The Way to a Man's Heart

by Ann Marie James

  “Well, phase one of your master plan is a success.”

  “Thank you, kind sir.”

  “So…I had a visitor this evening as I was getting ready to leave.”

  “Yeah? Was it my father?”

  “Yep. You knew he planned to come talk to me?”

  Christian nodded. “He said he would, but I didn’t realize he was going to do it today.”

  “It was a very nice apology.”

  “Glad to hear it. Now let’s see if he follows through.”

  “What else does he need to follow through on?”

  Christian quickly filled him in on the conversation he’d had with the king and his father earlier.

  “Huh. He was worried about losing you? That’s why all the training?”

  “That’s what he says. We’ll see if he really wants to be part of my life in the future, but I told him I plan on that including you.” Christian took his last bite of food and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Are you finished?”

  “Yep. I’m full.”

  “Okay. Let me just get these plates in the dishwasher.”

  “You do that, and I’ll cover the rest of the food and put it in the refrigerator for leftovers.”

  Once he was done, he grabbed two new water bottles out of the refrigerator before extending his free hand to Christian. “Come on. Let’s go to bed.”

  “You tired?”

  “I am a bit tired, but I didn’t say anything about sleeping yet. It’s time for phase two.”

  Christian gave Max a wicked grin as he took Max’s hand. “Going to bed and not sleeping is one of my favorite activities. Let phase two commence.”

  “I thought you would like it.” Max led Christian down the hall to his bedroom, releasing his hand once he’d cleared the doorway. He went over to his nightstand and set the water bottles down before reaching into the drawer and getting out the box of condoms and a bottle of lube. Setting them on top next to the water bottles, he turned and almost swallowed his tongue when he saw that Christian had used his time to strip completely naked. Max ran his gaze up and down Christian’s rock-hard body. He was not a small man in any way, shape or form. His fantasies hadn’t done him justice. At. All.

  Max peeled off his shirt as he crossed the room and pulled Christian into his arms, gasping when their naked chests rubbed together. He ran his hands down Christian’s sides as he leaned in and ravished Christian’s mouth, thrusting his tongue in to taste him. He started kissing down Christian’s jaw to his chest and paused to pull first one then the other nipple into his mouth for a nibble. Christian’s moans spurred him on, and he licked a path downward from between the man’s pecs and along his treasure trail to his already-dripping cock. Dropping to his knees in front of him, Max licked the pre-cum from the cap then dove his tongue into the slit, looking for more.

  Max pulled back and looked up at Christian. “You taste fantastic.”

  “I want to taste, too. Come here.” Christian helped Max stand. “Let’s get you undressed. I want to see.” Christian leaned in and took Max’s mouth in another frantic kiss as they both worked to get Max’s pants undone, their hands bumping and tangling together.

  Max stepped back. “Let me. It will be faster.” Max finally got the belt and button undone before pushing the pants along with his jockstrap to the floor. He slid off his shoes and socks on the way past and he was suddenly naked. His ego was stoked by the ravenous expression of desire on Christian’s face. “You like?”

  “Turn around. Let me see all of you,” Christian croaked, as he nodded.

  Max held his hands out from his body and did a slow circle, pausing at Christian’s whimper. Looking over his shoulder, he found Christian staring at his ass and couldn’t help the smile. “Oh yeah. You like what you see.”

  “Your ass is perfect.” Christian walked forward as if in a trance and stopped Max when he went to turn around and face him. “No. Not yet. Let me touch.” Christian ran his hand down Max’s ass, cupping his left cheek in his hand as if he were weighing it, while petting the right cheek. “Your ass is perfect,” he repeated. “Even better than I dreamed.” Christian wrapped his arms around Max and pulled him in tight to his body, grinding his cock into the crack. “Feel what you do to me? You make me so damn needy.”

  Max gasped and ground back. Grabbing one of Christian’s hands, he placed it over his own leaking cock. “You do the same to me. You have me so turned on and we’ve barely done anything. I need you to fuck me, Christian. I’ve dreamed of you taking me. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a man.”

  Christian moaned and ground harder against Max’s ass. He licked up the side of Max’s neck before nipping at his ear lobe. “Get on the bed. Hands and knees.”

  Max scrambled to comply. Once on the bed, he took a few calming breaths to try to regain a little bit of control. Christian grabbed the lube from the nightstand and tore off one of the condoms from the box before he climbed onto the bed behind him. Max was expecting to hear the click of the lube cap being opened, but what he got instead was his ass cheeks being grabbed and separated before Christian dove in for a taste. Max moaned loudly and pressed backward as Christian ate his ass with enthusiasm.

  “Christian, please. I need you to fuck me. You’re going to make me come, but I don’t want to until you are inside me.” Max almost cried when the lube was opened and jolted when Christian shoved two fingers into his hole a few moments later.

  “I can’t go slow, Max,” Christian rasped as he shoved three fingers in on his next pass. “I have to have you.”

  “Take me. I’m ready. Please, Christian.”

