by Kate Lowell
“Oh yeah.” Julian raised his head from Leo’s and looked down at him possessively. “This was worth the feet.” He buried his nose behind the corner of Leo’s jaw, kissing and licking where the flesh was tender, biting gently on the bone. It sent fireworks skittering over Leo’s skin, pain and pleasure and delight all in one.
Leo tipped his head back, letting himself be swept away on Julian’s youthful enthusiasm and his own frustrated desire. He still held on to Julian’s ass and had no inclination to let go. Instead he explored the contours, running his fingertips over the grooves and dimples, memorizing everything, careful of the bruises. He had to stretch as Julian worked his way down to Leo’s chest, sweet torture in both cases. His fingers scrabbled over the base of Julian’s spine, his own bowing with agonized pleasure as Julian kissed his nipples.
He was lost in this, buried in his own need, trapped by Julian’s. Leo listened to Julian’s moans and gleeful chuckles and wondered when he’d lost himself to this man. Enchanted was what he felt like. A spell.
One that would disappear after the operation was over. There was no way this passion would last beyond the end of their charade. The thought brought a small sound of disappointment from him, freezing Julian on his way down the center of Leo’s chest.
“Leo?”
Leo raised his head. “It’s nothing. Come here.” He didn’t want to think about it, so he pulled Julian up to lie on top of him, pushing the rest of his clothes roughly away.
Julian laughed in between kisses. “Never expected this, but it’s a hell of a nice bonus.” He caught Leo’s lower lip between his teeth and tugged, eyes dancing merrily, then let go to sit up. “Since I’m no longer a virgin, does that mean I get to do this every night? I mean, think of your reputation. I promise to be loud.”
It was outrageous, and Leo couldn’t stop the laughter that rolled out of him. “Yes, but what about yours?”
“Slutty bottom boy? Isn’t that my job description now?” Julian wiggled, sending stars shooting across Leo’s vision. Then he laid himself flat and began kissing a trail across Leo’s collarbones and down his chest. “Just so you know, I’m not really a bottom. Never been my thing.” Julian’s lips were on his belly, tracing lower—it was going to kill him. He barely heard the next part of Julian’s speech. “If that’s not okay with you, we can do something else.” He lunged up Leo’s body to stare at him from less than an inch away, so close their noses bumped and Leo wanted to rub his face against Julian’s. “But, goddamn, I want to fuck you.”
“Bedroom,” Leo said and jumped to his feet, taking Julian with him. He hustled the younger man across the living room.
Julian laughed breathlessly, but when he turned to wind his arms around Leo’s neck, his eyes were dark and needful. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
That made Leo laugh some more. This stunning youngster, with all his years ahead of him, and Leo, well established in middle age. “You need your eyes checked.”
“Did it this spring. Twenty-twenty.”
They ricocheted through the door, more concerned with touching and tasting than with the possibility of a few more bruises. Julian, in a show of surprising strength, practically threw Leo onto the bed, then climbed up after him. He straddled Leo’s hips and appeared to contemplate his next course of action.
Leo had to ask. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
Julian’s gaze focused. “Shut up, and tell me where the lube is.” Humor gleamed in his eyes, overlaying the fire of need within them. “No more arguing.” He reached beneath him and took Leo’s cock in a gentle but undeniable grip. “You want this as much as I do.”
No point arguing, with the evidence very clearly…evident. “I’m thirty-seven.”
“And I don’t care. It’s sex, Leo, not marriage.” The words verged on cruel, but the tone of voice made light of them.
Leo couldn’t help laughing. “Come here, then.”
“Finally. I’ve never had to work this hard for a man in my life.”
“Nice to know I stand out.”
“Fuck. Like you couldn’t. Lube, man, before I explode.” Then he proceeded to make it impossible for Leo to get a coherent answer out, with mouth and hands and warm breath that made the hair on Leo’s head stand on end in prickling pleasure. He licked a path across Leo’s chest, blowing on it to raise the hairs with the chill and bring his nipples to stern attention. Julian’s hands made warm prints over Leo’s ribs, fingers stretching to burrow between his back and the mattress. Julian tugged, pulling them belly to belly, his knees spreading wide. A line of heat ran down Leo’s body, getting hotter the closer it came to their cocks, lying side by side on Leo’s stomach. He felt tight as a drum and, at the same time, relaxed and ready for anything.
