Whatever It Takes (Code Of Honor Book 5)

by Reese Knightley

  Dillon stepped back, but Luke matched him. A fist in his shirt stopped his backward movement and he was yanked forward.

  “Tell me you don’t feel this,” Luke demanded.

  Of all the things Luke could have said, he hadn’t expected that. Not feel this? He stayed quiet because he couldn’t lie, even though he should.

  Luke’s eyes glittered like green fire as he leaned in and brushed a kiss on his lips. And so help him god, Dillon tried to resist, he really fucking did, but Luke’s mouth touching his was the last fucking straw.

  “Dillon,” Luke murmured against his mouth, nipping at his lips to get inside.

  Dillon reached down and cupped the general’s ass cheeks through the expensive slacks and angled his head. When the man’s tongue slipped between his lips, Dillon owned the fucking kiss.

  He lost control and devoured Luke’s lips. He snaked one hand up and cupped the back of Luke’s head, kissing the man over and over until Luke was clinging to him. The rock-hard cock pressed against him answered his own hardness with only the thin bit of cotton between them. He wanted to lift Luke in his arms, take him to the bed, and fuck him senseless.

  That wasn’t a good idea. This so wasn’t a good idea. But fuck it. Luke was a grown ass man and knew what he wanted and it seemed like Luke wanted him. If they kept it sex only, it shouldn’t be an issue. Right? Right!

  He drew back from the kiss, leaving Luke gasping, and nosed into the hair at the man’s neck. The slight scent of aftershave made his head feel foggy.

  “I wanted to do that the first time I met you,” Luke said breathlessly.

  Dillon remembered. It had been at a retirement party. He’d been ordered to attend by Liam otherwise he wouldn’t have gone. It was there that he’d gotten his first glimpse of Luke Rhine all those months ago. He’d been on the verge of leaving when rather abruptly, Luke had introduced himself.

  “Have you?” he questioned, lifting his head. He wasn’t a man that others typically sought out. He wasn’t that attractive standing next to the pretty people of the world, and he had to wonder what Luke saw in him.

  “I have. You’re,” Luke sighed, running his hands over his shoulders and down his arms, gripping his wrists, “mysterious, brooding, and fucking hot.”

  Hot? Luke thought he was hot? He squinted, but couldn’t find anything that led him to believe Luke was lying. The expression in the general’s green gaze was genuine and sincere.

  “You’re crazy,” he muttered, and with a thudding heart, he raked his fingers into Luke’s hair, tightly cupped the back of the man’s head, and drew him into another soul scorching kiss.

  It could have been Luke pushing or him tugging or both, but they found themselves in Luke’s room.

  When Cricket went to follow, Dillon pointed to the couch in the sitting room before shutting the door.

  When he turned, Luke’s fingers went to the buttons on his shirt and he fought opening Luke’s silky shirt before sliding it over and down the man’s arms. The hair along Luke’s forearms prickled his palms.

  His lips pressed against skin when Luke’s head tipped back. The man was so goddamned sexy, it set up an ache in Dillon’s soul.

  Fighting, they divested each other of any remaining clothing and Dillon looked his fill. The hair on Luke’s chest wasn’t as thick as his own and rather than dark, Luke’s was a soft brown threaded with gray. He fucking loved it and stroked his fingers through the coarse strands before plucking at nipples hidden in swirling hair.

  Luke hissed and pressed against him.

  “Condoms? Lube?” he muttered.

  Luke groaned and Dillon’s heart sank.

  Luke

  “Yes,” he groaned again, “in the fucking suitcase.”

  Dillon laughed huskily against his neck and Luke suddenly chuckled, realizing how desperate he sounded.

  The feel of Dillon’s skin beneath his hands and the vision of the man’s body was overloading his senses. Was it no wonder he was going out of his mind? He wouldn’t even think about how long it had actually been since he’d made love.

  Pulling from Dillon, he yanked open his suitcase and pulled out the unopened box of condoms and the unopened bottle of lube. Thank god he’d had the presence of mind to bring them. It really had been wishful thinking when he’d ordered the supplies because with the way Dillon behaved, he had no idea on earth they’d be here like this.