  Max turned his head to look over his shoulder as Christian rolled the condom down his impressive length. He swallowed hard as he took in the size of Christian’s cock. He was certainly glad he’d had a box of magnum condoms. His cock wasn’t only long, at least eight inches, but it was wide too. Max wiggled in happiness as he realized his inner size queen was about to be fed. He so looked forward to having Christian’s monster cock inside him.

  “I’ll go slow.”

  “Please don’t. Just give it to me. I can take it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Christian, all my toys are at least as big as you are, if not more. I can take it.”

  “Oh, look at you, my little size queen. You’ll have to show me your collection.” Christian lined up his cock and notched it to Max’s hole as he spoke.

  “Sure. Whatever you want…but later. Fuck. Me.”

  “As you wish.” Christian slammed into Max’s hole, causing Max to gasp then push back in an attempt to get Christian even closer. “Oh, damn! You weren’t kidding. Your hole just gobbled my cock right up. Can you take it if I do you hard? I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Use me, dammit! Take me like you mean it. Make me yours.”

  “You’re already mine,” Christian growled—he fucking growled—causing a shiver to go through Max. He yanked Max up until he was pressed to Christian’s chest, then turning him to mash their lips together in an almost-feral kiss. “Grab the headboard. Push on me.” Christian waited until Max had a good hold before he started a punishing rhythm.

  Max grunted as he leaned back, loving the feel of Christian filling him. “You fit me better than anyone ever has. Please,” Max gasped, not even sure what he was asking for, but knowing he needed to come.

  Christian let go of Max’s hip with one hand where he was gripping so tight, Max was sure he was going to have bruises, and reached around to grab hold of Max’s cock. “I’m not going to last much longer, babe. I need you to come. You feel too good.” Christian had a perfect grip on his cock, not too hard but not too soft as he synced his strokes between his hand and the cock in his ass. It only took a half dozen strokes before Max was screaming out his release onto the headboard.

  Christian put both hands back on Max’s hips and powered in three more times until he stiffened and had his own release, then he slumped down with his forehead on Max’s back be
tween his shoulder blades. His breaths, mixed with the sweat, caused Max to shiver. Christian grunted as that caused Max to clench on the cock still wedged in his now-well-fucked hole.

  Christian sat up again and grabbed hold of the base of the condom before he gently pulled out. Max missed the feel of Christian inside him as soon as he was gone and forced himself to let go of the headboard. He had been holding so tight that his fingers were cramped. Flexing them, he rolled over and lay down on the bed, making sure to avoid the cum dripping down the headboard. I’ll have to clean that up. He waited until Christian wrapped the condom in a tissue and threw it away in the trash can next to the bed before pulling Christian down to lie on top of him.

  They traded gentle kisses for a few moments now that the fire between them was banked. “That was amazing,” Max whispered, reluctant to disturb the moment.

  “It really was,” Christian whispered. “Well worth the wait. I bet it only gets better from here too. Looking forward to having you inside me soon also.”

  Max’s cock made a valiant effort to harden, but he was way too sated. “Hm. It’s a date. Your ass, my cock, sometime soon.”

  Christian chuckled. “You’re falling asleep here. Let me go get a washcloth so I can clean us both up.”

  “Okay.” Max snuggled into his pillow and got more comfortable as Christian got off the bed. That was the last Max remembered until the alarm went off the next morning.

  Chapter Seven

  After Christian forced himself to leave the warmth of Max’s embrace, he took a moment to stare down at the man still asleep in the bed. He knew it was slightly stalkerish behavior, but he needed to convince himself that this was all real. He’d never thought he would ever be with Max the way he’d wanted to be. As he watched, Max reached out and pulled Christian’s pillow to him, and Christian chuckled as he watched him sniff the pillow before settling back down. Making himself turn away, Christian went to take a quick shower before he started his day.

  An hour later, Christian was driving onto the base. He’d had time today to stop and grab a quick breakfast sandwich and cup of tea from the commissary before his eight-thirty meeting with their resident geek. Christian needed as much caffeine in his system as possible prior to the meeting. Sven did a good job dumbing things down for the non-geeks, but he was very excited about something he had found out, if all the text messages Christian had been receiving since five a.m. were any indication.

  Christian walked into what they called the war room, where the walls were covered in different pictures and notes and information obtained during the course of their investigation into the group wanting to overthrow the monarchy, as well as all the recent security breaches at the castle. There was a lot of information spread out around the room, but no way to connect all the dots. They had a lot of the ‘hows’, but they just needed to figure out the ‘whys’ and the ‘who’.

  “What have we got, Sven?”

  The bespectacled, blond, geeky bear of a man didn’t tear his gaze from the multiple monitors in front of him.

  “A lot. Waiting on the general and Sergeant Lopez, then I’ll go over it with all of you at the same time.

  “Sounds good.” Christian grabbed a water bottle from the small refrigerator in the corner, happy to see it had been stocked with sodas and energy drinks along with the water at some point in the last twenty-four hours. He placed his things at the conference table in his usual spot as he waited for the others to join them. He didn’t have to wait long.

  General Sanchez made his way into the room with Sergeant Sean Lopez and his K-9 companion, Blackie. Christian stood to attention and saluted.

  “As you were.”