Julian’s hair was like silk as Leo laced his fingers through it and dragged Julian’s mouth back to his. He could spend the whole night like this, his tongue playing with Julian’s, listening to the other man’s harsh breaths while their bodies glided slickly in the sweat coating their skin. Julian pushed a thigh between Leo’s legs, coarse hair drawing lines of desire across Leo’s balls as he rubbed it against them.
Leo had to do something before he lost his mind completely. “DeGraff gave me a kit for you, for tonight. It’s in my coat pocket.”
“Dammit!” Julian rolled off Leo and bolted for the living room. He was back, bottle in hand, before Leo had time to sit up completely. “No condoms.”
“No, you were supposed to bareback.”
Julian stared at him with those dark eyes, then looked down at the bottle and tossed it gently in his palm a couple of times. He turned his gaze on Leo again. “Fuck it. DeGraff wouldn’t put me out here if I was positive for anything. I’ll take my chances.” He crawled onto the bed and knelt beside Leo’s knees.
It had been more than a year and a half. Leo would have known by now if he had anything. “You’re crazy, you know that? You don’t know me well enough.”
“You’d tell me if you had anything.”
“Yeah.”
“Then…” Julian poured a puddle of lube out into his palm, holding the bottle high and letting it drizzle down like it was a performance. “Spread ’em.”
Leo propped himself up on his elbows and lifted the leg next to Julian high in the air, over Julian’s head, and let it bounce down to the mattress. Maybe he wasn’t so old after all.
Julian’s eyes lit up. “Flexible. I like that in a man.” He tossed the bottle carelessly onto the bed beside Leo’s hips and scooped a fingerful of lube up with his now-free hand.
The scratch of his nails down the inside of Leo’s thigh made him catch his breath. Julian watched him hungrily, his gaze skating over Leo’s body, leaving warmth and a strange awareness behind. “I’m glad that woody I felt my first day was real.”
“Oh fuck, you felt that?”
“Yeah.” Julian smiled and bent down to kiss the inside of Leo’s knee. “Don’t worry; it’s all good. I figured if I had to put out, at least it would be with a hot guy. Don’t get all self-conscious now.” He laid his cheek against the place he’d kissed and dragged the tip of one finger from the head of Leo’s cock to its base. “In between being terrified and furious, I’ve been thinking a lot about this fellow.” He wrapped his fingers around it and jacked Leo firmly twice.
Leo hissed, and his hips jerked, chasing Julian’s hand as it abandoned him. Julian smiled and sat up, coating his fingers again with lube. Keeping his eyes locked on Leo’s, he reached down between Leo’s legs.
The lube was cool and then warm against his skin. Julian ran his fingers up and down between Leo’s legs, sliding over the smooth skin behind his balls, down over the roughness of his anus and on, then back up to tease his balls. On each trip, he changed the pressure, sometimes hard, sometimes so gentle Leo could barely feel it. He played around the opening to Leo’s body, pushing against it, then moving away, but never going as far as Leo wanted. Leo groaned and grabbed for the headboard, his muscles so tight
his arms shook and the headboard groaned.
“That’s a good look on you.” Julian pressed harder on this trip, the tip of his finger dipping inside.
Leo squeezed his eyes shut and chased that finger, without success. “You’re a tease,” Leo finally gasped out.
“Oh ho! Just for that, I should make you wait.” He paused, and Leo opened his eyes to see Julian looking at him like he wanted to eat him. Then Julian grinned, wide and ardent and eager, and shoved his finger in all the way. It bowed Leo’s spine, and he came back to himself after a long moment, making noises that were suspiciously close to whimpers. It was strange—he’d had enthusiastic younger dates, but he’d never had one that turned the tables on him quite so completely. He liked it; his concern about the age gap burned away in the passion between them.