  Right where he wanted them. Had wanted them since the first moment he’d seen Dillon at a party all those months ago.

  Taking a moment, he paused to just admire Dillon’s bare body. He tried to memorize the thick hair on his chest that narrowed to his groin. The matching hair on his jaw and head, the scars that littered his body from active duty. Luke wanted to touch each one and hear each story, but not right now. Perhaps later he’d ask, but not tonight. Tonight, none of the scars of the past mattered.

  He tossed the items on the bed and then gasped when Dillon spun him around and bent him backwards over the bed. One of the man’s strong hands ran down his thigh and cupped the back of his knee as he was lowered to the mattress. He clung to Dillon’s powerful shoulders and lifted his mouth.

  Dillon took his lips and then lowered his body, brushing against his before grinding their bare cocks together. When the kiss ended, he was left gasping. Lips roamed over his neck, shoulders, and chest before they locked around each nipple. Precome seeped from his dick and he shuddered when Dillon’s hand closed around his length.

  “So fucking beautiful,” Dillon growled and then closed his mouth around his cock, licking the crown before taking him deep into the tight, wet heat of his throat.

  “Fuck! Dillon, oh fuck!” he yelled, fisting his hands in the bedspread as Dillon sucked his dick hard.

  His hand hit the box of condoms and he grasped them before bringing them upward.

  “Put one on,” he rasped, licking at his stinging lips.

  Dillon lifted his head and his rakish grin was Luke’s answer. Luke cracked open the bottle of lube and greased his fingers before reaching down to lube his entrance. Just as Dillon finished rolling on a condom, Luke grabbed the man’s covered cock and lubed it up.

  He fell back to the bed and held Dillon’s blue gaze as he reached down and started jerking at his own cock. He let his thighs fall apart and cupped his balls beneath Dillon’s hungry gaze. The man roamed up and over him, lifting his legs and placing them over his wide shoulders. Luke slowed down on his own dick, wanting this to last. He let out the breath he was holding and held Dillon’s gaze when the crown of the man’s thick cock breeched his hole.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” Dillon growled, and Luke tugged his slippery hand up and down his own dick as Dillon pushed further inside.

  “Fucking amazing,” he breathed. It was too much and he jerked his gaze away, tossing his head back and forth, feeling every inch of Dillon filling his ass. Dillon paused and let him adjust and only moved when Luke clutched at his arms.

  When Dillon pushed in balls deep, Luke stopped thrashing and opened his eyes to find Dillon gazing at him with an expression of awe. He wanted to ask what, but he couldn’t get any words out. With his free hand, he curled it around the back of Dillon’s nape and tugged him downward.

  Dillon snapped his hips forward, drawing a gasp from him, and his ass pulsed just as Dillon’s mouth closed over his. His tongue tangled wetly, teeth nipped at lips and suckled. Luke moaned when Dillon pulled out and then roughly slid back in all the way to the hilt.

  Shudders raked his body and he jerked his own cock in time to Dillon’s thrusting.

  Sweet fucking hell, every knock deep inside sent sparks through his body, but it wasn’t enough. Dillon seemed to sense that and snapped his hips into a hard rhythm designed to drive him crazy, and it did. Flung higher and higher, he suddenly couldn’t take anymore.

  Dillon!” he yelled, and hot come pulsed from his dick and he squeezed his hand around his cock tightly. He convulsed, bowing his back from the bed when his orgas
m slammed into him. One stream of come right after the other pulsed out of his dick and he came so hard he saw stars behind his closed lids.

  Dillon’s breath was a heated, heavy gasp against his ear as he continued to thrust deep. In another moment, Dillon slammed home and stiffened, then the man curled forward and jerked, emptying himself. Luke hung on, his hands smoothing down the damp skin and tight muscles of Dillon’s back before moving up to his shoulders, then down his arms, over and over until the soldier collapsed down on him.

  Luke stared in a daze up at the ceiling.