  “Good morning, sir.” Christian resumed his seat at the table.

  “Good morning, Diaz. What have we got, Johannson?”

  Sven clicked a few buttons on his laptop and suddenly information was displayed on the screen attached to the wall. On it was a list of six names.

  “What is this?” the general asked.

  “These are the six names still on the possibility list for stealing the ipecac from the hospital storage.”

  “Why is Doctor Guttschein’s name highlighted in red?”

  “Well, here’s the thing… At the time of the use of his keycard, Doctor Guttschein was in Spain on holiday with his wife. While it’s possible he flew back and used his card to get in storage to get something, it is highly unlikely.”

  “Do we know who would have access to the card?”

  “Unknown at this time. That would require a discussion with Doctor Guttschein.”

  “Christian, you know Doctor Guttschein. Why don’t you take point on that interview?”

  “Yes, General. I’ll go once the meeting is over. What else? You have been way too excited for that to be it.”

  “We got a hit on some of the fingerprints taken from the van.”

  “Really?”

  “You seem surprised?”

  “Because I am. That’s a very rookie mistake.”

  “Yes and no, since the fingerprints belonged to the king.”

  “What? That makes no sense.”

  “It really doesn’t, except…” Sven paused for dramatic effect.

  “Spit it out, Johannson,” the general barked.

  Sven sighed dramatically. “The thing is…all the fingerprints were exactly the same.”

  “Which means what?”

  “Well, it is highly unusual for a person to leave the exact same thumbprint and only that thumbprint with no deviation in impression or darkness—and no other fingers, just the thumb. Somehow, the king even managed to get his right thumbprint on the blinker stem to the left of the steering wheel.”

  “So, someone planted the thumbprint in the van.”

  “Yep.”

  “Which means what?”

  “The thumbprint is an exact match to the print on file with the hospital.”

  “Someone had to have access to the secure files on the royal family in order to get it, then.”

  “Does the system track who accesses the files?”

  An evil grin spread across Sven’s face. “It does.”

  “Do we know who, then?”

  “It shows the login was from Doctor Guttschein’s computer in his office, and again it happened while the good doctor was on vacation in Spain.”

  “So, someone took advantage of the doctor being gone to steal ipecac from the storage, using his badge, and accessed his computer from his office to get a copy of the king’s fingerprint?”

  “Yep. And who has access to Doctor Guttschein’s office and badge?”

  “That is a good question, but I have a better one for you to ask me,” Sven said with a devilish gleam in his eye.

  “And what would that be?” Sean asked with exasperation clear in his voice.

  “Geez. Everyone is so touchy today. The correct question would be, whose face was caught on camera as he logged into the royal files?”

  “Really? You have a picture?”

  “Yep. It’s a double security measure. Only Doctor Guttschein and the head of their IT department are aware of it. The system takes a picture of the person trying to access certain secure files.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Unknown. I don’t recognize him, but I thought maybe one of you would.” Sven hit another button and the screenshot of someone sitting at the desk popped up. Christian sucked in a breath.

  “You recognize him, Christian?”

  Christian nodded sharply. “I do. That’s Doctor Guttschein’s son, Stefan Guttschein. I don’t know him that well. He was like four years younger than me. Last time I saw him was at Zia’s graduation party ten years ago, but we didn’t speak.” Christian felt a little niggle of something, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was that was bothering him about the statement.

  The general must have seen something in his expression though. “What?”

  “I don’t know. My subconscious is trying to tell me something, bu
t I don’t know what yet.”

  “Well, let me know if you figure it out.”

  “I will.”

  “Okay. Stefan Guttschein is obviously in this up to his eyeballs. Who are his known associates?”

  Christian winced, truly pained to have to tell him. “Princess Zia is working with Stefan on the dinner at the castle for Doctor Guttschein’s colleagues.”

  “Really? That’s very interesting.”

  Christian went on to tell them about Zia volunteering to help with the security budgets and the potential discrepancies that Niles and his father were going to go over today to try to understand. “I know Max has a meeting scheduled with the two of them on Thursday. I also know that the Princess and Stefan took on the responsibility of running the background checks.”

  The general quirked a very judgy eyebrow at Christian. “I know.” Christian threw his hands up in the air. “I think I’ll need to plan on being at the meeting with Max, my father and the two of them on Thursday. We need to find out any other known associates of the two in the meantime.”

  “I’m on it,” Sven said as he peeked his head out from behind his monitor. “I am running a search through both of their social media accounts. We need authorization to check each of their emails, both personal and work.”

  “I can get with the king and see if he will authorize it,” Christian replied.

  The general suddenly looked ten years older as he rubbed his hands over his face. “This is going to devastate his wife, Her Royal Highness, if Princess Zia is involved in a plot to get rid of the monarchy.”

  “I know. The king is aware, but we aren’t sharing with Queen Tania yet, as she would be more likely to go to confront Zia immediately, and we want to make sure we get all the players in one fell swoop. I’m more worried about Doctor Guttschein. It’s obvious Stefan’s involved somehow, and he adores his son.”

  “Yeah. Makes me glad I never married or had children.”