“Yeah, I like you like this,” Julian whispered. The light from the open door outlined his nose and his high cheekbones. Leo wished for a moment that he’d thought to hit the light switch on their wavering journey from the living room. Then his thoughts were ripped away as Julian moved his finger.
Leo grabbed for the sheets, pulling and pulling, while he rode the waves of desire and frustration and pleasure as Julian fooled around in his ass, skating across that precious point, then pretending to search farther afield. He knew what he was doing too, the brat. His expression, when Leo could pry his eyes open, was so hungry it verged on voracious. He watched Leo like a hawk watched a mouse it expects to be absolutely delicious.
“That’s it, ride me. Fuck yourself on me. I’m going to give you more.” He slid a second finger in, faster this time, like he couldn’t hold himself back. “How’s that? You like that?”
“Julian, just fuck me. Please!”
“In a minute. I want to watch you squirm some more first.”
Leo wanted to hit him. He wanted to hit him and kiss him and hold him so close they became one. He put his hand back on the headboard, and it groaned with him under the pressure.
Julian chuckled and pushed a third finger in. “You want more than this? Or are you ready for me?” All the while, he pushed and rolled and massaged until Leo was near catatonic with need.
He managed to force the words out. “I’ve been ready for a while.” The headboard creaked in agreement.
“Can’t have you wrecking the furniture.” Julian took his hand away, and Leo nearly cried. He watched Julian rub lube over himself and wipe the extra away with the edge of the sheet. He caught Leo’s thighs just above his knees and spread him, folded him, left him wide, which they both wanted so badly.
Julian propped one of Leo’s legs over his shoulder and used his other hand to direct his cock. Leo closed his eyes, his body on alert, and then he felt the faintest touch at his center, hot flesh on his own. Julian stretched him open and pushed inside, careful and yet not, tender pain and ecstasy all in one. Leo cried out and reached for his legs, spreading himself farther to bring Julian closer to him.
It struck him as strange that he’d spent so much time thinking about how to protect Julian, but here, in this quiet, close room, it was Julian who was in charge.
Julian bowed his head to Leo’s chest, panting. “Oh fuck.” He wiggled and shifted until he was belly-to-belly with Leo. “Yeah, this is how I want to do this. I want to touch you, the whole time.” He pressed a kiss to the notch at the base of Leo’s throat. “You taste as good as you feel.”
Leo ran his hands up Julian’s back, fingers floating lightly over the tense cords of muscle running from Julian’s ass to his shoulders. “So do you.” He tangled one hand in Julian’s hair and, with the other one, cupped the hard, muscular curve of Julian’s ass. He squeezed and kneaded at the flesh and tipped his hips to urge the other man to move. It drew a wavering moan from Julian, and he began to thrust, his mouth hungry at Leo’s, his hands moving with frantic greed over Leo’s skin.
It had been too long, and Leo wanted Julian too much. Already he could feel the drawing down, all his nerves, his consciousness, creeping inexorably toward one white-hot core of need and pleasure. He wrapped an arm around Julian’s shoulders, holding so tight that every thrust of Julian’s hips against his rocked them on the bed. The headboard slammed against the wall in rhythm with their cries. Julian laughed and thrust harder, slamming into Leo, his cock rubbing across Leo’s prostate, bringing ecstasy in its wake.
He was losing track of the outside world, his awareness narrowing down to the place where Julian pierced him, and the throbbing ball of need gathering around it. “Soon,” he whispered and accepted a kiss in acknowledgment. The skin of Julian’s belly worked Leo’s cock—slick, intermittent pressure that wasn’t near enough. Leo worked a hand between them, caught up his straining shaft, and triggered an explosion that whited out the room and left him limp and covered in sweat and cum.
“That was fucking hot.” Julian panted, still rocking them to the rhythm of his body’s desires. He grunted and pushed harder against Leo, his face screwed up in a grimace. A hard thrust and a strained cry marked his own tumble over the edge to drown in ecstasy. He buried his head under Leo’s chin and whimpered, hips rocking restlessly, like he hoped to draw the pleasure out even longer. Eventually his movements slowed, and he settled, boneless, against Leo’s chest. “Yeah, you were worth the feet.” Awkwardly and, Leo liked to think, reluctantly, he separated himself from Leo’s body, then crawled up and plastered himself against Leo’s side. “You have no worries about being thirty-seven. I’ve had guys in their twenties that weren’t that good.”