  How in the world was he going to process this? He’d only ever had a handful of lovers, and not one of them had affected him like this.

  “Okay?” Dillon’s voice was muffled.

  “Yeah, you?” he said, but he heard the tremor in his voice.

  “Better than good.”

  He smiled and brushed his fingers over the scar on the base of Dillon’s head.

  “How’d this happen?” he murmured before sliding his hands down the man’s back.

  Dillon rolled away and sat up. Rather than respond to his question, the man looked him in the eyes.

  “I want to be honest with you.”

  His heart sank.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “I don’t date.”

  “Ever?”

  “Ever.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s just not who I am.”

  “Tell me why.”

  “No.”

  “So, what do we do?” His mouth grew dry.

  “We put this, whatever this is, down to mutual satisfaction.”

  No! He wanted to shout, but instead said, “And you’d have no problem doing that?”

  Dillon pulled off the condom, and left the bed. Luke watched the man’s ass disappear into the bathroom and then reappear in the doorway.

  “No, I won’t have a problem with it.”

  Well, he sure the hell had a problem with it and that right there spoke volumes.

  He was more emotionally invested than Dillon. Was there even a tiny bit of investment in Dillon or had this really all been sex?

  Fuck. Shit. Damn it.

  “Okay then.” He pasted on a fake smile and rolled from the bed. “I’m going to shower and get some sleep.” He moved past Dillon and into the bathroom.

  Dillon opened his mouth as if to say something, but Luke gently and firmly shut the door in the man’s face.

  Dillon

  “I fucked up,” he told Cricket as he climbed in his own bed.

  He should have told Luke the reason he didn’t date. The fear he lived with daily. That it would only be a matter of time before Luke left anyway once he discovered why.

  The pup gazed up at him and gave him a few wet kisses.

  It took him several hours before he finally fell into a fitful sleep and woke before it was fully light. Stumbling from the bed, he pulled on a pair of pajama pants and a t-shirt before making his way into the sitting room. He cracked open the bathroom door so Cricket could use the potty pad he’d put there the night before for the pup.

  Making his way into the small kitchen area, he made some coffee in the single cup maker. He poured food into Cricket’s dish and then creamer in his coffee.

  While he stood sipping the hot brew and watching Cricket eat his breakfast, Luke emerged from his room.

  “Morning,” he said, warily eyeing the sleep rumpled man.

  Luke grunted in return, made a cup of coffee, and then disappeared back into his room.

  The day dragged by and Dillon stayed in the sitting room, but Luke didn’t come out of his bedroom. Not even when he knocked and said he’d ordered some lunch.

  Luke opened the door and took the tray from his hand. Behind the man, Dillon caught a glimpse of a fired-up laptop as well as a pad of paper and his sketching pencils before Luke shut the door in his face.

  When evening came, he showered, dressed in his tux, and tucked his gun in the shoulder holster beneath his jacket. After feeding the pup, he stood in the sitting room waiting for Luke.

  At seven forty-five, Luke emerged and walked toward the door. Damn it, couldn’t the guy see that they weren’t good for each other? Luke’s attitude irritated the hell out of him.

  Thank fuck the benefit was in the same hotel, so it was a short, silent ride to the fifth-floor ballroom.

  He kept his gaze on Luke on the ride down, but the man stayed busy on his phone. He wanted to say how nice Luke looked, but the general never gave him an opportunity.

  When they entered the ballroom, Luke was swallowed up by the charity council members. After that, it was one introduction after another, but Luke never looked his way.

  You’ve only yourself to blame.

  From his spot across the room, he never took his eyes from Luke. His scowl deepened when another man approached Luke, and the general suddenly had a fucking entourage around him. Why wouldn’t he? Luke was a powerful, important, and very sexy man.

  The cut of his tux defined every sleek part of Luke and fit the width of his shoulders perfectly. An expensive gold watch graced the general’s wrist along with a ring that winked on his right hand. In the elevator, Dillon had gotten close enough to see the ring. It looked platinum with a row of letters, a college ring that went perfectly with the general’s expensive attire.

