showerhead, he sprayed down the wall and did another quick rinse of his body before shutting off the water.

  Looking at himself in the full-length mirror in his room a few moments later, he turned himself to the side to view his profile. He had changed since the last time he’d seen Christian. He was on the other side of thirty now and actually closer to forty. He certainly wasn’t toned and muscled like Christian. He ate a few too many of his own creations for that to be true. With a shake of his head at this strange bout of low self-esteem, he chastised himself aloud. “You are who you are. Christian seemed to still like what he saw. Get over yourself.”

  After dressing, he made his way to the castle kitchen. Once there, he grabbed one of the muffins their in-house baker had made that morning on the way to his office. Opening the door, he was startled to find someone already in there. He quickly masked his expression when he saw that it was Christian’s father and made his way as calmly as possible over to his chair to sit behind the desk.

  “Good morning. What can I do for you, Mr. Diaz?”

  “You can tell me what you know about the incident last night with the cake.”

  “I have already given my report to Lieutenant Diaz. My understanding is that he is point on this investigation.” Max watched in fascination as the man’s face turned interesting shades of red and a muscle began to tick in his jaw. The man was obviously furious at not being in the know.

  “I am the Castle Commander, which means I am in charge of castle security—not my son,” he bit out.

  “I’m surprised you could even say all that with the way you are clenching your teeth. Careful. That’s how teeth get broken.”

  Diaz stood and towered over Max’s desk in an obvious attempt to intimidate him. “You dare to mock me?”

  Max crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Not mocking. Just stating facts. Christian is lead on this. He advised me not to speak to anyone about what I know until he tells me it’s okay. As he has not told me it’s okay to talk to you, you will have to take it up with him.”

  Diaz glared at him for a few more seconds before straightening with a huff and storming toward the door. “I will remember this, Max. Don’t think I won’t. You are impeding my duties and I will be reporting you to the king.”

  “You do that. Let me know how that works out for you.”

  Diaz gave him one more glare before turning to leave and slamming the door behind him. Max found himself staring at the door in disbelief. He had never seen the Castle Commander so unhinged in all his time at the castle. A tentative knock at the door a few moments later broke his focus. “Come in.”

  His assistant James poked his head into the office. “Everything okay, boss?”

  Max waved James in and pointed at the recently vacated chair, indicating for him to take a seat. “It’s fine. I would have liked a little notice Diaz was in here before I walked in, but what’re you going to do?”

  “None of us knew he was in here until he stormed out. I’m sure that was disconcerting as hell to walk in and find him just here.”

  “You know it. How are things going? Anything I need to know about?”

  “Nope. Running smoothly. You and the team on finish work and clean up did an excellent job last night. Some enterprising soul even did some of the morning prep work for us.”

  “Huh. Probably Williams, the new sous chef. He was the only one still here when I left last night.”

  “Yeah. Probably. He is certainly hungry to make his mark.”

  “Yep, and has the skills to back it up. He’ll be gunning for my job here at some point.”

  “Probably.” James looked at him expectantly.

  “What?”

  “I heard you were talking to Christian last night and that you looked pretty cozy. Rumor has it he was seen coming out of your apartment at eight this morning too.”

  “We had something happen that he is investigating. He needed my report.” Max could feel his cheeks heating, even as he spoke the truth.

  “Which explains last night. What about this morning?”

  “Well, it was late when we finished, and he had an early morning meeting. There was no sense him having to drive to his place so late, when he could just leave from here.”

  James raised a skeptical eyebrow. “And did Lieutenant Diaz sleep in your guest room?”

  Max couldn’t make eye contact as he answered this time. “Uh, no. He slept with me.” He held one palm up to stop James’ next comment. “But nothing happened. All we did was sleep. We were both exhausted.”

  “And will he be coming back to see you again?”

  Max banged his head on the desk and directed his next response to the space under it. “Yes, he’s coming back tonight.”

  “Good.”

  That response had Max jerking his head up to stare at James. “What do you mean ‘good’?”

  “I mean, the two of you have always been good together—first as friends, of course, since he was younger. I know the exact day that changed, too.”

  Max choked on nothing. “What? James! What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Max, we’ve been friends for how many years now?”

  “Um, since I started here, so sixteen?”

  “Yep. You almost swallowed your tongue the day Christian stopped by the kitchen to get a snack after his workout, right after his twentieth birthday. Usually, he was fully dressed, but that day he had gotten covered in mud during some sort of training exercise his father had dreamed up, so he was shirtless and exhausted. If Christian had been paying the least amount of attention, he would have seen it too.”