“Are you analyzing this?”
“Rankings. You definitely rank high.” He ran a hand over Leo’s chest, then his own. “I think we made a mess.”
“I’m okay with that.” Leo kissed the dark hair beneath his chin. “Now will you go to sleep?” He let his head fall back onto the pillow. “I think I am.”
Julian kissed the edge of Leo’s jaw. “Go ahead. I’m here.”
LEO PASSED OUT almost right away, his chest vibrating gently beneath Julian’s cheek in the tiniest of snores. It was so quick Julian had to muffle a laugh.
The laughter felt strange in his mouth—where he was right now physically and emotionally didn’t feel like a place for laughter. But what they’d just done…wow. He glanced down Leo’s body, admiring the muscle the man carried. A little loose around the waist, and there were a few gray hairs just over one eye, but it only added to that sense of solid capability that Leo gave off like a heat lamp. Julian didn’t mind at all.
He knew the attraction was probably a result of the stress and constant background danger. That it would likely fade away once the operation was over, when they weren’t living in each other’s pockets, dependent on each other for safety. Trying to read each other’s minds in the twitch of an eyebrow or the turn of a wrist.
Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that Leo got him, in a way that neither Dave nor his other boyfriends ever had. Anyone who could stick it out in this kind of undercover role liked to win just as much as Julian did. And he listened and let Julian make the choices here, even though Julian was a civilian.
Julian ran his hand down Leo’s thigh one more time, then crawled to the foot of the bed, careful not to disturb the man sleeping beside him. His own brain was too busy for sleep. He hunted in the living room for the room-service menu, only to find out the kitchen had closed more than an hour ago.
Crap. His stomach growled. There had to be more food here somewhere. He performed a meticulous search, coming up with a bag of fancy-ass potato chips, a chocolate bar, and some more cookies. Not really enough, but he wasn’t sure how close a tab DeGraff was keeping on him. For all Julian knew, DeGraff had spies in the hotel that would blab to him if Julian ordered takeout. It would be cruel to wake Leo to order for him. The man looked dead on his feet.
He ate the chips while wandering around the room, sniffing in disbelief at the sheer waste of money. People had to be crazy rich to stay in hotels like this. He turned on the TV for a while but couldn’t find
anything to hold his attention.
I need to get some sleep. There were a dozen bottles of liquor in the bar, but he’d always stayed away from it in case he landed himself a record that ended his nebulous FBI career before it even got started. Getting tipsy while on the job probably wasn’t a good idea either—he’d likely have the alcohol tolerance of a mouse.
There was always the shower, but he was kind of hoping for round two before they had to go back to their real fake world in the morning. It seemed a shame to waste the water.
And he didn’t want to lose the feel of Leo on his skin. Maybe they could shower together in the morning, finish off what never really got started back at the warehouse.
He slumped onto the couch and hooked his toes over the edge of the coffee table. Since sleep wasn’t happening, and he couldn’t focus on the television, he set himself the task of trying to figure out how to keep his ass out of someone else’s bed. As of tomorrow morning, he was officially on the market. Misbehaving was always a possibility, but even thinking about it made his feet curl up in alarmed self-defense. He moved that idea to a back burner about five miles behind his usual back burner.
Leo had mentioned that the brothels would bid for new victims. Julian flexed his toes, watching them curl against the wooden frame, and dug absently in the bottom of the chip bag. How long would bidding take? And what would they be doing with Julian in the meantime? DeGraff hadn’t told Leo any of that yet.
Thinking of Leo made him smile. Big, bad undercover fed, worried that his gray hair would put Julian off. Well, he’d put that fear to rest tonight. Leo was going to remember him every time he sat down tomorrow. That thought made Julian bite his lip and wonder how much sleep Leo really needed.
A slight heaviness gathered in his groin, precursor of arousal. The thought of going back to the bedroom and curling around Leo’s body so he could rub off against his hip made the feeling worse. Julian shifted uncomfortably, despite still being naked.