  Did Luke know that he’d taken a combination of on campus and online courses in order to get his bachelor’s degree? And that had only been because of Liam? Did Luke know that he was a fuck up most of the time and a screw up the rest?

  He studied the slight scar on his knuckle where his fist had caught on a tooth. A tooth that just so happened to belong to an asshole who took pleasure in smacking his wife around.

  Somehow, Liam had made his slip up go away and Dillon figured the Secretary of Defense had had a hand in it. But how many more chances would they give him? Hopefully, enough to get a few more years beneath his belt and more money saved up to put a down payment on a piece of land. He wanted to own something like Luke. Of course, it wouldn’t be nearly as grand as the general’s ranch, but it’d be big enough for him and Cricket.

  Raking his gaze over the room and then over the crowd surrounding Luke, Dillon pulled his phone and sent a text message to Beckett.

  Dillon: Sorry for the late text, but I won’t be coming out this weekend.

  Beckett: No worries, I figured when you didn’t text last night that you couldn’t make it.

  Dillon: Definitely this summer.

  Beckett: I’m holding you to that.

  Glancing up, his heart stopped when he couldn’t see Luke. Kicking himself in the ass for staying across the room, he stalked through the guests with bile rising in his throat. The room seemed to close in around him and his lungs squeezed what little air he could take in.

  “Dillon.”

  Relief swept over him so brutally, he almost stumbled. The blood left his face and he spun around to find Luke behind him. “I thought…” He couldn’t finish.

  “I skirted around the room to get over here,” Luke grimaced. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

  Dillon stepped closer in the crowd of people and locked his hand around Luke’s wrist. All he wanted to do was touch the man, to assure himself that Luke was okay, but the connection between them flared to a sizzle. Awareness snaked into his core.

  His fingers pressed into the pulse at Luke’s wrist and he found it jumping.

  Brushing past Luke, Dillon kept his hold and pulled the general after him. Not a good idea to be manhandling a general in front of witnesses. He had a moment to wonder how it looked before the loudest part of his brain said, fuck it.

  Shoving open the patio door, he pulled Luke outside before he let him go. Shaking steps took him to the railing and he sucked in several deep breaths of the warm New Orleans night.

  Luke came close. The weird thing was that nobody followed them out onto the patio. In a party with hundreds of people, they were totally alone.

  He sho
t Luke a look and then glanced over the man’s shoulder. The patio doors were completely closed.

  “How’d you do that?” He squinted.

  “With a flick of my hand.” Luke gave him a slight smile.

  “Ah, I see.”

  “You see what?”

  “The power of a general,” he admitted.

  “I’m more than my title.” A brief flash of hurt swept over Luke’s face and then was gone.

  “I know that.” He wanted to see Luke’s smile. Knowing it was the wrong thing to do, he tugged Luke toward him.

  “What do you know?” Luke quirked an eyebrow, stepping closer.

  “That you’re so much more than just a title.”

  Luke’s eyes glittered in the patio light and the man’s hands came up to fist his jacket lapels.

  “Show me.”

  He shook his head.

  “Ah, I see. I’m more than my title and nothing but a fuck.” Luke sneered.

  Dillon’s breath caught. “Don’t say that!”

  “Why the hell not? It’s what you implied last night.”

  He clamped his teeth together. If anything, he owed Luke an explanation.

  “You know what? Never mind.” Luke stepped away, but Dillon clamped a hand around his arm.

  “I have a temper.” The words came out thickly as he stepped forward, wondering if this was going to ruin it all, of any chance to… to what? Start a relationship with Luke only to have it end when he lost his shit? This was why he avoided getting involved.

  “I do too,” Luke snapped back at him.

  “Not like mine.”

  Something in his voice stopped Luke from pulling away.

  “Tell me.”

  “What?” He hadn’t been expecting that.

  “Tell me right the fuck now,” Luke’s voice was hard.

  “I fucking hit people,” he snapped, his pulse throbbed, and he squeezed his free hand into a fist.

  “So, you stay out of relationships because you’re afraid you’ll hit someone?”