  “I don’t know what to say.”

  “You don’t have to say anything. You are both certainly old enough to start something. Thirty-six and thirty is even better than twenty-six and twenty. You’ve both created great lives for yourselves. I, for one, am happy to finally see you putting yourself out there for someone. Christian is a great guy, always has been. I think you could be a great couple.”

  “Thanks, James. That means a lot. For the first time, I really do want to see if I can make a relationship work. He understands the needs of my position and, honestly, I’m tired of coming home to an empty apartment. It would be nice to have someone to come home to.”

  “Best feeling in the world, my friend.” James gave Max a sly look. �
�Kids make it even better.”

  “Uh-uh. Not ready for that discussion at all. One step at a time.”

  “I think you would make a great dad.” The voice from the doorway had them both jumping. Turning his head, Max found Christian leaning against the doorjamb, looking way too damn sexy in his army fatigues for Max’s peace of mind. He nonchalantly leaned down and rearranged his hardening cock to a more comfortable position in his underwear, thankful he was sitting behind the desk so no one could notice what he’d done.

  Christian’s knowing smirk said that he hadn’t been quite as nonchalant as he had hoped, but he didn’t say anything.

  James turned and looked at Christian before standing and going to give him a back-slapping hug. “Hey, stranger. Great to see you.”

  “Great to see you too, James. Been a long time.”

  “It has indeed. We were just talking about you.”

  “Were you now? And here I thought you were talking about Max being a parent.”

  “That was the follow-up subject. I think Max would make a great dad, too. If he had a partner to raise the kids with him, that would be even better.”

  Christian threw his head back and laughed. “Yep. Having a partner makes everything better. I look forward to auditioning for the role.”

  “Oh. Is that what they’re calling it now?”

  “Yep. It’s the new, hip thing, old man. You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Ha. Joke’s on you. I never claimed to be hip or cool or any of those things, but my wife still picked me. Darned if I know why. She could have done so much better than the likes of me.”

  “Now, you know we don’t believe that at all,” Max scoffed. “Your wife adores you and you guys are perfect together. Stop fishing for compliments. We were talking about, uh, never mind what we were talking about. Christian, what can I do for you? Did you have more questions?”

  “Nope. Just stopping in to say hi and maybe snag some lunch if I could.”

  “We’ve got things under control out there. Why don’t I bring you something to eat so you can talk in here. I’m sure Christian will be interested to hear about his dad’s visit this morning. Excuse me. I’ll get your food now.”

  James passed Christian in the doorway, stopping to whisper something to him that made him laugh before hustling out the door.

  Christian walked in and took the chair James had just vacated, dropping his messenger bag on the floor next to him. “What did my father want this morning? Or should I guess?”

  “No need to guess. I’m sure you have a pretty good idea what he wanted. He was waiting for me when I came in. He wanted to know what I knew. He was not a happy man, especially when I told him I’d already given you my report and that you were leading the investigation.”

  “Ha. I don’t think he’s ever been a happy man.” Christian paused before shrugging. “That’s not true… My grandmother said he and my mother were very happy together. He’s just not happy without her.”

  “Yeah.”

  Chapter Five

  Christian took a minute to look at Max. He was wearing his usual chef uniform of a white double-breasted jacket and pants that were in a black-and-white houndstooth pattern. He had not yet added his apron or hat. Those didn’t get put on until Max was ready to cook. It had always fascinated Christian to watch Max’s ritual of tying the apron and placing the hat on his head. Christian could see him transition from laid-back Max into serious, no-nonsense Head Chef Max as he did it.

  Right now, Max was relaxed in his chair, eyeing Christian with a combination of undisguised desire and what Christian hoped was affection. “I hated leaving you alone in your bed this morning.”

  “I hated you leaving me alone in my bed this morning. How did your meeting go?”

  “Frustrating. We have a lot of leads to follow up on, but it has been very slow going. You can’t share any of what I tell you, but our resident lab geek was very excited to get the report from your contact at the hospital. He called and talked to him this morning. They were using big words I had no hope of understanding, but Svenson is good about explaining things in ‘soldier speak’, as he calls it. Turns out the powder used had been stolen from the hospital stores. Hey, did you know that the hospital has their own greenhouse where they grow their own herbs for medicinal use?”

  “Actually, I did. Our head gardener has a great working relationship with them. Sometimes our greenhouse, where we grow our own herbs and vegetables, has something they need and vice versa. They share clippings and knowledge all the time.”

  “Huh. Well, anyway, I guess it was a new mix that the hospital herbalists were testing. It had ipecac and something else to calm the stomach lining or some such. A bottle of it had gone missing in March.”

  “So now we know where it came from. Do we have any idea who took it?”

  Christian waggled his head from side to side. “The good news is that the bottles were stored in a locked cabinet in a room that requires a keycard to enter. The bad news is that there were quite a few people in and out of the room during the window of time where it could have been taken. We have the list, and we are going through it now.”

  “And the bomb?”

  “Still with our explosive experts. We were lucky it was on a timer and our bomb squad was able to deactivate it quite easily.”

  “Were the young men driving the van able to give a description of the guy who hired them?”

  “Yes and no. He was wearing sunglasses and a hoodie with the bakery logo on it, so there isn’t a lot to go on. Forensics is checking everything for prints. Hopefully, we’ll get lucky. Anyway, I’ve probably already shared more than I should have…ongoing investigation and all that. Please keep your eyes peeled for anything else weird, though.”

  “I will. I—” Whatever Max was going to say was interrupted by James returning with two plates of food. The amazing smell made Christian’s stomach grumble loudly. Max smiled over at him.

  “Hungry, babe? I heard that from over here.”

  “Starving, actually. All I’ve had so far today is a cup of coffee. I meant to grab something from the mess hall, but the general snagged me as soon as I stepped on base.”

  “I’ll need to make sure I stock up on some grab-and-go breakfast items for you in the mornings.”

  “Making sleepover plans, are we?” James’ smirk and eyebrow waggle made Christian laugh.

  Christian pointed a finger and moved his hand in a circle to indicate James’ face. “That look is creepy as fuck!”

  James sighed loudly as he placed the plates in front of each of them. “My wife and kids say the same thing whenever I do the eyebrow thing—without the f-bomb, of course.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t even think about it.”

  James waved his comment away. “Don’t worry about it. We aren’t exactly angels in the kitchen either.”

  “I never heard anyone use bad language there.”

  James and Max both burst into laughter. Max was the first to get himself back under control. “That’s because we were always on our best behavior whenever you guys came in, and you were never in during lunch or dinner rush. It’s not easy creating meals for as many people as come through this place. Speaking of which, dig in.”

  Christian leaned forward and looked at what was on the plate for the first time, recoiling when he saw the fish mixed in with the shrimp, scallops and rice on his plate.

  “What’s wrong?” James asked.

  “Fish,” Christian said with a shudder at the same time Max grabbed his plate and handed both of their plates back to James.

  “Christian hates fish with an unhealthy passion.”

  “Oh. I forgot about that. So sorry. I’ll go grab you the burger option instead. Will that be okay?”

  “Yeah. Sorry. I just can’t do fish.”

  “It’s all good. I should have remembered. It’s not like you haven’t hated fish for forever. I’ll take care of it.”

  Christian relaxed into his chair with a sigh, scru
bbing his face with his hands. “Sorry, Max. I know I have some issues. You sure you want to be with me?”

  “Hey…” Max got up and circled the desk to crouch down in front of Christian. He was tall enough that with Christian sitting, they were still almost eye to eye. Max cupped Christian’s face in his hands. “A food aversion is no big deal. I hate peaches.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, first, they’re fuzzy and I never really cared for the texture. Second, I found a worm in one once while I was eating it. Put me off them forever.”

  “Yeah. That would do it.”

  “Why do you hate fish so much? Can you tell me?”

  Christian sighed and dropped his head to Max’s shoulder. “When I was eight, my father took me on a weeklong fishing trip. The first fish I caught swallowed the hook.”

  “Oh no.”

  “Yep. So here I am eight years old, staring at this fish struggling to breathe and my father is telling me I have to yank the hook out. I couldn’t do it. He snatched the fish from me, yanked out the hook and put it into the water because it was too small to eat. The fish lay there floating on top of the water, dying and staring at me the whole time we were fishing. I refused to fish anymore. My father told me if I didn’t fish, I didn’t eat. It became this weird battle of wills. I didn’t eat for two days, before my father finally caved and thrust a plate of eggs in front of me at breakfast on the third day. We never spoke of it again. I know it doesn’t make sense, but fish and my relationship with my father are all kind of tangled up inside me. It’s easier to admit I hate fish, though.”

  “Oh, Christian, I wouldn’t eat fish either if that had happened to me. I’m sorry your relationship with your father is so awful. I wish I could change it for you.”

  Christian sat back in his seat with another heartfelt sigh. “I should be over it. Intellectually, I know I should.”